Despite having unique differences from one another, all primary weapons in the game share several qualities:

• All weapons, save for the Hunter .500, have 7 shots in their magazine.
  
• All weapons, save for the Calter PP7S, are guaranteed to one-shot enemies, with the exception of armored enemies (who require two shots, or one at close range).
  
• All weapons come with a reserve of one full magazine; in the case of the Deadeye and Hunter, which require you to load individual bullets, you can carry enough bullets for one full reload.
  
• Despite the SVP 30LB being the only one to mention it in its description, all weapons come with a laser sight attached.
  
• All primary weapons regain ammo from performing a Clean Suit (7-shot combo with primary weapon) or executing an enemy (performed through melee beatdowns, counterattacks, or stealth kills from behind). If the weapon's ammo is completely full, executions will replenish the reserve ammo.

Despite being the game's starting weapon, the SVP is a capable weapon from the very beginning all the way to the very end of the game. Its well-rounded nature makes it a fairly straightforward gun to use, and its decent fire rate makes it better than some of its peers when you're trying to wipe a group of enemies out in slow-motion.

Its ultimate ability reloads the gun with armor-piercing rounds. Aside from acting as a free reload, which is always useful, this allows you to score one-shot kills on armored or shielded enemies even from a distance; the only weapon in the game with the capability to do so.

The Deadeye is a somewhat more tricky gun to use, as rather than having a magazine, it has seven chambers which must be reloaded individually. Because of this, reloading this gun can take significantly longer than its magazine-based peers; however, it also has the benefit of being more frugal with its ammunition, as you can reload before the gun is empty without having to worry about wasting unspent bullets. Where your ammo counter is normally located, it is instead replaced with a diagram of the revolver's chambers, showing which are loaded and which are not. Pay attention; if your revolver is currently on an empty chamber, firing will do nothing!

Its ultimate ability reloads the gun and briefly places you into a slow-motion "Deadeye" state where you can mark multiple enemies, before rapidly firing all your rounds at once. This is fun to use. but not a whole lot more practical than slowing time and dispatching a group of enemies normally, unless you don't have the stamina to spare.

The Calter offers a uniquely different playstyle to the other guns, trading out raw firepower for limited stealth capabilities. The suppressor on the gun makes it so that enemies won't hear your gunshots from anywhere beyond close range, but the damage dropoff also makes it so that shots at longer ranges will no longer one-shot enemies. As an added bonus, killing unaware enemies makes them drop a single bullet (even if they normally wouldn't), and your perfect-shot combo window's duration is extended, making it easier to get Clean Suits. Be wary; if you make a long-distance shot that doesn't kill, you'll lose your combo!*

*After some in-game testing, I have discovered that landing a non-lethal hit on an enemy will NOT cancel your Perfect Shot combo, meaning that you can still potentially get a Clean Suit. However, due to the wasted bullet, you'll still need to scrounge up a replacement shot if you want to accomplish it.

Its ultimate ability acts as a free reload and slows down enemy detection speed, making you more difficult to spot and thus making stealth kills easier to achieve. The duration appears to be unlimited, but being spotted by an enemy will cancel it immediately, which is highly likely to happen on levels with open spaces or tightly-packed groups.

The SNG is a little more similar to the starting SVP than the other guns, featuring a regular magazine (unlike the Deadeye) and having no damage dropoff (unlike the Calter). Its primary difference is its new quality of dropping free rounds from enemies who are standing close to walls when they are killed, potentially giving you additional ammo in close-quarters firefights. Its fire rate is the lowest in the game, however, reducing its utility when cutting down large groups of enemies in slow motion.

Its ultimate ability increases the power of its projectiles for a decent period of time, improving the odds that you'll nail them to walls and gain free shots. Unlike the ultimate abilities before it, however, it does not act as a free reload.

Probably the best pistol in the game...as long you don't miss. The Hunter is a single-shot pistol, but it replenishes its shot on every successful kill, giving it unlimited ammo as long as you can consistently hit your shots. This removes the need to worry about acquiring more ammo, though missing has devastating consequences. The reload time is extremely long, and you can only carry one additional bullet as a reserve; miss that one as well, and you're completely out of luck.

Its ultimate ability has no offensive power; instead, it refills your armor, giving you three free hits without being killed. This ability is absolutely incredible for Veteran/Legend difficulty, where armor is completely unavailable otherwise and you are constantly vulnerable to an instant death.

With the release of 1.0, the final primary weapon is finally here! While it comes with the standard 7-round capacity, it has no capacity for spare bullets, leaving the user helpless if they run dry. Fortunately, any enemies you shoot with the Deagle will drop a single ammo pickup, regardless of their armament or difficulty, allowing you to maintain a steady ammo supply (provided you remember to pick them up).

Its ultimate acts as a free reload, like many others, as you equip a second Deagle to dual-wield. This not only refills your ammo, but doubles your total capacity to 14 shots; you can essentially look at the ultimate as the "spare magazine" of this gun. Getting a Clean Suit/execution will replenish BOTH guns, restoring all 14 shots instead of just 7. This lasts indefinitely until you run out of ammo; bear in mind that once you do, you still won't have any magazines to reload with. If you're running low and don't think you'll be able to replenish your ammo in time, it might be worth using the ultimate again, provided it is charged.

The increased melee damage isn't a huge deal, since you shouldn't really be relying on melee as your primary form of attack, but it's nice to have in a pinch when your ammo runs dry. The extra damage has an annoying tendency to kill enemies before they're vulnerable to an execution, though.