Not all weapons in the world of Final Fantasy 8 are magical. In fact, the vast majority are simple, mundane weapons. Due to the strange blending of ancient and modern technology present, it is possible to see guns and swords used side-by-side. A list of ancient weapons can be found in the back of the Palladium Fantasy main book, or from the ancient weapon series published by Palladium Books, but the modern weapons that are commonly available on the planet are not the same as the ones on Earth.
Guns and firearms are a relatively new technology, but they have already incorporated many of the features that are present in modern day firearms, such as rifling, smokeless powder, and magazine clips. However, these weapons are not as powerful as present-day firearms and do not offer the same sort of penetrating or stopping power. For complete rules pertaining to firearms, please refer to Heroes Unlimited 2nd Edition.
The small city-state of Dollet has been in existence for a long time and they have been using gunpowder weapons for longer then any other nation on the planet, but their expertise has always been in increasing the firepower of their weapons. This focus has produced weapons that can do an incredible amount of damage, but they have only a short range and are prone to clogging and jams. For obvious reasons, the bullets for the pistol and the rifle are different sizes.
The standard pistol of the Dollet militia, the D-44 fires a powerful bullet for a weapon of its size, but if has a very low range and its clip only holds five shots. However, it does fit the preferences of the Dollet militia: a pistol with a lot of stopping power.
With incredible stopping power, the D-50 Maximum Rifle is the main weapon of the Dollet militia. Unfortunately, the rifle has an extremely limited range, especially compared to other rifles used by the other major nations. In addition, the rifle is similar to a single-firing, bolt action rifle and has no automatic or burst fire options.
The most advanced nation on the planet also has the most advanced firearms. Built for range and accuracy, the firearms of Esthar can outshoot all other guns on the planet, and only the guns from Dollet pack more punch. Unfortunately, since Esthar isolated itself from the rest of the world following the Sorceress Wars, their weapons have become incredibly rare, causing their prices to soar.
The stirringly named ES-0865A Pistol has been in service with the Esthar army since the days of the Sorceress War. It is a typical automatic pistol known for its relatively high range and damage. It is also the most common Esthar weapon available since Esthar closed its borders seventeen years ago.
The standard weapon of the police forces and militia in Esthar, the ES-3T7R8 is a wonderful sub-machinegun with excellent range compared to the sub-machineguns developed in Timber.
Standard issue for the infantry in the Esthar military, the ES-454GF Rifle is a wonder of range, stopping power, and efficiency. The weapon requires little maintenance and is easy to disassemble and reassemble when needed.
The Galbadia Republic would like to believe that it has the most advance firearms in the world, but their firearms are, in fact, among the most primitive. Each of the other major firearm manufacturers achieve longer range or more firepower then the Galbadians can. The only saving grace with these firearms is their rugged design and the fact that all of their weapons are based around the same caliber bullet, making the same ammunition work in all of their weapons. However, while the bullets will work in all of the weapons, they use different sized clips.
The Galbadia pistol is mass produced and deployed to all levels of the Galbadia military and police forces. The G-18 pistol is a balanced weapon and there are currently no plans to replace it or change it in any way.
Although the magical weapons built by Galbadia Garden are considered to be the new standard for the Galbadia military, there are too many troops and too little funding to equip every soldier with a magical weapon, so most soldiers are still using the a standard assault rifle. The G-162 is the latest version of that rifle, with increased range and a light weight then its predecessors.
The G-2584 is a squad support weapon and is deployed as such. These weapons are heavy, noisy, and expensive, but they can put a lot of lead into the air very quickly and add quite a punch to an infantry squad.
Timber was once known as the greatest weapons manufacturer in the world. In the city-state of Timber, gun manufacturers were not heavily regulated by the government and the manufacturers sold mass quantities of weapons to anyone that could afford them. From bandits to small nations like Balamb, Timber guns could be found across the world. Unfortunately, all this changed with the invasion of Timber by the Galbadia Republic. One of the Galbadians' first actions was to shut down the gun manufacturers, but there are still hundreds of thousands of guns in the world that were originally built in Timber.
An incredibly lethal weapon, the Meglan Pistol was designed to be a small, compact version of a sub-machinegun. Although it has a limited range, the weapon has quite a bit of stopping power and was the favored weapon by the Timber police force.
Like all shotguns, the Sable Shotgun is for close range, anti-personnel operations when you need a lot of stopping power without requiring a lot of armor penetration.
A Sub-Machinegun by design, the Keshan Rifle was the chosen weapon of the special forces division of the Timber Police Force. It was a sturdy and effective weapon with a large magazine capacity and good stopping power. However, it had a shorter barrel length then the Carth Rifle, so its range was shorter.
While the police force was equipped with the Meglan Pistol, the military was issued the Carth Rifle, a sturdy, dependable automatic rifle with a large magazine and decent stopping power. By far, the best selling weapon out of Timber, the Carth Rifle can be found all over the world and was even used to complement the older assault rifles used by the Galbadia Republic before the introduction of the G-162 Assault Rifle.
A typical squad support weapon, the Grass Machinegun was also popular with nomads and small, independent communities to provide security and basic gun emplacements.
With a much higher caliber bullet then the Grass Machinegun, the Behemoth Machinegun is almost always used as a fixed gun mounted on a vehicle or a gun emplacement. These were deployed sparingly by the Timber police force, their equivalent to a militia, and most outside customers had little need for such as powerful and heavy weapon, so very few were produced. However, a number of them did fall into the hands of the rebels fighting against the Galbadia Republic and in one case, they have been used to protect the headquarters of a group of rebels.
Although not in high demand by the simplistic armies of the world, Timber's weapon manufacturers produced a small range of Sniper Rifles, usually for bandits and the more recently for the Gardens. These weapons have become very popular among the rebels in Timber since the Galbadia invasion.
A monster of a weapon, the Dragon Rifle is a recoilless rifle suited to being used against tanks and large monsters. During the final days of the invasion of Timber, this weapon practically flew off of store shelves and into the hands of future freedom fighters. While ammo of the rifle is scarce and expensive, the rebels have used it so effectively against the power armor and armored vehicles of the Galbadia Republic, that the power armor units were removed from Timber to deprive the rebels from more targets to shoot at and destroy.