What are the best guns of 2019? The smash hits? The end of year awards?
We thought about having more categories than The Oscars, but you would get bored. And so would we as we namechecked yet another polymer pistol that matters, but doesn’t excite.
So we decided to throw caution to the wind and just name some guns that absolutely blew us away in 2019. They’re glamorous, they’re a bit gunporn and, well, one or two sensible ones slipped in too.
The Best Guns of 2019
1 Best Rifle of 2019
Wilson Combat AR-10 Recon Tactical
- Price: $2,799.99
- Caliber: 6.5 Creedmoor
- Barrel Length: 16 inch
- Total Length: 33.5-37.75 inch
- Capacity: 20+1 rounds
- Weight: 7.1lb
Yes it’s expensive, but this is the next gen patrol rifle everybody keeps talking about. The Wilson Combat AR-10 Tactical Recon won more than one of our shootouts this year. Put simply, it’s the future of the Modern Sporting Rifle.
The Wilson Combat AR-10 Tactical Recon weighs the same as a basic AR-15, yet it’s an AR-10 platform chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor. While other semi auto Creedmoor rifles unashamedly tip the scales at 9lb+, Wilson Combat changed the game.
This is a hunting rifle you could shoulder all day. It’s a Designated Marksman Riflle and it’s a legit replacement for every semi-auto rifle above an AR-15 and every big bore bolt action you own.
One gun to rule them all? It really could be the Wilson Combat AR-10 Tactical Recon.
Buy your gun online right now and find out why this is our 2019 Best Gun of the Year.
2 Best Handgun of 2019
EAA Tanfoglio Witness Stock III Extreme
- Price: $1,877
- Caliber: 9mm Luger
- Barrel: 4.5 inch
- Total: 8 inch
- Weight: 2.85lb
EAA Tanfoglio is a combination that enjoyed a real breakthrough in 2019, and they both deserve it. The EAA Tanfoglio Witness Stock III Extreme is the ultimate handgun in a lot of ways. Certainly if you love 9mm competition 1911s anyway.
There are lots of cheaper guns from the Italian master gunsmiths at Tanfoglio. EAA simply imports the guns for sale on US soil, and has helped mastermind a charm offensive at the target shooting events around the country.
The end result is that the EAA Tanfoglio brand has become a household name and you have a series of seriously good new handguns to choose from.
We could easily have chosen the EAA Tanfoglio Witness Compact Polymer, or the 10mm hunting handguns. As it is, we think this is the most seductive and special handgun EAA Tanfoglio has launched this year.
4. Shotgun of the Year
Kalashnikov USA Komrad 12.5
- Price: $1,069.99
- Caliber: 12 Gauge Shotgun
- Action: Semi auto
- Barrel Length: 12.5 inch
- Total Length: 31.5 inch
- Weight: 7.85lb
- Capacity: 5+1
The Kalashnikov USA Komrad 12.5 is our runaway favorite shotgun of the year and has taken the honors in more than one category over the last 12 months. It’s the best home defense shotgun by a million miles in our humble opinion and the next level of tactical shotgun.
Essentially, this is the same architecture as an AK-47 pistol. But it shoots 12 gauge, reliably and brutally. The 12.5 inch barrel and AR pistol-style stabilizing brace turn this mag-fed shotgun into an absolute weapon of war.
You can slot Saiga drum magazines straight in, too. So you can have a 20-round shotgun, rather than a 5+1 box magazine set-up. Either way you can reload in a second and keep blasting away with vicious shotgun ammunition.
In our opinion, this is the next generation of shotguns right here. And you can buy it today.
5. CCW of the Year
Glock 43x
- Price: $448.49
- Caliber: 9mm Luger
- Barrel Length: 3.39 inch
- Total Length: 6.5 inch
- Weight: 1lb
- Capacity: 10+1
The Gen 5 Glock 43x marked a seismic shift round these parts. Finally, this was the Glock they always wanted to build. For us, it’s the best Glock ever.
Glock did rest on its laurels and produced guns that needed trigger sets, flared magwells and all kinds of add-ons before it realy felt right. But the Gen 5 Glock 43x is a gun you can just shoot, perfectly, every damn time.
This is the gun where Glock stopped doing nothing wrong and started doing everything right. The G43x is perfectly sized, the trigger is just right, the recoil is controlled. It’s just a great gun.
The Glock 43x has now displaced the Sig Sauer P320 Compact as our EDC. Try one and, like us, get ready to be amazed.
6. AR Pistol of the Year
Sig Sauer Copperhead
- Price: $1,579
- Caliber: 9mm Luger
- Barrel Length: 3.5 inch
- Total Length: 14.5 inch
- Weight: 4.5lb
- Capacity: 20+1
The Sig Sauer MPX platform was hardly long and ungainly before. But the Sig Sauer MPX Copperhead has taken this platform to concealed carry proportions with a 3.5 inch barrel.
More Great Guns of 2019…
1 Bushmaster Firearms BA50
- Price: $3,249 (SALE)
- Caliber: .50 BMG Rifle
- Barrel Length: 30 inch
- Total Length: 58 inch
- Weight: 30lb
- Capacity: 10+1
The Bushmaster Firearms BA50 completely changed the 50 BMG landscape. This is the Blue Collar Barrett for the civilian big bore shooting enthusiast.
It’s a 50 Cal rifle that has found a home with long distance shooters, firearms enthusiasts looking for a new buzz and probably military units that can’t afford a Barrett M107A1.
Check out our top 10 50 BMG rifles for sale here to get the very best 50 Cal rifle money can buy. But if you’re looking for value and the best 50 BMG for the money, then it’s the Bushmaster Firearms BA50.
2. Arex ReX Zero 1 CP
- Price: $618.00+
- Caliber: 9mm Luger
- Overall Length: 7.1 inch
- Barrel Length: 3.85 inch
- Height: 5.1 inch
- Width: 1.1 inch
- Weight: 1.56lb
- Capacity: 15+1 Rounds
This thoroughly modern take on the Browning Hi-Power is like a CZ 75 2.0. Slovenian military supplier Arex has over-engineered a handgun that would cost three times more if it were made on these shores.
All the main parts are machined from barstock steel and billet aluminum to ISO engineering standards. The attention to detail is just insane and even the channels are designed to clean and lubricate themselves.
The result is a brilliant metal handgun that makes similar sized 1911s look clumsy and just plain bad in comparison. It has no rattle, it has no roll. This is one of the best guns of 2019 and you can expect to see more of the ReX brand in 2020.
3. John Wick Combat Master STI 2011
- Price: $3,899
- Caliber: 9mm
- Barrel Length: 5.4 inch
- Total Length: 8.78 inch
- Weight: 3lb
- Capacity: 22+1
John Wick 3 was a box office smash and this time he took an STI 2011, tuned by Taran Tactical Innovations, into battle.
This is the ultimate 9mm double stack 1911 and it’s aimed at competition shooters, rather than the world’s greatest assassin. Still, as celebrity endorsements go, this one is badass…
You can buy an official John Wick Combat Master 2011, if you have almost $4000 to spend. But you can get an STI handgun for much less.
Check out the full range of STI handguns at Rainier Arms.