Hellgun

The Hellgun. Sad it is getting replaced by the less awesome Hotshot Lasguns. But not among the Kasrkin and presumably the grenadiers of IG regiments.

The enemies of the Imperium may mistakenly laugh over a "Flashlight with a Camping Bag", but Emprah help them once he released 12 packs of (Conveniently named)"HELL".

The Hellgun is an advanced high-powered variant of the IG lasgun. While the lasgun fires at a fairly rapid semi-automatic rate with a full auto setting, the hellgun is capable of firing extremely rapidly at full auto nonstop, allowing the user to bring the Empra's light faster and deadlier than the standard-issue Flashlight. Besides the fact that it needs a backpack-mounted power supply to use, its power conduits and optics also burn out faster, requiring extensive maintenance, and because of this it is only issued to elite Imperial Guard units like the Kasrkin or elite Grenadier units. The back-pack mounted battery gives a hellgun or hellpistol continuous fire without reloading, which is very handy when you're facing massed Orks, traitor guardsmen/heretics/cultists, and Tyranids in high-intensity combat situations. It's almost on par with a bolter, but it is way easier on the quartermaster due to needing recharging instead of ammunition, although periodic maintenance does require spare parts. For some fucktarded reason they are getting replaced by hotshot lasguns which are essentially just regular lasguns with supercharged shots. Ehhh, Dark Heresy has rules for both weapons. The newly released Cadian Gate Edition of the Imperial Munitorum Manual refers only to a Hellgun/Hellpistol. It describes them as more powerful than the standard las-fire and having excellent armor piercing capabilities. Full auto capability is also retained. It might be assumed that a hotshot lasgun merely uses the individual "magazine" hotshot power cells, while the hellgun is specifically designed to use the backpack-style "death-machine" capacitor. That or once again Games Workshop has failed to effectively manage its intellectual properties. Most likely, since the lore consistently has Stormtroopers wielding hotshot lasguns and Kasrkin as using hellguns and the art and models of both are different with the hellgun still looking like a hellgun and the hotshot lasgun looking like a bunch of cylinders getting smaller towards the barrel like a reverse telescope.

Probably the latter. As evidence, please consult page 8 of Codex: Militarum Tempestus, which describes the Ryza pattern Hotshot Lasgun. It is described as using "a hyper-yield power array worn as a backpack rig." The codex entry actually mentions it NOT using the maglike power packs in service amongst the Imperial Guard.

In light of that bit of ambiguity, the only thing that can be said definitively about the hellgun/hot-shot lasgun is that it is outperforms the standard lasgun in armor-piercing and damage at the cost of increased weight and scarcity. Otherwise its the stub/auto conundrum, again.

Update: The recently re-released Made-To-Order Kasrkin models describe their guns as Hot-Shot lasguns. It's an official name change. Lexicanum notes that the two terms are inter-changeable and the backpack/magazine power-supply is dependent on the mark. They otherwise are still select fire, armor-piercing and (in the fluff and RPGs at least) also deals more terminal damage than the standard lasgun.

Creed has two pistol versions of them on his belt. actually they are hot-shot laspistols. Note: Unless the terms are equivalent inter-changeable, as seems to be the case right now, in which case they can be referred to as either Hellpistols or hot-shot laspistols.

What the heavy stubber is to autoguns and what the stormbolter is to bolters, the hellgun is to lasguns.

Hellpistol

A Hellpistol.

The Hellgun's baby cousin. Often confused with the Hotshot Laspistol since their functions are roughly the same. Unlike the larger Hellgun, which is normally restricted to special forces units, Hot-Shot Laspistols are more quite common among high-ranking Imperial officials, including Imperial Guard officers or agents of the Inquisition.

There are two known types of Hellpistols.

Cadian-pattern Hellpistol: Associated with the fortress world of Cadia, this pattern of hellpistol has been adopted in places as far away as the Calixis Sector. Like other hellweapons the pistol draws energy from a 10 kg backpack powerpack, though it can also hook up to a larger 15 kg powerpack for more shots. Cadian-pattern hellpistols also incorporate an integral Targeter to assist the user while still allowing for a second sight to be attached.

Lucius-pattern Hellpistol: This Hellpistol is produced on the Lucius Forge World and is a common sidearm for many Imperial officials. It can connect to a standard 10 kg backpack powerpack or a larger 15 kg powerpack for additional shots.