Editing M6D magnum

{{Era|HCW}}
{{Weapon Infobox
|image=[[File:M6d-pistol.jpg|300px]]
|manufacturer=[[Misriah Armory]]
|series=[[M6 Series]]
|type=
|cost=
|variant=
|service=[[Human-Covenant War]]
|affiliation=[[United Nations Space Command]]
|weight=
|length=26.7 centimeters{{citation needed}}
|ammotype=12.7x40mm [[M225 Semi-Armor-Piercing High-Explosive]]<ref>'''Halo: Combat Evolved''' manual</ref>
|feed=12 rounds magazine
|operation=[[Wikipedia:Recoil operation#Short recoil operation|Short Recoil Principle]]
|rate=~210 RPM
|velocity=
|range=Short to medium
}}

The '''M6D Personal Defense Weapon System'''<ref>'''[[The Art of Halo]]''', ''page 99''</ref> , otherwise known as the '''M6D Magnum Sidearm''', is a [[United Nations Space Command]] sidearm and is one of the variants of [[Misriah Armory]]'s [[M6 Series|M6]] handgun series.

==Design Details==
[[File:Pistol.png|thumb|left|160px|M6D Schematic.]]
The M6D Pistol is an 'up-sized' UNSC handgun issued to Navy officers. This model has been upscaled for use by [[SPARTAN-II]]s in [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor|MJOLNIR]] armor. Even though the Spartan issue pistols are larger than the standard-issue variants (~117%) they can still share magazines.<ref name="H3R">[http://www.bungie.net/projects/odst/guide.aspx '''Bungie.net''': ''Halo 3: ODST - Field Guide'']</ref> The M6D is an automatic, recoil-operated, magazine-fed, large-bore handgun that is controllable even during rapid fire, although at the cost of accuracy. It is most likely striker-fired, due to there being no visible external hammer. It fires M225 SAP-HE (Semi-Armor Piercing, High Explosive) rounds from a 12-round magazine. Operators can achieve an effective rate of fire of 3.5 rounds/sec or 210 rounds/min. The weapon is very accurate out to its maximum effective range. This accuracy allows incredibly precise target engagement at long range. This, combined with its decent damage against [[Energy shielding|Energy Shields]], makes it a viable option when faced with shielded opponents, such as Elites. It is, however, even more effective against unshielded infantry targets, being able to kill most targets in one shot to the head or two to three shots to the body.

The M6D is a semi-automatic weapon<ref name="auto" group="note">The game's manual states that the weapon is fully-automatic and during gameplay, the weapon will fire in a fully-automatic fashion when the player holds down the fire button, though it can be seen that the player's character model pulls the trigger for each individual shot, suggesting that the weapon is canonically semi-automatic.</ref> - this principle of weapon operations means that the weapon will cock itself after every shot due to recoil and will continue to do so with every trigger pull until the magazine is empty. The M6D also uses the short recoil principle; it uses the force of the recoil to allow ejection of the spent casing, chamber another cartridge, and re-cock the weapon so that it may be fired again. Before the first round can be fired, a round must be chambered. This is done by inserting a loaded magazine into the grip of the weapon and then by pulling the slide back completely and letting it slingshot forward, which takes a round from the top of the magazine and carries it into the chamber. To reload, the empty magazine must be removed with the magazine release button located on the grip and a fresh magazine inserted. Once the fresh magazine is inserted, the slide is allowed to return to its normal position by the operator. There is no need to re-cock the weapon. Cocking is only necessary when chambering the first round when bringing the weapon out of "safe" mode - safety on, uncocked, unloaded.

The M6D is a very basic pistol compared to most 26th century technology. It is a large handgun, having an overall length of 26.7cm and possesses a rifled barrel, improving accuracy by spinning the bullet. It is issued in a hard chrome finish color and operates like most contemporary pistols. It has rear sights but it does not have a forward sight blade, which is replaced by the smart-link scope. It features a [[KFA-2 x2]] optical, smart-linked scope. This scope links directly to a user's [[heads-up display]] or a Marine [[UNSC tactical eyepiece|eye piece]]. It also has a large grip guard, which helps prevent the user from dropping it and a chrome barrel which helps prevent corrosion.

===Ammunition===
The M6D uses 12.7x40mm M225 SAPHE (Semi Armor Piercing High Explosive) magnum loads. These rounds have a jacket of copper or cupro-nickel around the projectile while the projectile itself is hollow and filled with an explosive compound and a delayed-detonation impact fuse. When the round impacts a target, the jacket will initially help the projectile maintain its shape, allowing it to travel into the target before detonating almost immediately after impact, causing massive tissue damage and system shock. Semi-armor piercing rounds are more effective against infantry targets as compared to armor piercing rounds due to the massive KE dump and catastrophic system damage caused by internally-fracturing rounds, and have the added bonus of posing less risk to friendlies and noncombatants in the vicinity of the target. The explosive properties of the rounds also render them decently effective against personal shielding systems and are capable of damaging lightly-armored vehicles.

===Advantages===
The M6D PDWS is one of the UNSC's most trusted combat pistols. It is very accurate (equal to many battle rifles and designated marksman rifles without the size), allowing for successful engagement at any range below 122.7 meters. It also does a considerable amount of damage against both shielded infantry and flesh, even those wearing Covenant body armor, as it fires 12.7x40mm M225 SAP-HE rounds. The large bullet and cartridge size yields a large amount of kinetic energy, enough to quickly deplete any form of energy shields and crack armor plating. Its semi-armor-piercing ability, combined with the high kinetic energy allows the bullet to penetrate most physical armor, after which its high explosive core detonates, doing impressive damage to organs and flesh. In addition, unlike many pistols which suffer from a small ammunition reserve, the M6D has an extended magazine with 12 rounds, more than enough to put down practically any target the user might face.

===Disadvantages===
Although the M6D has more advantages than it does disadvantages, the weapon does have a few weaknesses. A person using the M6D must be extremely efficient at aiming the M6D, taking into account of how physics work; projectiles have their own physics and are such affected by user movements. Firing on the run is, understandably, a difficult thing to pull off with any form of accuracy. The user must take the enemies movements into account, as well as the small spread that is present when the pistol is fired. In order to pull off a three shot kill against shielded infantry, the user must have good reflexes and know where and how to aim, taking into account all of the previous facts. This alone makes the M6D difficult to use, since new users must learn all this in order to use the M6D effectively. Although the pistol can hit a target at long ranges, it cannot hit, let alone kill an enemy at a distance greater than 122.7 meters. The reload is also surprisingly long, and the melee attack leaves the user exposed as he flipped the pistol back into firing position.

==Influences==
The M6D pistol combines the features of several modern-day pistols: The Desert Eagle is a large, semi-automatic pistol using similarly-sized ammunition. It, however, uses a gas-actuated feed system instead of the short recoil system. The Mark XIX feature two grooves on the barrel that allow the mounting of optics, such as holo sights and scopes. The Browning Hi-Power is a smaller pistol that also uses the short recoil principle and is semi-automatic. It fires much smaller ammunition, however. The pistol fires 12.7x40mm rounds, making them very similar to the real-life 12.7x41mm (.500 S&W Magnum) round used by the Smith&Wesson M500 magnum revolver. The pistol in Marathon, Bungie's previous FPS, had a visible scope. It is possible this is where Bungie's idea of giving a pistol a scope originated.

==Trivia==
{{Linkbox|gallery=yes|gallerypage=Images of M6D Magnum Pistol|gameplay=yes}}
*This is the first weapon players receive in the ''Halo'' series, on the level ''[[The Pillar of Autumn (Halo: Combat Evolved level)|The Pillar of Autumn]]'' from [[Captain (Navy)|Captain]] [[Jacob Keyes]].
*One of the comments on the weapon changes in ''Halo 2'' revolved around the fact that in ''Halo 1'', "the assault rifle handled like an SMG and the pistol handled like a rifle." In ''Halo 2'', the altered weapon loadout featured "a [[Battle Rifle|rifle]] that handles like a rifle, a [[M6C Personal Defense Weapon System|pistol]] that handles like a pistol, and an [[SMG]] that handles like an SMG."<ref>'''The Art of Halo''', ''page 103''</ref>
*The M6D has Japanese kanji (the character "[[Seven]]") written on it. In ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary]]'', this has been changed to Korean hangul which still stands for "Seven".
*One shot to the exposed orange flesh of a [[Hunter]] will result in a kill, no matter what difficulty setting. This is due to the flesh being flagged as "head".{{Verify_source}}
*In the ''Halo 2'' multiplayer map ''[[Tombstone]]'', there is a M6D Pistol crate that's behind the right side of the fence that is stretched over the water trench in the middle of the map. You must zoom in to see it properly.
*[http://www.ScrewAttack.com ScrewAttack] noted the M6D as "the most powerful pistol in FPS history" in their Top 10 First Person Shooters of all time.
*During early phases of ''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'''s development, the upgraded graphics layer for the M6D was that of the ''Halo: Reach'' iteration of the M6G, serving as a placeholder until an appropriate graphics skin was created. In the final game, this was changed to the [[Halo 3]] iteration of the M6G.
*The M6D is featured in the ''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'' multiplayer and, by extension, the Anniversary playlists of ''Halo: Reach''. Due to development constraints it retains the ''Halo: Reach'' M6G appearance and sounds, but other characteristics of the weapon replicate the M6D.<ref>'''[[BTS]]: [[BTS: Anniversary Multiplayer|Anniversary Multiplayer]]'''</ref> The M6D is a playlist-related feature and isn't available in the ''Reach'' custom games.
*[[Pre-Xbox Halo|Early in the development]] of ''Halo: Combat Evolved'', the pistol that would become the M6D was known as the '''60 Magnum Mega Class M4a'''.<ref>'''[[Bungie]] [[ViDoc]]''': ''[[Bungie ViDoc: O Brave New World|O Brave New World]]''</ref> This is a reference to the [[w:c:marathongame:.44 Magnum Mega Class|.44 Magnum Mega Class]], the standard UEG pistol from the ''[[Marathon]]'' series.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:M6D SAP.jpg|Front and Back views of the M6D.
File:Halo 1 pistol.png|A view of the M6D Pistol being held.
File:HCE-M6DMagnumPistol.png|An in-game profile view of the M6D from ''Halo: Combat Evolved''.
File:HCE M6DMagnumPistol Screen.png|An in-game close-up view of the M6D.
File:HaloCE-M6DAmmopack.png|The ammunition pack for the M6D.
File:Pistol1.jpg|[[John-117]] firing an M6D in a beta build of ''Halo: Combat Evolved''.
File:MC M6D.jpg|John-117 wielding an M6D.
File:M6D fire.jpg|Spartan firing the M6D. Notice the opened slide.
File:PistolScope-cropped.png|The 2x telescopic sight of an M6D Magnum Pistol from ''Halo: Combat Evolved''.
File:HaloCE-M6D2xScope-screen.png|In-game 2x telescopic sight of an M6D Magnum Pistol from ''Halo: Combat Evolved''.
File:M6D_Halo_2.png|The M6D in the ''Halo 2'' map [[Tombstone]]
File:M6D Halo 2 Box.png|The M6D storage crate in the ''Halo 2'' map Tombstone
File:M6D CEA.png|The M6D in ''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary''.
File:HCEA-M6DMagnumPistol-Scope.jpg|The M6D's 2x scope when zoomed in ''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary''.
File:Modified M6G2.png|A full view of the M6D in ''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'', using ''Halo 3'''s M6G model.
File:H5G-WIPM6D.png|The M6D model (on the left) being developed for ''[[Halo 5: Guardians]]''.
</gallery>

==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'' {{1st}}
*''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]''
*''[[Halo: The Flood]]''
*''[[Halo: First Strike]]''
*''[[Halo 2]]''
*''[[Halo Graphic Novel]]''
**''[[Breaking Quarantine]]''
*''[[Halo: Helljumper]]''
*''[[Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe]]''
**''[[The Mona Lisa]]''
*''[[Halo: Blood Line]]''
*''[[Halo: Fall of Reach]]''
**''[[Halo: Fall of Reach - Invasion|Invasion]]''
*''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary]]''
**''[[Terminal/Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary|Terminals]]''
*''[[Halo 5: Guardians]]''

==Notes==
<references group="note"/>
==Sources==
<references/>

==Related Pages==
*[[Pistol Kanji]]
*[[Misriah Armory]]

{{UNSC pistols}}
[[Category:Pistols]]