The Guns of The Equalizer: Every Weapon Identified

Robert McCall does not carry a signature gun. The whole point of The Equalizer is that he can turn anything into a weapon, and he mostly takes his enemies’ guns and uses them better. But the arsenal he faces (and borrows) is a modern rogues’ gallery, and his most memorable kill uses no firearm at all. Here are the real guns, and the very real hardware-store tool, behind The Equalizer.

The Nail Gun

Let’s start with the fun one. In the film’s home-improvement-store finale, McCall arms himself with a pneumatic nail gun and turns the hardware aisle into a kill box. It is the perfect Equalizer weapon: ordinary, overlooked, and lethal in the right hands. A framing nailer drives fasteners with enough force to sink them into wood studs, which is exactly why the scene works. It is not a firearm, needs no background check, and sits on every job site in America, which is the whole grim joke.

The Glock

When McCall does use a handgun, it is usually a Glock, the polymer striker pistol that arms most of the cops and criminals he crosses. Reliable, simple, and everywhere, it is the default modern sidearm for exactly the reasons the film relies on it: you can pick one up off a downed enemy and it just works. In real life it is the best-selling handgun in America; see our best concealed carry handguns guide.

The Remington 870

A sawed-off Remington 870 pump shotgun turns up in the hands of the Russian mob McCall dismantles. The 870 is the best-selling shotgun in history, and the short “sawed-off” configuration seen in the film is a Hollywood staple (in real life, cutting a barrel that short is heavily regulated). The full-length 870 and its descendants run our best pump-action shotguns guide.

The Beretta 92FS

Among the pistols that change hands is the Beretta 92FS, the sleek Italian 9mm that served as the US military’s sidearm for decades as the M9. Its open-slide design and smooth double-action make it one of the most recognizable handguns in film history. It remains a popular, soft-shooting full-size 9mm today.

The Villains’ Hardware

The Russian enforcers bring serious kit that McCall repeatedly turns against them: Micro Uzi and Skorpion machine pistols, Heckler & Koch MP5 and UMP submachine guns, and even an HK416 rifle for the head enforcer. That is the genius of the character, though. Give McCall thirty seconds in a hardware store and he does not need any of it. If The Equalizer got you interested in the real versions, our handgun and shotgun guides are the place to begin.