Here is a pro tip from an SVT user.
Sometimes, I encounter people and I miss with the ammo I have left.
Switching your weapon actually takes time.
Learn to throw away your weapon and you auto-equip the handgun.
Neat.
I re-bound my keys so I no longer use my scroll wheel, but use NumPad 1, 2 and 3 to toggle my weapons.
By using this, I can quickly switch between primary weapons, or jump to my pistol..... and if I was in Iron Sights with the first weapon, switching to my pistol or my other primary means I automatically bring up the new weapon in Iron Sights as well.... and is very fast..... far more faster than using the damn wheel and clicking, which I learned playing Killing Floor.
The recoil on the C96 is ridiculous. That thing jumps 2 feet above the the target after one shot.
I remember the C96 on Combined Arms...... it wasn't so much the recoil that bugged me, it was those tiny little sights on it that made it almost impossible to aim with.... and for some reason, trying to aim with the Lugar was just as bad, which is why I quickly became a fan of the P38.
The T33 is a close second, but the P38 was my fav in ROCA and RO1.... it's up there still in RO2. The thing just has style and looks to it.... like a spy pistol. While the pistols in the previous RO's were almost completely useless, I did end up with a pile of kills with the P38 and T33.
I do have the C96 available to me as of a day or two ago, but I have yet to use it to see what it's like.
Iron Sights is always the key with the pistols in RO. If you are in a closed in area and feel enemies are near, bring up the IS and round the corner.
And don't bother crouching as it just slows you down enough for someone to blow off your arm or leg as you round the corner. Stand and walk with the pistol in IS..... you swing around the corner quickly yet accurately enough to almost always take anybody out whos waiting.
I do end up shooting in 3-shot bursts at my targets, as the first round does tend to hit a leg, arm or the far side of the torso, but the next two rounds almost always get them in the head, chest or nutz.
Speaking of which, has anybody gotten a Nutcracker Melee Kill with a pistol yet? That'd be funny to see in a video.