flame pistol n.

In a rage he grasped the flame pistol that depended from his belt and trained it on the Lunarians. There was a brilliant spurt of scarlet and one of the attackers was consumed in the angry flame that struck him full in the chest.

Several of them carried flame pistols, the muzzles of which, threateningly directed, glinted in the starlight.

Gull came to his feet with vigor. He took up his flame pistol, adjusted the valves. A long smoky flame leaped out. Gull adjusted the valves again and it settled down to an inch-thick sword of flaming, violet-blue energy. Gull directed this against the dome of the natural bottle, held it there.

He reached the metal wall. He pulled out his flame-pistol and tapped at it. The wall was solid. He backed off five paces and sent a flame-pistol beam at it. The flame splashed from the metal in a coruscating shower. But nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. When he turned off the pistol the metal was unmarred. It was not even red-hot.

Lehman had a flame pistol in his hand and Hayssen promptly dropped to the ground. A beam of purple light flared through the air, cutting through the spot where he had been.

His beams swung in from every corner until they pulled in a tight focus on The Beetle’s gun. Flame pistol. 0.38. Fully loaded. Six bullets. [...] Beetle shot him. Beetle shot him! And all these miles and days away, I’m still listening to that shot of flame.

‘Here,’ said Jat, handing over a flame pistol, the bigger military version of the heat-beams Kelvin and Vinnie carried. ‘You never know; Theodore might have missed something.’