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April 11, 2011
KRISS Arms Group (KAG), Switzerland, manufacturer of the new KRISS K10 Super V Vector XSMG multi-caliber submachine gun (SMG) and DEFIANCE silencers/sound suppressors, recently announced the acquisition of Swiss company Sphinx Systems, Ltd., which manufactures a line of high-end tactical pistols. DefenseReview (DR) recently got the opportunity to handle the Sphinx pistols as the KRISS booth at SHOT Show 2011, and we liked what we saw.
The three Sphinx guns DR was shown were the double-action/single-action 9mm (9mm Parabellum/9x19mm NATO) compact and tactical models, and the .45 ACP single-action-only competition model. All the pistols feature an ambidextrous frame-mounted sweep-down manual thumb safety (safety/decocker on the 9mm models), so you can carry them cocked and locked. They also feature fiber-optic front sights with tritium inserts on both front and rear sights (3-dot format). Like all modern tactical/combat pistols, the Sphinx pistols incorporate a Mil-Std-1913 “Picatinny” rail system on the frame’s dustcover for mounting tactical white lights and laser sights/targeting lasers.
The KRISS Sphinx Compact 9mm tactical pistol sports a 3.5-inch (3.5″) barrel, aluminum frame, and 14+1-round ammo capacity. The tactical model sports a steel frame and offers an ammo capacity of 17+1 rounds, as well as an optional extended barrel for attaching either a muzzle compensator or DEFIANCE silencer/sound suppressor. The DEFIANCE muzzle cans attach via an interesting system, which Defense Review covered in our recent article on the KRISS K10 subgun.
The Sphinx .45 ACP single-action pistol features a straight competition trigger with light trigger pull. Ammo capacity is 13+1 rounds.
All in all, the Sphinx pistols look well put together, and they ooze Swiss quality. The big questions are how will the guns perform under adverse conditions and high round count, and how will the American market (U.S. market) respond to them? How will they do against all the other more-established tactical pistol options out there, like Glock, Smith & Wesson (S&W) M&P, Springfield XD/XDM, and Heckler & Koch (HK) pistols, which are all polymer-framed pistols, as is de rigueur, today? Time and marketing will tell, but we hope the Sphinx pistols work as advertised and do well, as they appear to be of high-quality.
Company Contact Info:
KRISS USA
PO Box 8928
Virginia Beach, VA 23450
Phone: 757-821-1089
Fax: 757-821-1094
Email Contact Page: http://www.kriss-tdi.com/contact-us/general-information.html
Website: http://www.kriss-tdi.com
Sphinx Systems Ltd.
Gsteigstrasse 12
CH-3800 Matten / Interlaken
Phone: +41 33 821 10 05
Fax: +41 33 821 10 06
Info Email: info@sphinxarms.com
Media Email: media@sphinxarms.com
Website: http://www.sphinx-systems.ch
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