Some guns are intrinsically beautiful. Even people who aren’t gun guys or gals can look at particular firearms and recognize the artistry that goes into their creation. Guns like the Colt Python, the M1 Garand, or an H&H shotgun are all naturally beautiful pieces of machinery. On the opposite side, we have the ugly guns, and today we are going to discuss the ugliest guns to ever exist.
The Ugly Gun List
Clerke Technicorp 1st Revolver
It’s a cap gun; that was your first thought when you saw this gun, right? Look at it. I’ve owned cap guns that look better than this thing. The Clerke Technicorp 1st Revolver was a product of the 1968 Gun Control Act. The GCA essentially banned the import of cheap revolvers and automatics coming out of Europe.
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That left a gap in the market, and companies like Clerke Technicorp stepped in to fill it with heaps of potmetal crap. The Clerke Technicorp came in both .22LR and .32 S&W. It’s a cast frame, and the cylinder is held in place with a rivet. There was no ejector rod, just a removable pin used to punch out empties.
It’s butt ugly, it doesn’t work well, but they cost around $20 when first sold in the 1970s. They demand about $100 today, and man, I kinda want one.
Nambu Type 94
The Imperial Japanese Army did have a great reputation for good-looking firearms. They were heavily into the diesel punk aesthetic. Of all of Japan’s ugly guns, the Type 94 Nambu pistol might be the ugliest. It looks like I asked a five-year-old to draw a gun. What is going on with that grip design?
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It’s an 8mm Nambu pistol designed to be compact for tank crews and pilots. It’s fairly light for the era, and did use a locked breech and recoil operation. The hammer-fired gun held a total of six rounds, and you better not top the gun off for 6 + 1.
The guns had a bad habit of discharging when they felt like it. You could accidentally press the sear downward because it was exposed, and if the safety was off, the gun would fire. You shouldn’t judge a gun based solely on looks, but this is one ugly gun inside and out.
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Emperor Arms Dragon-12
The Turkish shotgun market has always had a crop of ugly guns pouring into the market. It seems to have been reduced as of late, but the 20-teens introduced some bangers. The Emperor Arms Dragon-12 might be the ugliest shotgun I’ve ever had the displeasure of looking at. It was truly a horrible day to have eyes when this thing popped up.
It’s like someone saw ‘tactical’ features and decided to put them all on a semi-auto shotgun. It has a pistol grip stock, and the stock can hold four extra rounds. The front of the gun has this giant metal handguard with tons of rail space. What sets the entire thing off is the presence of a carry handle sighting system with a raised front sight.
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It doesn’t even make sense. The stock isn’t in line, so your cheek weld wouldn’t even allow you to use the carry handle iron sights. You won’t have a cheek weld to use the sights. It’s such an ugly abomination, and if they didn’t cost 400 dollars I’d buy one for the memes.
IWI Barak
The IWI Barak, or IMI Barak, or the Magnum Research SP-21, whatever you want to call it, looks like it crawled out of a made-for-TV science fiction movie. A lot of polymer guns aren’t exactly good-looking, but the Barak takes the ugly cake.
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What catches your eye is the giant hump at the rear of the slide that nearly conceals the hammer when it sits in the lowered position. What’s it there for? It’s a gripping surface, so with the Israeli tradition of Condition 3 carry, I imagine it’s to make it easier to rack a round in the chamber on the fly.
The gun uses a CZ-75 style system, but uses dual captured recoil springs instead of a single recoil spring. It’s odd, but seems to work. The molded grip is butt ugly, like someone hit a Walther P99 with an ugly stick. Speaking of the P99, there is a decocking button on the top of the gun to drop the hammer. How they made a CZ-75-based pistol and ugly gun is beyond me.
SIG SG 510
I’m a fan of SIG rifles, specifically the 550 series of guns. I’ve always thought they were cool, well-made guns. I have no doubts the SIG SG 510 is a well-made, reliable, and accurate gun. However, it’s an ugly gun. This was the Swiss battle rifle of the 1950s and fired the full-powered 7.5mm round.
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Both battle rifle magazines are largely straight, with a slight curve at times. However, the SG 510 magazine is huge and curved and looks awkward in the rifle. It looks more like the gun was hastily fit for a magazine. That’s where the goofyness starts.
From there we have a weird mix of shapes and textures. I’m not sure how else to describe it. It looks a bit unhinged. The pistol grip is remarkably straight, the trigger is weird, the handguard is tiny, and the barrel has a ventilated shroud. The stock is oddly shaped, and the rectangular receiver just looks weird. I’m sure it’s a fine piece of machinery, but it doesn’t look like one.
Vigilance Rifles Model 20
I don’t understand this gun, and I don’t understand its price. Inside of those massively blocky upper receivers is a direct-blowback 9mm made as a pistol, rifle, and submachine gun. The Model 20 uses Glock mags, and for some reason costs over 1,500 dollars for a simple, semi-auto format pistol or rifle.
The M20 has a machine gun-style hinged top cover that opens to reveal the bolt and makes disassembly easy. You can easily swap barrels to shorten or lengthen the gun, but it doesn’t seem like multiple calibers are offered. I don’t understand why the gun is just a giant box.
There are a lot of cheaper, simpler ways to produce a PCC. I don’t understand the appeal to this gun at all. When Hi-Point makes a better-looking, more affordable gun, you know you have a problem.
Armscor M1600
The Armscor 1600 has been around forever, and has always been ugly. There is some charm to the fact that Armscor keeps producing the M1600. The M1600 is a .22LR rifle that looks like a child’s drawing, which is the second time I’ve said that in this article. The M1600 is an attempt ot create a cheap .22LR that looks like an M-16, kind of.
We get the carry handle, the A-frame style front sight, and a stock that vaguely resembles an M-16 stock. They also made a version with a collapsing wire stock. It looks like the bizarro version of an M-16. The receiver is where it all falls apart.
The Armscor M1600 is butt ugly, but I really want one. It seems like they might be fun little guns that are just silly. Plus, unlike a lot of guns on this list, it’s cheap.
That’s An Ugly Gun
There are lots of guns I consider to be works of art, both visually and mechanically. However, none of these have that art look to them. They are just ugly, but ugly can be okay. They all certainly have their charm.
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