Here’s a Rundown of Unique and Rare Firearms; Some Are New Releases for 2023

Author: Vic Fayard, Contributor for GunBroker.com

Whether you want to look at them as “heirloom quality” guns suitable to hand down to future generations, statement pieces that are sure to turn heads on the range, or just want something really special that gives pride of ownership, these guns top-shelf guns are on the pinnacle of coolness– at a price. Here are some of the best we saw at SHOT Show this year.

Baer 1911 Ultimate Master

While it isn’t flashy, the Les Baer Custom Gunworks Ultimate Master is perhaps one of the best race-ready competition 1911s in production today. Just about everything is National Match quality including the steel frame, barrel, and barrel bushing. Added to this is Baer’s custom speed trigger with a 3.5-inch break. Further, everything is hand-fitted, polished, and matched to the extent that working the slide feels like virtually no other 1911 in terms of smoothness. Baer guarantees these guns to run 3-inch groups out to 50 years as long as the user does their part, and they often test as tight as 1.5 inches.

Cabot Apocalypse – A Serious Combat Pistol

A modern take on a 1911, the Apocalypse series as produced by Pennsylvannia’s Cabot Guns comes standard with an M1913 accessory rail, an optics-cut slide with a Trijicon RMR/SRO footprint, tall suppressor-height sights, and an extended threaded barrel for use with suppressors and muzzle devices. Going beyond the fact that it is a serious “combat pistol” it still looks great with its deeply etched stainless steel Damascus slide and VC “Heritage” finished stainless steel frame. Other features include an extended one-piece mag well, match-grade hand-fit barrels, G-10 Tactile grips, and flat-faced triggers tuned to break at around 3.5 pounds. Cabot offers the Apocalypse line in both 4.25-inch Commander and 5-inch Government lengths as well as in 9mm and .45 ACP, along with options for railed or unrailed and optics-ready or not. A regular production gun, the Apocalypse has a $7,995 base price.

Cabot Aristocrat – Featuring Ambrosia Maple Grips

Smooth and elegant, the Cabot Aristocrat is crafted from finely matched satin polished stainless steel with a full-length dust cover on the frame, giving it a unique appearance. Unlike some makers who splash rollmarks everywhere, the Aristocrat is pristine and carries just an understated “CG” on the right hand of the slide and subtle fleur-de-li engraving on the chamber. The grip panels are Ambrosia Maple. This Government-profile 1911 .45 ACP is only available in Cabot’s 2023 Gun of the Month Club, which costs $110,000 and has a waiting list to apply.

Cabot Aristocrat Handguns Coming Soon!

Cabot California

Cabot crafted these guns from the original suspended steel cables used to construct the famed Golden Gate Bridge across San Francisco Bay. Acquired by Cabot in 2019, those historic cables were reclaimed and forged into museum-grade Mosaic Damascus steel by master blacksmith Robert Eggerling whose Mertztown, Pennsylvania shop is renowned for its unique patterns. In the end, four California model guns (Serial Numbered Goldengate1 through Goldengate4) were crafted from these billets and then used as a medium for painstakingly inlaid engravings of the Bridge and map overlays of the Bay area. Finally, the whole thing was given a hand-polished, 2-micron mirror finish and was assembled into a match-grade Government-sized 1911 .45 ACP. The price for each was $59,995, and by the end of SHOT Show 2023, all four were spoken for with nonrefundable $5,000 deposits.

Cabot crafted these guns from the original suspended steel cables used to construct the famed Golden Gate Bridge across San Francisco Bay.

Cabot Icon – A Monolithic 1911 Handgun

A tribute to modern, yet still practical, art, Cabot’s Icon is a monolithic 1911 whose frame and slide are crafted using aerospace tolerances from American-made 416 stainless steel billet. Even the grips are monochrome stainless steel panels. These classy guns can still deliver with National Match-grade barrels featuring reverse crowns, enhanced ergonomics, a full-length guide rod, a lowered and flared ejection port, Cabot’s slide-mounted racking button in place of slide serrations, and a tuned aluminum trigger. Cabot makes the Icon in both a 4.25-inch Commander size as well as a standard 5-inch Government format as well as caliber options in 9mm and .45 ACP. There is a current 12-month lead time between order and delivery.

Cabot Serenity Series

The Serenity series of 1911s from Cabot can be looked at as a more dressed and less distressed mirror image version of their Apocalypse pistol line. They have the same modern defensive pistol characteristics– an M1913 accessory rail, an optics-cut slide with a Trijicon RMR/SRO footprint, tall suppressor-height sights, and an extended threaded barrel for use with suppressors and muzzle devices– while sporting a more polished finish. Carrying a deep-etched Damascus stainless steel slide over a 416 stainless steel frame, it also carries the same style of smooth billet stainless steel grip panels as seen on the Icon and other more cosmopolitan Cabot models. As with the Apocalypse, the Serenity line is offered in both 4.25-inch Commander and 5-inch Government lengths as well as in 9mm and .45 ACP, along with options for railed or unrailed and optics-ready or not.

Cabot Ultimate Carry .45ACP

Using a slide and frame entirely crafted from a mesmerizing 120 layers of artisan-forged Damascus steel, Cabot Guns’ Commander-sized Ultimate Carry 1911 model in .45 ACP is captivating in its beauty. It is also meant to be worthy of dependable use as a personal EDC piece if needed for such duty. As an ode to that tasking, it runs an extended magwell made from its own billet of Damascus steel and windowed magazines and grip panels to give an instant view of how many rounds are at the ready. Price, $34,900. Cabot debuted the model at SHOT Show 2023 and is making five UCs for 2023, and while they all sold out within a week, there is always 2024.

All five Ultimate Carry .45ACP handguns sold out within a week, at $34,900 per handgun.

Cabot Zebra Damascus – Now in Their Third Year of Production

Limited to a run of just 10 guns per year, Cabot introduced the Zebra Damascus pistol in 2020. Now in its third year of production, the guns continue to be popular and blend cross-hatched artisan-crafted Damascus stainless steel layers with grips made of Ice Age mammoth ivory dredged from the bottom of the North Sea for a unique look– with no two guns alike. These bespoke Government-sized 1911s in .45 ACP run $12,500 when you can get them.

Chapuis ROLS Deluxe Standard: Traditional Straight-Pull Bolt-Action Safari Rifle

It doesn’t get any classier than this traditional straight-pull bolt action safari rifle marketed by French gunmaker Chapuis Armes. Laser engraved with 4A-grade walnut furniture, they feature a lightweight 7075 alloy receiver to keep at a trim 6.6-pound weight in 30.06-chambered formats with a 24-inch barrel while .300 Win Mags and .375 H&H models run just a couple of ounces heavier. They come standard with a Recknagel scope mounting system and a custom-fitted Prestige hard case. The price is $6,899.

The Chapuis ROLS Deluxe Standard Rifle is Laser engraved with 4A-grade walnut furniture

Dan Wesson DWX: An Easily Customizable 9mm Handgun

Dan Wesson, which is CZ’s American-based 1911 maker, has been teasing the DWX concept pistol for a few years. Blending elements of its parent company’s CZ 75, Shadow 2, and P-09/P-07/P-10 handguns with that of John Browning’s time-tested 1911 platform, the DWX is billed as having the best of all the above. The result is an easily customizable 9mm handgun that is all-metal with a silky smooth hammer-fired single-action trigger. The pitch to competitive shooters is obvious. Feeding from a double stack 19+1 round P-10 style magazine, the internals and grip panels are all either CZ 75 or 1911 patterns which means they are easily supported. The introductory price is $2,099.

Watch This GunBroker.com New Product Spotlight Video to See the Features of the New Dan Wesson DWX 9mm Customizable Handgun.

FN SCAR 15P

Ever since they first hit the consumer market in 2009, FN’s SCAR series of modular gas operated short stroke piston service-ready rifles have been one of the most sought-after platforms in modern firearms history. With the secondary market price on SCAR 17s and 20s soaring well past the suggested retail, FN stopped even listing an MSRP for those guns on its website. Now, the company has shrunk everything down for 2023 to produce the shortest SCAR ever, the FN SCAR 15P. A 5.56 NATO caliber large format pistol, it has an overall length of 19.75 inches due to its 7.5-inch barrel, making it even shorter than the select-fire FN P90 5.7mm PDW, and the SCAR SC— the latter of which is so short as to be classed as a sub-machine gun by some European military users. Weight is 5.65 pounds.

FK BRNO PSD

The FK BRNO PSD Multi-Caliber Pistol is a single-action, tilting barrel, positive-lock mechanism handgun with a patented recoil attenuating system developed specifically to handle the potent high velocity 7.5 FK cartridge. Kind of a “budget” offering when compared to the $10,000 FK BRNO Field Gun, the PSD comes with the option to swap barrels and magazines to fire more commonly-available 9mm, 10mm, and .40S&W ammo. While they were at first imported by FK BRNO USA, about six months ago the Italian Firearms Group, or IFG, took over the importation of the guns, ammo, and accessories into the U.S. They are also overseeing warranty work. Picking up the PSD from IFG with all the optional mags and barrels to enable it to fire all four calibers will put you just over $3K these days.

French FRF2 Sniper Rifles

Although its MAS-36 style bolt and general appearance give it roughly the same outline as that World War II-era French infantry rifle, the GIAT FRF2 sniper rifle was first introduced in 1986, making even the oldest specimen in circulation “just” 37 years young. Speaking of the oldest specimens in circulation, Navy Arms/Old Western Scrounger has been lucky enough to import a handful of these guns that were surplus to French military needs and is now offering them for sale. Chambered in 7.62 NATO, they are complete and original in addition to being previously impossible for Americans to lay hands on short of signing up for the French Foreign Legion. That means they are highly collectible in a Forgotten Weapons kind of way. Price? A cool $8,995.

On the bright side, they include an accessory pack with an issued bi-pod, scope mount with pic rail, sling, two magazines, 2-pocket mag pouch,  stock spacers, cheek piece risers, a take-down tool, a barrel pull-thru with brass lead, take-down tool/pull-thru carry pouch, and an oil bottle along with a field bag and field manual.

But you can find the French FRF2 Sniper Rifles without the accessory pack and at a lower price on GunBroker.com!

HK MP7: Developed as a PDW for NATO Forces in the Late 1990s

This is kind of a cheat as the select-fire Heckler & Koch Maschinen Pistole 7 is unobtanium for mere mortals in a very real way. The first and still the most popular firearm chambered in 4.6x30mm, it was developed as a personal defense weapon, or PDW, for NATO forces in the late 1990s. Since then, it has gone on to be adopted by special operations groups around the globe, including the U.S. Navy SEALs. This puts it as one of the most popular “in-game” guns ever to exist as well as giving it cameos in films including the James Bond, GI Joe, and Marvel movie franchises. However, short of getting an FFL with a SOT and having a law enforcement letter to inspect one of these beauties as a Post-86 sample from HK directly, movies and video games are about as close as you get to your very own HK MP7.

Korth Vintage

Small shop German revolver crafter Korth Arms in 2021 produced a limited run of Vintage models as a salute to company founder Willi Korth who presented his first hand-made wheel gun to the public a half-century prior. These six-shot .357 magnums feature a color-case hardened frame and barrel shroud with a charcoaled-blue cylinder. Available in both 4- and 6-inch barreled formats, both with hand-fitted Turkish walnut grips with a gold Korth medallion and 18-karat gold front sights, you almost hate to hide one of these away from the public by keeping it locked in your safe.

Laugo Alien and the Laugo Alien Creator

Hailing from the Czech Republic, the Laugo Alien appeared on the scenes a couple of years ago and generated a lot of buzz. Billed as the lowest bore axis pistol on the market and with a very CZ75 feel to it, the $5,000 gun has had a lot of success with IPSC shooters. Imported from 2020-22 by Lancer Systems (the magazine guys), Laugo has now set up a stateside operation– Laugo Arms USA — to bring in the guns and support them all in-house. New for 2023 is a limited run dubbed the “Creator” line that is essentially the same gun but with a lot of different options to build out the pistol with different grip and magwell options. Hitting the market this summer, the Creators will cost closer to $7K.

The Laugo Alien Creator Line is Coming Soon!!

Magpul ZEV FDP/FDC9

Back in 2008, Magpul came to SHOT Show with a “lunchbox” style folding 9mm mockup concept gun that was similar to the planned-but-never-produced ARES FMG and the limited-production Utah Connor UC-9 of the 1980s– the latter of which grabbed a cult following due to its use on screen in the Robocop film franchise. As Magpul makes accessories and furniture, not guns, they licensed the design for use by a Taiwanese airsoft company and called it a day.

However, over the past 15 years, Magpul has been bombarded with enough demand for a more ballistic “real steel” version of their Folding Defensive Pistol and companion Folding Defensive Carbine that it is now (they promised us) headed to production. In a partnership with ZEV Technologies of Centralia, Washington, the FDP/FDC9 will *supposedly* be in production by the end of the year. Using ZEV’s polymer-framed OZ9 pistol as the core of the firearm, with lots of styling and shell support from Magpul, it will probably be an SBR for most folks. Both companies had firing prototypes on display at SHOT Show this year and, while they whispered to an effort for it to come in at about $1,500, you can bet on them being twice that once they actually hit production.

The Magpul ZEV FDP/FDC9 is Coming Soon!

Nighthawk Custom VIP Agent 2

With “Custom” literally in their name, Nighthawk Custom’s VIP Agent 2 blends true old-world finishing techniques and modern machining to create something that is both visually stunning and absolutely dependable on the range. Partnering with Turnbull Restoration to produce a striking tale of a Government-sized 1911 by pairing a polished charcoal-blued slide with a DLC-finished fluted barrel over a color case hardened frame. The cherry on top is grips carved from Holocene Era mammoth ivory and a 14-karat solid gold bead front sight. Among the hand-fit internals are a tuned Agency custom 3.5 to 3.75-pound trigger, match-grade barrel bushing, and .38 Super firing pin. Subtle performance tweaks include lightening cuts and forward serrations in the slide, a full M1913 accessory rail on the frame, and a solid black Heinie Ledge rear sight. The price is $8,999.

The Nighthawk Custom VIP Agent 2 is Coming Soon!

Nighthawk Stainless TRS

Nighthawk introduced their Tactical Ready Series of double stack 2011-style pistols a couple of years ago and have three models on the market currently– the TRS Commander, TRS Comp, and Sand Hawk– with prices that range from $4,399 to $5,399. Well, we spotted what looks to be a new and uncatalogued TRS at SHOT Show. Using a smooth monolithic slide, this optics-cut beauty runs a 17+1 round magazine capacity and carries a new style extended magwell with a heavily textured grip that we haven’t seen on Nighthawks in the past. We’d like to see more of this model in the future.

SIG Sauer P226 X5

The original 9mm Sig Sauer P226 X5 was produced by the company’s Germany-based Master Shop over a decade ago. A top-shelf competition gun that was hand-tuned and ready for anything, it was a favorite of unstoppable Team Sig professional circuit shooters like Max Michel. Well, the old Master Shop has closed, as has Sig’s German operation in general, and the guns are now being made in New Hampshire with a very 2023 update to include an optics-ready slide and more modern internals. Plus, they are offered in both classic options with custom Hogue Cocobolo wood grips and a more high-speed STAS variant with a gas pedal-style takedown lever and black G10 grips.

Walther Meister Alien

Walther makes some extremely high-end pieces as part of its niche Meister Manufaktur line. Limited to a single example this year is the Alien, which features a hand-carved Xenomorph motif across the entire frame and slide of a specially selected Q5 Steel Frame 9mm. Company reps told us they give a team of engravers and custom works people 18 months to produce something interesting and this one did not disappoint.

Visit the Walther Store on GunBroker.com for more Walther firearms.

Walther Meister Alligator

Another of Walther’s one-of-one Q5 Steel Frame creations at SHOT Show this year is the Alligator. Featuring finely engraved alligator-style plates on every external metal surface along with a flat-faced gold trigger, you would be hard-pressed to find something that has more attention to minute detail than this pistol. Walther said this gun took two years to produce.

Visit the Walther Store on GunBroker.com for more Walther firearms.

Walther Q5 SF Black Diamond

Slightly more attainable than the Alien or Alligator is the “Black Diamond” special edition of the Q5. Produced in Germany by the same Meister Manufaktur teams that created those one-of-a-kind works of functional art. The Black Diamond gets its name from the fact that its barrel, slide, magazine base plate, and steel frame are all Tenifer nitride treated and polished then coated with a DLC vapor deposition process, giving its classic and literally “diamond-like” finish. Coupled with wrap-around aluminum grips and match-grade internals, it also reportedly handles like a dream.

Visit the Walther Store on GunBroker.com for more Walther firearms.

Walther Q5 SF Patriot

Another Meister Manufaktur limited edition pistol based on Walther’s Q5 Steel Frame 9mm competition model is the Patriot. Fitted with a Dynamik Performance trigger and luxuriously clad in a bright Tenifer-infused finish, it is engraved with an American patriotic motif by the Bottega Giovanelli works in Italy.

Visit the Walther Store on GunBroker.com for more Walther firearms.

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