Breaking Bad is careful with guns in a way almost no other drama is. Walter White doesn’t pick up a pistol and suddenly know how to use it. He buys one badly, gets talked through it by a dealer, carries it awkwardly, and the show remembers every step.
There’s an entire episode named after his revolver. Here’s every significant firearm in the series and what the show does with it.
Table of Contents
Walter White’s Ruger LCR
The episode is called “Thirty-Eight Snub,” and the gun is a Ruger LCR.
Walt buys it from the arms dealer Lawson along with an inside-the-waistband leather holster. What makes the scene is the advice. Lawson recommends 158 grain hollow points for stopping power, and tells him not to cross draw unless he’s sitting down. That’s real, specific, sensible counter advice, and the show lets it play without a wink.
The LCR then does actual work. Walt takes it to Los Pollos Hermanos in “Shotgun” when he wants to see Gus face to face. Jesse picks it up and points it at Walt at the end of “End Times.” And in “Face/Off,” Walt kills two of Gus’s enforcers in the superlab with it, saving Jesse, before destroying the gun along with the lab.
A polymer-framed five-shot .38 is a completely believable first gun for a middle-aged man who has never owned one. That’s the point.
We put 500 rounds through one in our Ruger LCR review. See also best snub-nose revolvers and best .38 Special revolvers.
The Ruger KP89 he turned down
In that same scene, Lawson first offers Walt a Ruger KP89, a full-size stainless 9mm auto, and Walt examines it before going with the revolver instead. It’s a small beat that does a lot: the semi-auto is the gun a confident man buys, and Walt isn’t there yet.
The M60
Two seasons later, the same dealer sells him an M60 machine gun with an instruction manual and several boxes of ammunition at the beginning of “Live Free or Die.” The instruction manual is the joke. Walt has gone from a five-shot revolver he needed talking through to a belt-fed machine gun he intends to work out himself, and the show never once explains the escalation because it doesn’t have to.
Hank Schrader’s Glock 22
Hank carries a Glock 22 in .40 S&W as his DEA service pistol, consistently, across the whole run. That’s correct for the agency in that period and it’s a nice contrast with Walt: Hank’s gun is boring, issued and completely unremarkable, which is exactly what a real agent’s sidearm is.
The rest of the New Mexico arsenal
Glock 17s are everywhere, in cartel hands and police holsters alike. The Beretta 92FS Inox turns up repeatedly, and the stainless finish reads beautifully against the desert. Mossberg 500s handle the shotgun work, there’s a Taurus Model 85 snub, Smith & Wesson 5906 autos, HK MP5Ks and Mark 23s for the heavier cartel scenes, and M4A1 carbines when things go properly wrong.
Why the gun work matters
Most shows treat a gun as a prop that means “this character is dangerous now.” Breaking Bad treats it as a purchase, with a price, a fitting, advice from a salesman and consequences afterwards. Walt’s revolver has a shopping trip, a holster, a load recommendation and a disposal. Very few dramas bother with any of that.
Frequently asked questions
What revolver does Walter White buy?
A Ruger LCR in .38 Special, bought from the dealer Lawson in “Thirty-Eight Snub” along with an inside-the-waistband holster.
What ammunition was Walt told to use?
Lawson recommends 158 grain hollow points, and advises against a cross draw unless he’s sitting down.
What machine gun does Walt buy at the end?
An M60, purchased from the same dealer with an instruction manual and several boxes of ammunition at the start of “Live Free or Die.”
What pistol does Hank Schrader carry?
A Glock 22 in .40 S&W, his DEA service sidearm, carried consistently throughout the series.
Keep exploring
Part of our guns of TV legends series. See also Sons of Anarchy and The Walking Dead.
6,232+ Gun & Ammo Deals
Updated daily from 200+ top retailers. Filter by category, caliber, action type, and price.
Related Guides