Question about pistol in hand to hand.

Hello again, I asked this question in another thread and I think it was prematurely locked on accident.

But here is the question:

If I have a brace of pistols, can I elect to use only one pistol in the first turn of hand to hand, and then use the second pistol in the second round of hand to hand?

Detailed example (Model A has a brace of pistols):

Turn 1: Model A charges model B. Model A elects to use a sword and pistol in hand to hand. Model A and Model B are both standing at the end of the turn.
Turn 2 (Opponents hand to hand phase): Model A elects to use his sword and his other loaded pistol in hand to hand?

Theres a couple of reasons why you'd want to elect to use only one pistol in two seperate hand to hand phases.

A) You have multiple attacks on your profile (2 sword attacks, 1 pistol).
B) You want to utilize a sword's parry ability (Morning Star may be far fetched
C) You expect to take the chargee out of action and may be able to take a pistol shot on the next turn (With the pistol you didn't use in hand to hand, of course). With pistolier you should be able to take both shots the next turn.
D) You shot with one of your pistols the turn before you charged (So you only had one pistol available in the first round of hand to hand).

Heres a quote from the online rulebook regarding pistols in hand to hand, the bolded sections are of importance.

"Hand-to-hand: Duelling pistols can be used in hand-to-hand
combat as well as for shooting. A model armed with a duelling
pistol and another close combat weapon gains +1 Attack,
which is resolved at Strength 4 with a -2 save modifier. This
bonus attack can be used only once per combat. If you are
firing a brace of duelling pistols, your model can fight with 2
Attacks in the first turn of close combat. These attacks are
resolved with a model’s Weapon Skill like any normal close
combat attack and likewise may be parried. Successful hits
are resolved at Strength 4 and with a -2 save modifier,
regardless of the firer’s Strength."


As soon as I get one more skill on my captain he'll be sporting the high-class Rapier & (Brace of) Duelling Pistols setup.

Your question wasn't answered in the link in the closed thread. I'd hazard that the answer is no however, the letter of the rule is fairly clear that with two pistols, you may fire only twice in the first round. Asp does discuss the issues this causes, that you also mention.

well to make it even more weirder if strictly ruleswise taken you can always use 2 attacks at strength 4 in the first turn of combat with BoP regardless of reload rule because they talk about "attacks" and not shots

So what you are saying is that under no circumstance you can fire a pistol in the second round of hand to hand?

Is it ok to elect to shoot only one pistol in hand to hand when they are carrying a fully loaded brace?

Yes, you may elect to fire only one of your pistols, that is the most common choice for veteran warriors with multiple attacks.