The Top 5 Coolest-Looking Pistols

This pistol was first presented in 2018, but even 6 years later there is nothing else like it available on the market. The unusual look of the pistol is not purely aesthetics: it has a lot of interesting design features: frame mounted barrel that provides an extremely low bore axis, and non-reciprocating sights located on a quick change rail.

One more unusual feature - Laugo Alien is gas-operated, the mechanism is similar to HK P7 gas delayed blowback action, just flipped upside-down. The pistol uses proprietary magazines which are similar, but not interchangeable with the CZ75.

All this innovation comes with a price tag attached - right now, in the US, Laugo Alien retails for over $3900 (most affordable edition), with some versions priced at over $6000.

Archon B

Compared to Alien, Archon is much more conventional-looking. What makes it different is the action: this striker-fired polymer pistol uses an AF-Speedlock. It adds one more part to the pistol, a special locking block, but the results are pretty evident: the pistol shoots flatter compared to other compact handguns.

The difference might not be drastic, but I noticed it when I shot Archon B and a custom Glock 19 from Salient Arms side-by-side. Archon still has some amount of recoil, but the low bore axis achieved because of AF-Speedlock definitely makes some difference.

Earlier this year, the company showcased its full-size pistol Archon A with grip extensions that allow the shooter to configure the handgun to the mission at hand, turning it into a compact or even subcompact pistol just by replacing grip modules.

If you want to know more about the history and origins of Archon, check out the TFB article titled The Real Story Behind Russian Origins of Strike One STRYK B/ Archon Type B.

Roland Special

People have been modifying their Glocks for the last 20 years, if not longer. Some just do it for the looks and sometimes end up in our Hot Gat, Fudd Crap series, while others care about pure functionality.

The Roland Special, a custom Glock build on G19 frame is probably the best example of an upgrade package that gives you both looks and performance. You can buy one from custom shops like ATEi, or just build one yourself, using the components you think are best. That is what makes it unique - anyone can create his own version of Roland Special.

Generally, modifications of a proper Roland Special include a custom barrel (typically KKM), a set of night sights, mag well, slide serrations, trigger guard undercut, tactical light, compensator, red dot sight, and some stippling.

If you wanna hear the origin story of Roland Special, you can listen to this podcast, where Chuck Pressburg, retired SOF operator, talks about how he built the original version of Roland Special.

Interestingly enough, what motivated him in the beginning, was the fact that the lens of his weapon light got dirty every time he shot the pistol. By adding a compensator, he just wanted to keep the flashlight clean, but later on, one thing led to the other, and the Roland Special was created.

Rex Alpha

SIG 220 variants have always had a special place in my heart. Maybe it was the FBI agent Dana Skully from “X-Files” who chased supernatural creatures with her trusty P228, maybe it was something else. But for years, the P228 was my favorite pistol.

In the late 80s, Yugoslavia developed its own version of P226, called CZ 99, which itself had many derivatives. If you wanna know more, you can read this article: CZ 99 - A Good Pistol Developed in a Bad Time.

Based on the technical data package of CZ99, Slovenian company Arex created something that both looks good and shoots incredibly well.

The unusual shape of the slide makes Rex Alpha stand out, but what really impressed me was the accuracy and ergonomics. This pistol incorporated every little change I wanted to have in a 226: beavertail, bigger magazine release, and a different shape of the pistol grip.

Out of the 10 pistols I shot during that particular training session, Rex Alpha was the only one that just shot one big hole in the target without any extra effort from my side. If you want to know more about this pistol, check out this TFB TV video.

1911

Quite frankly, I think the cool factor is the main reason people buy 1911s these days. Nothing compares to the feeling of “glass rod breaking” when you pull the trigger of a custom 1911, the audible click of the safety, the weight of fine steel in your hand, and the feeling of checkered wooden grips…

For its time, 1911 was extremely innovative. But is this a practical gun for 2024, 113 years later? Well, I think it is. The cool factor can be important. I knew people who hated Glocks and other modern polymer guns to the point when those pistols never left their safe. But when they bought “cool” 1911s they would actually start training and carrying it regularly. So for them, 1911 ended up being more useful and practical than the modern polymer frame 9 mm pistols.

There is nothing wrong with wanting a cool-looking gun, even if it is not very practical. At the end of the day, cool-looking guns are what brought a lot of us into this hobby. However, there is a difference between “collector’s cool” and “cool and practical”. Having a threaded barrel is definitely a must-have for the modern handgun: without it, you can’t use compensators and suppressors.

In many countries, suppressors are banned for civilians, and a pistol with a threaded barrel is a sign of some sort of special forces operator. But not in the US. Here, you can order a suppressor online and enjoy something gun owners in many other countries would never have.

Suppressors with low back pressure technology are my favorites as they decrease the amount of gasses coming back into the action keeping the guns cleaner. A good option for those who want a low back pressure technology 9 mm suppressor is the Huxwrx Cash 9K. It is light, made out of titanium, and weighs only 5.9 ounces. It has a direct thread mount and a 3-lug mount for those who love MP5s, and you can use it with subsonic 300 Blackout, making it both a pistol and rifle suppressor.

Silencer Shop makes getting suppressors easy and you can buy the Huxwrx Cash 9K suppressor from the link below.

Surprisingly, it was the most requested pistol, and rightfully so - it fits the theme perfectly well, cause it is both innovative and incredibly cool-looking.

I grew up listening to stories about Luger from my father, who had this pistol when he was a teenager - that handgun was one of hundreds of thousands of war remnants scattered all over Europe after WW2.

After I shot my first Luger at the age of 12, I was even more impressed - the trigger was fantastic, on par with competition triggers I was used to after a couple of years of Olympic-style marksmanship training.

To this day, Luger remains one of the most desirable WW2 pistols for collectors. But you can find a Luger in the most unexpected place. The photo you see in this post was taken in Kabul, Afghanistan, where I found the P08 in the PSD armory. 

For its time, Luger was incredibly innovative, and it gave the name to the most popular handgun round in history. It was also featured in countless books and movies and I heard a lot of strange stories about it. The most bizarre one was this quote from a combat marksmanship instructional manual written by the Soviet author by the name of Alexei Potapov: 

The design of the Luger P08 sets the shooter's mindset for confident, unyielding cruelty. This phenomenon has not yet been studied by scientists. In many countries, the Luger P08 has been officially declared the weapon of targeted termination and is strictly prohibited. 

Unfortunately, this author did not provide sources for his conclusion or list of countries where Luger is banned. However, this ridiculous statement is a good example of the lore surrounding Luger in many different countries.

Chiappa Rhino

Chiappa Rhino is one of those designs that seems to be a rarity in the modern firearms industry. Instead of copying something or building upon a proven design, Italian engineers Antonio Cudazzo and Emilio Ghisoni first designed the Mateba revolver and later upgraded their design making the Chiappa Rhino.

I had a chance to shoot it at the private range in the Philippines, located on the top floor of a skyscraper that was a part of the casino. The place looked like a country club and had a fantastic collection of unusual pistols.

I tried a few odd guns and Chiappa was the only unusual pistol that actually made sense. The low bore axis reduced the muzzle climb with 357 Magnum, and the handgun was more controllable compared to traditional revolvers.

Walther P99 and successors

P99, the James Bond gun from the 90s… A lot of people don’t give it enough credit. First of all, this gun essentially saved Walther from bankruptcy. The company did not design any new pistols for a few decades until it was bought by Umarex, which manufactures airsoft weapons. Not every day an airsoft gun company buys a “real steel” firearms manufacturer.

However, the new management was extremely effective. One of the owners managed to deliver the preproduction prototype of Walther P99 to the set of the movie “Tomorrow Never Dies” with Pierce Brosnan and the new pistol was written into the script.

P99 was also the foundation on which PPQ, PDP, and Walther Q5 were built. Also, the Turkish company Canik, which is arguably the most successful pistol manufacturer in that country, clearly used the Walther P99 as the initial prototype for the Canik series. 

Turkish designers went beyond what Walther engineers originally envisioned and now the market is flooded with affordable Canik pistols of all shapes and sizes: compact, subcompact, microcompact, and long slide. But all those pistols still resemble Walther P99.

Hi Power

It is hard not to love Browning HP. It offered a high-capacity 9 mm pistol decades before it became an industry standard. It was used by SAS, Nazis, Saddam Husein, FBI HRT, Gaddafi, the Israeli army… 

It is hard to imagine a more diverse set of users. I explore this topic in this TFB article and talk about my personal experience with Hi Power in Iraq and South Africa.

Modern manufacturers are still fascinated by Browning HP, so in recent years we saw many companies making their own version of this legendary pistol: Springfield Armory SA-35, a new FN HP with 17+1 capacity as well as Girsan HP clone.

H&K USP

I could never understand the appeal of USP until I used it during a PSD training course. There was something about it I just could not explain, and I fell in love with it. Maybe it is unparalleled durability or German engineering, but I decided to add it to my collection when I could.

USP was also used in some of my favorite movies. “Blood Diamond”, where the compact version of USP was the main sidearm of Danny Archer, and “Collateral”, where Tom Cruise showed the audience how gun handling should be presented on the silver screen long before John Wick. Also, in “Heat” it was used by Robert De Niro.

To me, USP feels like an essential 90s pistol, back when things were simple and easy. 

If you think I missed something, and other guns should be in this Top 5, please let me know in the comment section below.

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