On Christmas Eve, Taran Tactical celebrated Keanu Reeves’ birthday. At the same time, they unveiled what handgun Keanu will be using as he reprises his role in the upcoming John Wick 3 movie. This time John Wick has upgraded from polymer striker fired guns to a double stack 9mm single action hammer fired STI 2011 Combat Master by Taran Tactical.

At the end of last September, TFB got a chance to meet Taran Butler at Taran Tactical. You may have seen some of the videos by James Reeves on TFBTV. Those were filmed while we were there.

While we were there at the hallowed training ground of Keanu Reeves we got to see the new pistol for John Wick 3.The video below is not ours but we were at the same training range that Keanu Reeves trained at.

Unfortunately, we were under NDA about the pistol until Taran gave us the go ahead and that time has arrived. The new pistol used by John Wick is a collaboration between Taran Tactical and STI. It is a model 2011 single action, hammer fired double stack 9mm. However there are a few interesting things about this pistol that you might not notice.

The front sight is called a sight tracker barrel. The front sight is attached to the barrel and a long ridge is machined as part of the barrel so a corresponding groove is cut into the top of the slide.

Below is an example of a Sight Tracker mod

Photos by Arnzen Arms

Photos by Arnzen Arms

Sight tracker barrels are multipurpose. By fixing the front sight to the barrel, it does not move with the slide. The massive slide cut is there to accommodate that added ridge but it also works as a form of weight lightening of the slide. Heavier barrel and lighter slide means less recoil and faster cycling slide for faster follow up shots. You see this type of modification in competition pistols. Typically of the 1911 and 2011 variety.

Another feature which you will not see in pictures is the fact that the 2011 Combat Master is chambered for 9mm major. Taran told us that this could be brought up in the movie and explained to the audience.

When Taran had mentioned this, we had not seen the 2011 Combat Master just yet.  I thought the 9mm Major load was for a competition style race gun with a massive compensator at the end. Usually, competitors will shoot 9mm major for two reasons. Major Power Factor so they can game USPSA and get better points. But 9mm major is also important to make compensators work more effectively. More gas and pressure make comps work better. This keeps your race gun flatter shooting and you can shoot faster.

We shall see if this is true when the movie comes out next year.