The Arex Delta L Gen.2 From Slovenia With Love

Hey, what if I told you I had a polymer frame, striker-fired, 9mm handgun with a partially cocked striker? You probably wouldn’t be very impressed. That genre of handguns is full to the brim, and it’s hard to stand out. However, a little company called Arex from Slovenia is certainly vying for your attention with the second generation of their Delta pistols. The Gen 2 Arex Delta L is the full-sized option that stands tall.

Arex Delta L – Specs and Features

The Arex Delta L packs a full-size barrel at 4.5 inches and is 5.5 inches tall. The overall length is 7.7 inches, and the gun weighs 22.8 ounces. One of the more impressive specs is the width. The Arex Delta L is 1.18 inches wide. While it’s not as thin as a SIG P365, it’s a bit thinner than your standard striker-fired 9mm full-sized handgun.

Glocks, P80 kits, and polymer frame CZs are an inch and a quarter at the very least. Guns like the 509 even reach 1.35 inches wide. This is where the Arex Delta L feels remarkably different. It’s thinner and feels absolutely awesome in your hand. For such a big gun, it’s plenty thin.

The magazines hold 19 rounds and are compatible with the P10 and P09 series weapons. Finding magazines is easy due to their compatibility. Since we are on the subject of compatibility, we should also mention that the gun is compatible with SIG sights, so finding sight options won’t hurt.

The gun comes with a nice set of metal sights that are perfectly capable. The gun is optics ready and comes with four plates that allow you to mount a dozen different optics. In that case, finding suppressor height sights for cowitnessing won’t be a challenge.

In case the gun doesn’t fit your hand just right, you can pick from four different straps to manipulate the size of the gun’s grip. Punch out the roll pin, pop off the old grip insert and replace it as needed.

As you’d imagine, the gun comes with a Picatinny rail to toss on a light, laser, or cup holder.

Simple But Effective Ergonomics

The thin grip of the gun is what makes it stand out the most, but there are a number of nice noticeable features on the Arex Delta L. Arex textured the grip fairly aggressively from top to bottom and even textured in some mini gas pedals. The grip allows for a nice high grip, and the trigger guard undercut makes it comfy to get your hands high up.

We get ambidextrous controls, including the magazine release and slide lock. There are no manual safety devices to concern yourself with. The slide lock is tiny, but one of the few that doesn’t get pinned down by my thumbs when I use an aggressive forward grip. When I shoot SIGs, Glocks, and more, my thumbs pin down the slide lock, and when the gun runs dry, the slide fails to lock back.
That isn’t an issue with the Arex Delta L. The magazine release felt tough to reach at first. I added the L-sized insert, and this cleared that problem up. If you can’t reach the magazine release without moving your hand, it’s likely a grip size problem.

At the rear of the gun is a channel that allows you to see the striker. You can tell at a glance when the weapon is cocked and ready to fire. As you press the trigger, the strike protrudes a bit until the trigger breaks. This is a great feature. Place your thumb over the striker as you reholster, and you’ll know if something is pressing the trigger as you slide the weapon into your holster.

At the Range With the Arex Delta L

The longer barrel and slide grant you a longer overall sight radius. A good sight radius often helps make the weapon easier to shoot accurately. You combine that with a nice, refined striker-fired trigger, and you get something special. Ringing steel and making tiny groups isn’t a big challenge with the Arex Delta L. The sights are adequate. Keeping things on target won’t be a challenge.

I went back to 25 yards and kept a gong, moving back and forth. At 50 yards, I kept my shot groups fairly well inside an IPSC torso in an unsupported standing position. The trigger is quite nice and very consistent. It breaks right around 4.5 pounds. There is a little bit of takeup before the bang and a nice positive reset.

Seeing the white front sight contrasted with the blacked-out rear isn’t hard. It’s easy to track the front sight and get it right back on target between shots. The size of the Arex Delta L and the fact it’s a 9mm means it’s a soft shooter with minimal recoil and muzzle rise. A big grip with an aggressive texture helps keep the gun controllable too. Hitting the target and keeping the gun low and the target makes it easy to shoot fast and straight.

Ammo is making its way back to shelves, but it’s still not at the point where I have a ton of variety to test with. Even so, I used primarily brass-cased ammo with a bit of steel case fuel. The gun didn’t mind whatever I put through it and ate it all. It’s Eastern European, and those folks are famous for making guns as reliable as hammers.

Big and Bad (But really great)

The Arex Delta L slides into a category that could satisfy a lot of roles. It could be a great defensive weapon, even though it trends on the large size for concealed carry. For home defense, it’s a solid platform, especially when outfitted with a light and optic.

The Arex Delta L also features a SIG P320-like removable chassis that allows you to switch grip modules. Arex sells additional grip modules to enable you to switch up the frame size and color. The future of customization could be pretty bright.

The Arex Delta L might be a solid beginner-level competition pistol as well. It’s ready for a carry optics setup. The Arex Delta L offers you a reliable, accurate, easy-shooting pistol that doesn’t break the bank. The MSRP of 549.99 is already fairly priced, but it’s easy to find the gun for well below MSRP.

The Arex Delta series isn’t breaking the mold on striker-fired, 9mm pistols. However, it’s helping refine the concept and produce a better pistol overall. Evolution is done step by step, and we got that step with the Arex Delta gen 2 guns.

***Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica! All Local Sales are FREE!***