Introduction
The guns in John Wick 4 were, by many of us, one of the most anticipated parts of the new film. If there’s one thing we know about John Wick, he has some pretty snazzy toys.
But they move so fast in the film that it’s difficult to tell what gun is being used definitively.
Nothing is as it seems in these movies, and it’s always too damn dark to pick out essential features that can help discern what firearm is on screen. So I bought the film on Prime (I have all four), and a two-hour and 49-minute movie turned into an all-day affair.
My lady wasn’t happy, let’s just say that. I was jumping up and down like a five-year-old child and pausing the movie to see what guns were being used and by whom. It was a lot.
And for that reason, we will try and stick to the guns used by the main cast.
It’s important to note that this is Hollywood, and the guns that John Wick uses are all customs that cost more than my car. Not all of them, but most of them.
Just go look at the price of the Pit Viper. Go ahead. I’ll wait.
Are you back? Cool. Let’s start with the guns that John used.
SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t seen the movie, go watch it. I don’t want to spoil it for you, and there are plenty of spoilers in here.
John Wick’s Guns
When you’re non-arguably the deadliest assassin in the world, you need a handgun that will complement your ability to shoot out of a 1971 Plymouth Barracuda while doing donuts around people trying to kill you.
Or fighting against people wearing suits lined with body armor.
Taran Tactical Innovations Pit Viper
Taran Butler, the founder of Taran Tactical Innovations (TTI), trained Keanu Reeves for all of the John Wick films. As such, custom firearms by the ‘precious’ himself were heavily featured throughout the movies.
But the Pit Viper was made specifically for John Wick 4.
An apex pistol for an apex hunter, the Pit Viper is essentially a heavily modified 2011 that has a two-pound Extreme trigger, single port compensator connected to a match-grade barrel, 21-round magazine capacity that sits in a flared mag-well, and ambidextrous safeties and magazine releases.
If you’re wondering why it’s called the Pit Viper, the pistol has two fang-like protrusions in the front, which John uses to stab his attackers when his ammo runs dry.
It’s a fine pistol that serves as eye candy and a capable firearm that helps Mr. Wick tap his attackers in the dome from a distance.
Taran Tactical Innovations Combat Master
From the naked eye, and due to how dark some of the scenes are in John Wick, this custom Glock 34 may seem like a run-of-the-mill Austrian pistol. Fortunately, the TTI Combat Master is anything but.
It’s way more exciting than that. You’ve probably never heard “Glock” and “exciting” in the same sentence until now.
The Combat Master is derived from a Glock 34 and comes with full stippling, ambidextrous accelerator cuts (where your thumbs rest on a proper grip), a bronze-coated barrel, single undercuts, a green fiber-optic front sight, and a Timney Alpha competition trigger with a TTI competition trigger job.
The Combat Master was introduced to John Wick in the second movie after visiting the Sommelier. It has been featured in every John Wick movie since.
Needless to say, Mr. Sommelier knew what he was talking about.
Glock 34 For Sale
Taran Tactical Innovations Dracarys Gen-12 Shotgun
The Dracarys Gen-12 shotgun is based on the Genesis Arms Gen-12 shotgun. The new AR-12 was introduced at SHOT Show 2023 and is designed to be attached to an AR-10 lower and go crazy.
It’s lightweight with low recoil and is surprisingly reliable. TTI took it to the next level by changing out the trigger for a Hipertouch with a 2.5-pound trigger pull, ambidextrous charging knobs and safety selector, and an EOTech EXPS3-1.
While this shotgun does not belong to John directly, it is picked up after killing a gang of would-be assassins that couldn’t get the job done. In the hands of Mr. Wick, the fire-breathing shotgun is used to obliterate anything in his path.
This was one moment when I began commenting to myself and out loud about the movie. Dragon’s breath is inadequate for real life and is used more as a party trick. But it does make the movie more attractive to those who don’t know otherwise.
Sidenote: Anything from Taran Tactical is wildly overpriced. The company itself is more of a sideshow for Hollywood gun bunnies and ‘woke’ celebrities who have no idea that Taran Butler himself is a scandalous creep (or maybe they do). Show him your ‘precious,’ and you might get a free gun.
If you know, you know.
I dry heaved having to write about his products. Any company selling to law enforcement and the government, but not the civilian population (at least not in California), is not worth talking much about. Anyhow, we must go on.
Caine’s Gun
Caine is a former member of the high table and is portrayed by Donnie Yen. Caine is a blind (literally, blind) assassin and former colleague of John who the Marquis Vincent de Gramont contracts to kill John. Caine is motivated by the Marquis’ threat to kill his daughter if he does not serve.
That last sentence is critical to remember as we go on in the story. One, he is an old friend of John’s, and two, he is fighting for his daughter’s freedom, which John becomes aware of. Remember that.
Sig Sauer P365 SAS
The Sig Sauer P365 SAS (Sig Anti-Snag) is perfect for a blind assassin. The SAS is built for concealed carry and has no traditional pistol sights.
Which is something a blind assassin does not need.
Instead, the SAS uses an unusual rear sight that limits the possibility of snagging. Basically, it’s built to be used as the ultimate concealed-carry gun.
Caine’s P365 SAS is custom-built (like every other firearm in John Wick) with a compensator that keeps the pistol flat. The blind assassin uses his cane sword to stab and subsequently shoot his adversaries.
Mr. Nobody’s Guns
While a blind assassin is cool and all, there’s something about using lever gats and wheel guns while in the company of a dog that makes Mr. Nobody my personal favorite assassin in the movie.
Mr. Nobody is a bounty hunter, tracker, and skilled assassin who rolls with his unnamed Belgian Malinois. He is new to the John Wick series and is portrayed by Shamier Anderson. The Marquis hires Mr. Nobody to track down the whereabouts of John and kill him, but even the tracker knows that John is no easy task.
When John and Nobody standoff at gunpoint, John asks him, “How much?” when Mr. Nobody checks his phone as the bounty rises on John. Nobody replies, “Not enough, but it’s getting there.”
It’s clear at this point that Mr. Nobody does not work for cheap. He even tells the Marquis that he better raise the price, or he will walk away from the bounty entirely. When the bounty hits $40 Million, he demands $45 Million, which enrages the Marquis.
Mad Pig Marlin 1894 Dark .44 Mag
We all love modern lever gats. If you don’t, then I hope you feel better soon. The Mad Pig Marlin 1894 Dark (which I’ll refer to as the 1894 Dark) is a heavily customized Marlin 1894 Dark chambered in .44 Magnum.
The list of customizations seems to go on forever, so I’ll just copy it from the website.
Base Rifle: Marlin 1894 Dark .44 Mag
- Midwest Industry Marlin handguard – milled with a scalloped front to accommodate SilencerCo ASR muzzle brake with the barrel cut back to 14.5″ and the ASR pinned and welded for 16″ OAL
- XS Sights optic rail – This is a proprietary full-length version of the XS Lever Rail developed in partnership between XS and Mad Pig Customs specifically for the movie
- XS Luminescent front sight, the front sight strip used a proprietary blue luminescent stripe
- Wild West Guns follower
- Mad Pig Customs Enhanced Takedown Screw
- Rangerpoint Precision 3D Printed stock these are out of production due to poor durability
- Grim Hunter Tactical Gear Stock Cuff and ammo card
- SilencerCo Octane 45 was the suppressor used
- Slate Black Industries makes the hand stop and polymer rail covers that cover the handguard
Thank the Lord for copy and paste.
Mr. Nobody has refined taste in firearms. He uses his custom Marlin to dispatch multiple would-be assassins and puts a .44 Magnum in Chidi’s head point-blank while his Malinois chews on Chidi’s nads.
That’s a terrible way to go.
Smith and Wesson Model 627
Mr. Nobody’s sidearm of choice is a Smith and Wesson Model 627. The only modification to the firearm is a customized grip.
Mr. Nobody slings his 627 like a cowboy in the Wild West. He hip-fires it with precision. The 627 isn’t seen as frequently on screen as most other firearms in the movie, which is unfortunate. We love wheel guns.
It shoots a .357 magnum round, which is more than enough for an assassin that could yield it in the ways that Mr. Nobody can, and comes directly from S&W’s performance center. It seems like the model used by the tracker had blackened stainless steel instead of silver.
Hopefully, we see more of Mr. Nobody and his Belgian Malinois in the next iteration of the series. Or a spinoff would be nice.
Killa Harkan
Harkan is the head of the German High Table and is portrayed by Scott Adkins. You wouldn’t know it was Scott Adkins by looking at him as Killa Harkin was chunkier than Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup.
Nonetheless, he and his Smith and Wesson 500 gave John a run for his money. His swift martial arts skill bested John on numerous occasions, enough to allow Harkan to take a hit of his inhaler to stay in the fight.
Even after taking a hatchet to one ass cheek and getting shot in the other.
Smith and Wesson 500
Killa Harkan’s Smith and Wesson 500 is not customized like any of the firearms on this list. It does have a compensator, but it comes standard from the factory.
The Smith and Wesson 500 uses the 500 S&W Magnum. A deafening beast of a round that shares the same diameter with the legendary .50 caliber rifle offerings. Harkan uses it to threaten Mr. Wick but is stopped after Caine puts his P365 in Harkan’s face.
The pistol is never fired, unfortunately. Well, I didn’t want John to die, but you catch my drift.
A 500 S&W Magnum has 3,000 foot-pounds of stopping power from that distance. So he would have turned John into spaghetti sauce.
Marquis de Gramont
The main antagonist of John Wick 4, and one of the most punchable faces I’ve ever seen, the Marquis is motivated by gaining higher power by killing John Wick and anyone else who aided him after John was excommunicated.
He hopes that in doing so, he will become a legend in the underworld. As would anyone who can say they killed John Wick. The only problem is that the Marquis just isn’t that guy. I admittedly jumped up and down when John whacked him.
Smith and Wesson M&P9 Shield M2.0 Performance Center
The M&P9 Shield M2.0 that the Marquis used had a stainless steel slide, if I’m not mistaken, and it doesn’t get that much screen time, either. It is used to kill Charon (Rest in Peace Lance Reddick), and that’s about it.
The Marquis is similar to Santino D’Antonio in how he uses other people to do the work for him and claim the glory after it’s all said and done—an “arrogant asshole,” as Winston says.
The M&P9 Shield M2.0 is a great firearm. I’ve had my hands on it, and I can say that it is one of the finer firearms on the market right now.
But, in the hands of the Marquis, who has an army behind him to do the killing, the gun is only fired once in the film—a damn shame.
Of course, as the name implies, the M&P9 Shield M2.0 PC is chambered in 9mm. It also has fiber-optic sights in the front and the rear, which helps with low-light acquisition.
Outside of that, it’s a reasonably standard handgun. Not that the Marquis needs anything more capable.
Thompson Arms Center Encore (Dueling Pistols)
The Thompson Arms Center Encore is a break-action, single-shot pistol offered in .223 Rem and .308 Win, but appears to be chambered in .44 Magnum in the movie.
The pistols were provided to John and Caine in a duel that the Marquis and Harbinger agreed upon.
When Winston advises John to use the High Table’s rules against them with a High Table Duel, this allows John to challenge the Marquis to a duel in exchange for anything John wants, and John elects for pistols to be used in the duel.
Unfortunately, the Marquis nominates Caine to take his place, so it’s a duel between two old friends. Two Center Encores are presented, with one going to John and the latter to Caine.
And they engage in an old-fashioned 40-pace duel.
They go round for round, and eventually, Caine shoots John in the abdomen, and John falls to the floor. The cowardly Marquis, again, deciding to take the credit for killing John, takes the Encore from Caine and goes to finish the job.
And sets his daughter free.
Before he can fire a shot, Winston, John’s sponsor for the duel, distracts the Marquis, calls him an “arrogant asshole,” and reminds him that John did not fire.
Then, John picks up his Encore and shoots the Marquis in the head.
Goodbye, arrogant asshole.
What’s important here is that John let Caine shoot him because he knew the Marquis would want to finish him off. Thus, simultaneously setting Caine’s daughter free and killing the Marquis gives John his freedom.
Unfortunately, it appears that John succumbs to his wounds on the stairs where the duel took place, not before Caine thanks him and calls him a brother—allowing Caine to return to his daughter in New York.
So, the Center Arms Encore may be the firearm that killed John Wick—loving husband.
John Wick Chapter 4 FAQs
What Is The Fire Gun In John Wick 4?
The Genesis-12 from Genesis Arms is shown in the movie, firing ‘Dragon’s Breath’ rounds. It’s an AR-12 that was recently released at SHOT Show 2023 and is heavily modified by Taran Tactical.
What Is John Wick’s Favorite Gun?
John Wick has been seen using the Heckler and Koch P30L in the early movies, but on advice from The Sommelier, John switches over to using a Glock 34 ‘Combat Master’ modified by Taran Tactical.
Will There Be A John Wick Chapter 5?
SPOILER ALERT: Chapter 5 has been confirmed, but we’re unsure if it will include John as he is presumed dead. At the end of the movie, he’s seen buried next to his wife Helen and being visited by Winston and the Bowery King.
If you watched past the end credits, you would see Akira approaching Caine in New York to fulfill her promise of avenging her father, who was killed in Osaka after a sword fight with Caine.
Conclusion
The guns of John Wick Chapter 4 complemented the skillset of each assassin that they were used by. Unfortunately, they have the ‘Hollywood Tax’ that follows the feature of every firearm used in the series, making them very expensive.
Not to mention, the firearms used by John are custom-made by Taran Tactical, who we at Gun Made do not support due to the owner’s creepy nature, its tendency to overcharge for firearms, and for not selling to civilians who live in unconstitutional states like California.
Ick.
Anyhow, what was your favorite movie from John Wick Chapter 4? It’s okay if it is from TTI; the firearms are admittedly nice. It’s just the owner who sucks.
Let me know in the comments what your answer is.
Talk to you soon. Be good and take care.
