The UTAS-15 12-gauge shotgun is no looker. In fact, if I had a dog with a face like that I’d shave its butt and make it walk backwards. OK, the UTAS doesn’t have a face. And I’d rather have one than not if I needed one. A practical point that raises that whole “beauty is as beauty does, who cares if a GLOCK is as sexy as a brick” deal. But with so many dead sexy heaters waiting for homes at your local gun store, why would you buy an ugly gun? And yet, people must. Otherwise none would be made, right? Anyway, what gun do you reckon is the world’s ugliest? Hi-Point 995TS 9mm carbine? Chiappa Rhino snubbie.

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150 COMMENTS

  1. Chiappa rhino is a pretty damn ugly gun. But so are pugs, and people love pugs. Eye of the beholder. My vote though would have to go with that attempted gun the military experimented with about 20 years ago, the XM-29 OIWC. That thing just looked ugly, and bulky.

    • I guess I’m a bit weird, because I actually like the way the Rhino looks. Granted, I prefer the look of the 4″ model to the 2″, but it still has a very Blade Runner-esque look that I find appealing.

      • Yeah, I also think the 2″ model is pretty ugly, especially those black rubber grips, but the 6″ with wooden grips is pretty cool.

        …. the 2″ is like Chiappa refused to change the aesthetics of the model, no matter how ugly that makes it, in order for it to look like a rhino snout.

      • I agree that the non-snubbie Rhino looks cool. Then again, I kinda like the M60 look of the newer Hi-Point carbines and the futuristic look of the UTAS-15, although very bulky.

    • I’d love to see someone get a 9mm done with a reliable peterson action. Then they’d be able to make a gun the size of these subcompacts that has a long enough grip for all of your fingers. (In other words, like one can do with blowbacks like the Makarov, but in 9×19.)

      That having been said, the styling was overly Buck Rogers for my taste. and shortening the sight axis just to continue that funky arc up the back of the slide was an unacceptable trade of form for function.

        • It appears (from what little I know about it) that you need a lot less volume under the slide than you do with most non-blowback handguns. Take a look at the Beretta Nano for instance–the part of the frame under the slide is almost as tall as the slide is. In order to make the gun compact, the grip ends up being shortened to the point where you only can put two fingers on it. Some other type of action doesn’t use up all this height above the trigger, allowing for a longer grip in the same size package. I am able to wrap all of my fingers around the grip of a (blowback) Makarov, which is basically only slightly bigger than the nano–but there’s no room at all for my pinky on the Nano (which alas was also a piece of crap for other reasons).

          The peterson action, judging from the R-51 pics I saw, at least, gets rid off all that space under the slide that must be devoted to the unlocking mechanism, potentially allowing for a longer grip you can get your entire hand around.

        • No. Unlike the recoil-operated actions with tilting barrels, the Pedersen hesitation locked blowback design can keep the barrel fixed, which has greater accuracy potential without sacrificing reliability.

        • The Pedersen action also allows for the use of a suppressor without a Nielsen device.

      • Probably had to do with the fact that it wasn’t a polymer gun. But it also wasn’t yet another 1911, and wasn’t yet another AR.

        • I really hope Remington atones for its sins and launched an R51 v2.0 without the QC and design issues. Even if it means a slightly higher cost per gun, it would be worth it just to have more variety in the market place.

          Let’s face it: the R51 as a concept was a winner. It’s design was fresh, the action based on something classic, and it was small for a 9mm with a decent sized grip. The execution of said concept was a turd.

  3. Arisaka type 99 is a strong contender.

    Liberator pistol is another strong contender.

    • Mosin Nagant in all it’s unvarying variations rank along side the 99. Nagant 95 is maybe not as ugly as the liberator, but it’s close.

      Just about any french service rifle qualifies. IMHO.

      • Your first paragraph is fightin’ words, sir.

        The question has to do with ugliest, not merely somewhat less beautiful than a Winchester ’72.

        Can you seriously claim to believe a Nagant less appealing than an USFA Zip .22LR…?

        • Russ, I have deep affection for my reformed commie guns. But pretty, they ain’t. With the exception of my Mak. It ain’t ugly.

        • While I agree that a Nagant revolver or a Mosin has about as much panache as a Czechoslovak army truck, it’s better looking than a Yugo – if for no other reason than that it’s well-designed.

          There are guns out there which make a Yugo look like a Ferrari.

          Seemingly, we must needs agree to disagree.

        • Russ I do believe you have named the ugliest gun ever. The Zip inventor should be forced to shoot that gun, until he spanks himself and promises to never do that again.

    • I’ll see your Liberator, and raise you Dardick’s ‘tround’ firing marvel.

      Toss in an Owen Machine Carbine for good measure.

    • thanks for that one. I’d never heard of it. I just googled it and the first thing that crossed my mind was what in the hell?

    • Also known as the “Steyr GB”. I never thought it was a particularly ugly gun, but it sure had an ugly trigger.

  9. I can find even the Hi-Point pistols beautiful because they work. The R51 looks weird, and more importantly, is an awful gun so it gets my vote.

  10. Mossberg 464 SPX for making a nice lever action frankengunned

    Anyone who puts leopard pattern overlays on their FA

    Zip22 just by itself. WTF.

    • I suspect that is actually the “safe gun” the antis are clammoring for. To reduce damage either step out of the way or stand directly i front of the barrel.

  22. Another vote for the Zip 22 – Ugly, impractical, and – considering that you have to put your finger in front of the muzzle to cock it – unsafe.

    • After seeing all the stuff on the web about the Zip, I saw one near the
      front of a gun store – when I saw it, I thought they just put it there as a joke.

  25. DoubleTap “Tactical pocket pistol,” Cobray “Pocket pal” .22LR/.380ACP and USFA “Zip .22LR.”

    Some are uglier than others, but each is as wrong as a three-handed dealer.

  29. How has nobody mentioned the FAMAS? or the G36? I saw the KRISS mentioned earlier, and I think it takes the cake for “ugly,” but the FAMAS can’t be far behind it.

    (Yes, I know everyone wants a g36. Shoot, if you could get one here and I had the money, I’d take one… But they’re still pretty darn ugly with that top rail/handle/bike rack…

    • I posted french service rifles above. I didn’t pick a favorite. They’re all butt ugly in my eyes.

      Now the mas 36 is a handy rifle in my opinion. Short, compact, potent. Once you get used to the funny bolt throw it’s like having a .308 class rifle in an m1 carbine sized package.

      All the french service bolt guns had the same failing. No safties.

    • I suppose I can see the KRISS Vector, whether pistol or carbine version, not being everyone’s cup of tea; but I don’t see it as outright, universally ugly. It’s distinctive, which can be discomforting to some, but I’m just not seeing repellant.

    • I don’t know if it’s ugly or a “what the h311 drugs were they on” with that distance between the bore and sight.

  31. Ill get heck for this.
    A GLOCK, They don’t come much uglier even if 100% reliable.
    1st time I saw one I said to myself.
    Self what a brick.

  34. A handful of contenders, for your consideration:

    – Webley-Fosbery revolver

    – Dardick revolver

    – Dreyse 1907

    – Pribor-3B rifle

    – Korobov TKB-022 rifle

    – High Standard 10 or 10B shotgun

    – M79 Grenade Launcher

    • Read it again; we’re not talking about the content of the book, we’re talking about the cover.

      Safety/reliability is not the issue; ugliness is. I’ve seen many firearms from Turkey that were finished quite nicely, and displayed decent wood, so I think that your brush may be too broad in this case.

  38. I always thought the S&W Magnum revolvers with those weird barrels with weights, comps, rings, slats, pulleys and all that stuff were so ugly. Like the Ruger magnum revolvers to which they attach a skinny barrel to make it longer and make it look like a cheap but huge sat night special with a plumbing pipe stuck into the barrel. Revolvers with full or flowing partial under lugs that looks like part of the barrel is the way to do it. Stop sticking pipes with donuts on the end on the barrels of those things!!

  39. I’d probably vote for that Chiappa Rhino Snub.

    On the other hand, I don’t think they look bad with the 6″ barrel.

  40. How is it no one has mentioned the Kel-Tec KSG, whose ugly design this Turkish one appears to have ripped off?

        • I went with New Jersey because I’d rather carry a .357 magnum with hollow points than to not be allowed to carry a 9mm with ball ammo. Of course if your in NYC you can’t even own a shotgun, but statewide I’d go with NJ.

  42. Pick a time period and you can find ugly guns in it for example the Puckel gun which had an optional feature to shoot cube shaped bullets at non Christian opponents and round ball at Christians

    More recently the Dardek which fired trounds… Though in this case only the chamber had a triangle cross section the bullets were normal… Still a darn ugly gun

    • Puckett; square cross-section — the projectiles were longer than they were wide.

      I find it — quaint rather than ugly, but your mileage might vary.

  43. I always thought the Steyr AUG was a hideous weapon. Glocks, the Nambu 94, Hi-Points, and the FAMAS are all pretty ugly, too.

  45. I don’t know which is the ugliest gun ever, the Astra 300, 400, or 600, but I know one of them is.

  46. The terrifying Beretta U22 NEOS 6.0. Saw one at a gun shop immediately after seeing one at a gun show and thought, “There’s more than one of these devices in existence?!”

    With the Beretta heritage behind it, it’s most likely a decent firearm. With looks that would kill the intruder before the bullet reached him, the gun has various side benefits going for it.

  48. I (and several others) have a few Yugo M-24/47 and 48 Mausers and they are not just nowhere near ugly they work better than a lot of new guns out there. Same goes for my Yugo SKS if you keep it clean. Like you should with any gun ugly or not. That’s it, any dirty gun is an ugly gun.
    But when you really need a gun, they’re all beautiful.

  49. Any gun DiFi is holding. Especially if she is sweeping the audience with her finger on the trigger

  50. Remington Model 8; add the shotgun butt with cigar burns in the stock, rust-brown finish instead of bluing, and multiple dents in the spring tube. Got the very same in my gun case; got it like that and love it anyway…

  51. I don’t know.
    It’s like asking to pick the ugly chick at a Miss America pageant. Kinda difficult

  52. Original Hi-Point carbine. Planet of the Apes gun. They had one for sale at the local Cabelas. For$250…I offered $100. Seriously 🙂

  59. With apologies to my very good friends at Henry – the AR-7 isn’t much to look at. I’ll also submit the various Nambu pistols which just look strange, the Austrian WW1 water cooled machine guns which were all out of proportion, and the Danish Madsen mgs which were also pretty strange looking. The old US 1917 Enfields with their odd dog leg bolt weren’t much to brag on either – although they were good enough for Alvin York.

  60. I had a date once with a chick that ugly. The relationship was REALLY short. It was like buying a house; the first thing they tell you is that you have to enjoy the curb appeal of your own place, otherwise, you won’t be there long. But that’s what that chick and this gun are missing; curb appeal.

    Call me shallow, but …. hey!

    • Reminds me of a gal I dated once. She had red spots all over her body. So I ask her, “why do you have red spots all over your body?”
      She says, “those are from people touching me with 10 foot poles…”

  61. Ugliest gun I owned personally was a Hi-Point 995 carbine. And even then it wasn’t so much “ugly” as purposeful, which has its own appeal. If only the damn thing worked right and I didn’t live in NY it would probably still be in my collection. Alas.

    I love Mosins, they are cheaply hewn and dead-simple tools for sure but I think they have a certain sleekness about them that the chunkier Kar98 or Lee-Enfield lack. Arisakas and most of the French infantry rifles are definitely fugly, though. So are a number of modern bullpups (SA80 anyone?), the KRISS, and the Calico. The Australian Owen subgun is pretty bizarre looking with its vertical mag and two vertical handgrips.

    Any of the above Nambus, USFA ZIP, Frommer STOP (weird long-recoil design from Hungary), JoLaAr pistol and Dardick mag-fed revolver are solid contenders for homeliest handgun. I happen to dig the Rhino’s cyberpunk looks but it translates better in the 4″ or 6″ barrel models than in the 2″ snubby.

  62. I just can’t get past the Mosin Nagat 91/30 no mater how cheap or how well it shoots. It’s just not made for my gun safe.

  64. Any gun that gets me, my family, or my buddies killed.

    And I would like to disqualify the Liberator pistol. Ugly, no doubt. But it was not a gun that was carried, the vast majority were likely shot only once then tossed. They cost, what?, about a buck to make (by a division of a car company that made ‘guide lamps’) and were distributed by dropping them out of airplanes!

  66. anything built by Red Jacket from scratch or horrendously mauled by them in pursuit of nevah bin done befo. Examples: that weird saiga 12gauge gatling gun they made outta 3 semi auto saigas, the tacticooled thompson, the master key, the taser mount for shotguns, & pretty much everything else they rape.

  67. Rohm RG model 10 has to be one of the ugliest firearms ever made. And probably in the top 5 of most useless. I’ve handled one, wouldn’t fire it even for money as I have seen Mattel make higher quality toy guns.

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