(Long post, TL;DR at bottom) I recently saw a post saying hand cannons were broken and needed fixing. I started to reply, then realized it was too long and I was better off making my own post. Also this all excludes The Last Word If hand cannons were ever broken, it was in year 1 when they were too accurate at too long of a range, causing them to be overpowered. The way hand cannons are now is (mostly) the way they should be. If you tried to use a hand cannon now the way it was used in year 1, you wouldn't land a single shot. HCs, imo, are high-risk, high-reward weapons that require the skill of a patient sharpshooter. If you shoot as fast as you can and continue to body shot or miss, you are using it wrong, or HCs are not for you. I've recently become skilled with Hawkmoon because I have learned to be patient (to an extent) and take time to line up my headshots, instead of shooting full speed until I get a headshot. True masters can chain headshots at full speed. The only complaint I have about hand cannons is that they seem to have dropped to the range of an auto rifle. Currently hand cannons only work on mid-range maps such as exodus blue, twilight gap, and burning shrine. Unless you have hammer forged (increase range and accuracy) it's hard to land precision shots beyond auto rifle range. I think hand cannons should be about the range of the pulse rifle (though in year 1 HCs almost rivaled the range of the scout rifle). Conclusion/ TL;DR: Hand cannons were broken in year 1, are now harder to use, as they should be, though maybe could use a little more range. Edit: Ok I agree with the replies saying extra reserve ammo needed, but that's mostly a PvE thing, reserve ammo isn't important in PvP, which is what I'm focusing on right now. Edit: this "shot pacing" thing is not something I was aware of, apparently true masters CANT chain headshots at full rof because it's impossible. This also explains the complaints about accuracy. While this is a significant nerf, I think it accomplishes what they intended on nerfing hand cannons, unfortunately it caused scout rifles to pull ahead.