Today, we got a nice patch to correct some mistakes about japanese weapons, which is good, but as a result, some japanese weapons are now clearly OP as a result, and I say that as a Japan main. But there are still some inconsistencies with these weapons, and this is particularly true for the damage the weapons deal. For example, the japanese SMGs chambered in 8mm Nambu still deal more damage than the SMGs of other nations chambered in 9mm Parabellum ex: MP40, ZK-383, Sten…), while it should be the opposite, because the 8mm Nambu was a weaker cartridge than the 9mm Parabellum.
Because of this fact, I have researched the power of each pistol cartridge in real life that is present ingame (and some that could be added ingame later) to help balance the damage of certain weapons. I have classified these cartridges from the most powerful to the least powerful. I looked at the joules of each cartridge, and preferably of the FMJ bullet type, which was the most common bullet type used by the different armies of the world during WW2.
Here is the link I used for my research (yes, I know it is wikipedia, but it is there that I could find such a convenient table with all the links to each cartridge, and with very detailed technical informations in each article): List of handgun cartridges - Wikipedia
So, here is my classification from most powerful to least powerful:
9×25mm Mauser
7.62×25mm Tokarev
7.63×25mm Mauser
.455 Webley
.45 ACP
9×19mm Parabellum
.38 ACP
7.65×21mm Parabellum
9mm Glisenti
9×23mm Steyr
8×22mm Nambu
7.62×38mmR
7.65×20mm Long
.380 ACP
.38 S&W
9mm Japanese revolver
.38 Special
.32 ACP
7×20mm Nambu
.25 ACP
As you can see, the damage dealt by some weapons in the game in inaccurate, just like I said in my example above with the 8mm Nambu being more powerful than the 9mm Parabellum ingame.
In my opinion, the balance of the weapons damage should be more historically accurate, and the devs could adjust the weapons stats and BR with the recoil, and the dispersion, and also reload time and ADS speed.
For example:
-Weapons that fire a weaker cartridge should have less recoil than the weapons firing powerful cartridges.
-Was the weapon’s weight light or heavy ? A heavy weight can help mitigate recoil.
-On the other hand, a lightweight weapon will have a faster ADS speed and be way more handy than a heavyweight weapon.
-Another thing that can influence the ADS speed is the length of the barrel: a short barrel will make the ADS speed faster, because it is easier to do than on a weapon with a long barrel.
-Weapons with longer barrels will inflict slightly more damage and have less dispersion over distance than weapons with shorter barrels.
-High rate of fire weapons have more recoil than the ones having a slow rate of fire.
-Was this weapon ergonomic or awkward to use?
-Was there a vertical grip under the barrel, which helps mitigate vertical recoil, or a classic handguard that helps mitigate horizontal recoil ? Using the mag as a vertical grip can do the same effect as a normal vertical grip. Also, did this weapon have a classic buttstock, or a pistol grip ?
-A bipod at the end of the barrel adds some weight to the end of the barrel and can help mitigate the recoil, even if you don’t use said bipod.
-Of course, a weapon with a muzzle brake will have an easier to control recoil than the weapons which don’t have such feature.
-Was this weapon made before WW2 (high quality materials and finition, so less dispersion), or was it a last-ditch weapon (low quality materials and finition, so more dispersion) ?
-The smaller the mag, the faster the reload speed: a weapon with a 20 round mag will be very quick to reload, as opposed to a weapon using a drum mag, because drum mags were known to be very heavy and awkward to use, so their reload time should be way longer.
-Etc, etc…
There can also be some exceptions: for example, the Beretta Model 38 fired 9mm Parabellum round, but the italians made a cartridge of this caliber specifically for this gun that was 15% more powerful than the standard 9mm Parabellum, so the power of this specific cartridge could be comparable to the .45 ACP.
I know that all the criterias that I mentioned above for each weapon are probably already considered by the devs when balancing a weapon, but I feel like the way some weapons feel when shooting them should be refined way more in some cases.
Feel free to let me know what you think of this idea ! Your likes help to give more visibility to this topic !
Thanks ! 
P.S. : Maybe I’ll do the same for rifle cartridges on this topic later.
