Tell me more about these "spells", which occur in limited numbers, are capable of long-range attacks, deal explosive & powerful damage... and can only be performed by someone who has the proper equipment and spends time in advance preparing them for use? :-D
5E's semi-official gunslinger uses wisdom instead of intelligence, so unless you have a GM willing to let you make a wis-casting wizard you might want to go cleric instead. I think that swapping casting stats should be allowed in a lot of situations anyway, and not only because wis-ard is a funny pun, but I'm aware that this isn't a universal opinion. Forge cleric would let you make your gun magic and ask god for ammunition with only two levels though
Elminster took one level of Fighter for a reason. Even without the 3 levels of Cleric, or the level of Rogue, that one level of Fighter helps every Wizard once the enemy is too close to safely cast. Automatic proficiency with all basic and martial weapons is useful at close range. Especially if one happened to pick up a Vorpal Keen Katana that one happens to be proficient with.
Oh, and taking a Pseudodragon Familiar gives the Wizard the Improved Evasion Feat, so you just kinda became almost immune to other wizards because if you fail a DEX check, you take half damage, and almost all of the Wizard direct damage spells require a DEX check.