Strike One by Arsenal

[scootle]

Sorry about semi-necro on this thread, but has anyone found out any info on availability in the US of this pistol for the general public? Seems like demo units have gone out for T&E, but no word on actual retail sales.

[Coal Dragger]

Still vaporware at this point.

[nhskull21]

Theres posts and videos of people using them in comps outside the us

[montrala]

They are available in Poland. Shot it (polymer version), but I was not impressed.

[Beat Trash]

Montraia, Can you compare shooting it to a Glock 17? What about the Strike One left you not so impressed?

[Arctic1]

I got mine today, and I plan on doing a comprehensive review.

I posted my thoughts on it on page 9, after shooting a couple of demo guns we got. I posted a couple of videos as well.

This will become my new Production Division gun for next season. I have shot a Glock 17 this season.

To compare between the two, the Strike One:

-Shoots flatter - ie less muzzle climb
-Better grip angle
-Better trigger overall out of the box
-Better magwell - slightly flared to assist with reloads

[Coal Dragger]

I think this pistol is going to have a tough time in the US market, mostly due to bungled marketing by Arsenal and their decision to not start importing the pistols sooner after BATF approval. I've looked at their distributor website, and am not impressed at all.

This could be a very well designed pistol made to very high standards but it seems the manufacturer can't figure out how to get them into shooter's hands in the largest market on the globe. I also suspect that the pistol will end up being priced too high for most average shooters to consider buying over a Glock or M&P. Which will limit aftermarket support a great deal.

For the record I hope I'm wrong about everything I just wrote.

[splittime]

I kinda don't get idea of having rear sight integrated into the end plate. They claim it to be excellent pistol for completion. While in IPSC you kinda stuck with factory trigger in USPSA internals of the gun can be upgraded.
IMO price point and availability of parts and sights, mags, holsters will be a big factor on US market.

[montrala]

Montraia, Can you compare shooting it to a Glock 17? What about the Strike One left you not so impressed?

First of all, I do not buy into bore-line height mantra. People usually measure it to top of palm, while it should be measured to line of center of forearm, that goes trough wrist, parallel to the bore (if you shoot on straight hands, as most people shot when use uncompensated pistols for fast shooting). When you measure it that way, differences measured in single millimeters (1mm=1/25.4") are not important. What Steyr did with grip angle in their pistol did more to reduce real bore height - but most people do not care for this grip angle. Front sight tracking is important and it is influenced by many other factors. So this "low bore line" marketing mantra on Striż (Strike One) do not speaks to me. It is just marketing keyword.

I shot is side by side with my Glock 17 Gen4 and HK P30. Some friends who shoot Glocks and XDm were also not impressed. Maybe it shoots flat, but if your grip is good, so does Glock, HK (yes!) or XDm or say STI 2011 in .40SW. I did not care much for trigger. Generally I had feeling of deja vu from shooting Caracal F. I had also serious problems with activating mag release with both my thumb and middle finger (it supposedly is ambi, I'm lefty), but some of my right handed friends had problems of dropping mags during shooting. It was same pistol that I shoot (we tested it on IDPA match, thanks to Polish distributor). Those who had this problem were guys who really drive their pistols hard and have solid grip. Anyway, none of us felt or seen (on targets and timer) any revolutionary results.

It is not bad pistol, but for "revolution" and best thing until Plasma pistol it is little disappointing. Yes, it has fancy barrel locking system, like Grand Power K100 (STI GP5/6) has. So what?

On the other hand, for Russian LE and mil this pistol is a revolution, when compared to usual designs from their factories. Both in shootability and ergonomy. Do not know how about reliability and durability.

ETA: I was told that "Caracal-like" idea with integrated rear sight is supposed to give way to traditional setup. Original idea was to achieve longest sights radius possible.

[scootle]

The bore-line-height is almost secondary since so many excellent modern firearms have this under control these days (Glock, M&P, etc.).

What is more interesting, imho, is the fixed-barrel design, which hasn't been done in a duty pistol format since what... the H&K P7/PSP series? Whether or not that matters, however, is probably the subject of lots of discussion... if these pistols ever see the light of day in the US market.

The first exposure I saw to the existence of this pistol was that one video of Russian Special forces doing live-fire demo drills with Larry Vickers a little while back... definitely interesting to watch. I'm sure it's buried in the discussion in this thread somewhere.