Magnum Pistol

"Oh… my… GOD."

- Rochelle

"Niiice!"

- Nick

The Magnum is the most powerful handgun in Left 4 Dead 2. It has an eight bullet magazine and deals a lot more damage; however, it cannot be dual-wielded. The Magnum is able to achieve a one hit kill almost anywhere on a Common Infected, as well dealing moderate damage to Special Infected. The weapon can also blow limbs off Common Infected. The Magnum appears typically where an extra Pistol would be waiting, though it is considerably more rare. It also has the unique feature of having identical accuracy when incapacitated as when standing.

Tactics

 * When using the Magnum, aim for the body to compensate for its huge recoil.
 * The Magnum can be used effectively both at close and long range against the Infected.
 * The Magnum has superior penetration against Common Infected and as such can quickly dispatch entire lines of rushing or clustered zombies.
 * The Magnum is not as useful against most Special Infected (excluding the Boomer and Spitter who are comparatively weak), especially on higher difficulties. The weapon's small magazine, high recoil and mediocre fire rate make it an unsuitable weapon against targets that can absorb entire magazines before falling.
 * Generally, people who use shotguns do not need to carry the magnum. Their primary weapons already do high damage, and they could easily run out of ammo using only these low capacity weapons. But they might want it for effective long distance shooting.
 * A Magnum is good to have when incapacitated. The power of the gun will tear through multiple Common Infected at once.
 * The Magnum is also good in combination with the grenade launcher, the AK-47 or the 30-round sniper rifle. With either weapon, especially on higher difficulties, be sure you know how to use them effectively. A good grenade launcher user will know how to lead a target and place a grenade right in a Special Infected's lap.
 * The Magnum is the only weapon that can kill a common infected with a single shot in any part of the body on Realism mode (all other weapons require several shots to the body but only 1 to the head), which makes it very useful to have when playing Realism on Expert Difficulty. Whether this is intended by Valve or not is currently unknown.

Pros

 * Extremely powerful for a sidearm.
 * Kills Common Infected in one shot, even in Expert and Realism mode at close range, making it one of the few guns able to do so.
 * 80 damage per bullet and infinite ammo.
 * Rounds can pierce through multiple infected, making it very useful against the horde.
 * Very accurate when still or crouching.
 * Provides superior ground cover when incapacitated.

Cons

 * Lower rate of fire.
 * Has a high amount of recoil that reduces accuracy when fired quickly, hampering its performance against distant special infected.
 * Holds only 8 rounds at a time.
 * Deals more friendly fire damage.
 * Cannot be dual-wielded.
 * On the harder difficulties, such as Advanced and Expert, the Magnum will take 2 shots to take out a normal Infected if they are farther away.

Behind the Scenes
The Magnum was originally supposed to be called the "Desert Cobra". A string calling the Magnum the Desert Cobra is in "left4dead2_english.txt" under a line about the Magnum. The name Desert Cobra only appears in the final on the sign next to the Magnum in Whitaker's Gun Shop, which calls the weapon the ".50 Desert Cobra".

Trivia

 * Even though the Magnum is modeled in the .50 AE caliber, the eight round magazine is only used in the .44 magnum variant. Though no other guns seem to use this, it is possible that it's "seven in the clip, one in the chamber." This would not hold true for reloads from empty, however, and it is entirely possible eight rounds was decided upon for gameplay balance.
 * Similar to the P220 Pistols, the Magnum has no walking animation.
 * According to the text on the Magnum's side, the Magnum is produced by "1337 Weapon Industries (yOgi) PWN." and is made in Shyville.
 * Both the left and right side of the Magnum are identical, down to the grease stains, while the P220 Pistol has slightly different left and right sides.
 * While incapacitated, the Magnum's accuracy and rate of fire is the same as if you are not incapacitated and standing still. Holding crouch while incapacitated will result in uncanny accuracy. (As of the December 09, 2009 update, this is no longer the case, as crouching while incapacitated no longer increases accuracy)
 * On Nick's survivor page on L4D.com, the bottom picture has him holding the basic P220 pistol. However, one of the picture's captions erroneously says that it is a Magnum.
 * The HUD icon shows a different flashlight attachment than the in game model has.
 * The Magnum is modeled after the real life Desert Eagle XIX, designed by Magnum Research and manufactured by Israel Weapon Industries.