Engineer's Primary Weapon

[Plot]

My friend is trying to insist that the sentry gun is the engineer's primary weapon. His reasoning is that because the sentry gun does the most damage and earns you the most kills, it MUST be the primary weapon. I have tried fruitlessly for about 15 minutes to tell him that although the sentry gun has the capability to deal out large quantities of damage, and if used EFFECTIVELY can earn you more kills than your shotgun, it is NOT the engineer's primary weapon. The shotgun is the engineer's primary weapon, because:

a) you start out with it, and it is the first weapon in your arsenal

B)it is a portable, personal WEAPON

c) it requires its own ammunition

on the other side, the sentry gun is NOT the primary weapon because:

a) The Sentry gun is a piece of equipment that the engineer BUILDS. the sentry gun is not under your direct control, therefore making it not your WEAPON but your TOOL/DEVICE.

B)it is a device BUILT by the engineer. it is not a weapon, but a device that you receive credit for its accomplishments

c) it is not portable, therefore incapable of defending you out of its range, and even in its range, it might not necessarily attack the target you have in mind (although if your shotgun is our of ammunition your shotgun can't protect you either)

d) this goes along with the others, but i felt it deserved its own point. it has a limited sight range, making it incapable of shooting long distances that your shotgun can shoot at (however inaccurate, you are able to shoot the gun at a target a long distance away)



i became so frustrated at his refusal to budge on his point that i came here. im asking you which is the engineer's main weapon: the shotgun or the sentry gun?