.32 Pistol (Fallout 3)

The .32 Pistol is a small guns pistol in Fallout 3.

Characteristics
As the name would imply, this handgun uses .32 Caliber Round ammunition. It is commonly found to be in use by Capital Wasteland Raiders. Although it is a light weapon, it pales against the 10mm Pistol in terms of rate of fire and damage, and might be considered a waste of ammunition. It can, however, be fired quite fast if the player can get a rhythm down.

Overall it is a pitiful weapon, barely useful even to a player fresh out of the Vault, and only really would be useful as a last resort for when the aforementioned player runs out of ammo for his or her 10mm Pistol, or if it breaks, but later in the game after couple of level ups (after leaving Vault 101, if the SPECIAL points are placed correctly), even your bare fists can be a better choice than .32 Pistol, with .32 ammo being much better used in the powerful and accurate hunting rifle. The only real use to the player is to sell it.

This weapon's usefulness may change depending on whether or not you have the Superior Defender and or Ghoul Ecology Perks. Both of them together raise this weapon's damage by 10 points, making it more powerful than the original 10mm Pistol.

Unique Version
A unique version called Wild Bill's Sidearm is available with The Pitt add-on found on a dead slave named Wild Bill. Also present within the Fallout 3 object database is a unique .32 called the "Law Dog". Like many other cut weapons in Fallout 3, the Law Dog can only be obtained through use of the command console on the PC release of the game.

Locations
These are not very hard to come by. Most locations to find it are in shops, and on Raiders and Talon Company Mercs.
 * One can be found at Minefield, near the mattress where Arkansas snipes at you.
 * One can also be found at the Small Ranch near Megaton, which can be entered right after exiting the Vault.
 * One can be found in the National Guard Bunker on a wooden shelf, next to a box of 5 bullets for it.
 * One can be found in Grayditch, behind the fridge in a toolbox in the Brandice`s resident. Note: this can be any one-handed weapon, as a Sawed-Off Shotgun, plus ammo, has been encountered
 * Your father has a fondness for .32 pistols, as he is equipped with one after exiting Tranquility Lane, and two can be found inside Project Purity, one in the gift shop, and another in the basement sub-levels.

Tactics
One tactic that the player may wish to use, is to fire the pistol from a distance, and then if he/she has the Chinese Stealth Suit, they should equip it, or should equip it for when the enemy gets to where they need them to be. Then, if he/she has placed a mine or grenade, it can be quite a show. You can also use stealth boys but it is not really worth it.

Trivia
It is possibly based on the "pocket revolvers" of the early 1900's - they were almost all top-break and the most common caliber was one of the many .32 cartridges made at the time, all equally anemic.

This weapon is similar in appearance to an Iver Johnson .32S&amp;W revolver, sharing both the five-shot capacity and the cheap, unreliable construction.

This weapon seems to share a connection with Bethesda's "Call of Cthulu" game. In it the revolver has the highest chance of causing your character to commit suicide. The revolver is usually found on skeletons, where the person that had one apparently shot themselves just before or after the bombs hit.

Weapons Lists
Револьвер_кал.32