Dunno who underrates the Warhawk, it's an excellent weapon for what it is.
Sure it's near-impossible to make into a stealth weapon, and the range is naturally limited by being a pistol, but that's square pegging the round hole. If you want portable firepower that you can carry day-to-day without being bugged by johnny law or raising too many eyebrows, it's as good as it gets.
My hard-boiled Private Investigator/Runner loves his warhawks. Along with his silver engraved lighter and the fedora his partner gave him they're his signature items.
The ammunition seems limited, but only until you realize that those 6-8 shots from a 6P -2AP gun are doing the job of 9-12 shots from another heavy pistol or even 18-24 rounds in a burst firing light pistol.
It's inexpensive at 250 nuyen. That makes the base weapon effective for something you don't wince before tossing in a smelter or wiping down the handle and pressing it into a dead ganger's hand. Better yet that base price means mods that have (weapon cost) under cost much cheaper than say for a machine pistol or assault rifle or whatever that costs at minimum 2-3X the cost of a Warhawk. Give it a custom grip, internal smartgun, mod it for semi-auto, and expand the cylinder to 8 shots and you're still sitting under 1000 cred. Add in the fact that you're paying less for ammo since you're firing fewer shots, and don't require recoil compensating bits and pieces and you've got a very cost effective weapon even if you do decide to trick it out.
Against vehicles/drones/spirits you're better off with a Warhawk than anything short of a shotgun or heavy rifle, what with the various forms of hardened armor and/or immunity to stun damage. Yes I know about stick-n-shock, but that's something that many experienced DM's are quick to nerf, besides nothing stops you from loading up stickies like everyone else.
