By David Crane
david (at) defensereview (dot) com
March 20, 2017
Last updated on 3/21/17.
The CZ P-10 C wasn’t the only attempted Glock-killer combat/tactical pistol DefenseReview (DR) viewed and handled at SHOT Show (2017), oh, no, no no. The Arsenal Firearms (AF) Stryk B ultra-low-bore-axis striker-fired 9mm (9mm Parabellum/9x19mm NATO) pistol also made an appearance, and it was impressive. The Stryk B is essentially an updated, product-improved and modified Arsenal Strike One pistol, which DR has already written about in quite some detail, and is now being imported into the country with the help of Salient Arms International (SAI), and it was at SAI’s booth that DR was shown the new pistol. Editor’s Note: DR’s also written about SAI’s early custom pistol, rifle and shotgun work.
Anyway, the Stryk B looked good, felt good, and also sported a low-bore-axis striker-fired design with a very nice trigger, just like the P-10 C. However, that’s where the similarities end, as the Stryk B utilizes a very different non-tilting reciprocating/sliding-barrel design, which is conceptually similar to the Beretta M9A3/92FS/92G design in the the rounds feed virtually straight into the chamber and the barrel reciprocates/slides back and fourth a short distance when the pistol is fired, and locking via the AF “speed lock” system. This striker-fired, sliding-barrel design results in a very low bore axis, and the company rep DR spoke with, one Casey Pippet, claims that the Stryk B’s muzzle flip/rise is less than 10 degrees.
The Arsenal Firearms AF Stryk B striker-fired pistol also features an interesting grip design with grip-mapping technology “checkering” of sorts, with all the little “squares” facing different directions, which is supposed to give the shooter a more ergonomic and secure grip. The gripframe also features a little “lip”/bar directly underneath the extended beavertail grip tang that applies pressure to a tendon in the web of your hand between the thumb and index finger, making your hand reflexively close around it. This may sound uncomfortable, but it’s not, although we haven’t actually shot with it yet, so we can only speak to handling it at the booth.
The Stryk B’s takedown procedure for field maintenance is quick and easy, just pull back a little bit on the slide, pull the (retained) pin out from left to right, and slide the slide right off the gripframe. According to Pippet, the internal frame is actually “one big piece of metal. You take these two pins out, it comes out as one big piece witht the trigger and all. Each little piece in here that normally moves up and down in any other polymer pistol, moves side-to-side in this, and that gives us the ability to get rid of that headspace, and have the lowest bore axis of any polymer pistol on the market right now. The mag release is ambidextrous. It can be switched around. What really separates this gun from the others is this AF speed lock, and I’ll show you how that works [see DR video below]. What it does is it locks the barrel in place inside of the frame to give it as little amount of movement as possible. When the round’s chambered and it’s ready to fire, the barrel’s forward like that [demonstrates]. When it fires and it cycles, that’s all the movement there is [demonstrates], no barrel tilt, no nothing. [Barrel] Comes straight back demonstrates], and you can really tell when the magazine’s inside of it [inserts the mag]. The feed lips are right there at the foot of the bore. The round doesn’t have to climb up a mountain to get inside that barrel. It’s gonna’ go straight into it. And, having this low bore axis mitigates for having a lot less recoil and muzzle flip. The muzzle flip on this thing, you can actually watch it on YouTube, there’s a video, it shows it, and it’s the lowest muzzle flip, under 10 degrees,” says Pippet.
DR believes mag capacity is currently 15 rounds, but we’ll try to get confirmation on that.
Oh, while the AF Stryk B pistol comes with Salient front and rear fiber-optic sights, it also accepts Glock factory sights. Let’s just hope variants cut for mini-red dot sight combat optics like the Trijicon RMR (Ruggedized Miniature Reflex) and Leupold DeltaPoint Pro come down the pike soon.
Check out the embedded video DR shot (below) to see this demonstrated.
Editor’s Note: The AF Stryk B pistol is being marketed by Arsenal Firearms USA, was created by Arsenal Firearms SRL and Salient Arms International (SAI).
Company Contact Info:
Arsenal Firearms USA
Contact Page: https://www.arsenalfirearms.website/about-us/
Website: https://www.arsenalfirearms.website
Salient Arms International (SAI)
6713 South Eastern Ave
Las Vegas, NV 89119
Phone: 702.444.4458
Sales Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.salientarmsinternational.com
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All embedded DefenseReview.com (DR) photos and videos were shot with an Apple iPhone 6s Plus smartphone still/video camera.
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