Snub Pistol Power

[mike wightman]

The ammunition for the snub pistol is the reason it is one TL higher than current.
Stuff like case-less ammunition, binary propellants for small arms, and miniaturising explosives to fit small arms are still at the r&d stage.

 

[Enoki]

I'd say this comes closest to what a snub pistol would be with current technology:

While those fire .410 shotgun shells, that is a round you could have loaded with the types of round a snub pistol fires. They make a pepper gas round for police use with paint ball guns now, for example. That could easily be modified for use with a .410 round.
If you had something like a "cut shell" .410 round you have the equivalent of a case / shrapnel round for it.
A modified version for HE or HEAP might be the whole case, less base goes "down range."

Think of the red / plastic part in its entirety filled with explosive and a fuze in an appropriate location going to the target to detonate. That's a pretty hefty little round to hit something with. It would be on the order of at least 20mm shell. Making the outside material tougher (metal or some advanced material) where it contains the blast effect longer would increase its effectiveness too.

Ramp it up a few tech levels and you could probably have a homing / guided round too.

On the whole, a snub pistol would be a pretty devastating weapon at short ranges with a couple of tech levels of improvement over what can be achieved today.