John Wick's Pistol: The Sidearm File, Film by Film
Ask “what pistol does John Wick use?” and the honest answer is: a different one in every film. John's primary sidearm evolves from a long-slide Heckler & Koch P30L in the first movie to a series of full-house competition guns built by Taran Tactical Innovations — ending with the TTI Pit Viper in Chapter 4.
This page is the sidearm deep-dive: specs, modifications and why each gun was chosen. For shotguns, rifles and everything else in the arsenal, see the full John Wick guns hub.
John Wick (2014): Heckler & Koch P30L
The original. John's comeback gun is the long-slide variant of H&K's P30 service pistol, made instantly recognizable by the single-port compensator screwed to its threaded barrel. It's a slightly eccentric choice — compensators are competition gear, rare on duty guns — and that's exactly why it works on screen: it looks like a professional's personal tool, not an armory issue weapon.
The home-invasion scene — John retrieving the P30L from beneath the concrete floor along with the gold coins — is the franchise's equivalent of drawing Excalibur.
Chapter 2 (2017): Glock 34 TTI Combat Master
When the Rome sommelier asks about John's taste, the “tasting” that follows sets the new pattern: from here on, John carries competition guns. His primary is a Glock 34 Combat Master — Glock's long-slide 9mm worked over by Taran Tactical with slide cuts, a magwell, fiber-optic sights and a tuned trigger. A TTI-built Glock 26 rides as backup, and Winston's loaner — a Kimber 1911 in .45 ACP with a famous seven rounds — covers the museum finale.
Chapter 3 (2019): STI 2011 Combat Master
Parabellum upgrades John to a 2011-pattern Combat Master built on STI's double-stack 1911 platform — the same family of pistol that dominates practical-shooting competition. It keeps the 1911's single-action trigger but feeds from wide-body magazines, giving John 1911 feel with modern capacity. It's the gun of the Continental siege, fighting alongside Halle Berry's Sofia and her dogs in Casablanca before that.
Chapter 4 (2023): TTI Pit Viper
The finale gets a gun designed for it. The Pit Viper is a custom 9mm 2011 with an integrated bullnose compensator, built by Taran Tactical specifically for Chapter 4 — visually echoing the compensated P30L from the first film, which is a nice full-circle touch. After the movie, TTI put the Pit Viper into real production and demand immediately swamped supply.
Taran Tactical: why the guns look like that
Every sidearm from Chapter 2 onward comes from one shop: Taran Tactical Innovations in Simi Valley, run by champion shooter Taran Butler. Butler trains the cast — Keanu Reeves famously runs three-gun drills well enough to embarrass hobbyists — and builds the screen guns the way he builds match guns: lightened slides, flared magwells, fiber optics, triggers tuned for speed.
That's the quiet realism trick of the franchise. John's pistols aren't sci-fi props; they're the actual equipment of practical shooting competition, used the way competitors use them — reloads before empty, eyes downrange, two to the body and one to the head. The style even has a name on the kill count page: gun-fu, but the gun half is real.
Frequently Asked Questions
▸What pistol does John Wick use?
It changes per film: an HK P30L with compensator in John Wick (2014), a Glock 34 TTI Combat Master in Chapter 2, an STI 2011 Combat Master in Chapter 3, and the TTI Pit Viper in Chapter 4. All from Chapter 2 onward were built by Taran Tactical Innovations.
▸What pistol does John Wick use in Chapter 4?
The TTI Pit Viper, a custom 9mm double-stack 2011 with an integrated compensator, built by Taran Tactical. It was designed for the film and later sold to the public, where demand far outstripped supply.
▸Is the TTI Pit Viper a real gun?
Yes. Taran Tactical Innovations released the Pit Viper commercially after Chapter 4. It is a competition-grade 9mm 2011 pistol with a bullnose compensator, and real-world examples sell for several thousand dollars.
▸What gun does John Wick use in the first movie?
A Heckler & Koch P30L, the long-slide version of the German P30, fitted with a distinctive single-port compensator. He backs it up with a Glock 26 subcompact.
▸Did Keanu Reeves really train with these pistols?
Extensively. Keanu Reeves trained with champion shooter Taran Butler at Taran Tactical for each film, running three-gun-style drills. Videos of his range runs went viral, and competitive shooters rate his gun handling as genuinely high-level for an actor.