Type-52 Pistol

"Firing the Mauler at an enemy from anything other than extreme close range is akin to insulting his mother: it's all just hot air and noise and is only going to make him mad."

- Halo 3 Strategy Guide

The Type-52 Pistol (commonly known as the "Mauler") is a Jiralhanae "sidearm" used by the Infantry and Security forces of the Covenant Loyalists during the Human-Covenant War. The Mauler is a cross between a shotgun and a revolver, but is not as powerful as the UNSC M90A shotgun, however its compact design allowed for dual wielding, doubling the firepower. The Mauler has a blade like all other Jiralhanae weapons, however it is used to stab rather than cut. It is the Brutes' weapon of choice for close-quarters combat.

Tactics
The Mauler is generally unable to inflict the one-hit kill damage that the shotgun can, unless dual wielded. It is possible to replicate the Shotgun's lethality with fast reflexes at close range. To do this, you must first be within melee distance of your target. Fire your first shot and immediately strike with a melee attack. This will often dispatch the opponent instantly. Although that is not entirely true, it is possible to score an instant kill, however, you just have to be very close to the enemy. If you master this skill, you can shoot the target before they had time to react. Take care when using this tactic against a shotgun-wielding opponent; he will usually not need to melee you after his first blast, though if he fails to kill you with the first shot, he will usually shoot again or melee. This does not work against shielded opponents. While dual-wielding a pair of Maulers, one double-blast at close range will kill most enemies.

Firing at an enemy with the Mauler while right above them will usually kill them in one shot, or if not, just melee to finish them. Staggering your shots could be effective as well, but this seems to work best when you were outside of melee range. Dual-wielding this weapon in tandem with a Plasma Rifle or Plasma Pistol is a highly effective combination. Draining your opponent's shield (preferably with one of the Plasma weapons), then moving in and shooting also works well. If you are reloading your Mauler when you have one of these combos, you can drain their shield with the other weapon and melee. It doesn't matter that you dropped your weapon; you can just pick it up after the enemy is dead.

The Mauler also has one of the fastest reloads in Halo 3. Even when dual-wielding, it reloads quickly.

Unless duel-wielded, the Mauler is the weakest of other close-range weapons, such as the Shotgun, Gravity Hammer, or Energy Sword. Thus, you should never attempt to have a close-quarters fight against someone who has any of these other weapons. Switching to another, longer-range weapon is often a better option. The Mauler also has very limited ammo. The Mauler is very effictive agianst Flood.

Tactics When Facing A Mauler
When facing an enemy armed with a Mauler, the best tactic is to stay back and take him out from a distance. As with the Shotgun, Energy Sword, or Gravity Hammer, the weapon is virtually useless at longer distances since both the Shotgun and Mauler's ammunition scatters at distances. The official Halo 3 strategy guide states that, "Firing the Mauler at an enemy from anything other than extreme close range is akin to insulting his mother: it's all just hot air and noise and is only going to make him mad". It is inadvisable to get too close unless you have a devastating close-range weapon of your own (however beware that on Legendary, a Brute can kill you with one shot if you're close enough). You can snipe the user but it would be harder to tell if they have a Mauler holstered as it is kept on the thigh. Also, use weapons like the Battle Rifle or the Carbine due to its range. Using the sword is sometimes dangerous because if the person with the Mauler fires twice when you are lunging at just the right time, you usually die and your would-be victim will get a Bulltrue medal.

Reduction In Matchmaking
Several maps have been altered to remove or reduce the number of Maulers in matchmaking. It is believed that this change was caused by near-constant complaints regarding the large number of Maulers in many levels combined with the Mauler's ability to nearly-instantly kill an opponent at very close range. Many people felt that the weapon was unbalanced because of the close-quarters prowess of the Mauler, especially in CQB-style levels; this is a misconception. The problem was a combination of the somewhat large number of Mauler spawn locations, the fast respawn time on a lethal close-combat weapon (usually only 45 seconds), and players not changing their play style to compensate for a number of camping and / or charging Mauler wielders.

Trivia

 * The Mauler was most likely made to replace the Brutes wielding human shotguns in Halo 2, as the Brutes looked odd holding them.
 * The Mauler was originally the name of the Brute Chopper in the early stages of Halo 3's development.
 * There are sixteen pellets in one Mauler cartridge, which could be a 7 reference (1+6=7).
 * Dual Wielding Maulers up close to another player or enemy is usually a one hit kill.
 * The original Covenant Mauler appeared in the Pre-Xbox version of Halo as a Covenant weapon, it can be seen here beginning at the 2:49 mark.
 * The Mauler, like the Brute Shot and Spiker, is based on primitive Brute technology, not Forerunner technology, like the other Covenant weapons, as it doesn't fire plasma. Similar to the human technology, it fires projectiles.
 * The Mauler bears a strong resemblance to the Mauler pistol in Perfect Dark (for Nintendo 64).
 * Players often refer to this weapon as the Brute Shotgun or the Mini-Shotgun. They also (less commonly) refer it as the Eagle due to its resemblance to an eagle-like icon when shown.
 * When using the blast and melee combo the Mauler is occasionally known as the Kruger. This is because of the brutal effect on opposing players.
 * The reticule of the Mauler seems to be about the same as the reticule of the Plasma Rifle and SMG when dual-wielded.
 * In Halo 3 multiplayer, you do less damage per shot when dual-wielding the weapon than when single wielding. This is not noticeable when an opponent has either no shield or normal shields (taking 1 and 2 shots to kill, respectively), but with no damage modifiers and an overshield, it takes one more shot to kill while dual-wielding than while single-wielding.  A 4x overshield resists 4 single-wield or 5 dual-wield shots.
 * It's name, Type-52 Pistol, could be a reference to 7 (5+2=7).
 * When viewed front-on and at a distance, an orange glow is emitted from the 'barrel' of the Mauler.
 * Dual-wielding the Maulers as well as a usage of the Shotgun can single-handedly stop an Energy Sword lunge within close-combat, which makes it extremely useful against Sword users on small maps.
 * When firing a Mauler and throwing a Fragmentation grenade straight after, you can see the Mauler's shots in slow motion.
 * Maulers were originally going to be longer, and the blade would be at the front like a Spiker's.
 * The Mauler's hand grip is similar to that of the Energy Sword.
 * The Mauler is like an old western revolver, because its magazine revolves.
 * It is actually wondered why Bungie set the Mauler's respawn time at 45 seconds on majority of the levels, including Close-quarters style maps, as its Shotgun, Gravity Hammer and Energy Sword counterparts' respawn times on these maps were either 120, 150 or 180 seconds respawn times. Thus, newly updated versions of the affected maps have Maulers' respawn times to 90 seconds.
 * Mauler spawn points were modified on Epitaph, Construct, Narrows, Guardian, Snowbound and High Ground (Note: No Maulers were removed on High Ground and Snowbound, the respawn time for the weapons was just increased).
 * When holding three Maulers (Not triple-wielding, simply dual-wielding and then one as a backpack weapon due to a glitch), the maximum amount of Mauler rounds can go up to 75 (including cartridges).
 * The Mauler is less powerful than the Shotgun at point-blank range. However, if dual-wielded, it overpowers the Shotgun.
 * On Halo 3, the first time you see Stalker Brutes using Maulers is on The Ark.
 * The reloading of the Mauler is similar to that of the Russian PPSH-41 used in World War 2.
 * The Mauler's ammunition feed system combines the principles of both the drum feed and revolver type magazine layouts.