Leon's Handgun

Leon's default weapon at the beginning of Resident Evil 4, and the only firearm available at the start of the game. It takes up 6 spaces (3x2) of Leon's inventory and, if sold or discarded, can be bought back for 8,000 pesetas.

To begin with, it has a firepower of 1.0, can fire every .47 seconds, takes 1.73 seconds to reload, and has a capacity of 10 rounds.

When fully upgraded, it has a firepower of 2.0, can fire every .33 seconds, takes .87 seconds to reload, and has a capacity of 25 rounds. The Handgun costs 206,000 pesetas to fully upgrade (198,000 if the player did not sell the starting handgun).

Its exclusive upgrade multiplies the chances of a critical (lethal) headshot fivefold.

Leon's basic Handgun is a useful weapon during the first portion of the game. While by no means powerful, it allows the player to defend him/herself long enough to obtain a superior weapon. The exclusive upgrade can prove surprisingly effective against Ganados, but unfortunately this feature has no effect against more powerful foes. Most players tend to replace the Handgun as soon as they can (often with the Punisher through the Blue Medallion subquest).

Leon will always appear in cutscenes with his default handgun, even if the player has already sold it.

The handgun is often mistaken for an HK USP. However, Ryoumura Jyoshin (the weapon designer for the Devil May Cry, Biohazard and Dino Crisis series) claims that he designed the weapon himself with no individual base model. Anatomically, the Handgun bears a very close resemblance to the Sig/Sauer P226, especially in the slide, magazine, and lower frame.

The gun has engravings on the slide displaying "Kendo Custom Shop", suggesting that the sidearm was custom built for Leon, probably by Joe Kendo, a gunsmith from Resident Evil 2. Wesker carries a fully-upgraded Handgun in The Mercenaries mode, but also attaches a silencer to his gun which is not seen anywhere else in the game.