Bolt pistol
A bolt pistol is a bolt weapon and a smaller version of the boltgun in standard use by the Space Marines (where the current variant is the Astartes Mk III). The weapons are also used by many other Imperial forces as well as the Chaos Space Marines. It is commonly used in conjunction with a close combat weapon by officers and veterans to make them into a combat specialist squad.
The bolt pistol is favoured over the laspistol due to its improved killing ability, although it is less reliable and generally holds fewer shots in its magazine. A bolt pistol magazine carries only 6 to 10 rounds of standard bolt rounds8, each weighing about 0.08kg and with a diameter of .75 calibre (19.05mm). The pistol is able to fire either a single shot or a short three-round burst.
While standard boltguns are rarely used by the Imperial Guard, bolt pistols are quite popular amongst the Commissariat, and are frequently used by junior officers and NCOs in place of their regular laspistol sidearms. It is likely that bolt pistols used by the Imperial Guard are smaller than the Astartes Mk III, based upon observations of the Inquisitor Thaddeus.
Sources
- 1:Codex: Space Marines (4th Edition)
- 2:Codex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition, 1st Codex)
- 3:Codex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex)
- 4:Codex: Chaos Space Marines (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex)
- 5:Codex: Daemonhunters
- 6:The Bleeding Chalice by Ben Counter
- 7:Warhammer 40,000: Wargear
- 8Warhammer 40,000 3rd Edition Rulebook p60
