Top 20 Movies for Gun Enthusiasts

Gunfights and shootouts have a longstanding history in movies. Violent gun battles between the protagonists and the opposing forces have long been the foundation of the climactic action sequences in classic Westerns, criminal flicks, and war movies. Their appeal has only grown in the coming years. Here’s a list of the top 20 movies for gun enthusiasts:

Black Hawk Down

Josh Hartnett, Orlando Bloom, Ewan McGregor, and Tom Hardy star as Task Force Rangers on a mission to capture the Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid in this book adaptation by journalist Mark Bowden. Considered the ultimate gun movie, it received production support, Black hawk helicopters, and personnel training from the US Department of Defense. What made it even more special was that many pilots and soldiers from the actual Battle of Mogadishu were cast in the movie. 

The intense movie has several battles and features multiple weapons, including Colt Model 727 and 733 rifles and Colt M4 Carbines. In a pretty intense fighting scene, the first Black Hawk, Super Six-One, is taken down by an RPG-7 launcher. The movie has many scenes showing the guns jamming and reloading of M19111. 

Act of Valor

Real-life, active-duty Navy SEALS, along with Alex Veadov, Christo, Roselyn Sanchez, Lisa Morales, Nestor Serrano, Walter Ross, and Rorke Denver, embark on a covert mission to stop a Mexican cartel and recover a kidnapped CIA agent. 

This modern warfare film includes some brutal action scenes. The presence of actual Navy SEALS adds a sense of realism to the movie set. Act of Valor features navy training sites and weapons, and multiple fight scenes show live ammunition being used. The gunfights are “a lot calmer, collected, and disciplined,” according to Lt. Commander Rorke, who’s part of the ensemble.

Here are some of the weapons used in the movie:

• SIG-Sauer P226
• Heckler & Koch MP5A2
• AKM Rifles
• M240 door guns
• GAU-17/A Minigun (This gun used live ammunition.)

Shoot ‘Em Up

Gunman Mr. Smith (Clive Owen), who loves munching on carrots, joins forces with a prostitute, DQ (Monica Bellucci), to deliver and defend a baby from gunmen. Smith and DQ discover a dying senator’s plan to harvest bone marrow from infants like the one they’re protecting while being pursued by hitman Hertz (Paul Giamatti).

The movie features multiple impressive shootouts, targeted firings, and insane placement of objects in the middle of the room.

The Desert Eagle Mark XIX, Walther PPK, and Smith & Wesson Model 629 are just a few of the fantastic weaponry seen in the film. Of course, Smith uses a carrot to stab the bad guys, but we aren’t counting that, are we?

The Outpost

Inspired by Jake Tapper’s book The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor, the movie pays an ode to The Battle of Kamdesh, one of America’s worst encounters with the Taliban during the Afghan war. 

The beginning of the battle scene demonstrates how things can progress from 0 to 100 on the battlefield within seconds, with snipers, bombs, and ammo runs leading to conflicts without any sound buffer.

The M224 Motors and the M120 play a crucial role in protecting the outpost, and almost every soldier is equipped with an M4A1 Carbine. A grenade launcher is mounted by several of the soldiers. Both Taliban fighters and local Afghan soldiers are spotted carrying AK-47s. 

James Bond: The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

The renowned assassin Scaramanga, who demands a million dollars per shot for his services, puts the legendary MI6 agent’s life in danger in the ninth installment of the James Bond film series. One of the most famous gunfights in movie history occurs when Scaramanga, who is just as talented as Bond, tries to outdo him.

While the opponent boasts the 4.2-mm single-shot handgun, Bond’s Walther holds a six-shot magazine. To impart maximum devastation, Scaramanga uses unusual golden bullets.

Sicario

Sicario, “hitman” in Spanish and Italian, is number seven on our list of the top movies for gun enthusiasts. Emily Blunt, who plays FBI agent Kate Macer, attempts to take down a Mexican drug cartel. Sicario features a slow-moving storyline but spectacular fight scenes. The gunfight incident at the border serves as the ideal illustration of this.

The convoy is delayed as the extraction is taking place because of traffic. The agents spot the cartel members hiding among the other pedestrians, and both sides display their weapons in the heated confrontation. The tension rises as the gang members step out of their cars, prompting the agents to do the same. The agents end up massacring the cartel, finishing the conflict as quickly as it starts.

There is limited diversity of guns in this film. The Glock 19 and the SIG-Sauer P226 DAK handgun are the few weapons used in gunfights.

Unforgiven

Morgan Freeman, Clint Eastwood, and Gene Hackman act in this gunfight movie set in a western setting. Eastwood plays an ex-outlaw Will Munny, who is on the hunt for two men who injured a prostitute for $1000 in 1880 (equivalent to $27.5k in 2022). This box office blockbuster features a lot of western style shootouts. The saloon gunfight shows sheer talent and ruthlessness, turning every western cliché about friendly cowboys and assisting only innocent people on its head.

Munny is at his worst in this instance. He coldly shoots the unarmed saloon owner and empties chamber after chamber into the men flanking him. Munny is cool, but their panicky shooting causes their bullets to miss. The movie features numerous historical firearms from the Western era, including:

• The Spencer 1860 Carbine Rifle
• The Winchester 1892 Rifle
• The Remington 1875 Pistol
• The Colt 1860 Army Pistol

Extraction

Chris Hemsworth puts down his Thor hammer and dons a SWAT vest and army rifle instead. Hemsworth plays Tyler Rake, a black ops mercenary entrusted with rescuing the kidnapped son of an imprisoned Indian drug lord.

There is a lot of action as Hemsworth battles a dozen soldiers alone using shotguns, machine guns, grenade launchers, and pistols. The bloodbath is unforgettable thanks to the camera angles, the battle choreography, and the music, which brilliantly combine gunfire and hand-to-hand combat into a brutal and gory conflict.

In addition to his Glock 17 sidearm, Rake is seen in the climactic showdown carrying a BCM CQB-11 rifle that has been customized. Forces from Bangladesh employ the Type 69 RPG grenade launcher. M79 Grenade launchers and AK-47 assault rifles are prominently featured in the movie.

Desperado

In Desperado, El Mariachi, a lonely vigilante in Mexico, seeks retribution against a drug lord who murdered his sweetheart. Naturally, he will destroy everything and everyone in his path to obtain it.

He receives violent joy from using his guitar case, which also serves as a strong weapons arsenal. One case serves as a powerful rocket launcher, and the other two as rapid-fire machine guns. It takes a lot of bloodshed to bring down the drug lord, but the practically unstoppable El Mariachi dispatches the whole gang in a hail of blood.

Lone Survivor

Lone Survivor is a tale of an unsuccessful SEAL Operation. The team is on a mission to eliminate a Taliban leader. But suddenly, everything goes wrong, leaving the men engaged in a life-or-death struggle. The four Navy SEALs at the forefront of the story are frequently faced with insurmountable challenges. The US Navy SEAL Luttrell is the sole survivor.

This movie uses many military weapons, including a Beretta 92FS, the M4A1 Carbine, and Mk 12 Mod 1 Special Purpose Rifles. The Chinook helicopters are equipped with FN M240D machine guns.

RoboCop

Due to its graphic depictions of ripped flesh, oozing blood, and frenzied shooting, this legendary action/sci-fi movie from the 1980s had to be significantly toned down. A good cop is shot and killed by ruthless criminals in a futuristic setting when crime is rampant, only to be revived as a crime-fighting cyborg Robocop. 

A few classic weapons shown in the film are: the “Cobra Assault Cannon,” a huge futuristic military weapon that launches a powerful explosive flaming bullet that causes an explosion upon contact, and Robocop’s “Auto 9,” which he shoots in three-round burst mode.

The Way of the Gun

Ryan Phillippe and Benicio del Toro’s characters, Parker and Longbaugh, are two lowlife crooks who kidnap a deadly criminal’s surrogate mother. The two characters speak briefly about death as they place themselves near a doorway. The final shootout then begins as they face off against one another.

The criminals in this movie use a surprising variety of weaponry even though they are always on the run. Parker and Longbaugh mostly use the Colt Series 70 Government Model handgun. The Walther PPK/S was the second weapon used to kill off one of the main characters, Dr. Painter (Dylan Kussan). Shotguns, rifles, and revolvers are a few additional firearms used in the movie.

Equilibrium

An interesting story of a man who discovers he is missing too much of himself and reality. After he accidentally destroys his mind-altering medicine, the man’s actions begin to weigh heavily on his mind because he is a highly skilled killer working for an uncaring government. He killed a friend, lost his wife, forgot his children, and is dealing with the knowledge that things won’t get better unless he does something.

The gun-kata looks impressive, and the action is terrific. You will be left amazed seeing the short- and long-range gun kata bouts, just like the lobby shootout sequence from The Matrix.

Dredd

Criminals rule the streets in the vast, bloody metropolis known as Mega-City One. The single law is upheld by police officers known as “judges,” who serve as the judge, jury, and executioner. Dredd (Karl Urban), one of the most dreaded cops, is paired with Cassandra (Olivia Thirlby), a newbie with strong psychic talents. Dredd and Cassandra are sent to a dangerous neighborhood under the influence of Ma-Ma (Lena Headey), a drug boss who will do anything to preserve her empire. It is a gun-blazing spectacle to the end after the revelation of the players and the setup.

Lethal Weapon 

Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson), a Los Angeles police detective, suffers from suicidal thoughts after the loss of his wife. Riggs soon gets into a disagreement with Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) after being partnered with him. Together, they expose a huge drug trafficking organization. Riggs and Murtaugh start to get close as they run into riskier scenarios. Riggs’ explosive behavior might just be what they need to capture the perps. Martin Riggs is a former Special Forces sniper and an expert in using his Beretta 92F sidearm; he can fire bullets to draw a smiley face on a target at a range of up to a dozen yards.

Young Guns 

An eminent British gentleman named John Tunstall (Terence Stamp) hires troubled youngsters to graze his herd on the frontier of New Mexico. A motley crew of cowhands, including Richard Brewer (Charlie Sheen), Doc Scurlock (Kiefer Sutherland), and William “Billy the Kid” Bonney (Emilio Estevez), ride out in search of bloody retribution for the murder of their beloved mentor when Tunstall is shot dead by the corrupt Lawrence G. Murphy (Jack Palance).

Great shootouts are featured in the film, like the one where Billy emerges from a window firing his Colt Lightning as the Young Guns, who have been besieged in a building by their enemies, attempt to blast their way out.

Machine Gun Preacher 

The film is based on the true tale of Sam Childers, a convicted heroin dealer and biker who turned to God and went to Sudan. There he joined the Sudan People’s Liberation Army to defend Sudanese orphans from Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army’s horrors. In addition to establishing an orphanage within the Lord’s Resistance Army’s (LRA) territory, Childers began to organize armed attacks to release children from the LRA. Childers quickly rises to the position of gun-slinging leader for the neighborhood rebels due to his prowess in combat and murder. He declares war in the name of the Lord, and terrible gunfights follow.

Gun Crazy 3: Traitor’s Rhapsody

Aki Fukase, who excelled at the police academy, is now a rookie officer hoping to establish a reputation in the industry. However, when a trap is laid by the international terrorist organization Galhowk, her youthfulness plays a factor in her partner’s death.

As a result of her guilt, Aki decides to find Glohawk and atone for her actions, and exact revenge. This is followed by bloody gun retribution.

From Dusk till Dawn

In the movie From Dusk till Dawn, two bank robber brothers hold a pastor and his two stepchildren hostage as they attempt to cross into Mexico. The brothers and the family stop at a local strip joint, where they fight a group of bloodsucking vampires.

The movie has numerous fantastic gunfights, such as the one during the liquor shop robbery. They ultimately set the structure on fire before returning to their car.

John Wick

After marrying his soul mate, the renowned assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) ended his brutal career. Devastated by her untimely passing, John unleashes the merciless monster inside and seeks vengeance after the ruthless mobster Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen) and his henchmen steal his treasured car and kill the dog that was a final present from his wife. John’s former coworker, Iosef’s father (Michael Nyqvist), places a sizable bounty on his life.

Wick might have stopped working as a hitman, but he still keeps a hidden arsenal. Throughout the movie, he uses a Heckler & Koch P30L as his primary weapon, which has a unique compensator. He is also seen firing a DTA Stealth Recon Scout sniper rifle, an FN SCAR-H sniper rifle, and a Glock 26 compact pistol.