Shelling Arid 5 High Caliber Pistol

The **Shelling Arid 5 High Caliber Pistol** is a powerful semi-automatic sidearm that fills the special weapon slot, it was released in Rundown 7.0 as a rundown specific weapon, and as of ALT:Rundown 1.0 is a permanent stay within prisoners' arsenal.

## Description

The High Cal (HCP for short) is a 6-shot high-damage pistol, reminiscent of a Desert Eagle.

Much like its' presumed grandfather - the HCP is a high-risk / high reward mid-range hand cannon capable of quickly dispatching the toughest of targets.

Its main downsides are low hip-fire accuracy, high recoil, sparse ammo supply and surprisingly low effective range when compared to the alternatives.

## Weapon Comparison

When compared to the Mastaba R66 Revolver - the other special handgun - the HCP offers moderately higher damage at the cost of pretty much everything else. Comparing it to the R66 Revolver, the HCP has:

* More than double the damage (30.1 vs 14.21)
* Shorter range (8m-65m vs 12m-80m)
* Slower reload (2.5s vs 1.75s)
* Higher recoil
* Worse hip-fire accuracy
* Lower fire rate (133 vs 600 RPM)
* Slightly lower effective range (8m vs 12m)
* Smaller total ammo pool (31 vs 52)

In return, however, the R66 demands reliable headshots to truly shine, as without them it takes 2 shots to kill a Striker. The HCP can one-shot Strikers and Shooters, while also being capable of one-shoting Scouts to the head while in range.

When compared to the Buckland XDIST2 Choke Mod Shotgun - the HCP has a lot in common with it:

* Slightly higher mag size (6 vs 4)
* Slightly higher total ammo (31 vs 27)
* Slightly faster reload (2.5s vs 2.7s)
* Slightly higher damage (30.1 vs ≤30.08)
* Consistent resupplies (HCP always gets 10 shots/resupply, XDIST2 always gets 9 shots per resupply)
* Lower precision damage (22.3131... vs ≤30.08)
* Lower effective range (8m vs 15m)
* Lower potential fire rate (133 vs 1200 RPM)
* Worse hip-fire accuracy

Shooting 8 pellets instead of a single bullet means that the XDIST2 can still graze targets with a portion of the missed shot, while the HCP operates in binaries of either hitting or missing. Higher hip-fire accuracy, rudimentary ADS, and almost twice the effective range allows the XDIST2 to perform better at both close and mid range combat by simply aiming for main body mass, requiring less finesse and consideration overall. Of course, a single bullet from the HCP deals 0.02 more base damage than the base damage output from all 8 pellets from the XDIST2 - but the HCP is punished by a significantly worse precision damage multiplier. The fire rate also allows the XDIST2 to unload its entire magazine as quickly as the player can pull the trigger (even allowing it to kill a Charger Scout in 2 consecutive shots before it reacts), while the HCP is limited to ~2 rounds per second.

HCP instead enjoys the perks of shooting a single projectile instead of buckshot, and a pin-point ADS accuracy, as it can more reliably hit long range targets for full damage - a feature somewhat undercut by having almost half the effective range of its counterpart. It also deals full damage upon critical hits - albeit punished by the mediocre precision multiplier - while the XDIST2 suffers from an issue where a portion of the pellets can destroy the target's weak spot (the head, for example), causing the rest of the shot to simply follow through with no effect. To this end, this is HCP's primary feature, with small differences in ammo supply and reload speed as a bonus.

## Tips

* Aiming down sights is paramount to make your shots count, even at close range.
* Hip-firing is an option at point blank range, but the possibility of failure is always there unless the target fills the entire screen. It should be noted that bullets very rarely go into the outer edges of the aiming reticle.
* It is a good idea to combine HCP with low-risk mid-range main weapons such as the Rifle or Assault Rifle (and their various cousins) as they can be efficiently used to finish off long-range targets that HCP managed to hit, but not kill.

## Trivia

* It is the first pistol to be added to the Special Weapon category. The R66 Revolver *technically* does not count, because it's a revolver.
	+ They are both handguns, however, making HCP the 2nd Special Handgun to be added.
* HCP's lower frame (grip, trigger, etc) is exactly the same as that of Shelling S49 Pistol. The only differences are seen in the upper frame/slide, implying that one is simply a modification of the other - especially as they were both manufactured by Shelling.
	+ Both pistols also share the same reloading animation, with HCP's version simply being notably slower.

## Gallery

* First Person View
* Aiming Down Sights