« | Starter pistol is a revolver commonly used to start competitive races. Only the sound of the shot is used as the starting signal. This pistol uses flares, and a cloud of smoke can be seen when the gun goes off. Field Manual[1]
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The Starter Pistol is a 10 mm flare gun used by Altian racing marshals in ArmA 3. It was added with the release of the Karts DLC.
Overview[]
The Starter Pistol is a double-action revolver chambered to fire 10 mm signal flare slugs.
It can only be loaded with 6-round cylinders, and can attain a fire rate of up to 240 rounds per minute.[CfgWp 6][Formula 1] Its 10 mm flare slugs are always fired with a muzzle velocity of 240 m/s.[CfgWp 7] The Starter Pistol cannot be customised with optics, laser sights/flashlights, or muzzle attachments.
Designed solely as a non-combat signalling weapon, the Starter Pistol can launch either red or green (harmless) short-range signal flares into the air to mark the start of racing matches. It can also be used to mark locations for friendly forces, essentially serving as an improvised flare gun in emergencies, or to illuminate specific locations as a low-tech alternative to 40 mm flare shells used by underbarrel grenade launchers.
Ironsights[]

The Starter Pistol does not provide the user with a pair of ironsights. The weapon itself is set to a fixed zeroing of 50 metres.[CfgWp 8] This cannot be manually adjusted.
Ammunition[]
Ammo parameter | 10 mm Flare Slug (Green/Red) [ Primary Slug ] |
10 mm Flare (Green/Red) [ Submunition Flare ] |
---|---|---|
Base damage value | 0 [CfgAm 1][CfgAm 2] |
0 [CfgAm 3][CfgAm 4] |
Aerodynamic friction | -0.0216 [CfgAm 5][CfgAm 6] |
0 [CfgAm 7][CfgAm 8] |
Muzzle velocity (m/s) | 240 [CfgMa 2][CfgMa 3] |
Dependent on primary slug velocity [CfgAm 9][CfgAm 10][note 1] |
Trigger delay (seconds) | 0.9 [CfgAm 11][CfgAm 12] |
0.5 [CfgAm 13][CfgAm 14] |
Flare duration (seconds) | N/A | 10 [CfgAm 15][CfgAm 16] |
No. of flares | N/A | 3 [CfgAm 17][CfgAm 18] |
The Starter Pistol can only be loaded with two types of magazines.[CfgWp 9] Both magazines share the same weight of 12 "mass" units:[CfgMa 4][CfgMa 5]
6Rnd Signal Cylinder (Green)[]

Standard 6-round cylinder loaded with 10 mm green-coloured flare slugs.[CfgMa 6]
0.9 seconds after being fired[CfgAm 11], the primary slug will scatter into three separate green flares.[CfgAm 19] The flares will then be scattered within a 35 degree cone[CfgAm 20] using Poisson-disc sampling distribution.[CfgAm 17] There is a brief delay of 0.5 seconds before each of the flares ignite.[CfgAm 11] The flares will burn for up to 10 seconds before they expire.[CfgAm 15]
6Rnd Signal Cylinder (Red)[]

Alternate cylinder magazine loaded with red-coloured 10 mm flare slugs.[CfgMa 7]
0.9 seconds after being fired[CfgAm 12], the primary slug will scatter into three separate red flares.[CfgAm 21] The flares will then be scattered within a 35 degree cone[CfgAm 22] using Poisson-disc sampling distribution.[CfgAm 18] There is a brief delay of 0.5 seconds before each of the flares ignite.[CfgAm 12] The flares will burn for up to 10 seconds before they expire.[CfgAm 16]
Magazine compatibility[]
Weapon name (Classname) |
6Rnd Signal Cylinder (Green)![]() |
6Rnd Signal Cylinder (Red)![]() |
---|---|---|
Starter Pistol (hgun_Pistol_Signal_F) |
✔ | ✔ |
Trivia[]
- The Starter Pistol appears to be based on the real-world "Judge" revolver manufactured by Taurus International Manufacturing Incorporated.
- Unlike its in-game counterpart, however, the real Judge is chambered to fire a variety of (lethal) revolver and shotshell rounds ranging from .45 Colt to .410 bore rounds.[2]
- Along with the Zubr, it is currently one of the only two revolvers that are available in ArmA 3 (excluding those from third party-developed Creator DLCs).
- Prior to Game Update 1.32, the Starter Pistol lacked a dedicated reload sound. It would remain completely silent if the player or an AI-controlled unit attempted to reload it.[3]
- The engraving on the side of the frame states that the Starter Pistol was made in a country named "LAZBIR" which is an obvious scrambling of "BRAZIL"[4], referencing the real Starter Pistol's origins.
Gallery[]
Config/script references[]
CfgAmmo
CfgMagazines
CfgWeapons
Formulae
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Notes[]
- ↑ Due to the triggerSpeedCoef config token being used (and set to a coefficient value of 1), the velocity of each 10 mm submunition flare is determined by the primary slug's velocity at the time of it breaking into three flares.
References[]
- ↑ Bohemia Interactive a.s., 2014, Karts, Arma 3, viewed 6 March 2025, <https://arma3.com/dlc/karts>.
- ↑ Johnson, S 2010, 'Taurus’s new Raging Judge Magnum', The Firearm Blog, 9 February, viewed 5 March 2023, <https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2010/02/09/tauruss-new-raging-judge-magnum/>.
- ↑ van 't Land, J.J. 2014, SPOTREP #00034, Arma 3, viewed 24 October 2023, <https://dev.arma3.com/post/spotrep-00034>.
- ↑ ARMA 3: Karts 2014 [Video Game], \a3\weapons_f_kart\pistols\pistol_signal_f\data\pistol_signal_01_co.paa, "54A 064 MADE IN LAZBIR"