I’ve been buying quite a few competition oriented pistols of late and this one continues that trend. The Rex Alpha is a DA/SA competition pistol built by the company, Arex or Arex Defense, who have just recently started building handguns.
Arex is located in Slovenia and from what I’ve seen, have quite an impressive factory where they build high quality handguns. At the moment, they have three models, all in 9mm only. The Rex Zero 1 is their flagship duty pistol. It’s heavily based on Sig Sauer and comes in several variations, to include Tactical and Compact versions. It uses an aluminum frame. The Rex Delta is the company’s brand new polymer striker fired pistol, which looks promising in a flooded market.
The only model that fits into my theme and held interest for me is the Rex Alpha. Unlike the Zero 1, the Alpha uses a steel frame. The slide is lightened to reduce recoil. The barrel is 5”, which is considerably longer than the other two models and it’s geared towards competition. The Alpha weighs in at a hefty 41.8oz. Being that I love heavy guns, I welcome the weight of it. The SA trigger is outstanding. I actually like it better than the SA pull on my CZ Shadow 2 Orange. The DA pull isn't as smooth or as light as the CZ's, but I'll never shoot it in DA anyway, particularly since it has no decocker. The Alpha ships with three 17-round magazines and features an ambi mag release and an ambi thumb safety. The plastic grips offer good traction and the front strap and trigger guard are nicely serrated. Overall fit and finish and build quality of this pistol appears very good, albeit not as nice as the Walther Q5 SF. However, the Rex is also $600 less expensive.
From a styling standpoint, I think its cool, not beautiful, but cool. All the cuts and angles give it a very futuristic appearance. Despite all its angles and seemingly sharp edges, I found nothing really sharp on the gun, other than perhaps the rail. Its just a well thought out and nicely designed pistol. The grips are listed on the website to also come in red, blue, or white, but I've only ever seen black here in the states. Now the bore axis is higher than I would like, but the weight of the gun in the right places seems to negate some of the muzzle rise. Its a dream to shoot, honestly.
Speaking of shooting, I had both this and my new Walther Q5 SF Pro to the range together earlier this week. I must say that even though the Walther is clearly a higher quality pistol, the Rex Alpha is the better shooter. I'm sure the Walther is every bit as accurate and maybe even more so from a ransom rest or even sand bags. However, the Rex's trigger clearly makes it better for quick off hand shooting. While I somehow still don't own a trigger gauge, I'd estimate that the Alpha's SA trigger to be no more than 3 to 3.5 lbs and its very crisp with little to no creep whatsoever. I was extremely impressed by how this pistol performed. I'd have to say its maybe the best performing sub $1000 pistol on the market and it outshoots many costing considerably more.
So I definitely recommend the Rex Alpha to anyone looking to compete on a budget or just looking for a outstanding range pistol. The Alpha sells in the $850-$900 price range, which is a flat out bargain for this kind of performance.
So who here owns an Alpha or any of the Arex handguns? What do you think?
As always, enjoy the pics and share your thoughts.
Thanks! :supergrin:
Arex is located in Slovenia and from what I’ve seen, have quite an impressive factory where they build high quality handguns. At the moment, they have three models, all in 9mm only. The Rex Zero 1 is their flagship duty pistol. It’s heavily based on Sig Sauer and comes in several variations, to include Tactical and Compact versions. It uses an aluminum frame. The Rex Delta is the company’s brand new polymer striker fired pistol, which looks promising in a flooded market.
The only model that fits into my theme and held interest for me is the Rex Alpha. Unlike the Zero 1, the Alpha uses a steel frame. The slide is lightened to reduce recoil. The barrel is 5”, which is considerably longer than the other two models and it’s geared towards competition. The Alpha weighs in at a hefty 41.8oz. Being that I love heavy guns, I welcome the weight of it. The SA trigger is outstanding. I actually like it better than the SA pull on my CZ Shadow 2 Orange. The DA pull isn't as smooth or as light as the CZ's, but I'll never shoot it in DA anyway, particularly since it has no decocker. The Alpha ships with three 17-round magazines and features an ambi mag release and an ambi thumb safety. The plastic grips offer good traction and the front strap and trigger guard are nicely serrated. Overall fit and finish and build quality of this pistol appears very good, albeit not as nice as the Walther Q5 SF. However, the Rex is also $600 less expensive.
From a styling standpoint, I think its cool, not beautiful, but cool. All the cuts and angles give it a very futuristic appearance. Despite all its angles and seemingly sharp edges, I found nothing really sharp on the gun, other than perhaps the rail. Its just a well thought out and nicely designed pistol. The grips are listed on the website to also come in red, blue, or white, but I've only ever seen black here in the states. Now the bore axis is higher than I would like, but the weight of the gun in the right places seems to negate some of the muzzle rise. Its a dream to shoot, honestly.
Speaking of shooting, I had both this and my new Walther Q5 SF Pro to the range together earlier this week. I must say that even though the Walther is clearly a higher quality pistol, the Rex Alpha is the better shooter. I'm sure the Walther is every bit as accurate and maybe even more so from a ransom rest or even sand bags. However, the Rex's trigger clearly makes it better for quick off hand shooting. While I somehow still don't own a trigger gauge, I'd estimate that the Alpha's SA trigger to be no more than 3 to 3.5 lbs and its very crisp with little to no creep whatsoever. I was extremely impressed by how this pistol performed. I'd have to say its maybe the best performing sub $1000 pistol on the market and it outshoots many costing considerably more.
So I definitely recommend the Rex Alpha to anyone looking to compete on a budget or just looking for a outstanding range pistol. The Alpha sells in the $850-$900 price range, which is a flat out bargain for this kind of performance.
So who here owns an Alpha or any of the Arex handguns? What do you think?
As always, enjoy the pics and share your thoughts.
Thanks! :supergrin:
