We have a fair bit of good to great condition SAFNs here, because the belgian army stored a lot of unused ones and re-arsenaled/refinished them before selling them off on the civilian market. There's even some with tiger striped stocks and everything.
A lot of the SAFNs sold now in good condition also have new stocks.
That said, the one I have is period correct for not having been refinished or modified at all. That may or may not be rather rare.
2. I am a fan of the Strike One/Stryk pistols and am waiting on mine here (they have been held up for a few months now).
I look forward to more reviews from you on it as the only people who have access to them here have a $$$$ interest in selling them.
I'm am both impressed by the build quality and let down by my inability to shoot it as well as I'd hoped.
As a disclaimer, I am the first to admit that I'm not a match pistol shooter and that most likely due to shooting very good triggers, I may be getting spoiled and a lot of my errors are not punished severely when shooting my Sig Sauer X-Five, my Sphinx 2000 or my Beretta 87 Target. Switching to more "duty grade" striker fired triggers may result in bad results. This is likely my own fault and not a fault of the weapon in itself.
The good:
- No (non-user induced) malfunctions in the first 250 shots.
- Trigger reset is tactile & clear, easily felt (and usually heard on the range).
- Unlike what I had initially assumed testing reset by dry firing, there really is no danger of accidental double taps. The pull required after the reset is still significant.
- The grip is very comfortable and the grip mapping design really does a good job offering solid purchase on the grip without being obnoxiously course. And the beaver tail does its job well.
- The mag release is easy to reach & positive.
- The slide serrations are very positive & pleasant to handle.
- The fiber front sight is extremely visible, and in semi-low light.
- The rear sight is beefy and could easily be used to do a belt load if you had to do it single handedly.
- The sights are easily replaceable (dovetail rear & glock style front).
The bad:
- Recoil was initially stronger than I had expected, both due to the fact that I shoot fullsized metal frame pistols mostly and that there was so much marketing wank about the low recoil and low muzzle flip. Regardless of the snappy recoil, it is however quite controlable. I however doubt there's a whole lot of difference between the recoil of this weapon and say a Glock 19, even though the Stryk has a special recoil spring and different locking system. As you may have expected, there's no magical way to mitigate recoil.
- All four shooters trying the pistol were pulling shots low & left. None of us were "duty grade" pistol shooters though, so it's probably merely a training issue. I was shooting "IPSC A zone"-sized groups at 15m, but was unable to correctly call where shots would land within that zone. When shooting 25m shooting pistol targets, (too) frequently I shot low left flyers out of the black.
- Even when benched (shooting from a non-fixed pistol rest) the groups were still rather wide. Practical accuracy, not match grade by any stretch of the imagination. I get the feeling that this is a gun that's easy to shoot fast with "center of mass" accuracy, but not very easy to shoot point targets with.
The ugly:
- The non-adjustable sights need to be shot a lot higher than expected. I wasn't expecting a 6 o'clock olympic hold, but rather a "right on" sight picture. As I see it now, it requires more of an "over" sight picture (when shooting GECO 124gr FMJs), where your front and rear sight obscure the target and the red dot of the fiber optic is where the center of the target is. We had to bench the pistol to make sure our aiming point was correct and it wasn't us pulling the shots off target.
- The weapon has thumb serrations on the front part of the frame, but I question how exactly you're supposed to get there without completely pivoting your support had forward. I find myself resting my thumb near the takedown pin, not beyond it. This is making me wonder why they'd bother doing the texturing in front of the take down pin, but not before it. Of course there are people that like the pivoted support hand grip, but I'd say that those are not very common around here.
- A small amount of riding the slide forward when loading causes a failure to feed. We all realize that you shouldn't ride the slide forward when loading but in the 50 first reloads (I tend to do 5 round reloads), I did it three times. User error, of course, but it's worth noting because it seems to be more prone to it than my other pistols. This may be due to the low bore axis and shorter feed ramp? This is with 124gr FMJs, it is possible that the issue is more pronounced with JHPs. It's also possible that this becomes less of an issue after the gun wears a bit.
So what's the verdict?
I really want to like this pistol, because it seems well designed, well built, feels great and is mechanically interesting, but at the moment, I'm not shooting it very well. So I've got some training I need to do.
As a benchmark for all pistols and revolvers I own, I want to confidently be able to do the hostage target by taking out the hostage taker with a headshot at at least 15m (ideally 25m for slow aim) without endangering the hostage. I would NOT feel comfortable doing the "hostage" target with the Stryk B at this time.
Addendum:
Note that this is a range gun for me & not something I would (or can) conceal carry.
The trigger has a pivot that acts like a glock safe action style thing, but I would have difficulty to trust it for CCW. It seems more prone to go off than a Glock if your t-shirt or something accidentally gets in the trigger guard when re-holstering, due to being one piece and being more angular. Though I guess this is not really an issue if you take proper care and use proper gear. I would not recommend using canvas or flexible holsters with this pistol.
Thank you for your review!
From what I have read here in the USA, we are supposed to be getting a really short trigger reset (1-2mm) and really light trigger weight 3# or so (my full size has a 3# trigger). Does yours have this sort of trigger?
My Strike 1 had adjustable rear sight, so no issues with shooting low and to the left.
Because do as I say, not do as I do!
Don't question me, peasant!
I'm am both impressed by the build quality and let down by my inability to shoot it as well as I'd hoped.
As a disclaimer, I am the first to admit that I'm not a match pistol shooter and that most likely due to shooting very good triggers, I may be getting spoiled and a lot of my errors are not punished severely when shooting my Sig Sauer X-Five, my Sphinx 2000 or my Beretta 87 Target. Switching to more "duty grade" striker fired triggers may result in bad results. This is likely my own fault and not a fault of the weapon in itself.
The good:
- The bad:
-
The ugly:
- So what's the verdict?
I really want to like this pistol, because it seems well designed, well built, feels great and is mechanically interesting, but at the moment, I'm not shooting it very well. So I've got some training I need to do.
As a benchmark for all pistols and revolvers I own, I want to confidently be able to do the hostage target by taking out the hostage taker with a headshot at at least 15m (ideally 25m for slow aim) without endangering the hostage. I would NOT feel comfortable doing the "hostage" target with the Stryk B at this time.
Addendum:
Note that this is a range gun for me & not something I would (or can) conceal carry.
The trigger has a pivot that acts like a glock safe action style thing, but I would have difficulty to trust it for CCW. It seems more prone to go off than a Glock if your t-shirt or something accidentally gets in the trigger guard when re-holstering, due to being one piece and being more angular. Though I guess this is not really an issue if you take proper care and use proper gear. I would not recommend using canvas or flexible holsters with this pistol.
My tax stamp just came back on this. W00t!
I have a new handguard and a polymer lower on order for it. I am also going to get a rail and try a 1-6x scope on it as well.
Thank you for your review!
From what I have read here in the USA, we are supposed to be getting a really short trigger reset (1-2mm) and really light trigger weight 3# or so (my full size has a 3# trigger). Does yours have this sort of trigger?
The reset is quite short, yes.
The trigger feels deceptively light when dry firing, but isn't really when I compare it to my other guns. Of course, none of my other guns are striker fired, so the comparison is moot.
My tax stamp just came back on this. W00t!
I have a new handguard and a polymer lower on order for it. I am also going to get a rail and try a 1-6x scope on it as well.
If you come to Penguincon this year, we are going to do a geeks with guns shoot- (May the 4th). In addition to computers, anime, gaming, geek culture, there will be a Handgun shoot, cowboy handgun shoot, and we are working on an NFA shoot.
I can only conclude that the issues with shooting low left were all user induced (which we pretty much already knew, but it's nice to see it confirmed).
In the first 100 slow fire shots of today's shooting session, I only pulled one shot low left (just barely outside the black on an olympic 25m pistol target shot at 15m).
When I tried to shoot it fast (as in effectively mag dump), I started to string down hard, but that can safely be attributed to me snatching the trigger and anticipating recoil.
Quite happy with the results. It's still not X-Five accuracy, but it's quite acceptable now.
That is a really terrible thing to have. Its not taken seriously be a lot of people.
I hope she is able to get effective treatment for it (drugs and CBT).
That is a really terrible thing to have. Its not taken seriously be a lot of people.
I hope she is able to get effective treatment for it (drugs and CBT).
Pomeroy’s bullet (technically the Cartridge S.A. Ball .303 inch Pomeroy Mark I) was a standard 303 round with a copper tube warhead inserted into the bullet. Inside the warhead was an explosive compound of nitro-glycerine and kieselguhr (a porous earth clay).
Nitro-glycerine, mixed with kieselguhr, makes dynamite. The kieselguhr acts to stabilise the highly explosive nitro-glycerine, a discovery that made Alfred Nobel his fortune.
Exploding... cows?
Testing first occurred in Invercargill, where local legend has it that the first victim to fall to his explosive bullet was a cow. It was either shot in Pomeroy’s backyard or locally at Thompson’s bush. Accounts of the location differ but agree on one fact: with one bullet the cow was blown to pieces. It is not recorded if the cow was alive or dead at the time.
Pomeroy’s further refined his bullet and gave demonstrations in 1904 and 1908, the latter at Polhill Gully Range in Te Aro, Wellington. This time kerosene tins filled with water were used instead of cows.
When struck, the water in the tin was thrown a height of twenty feet in the air, and, on examining the tin it was found to be literally riddled with small ragged holes, and the whole tin was torn open at the seams.
One of my local dealers has had two of them on the shelves for a while. He has them priced for $2,000, and hasn't been inclined to move off that price point. They have probably consumed through shelf-space whatever profit he might have had in them when he got them. They tend to wait around for the right buyer.
I don't really object to the price-point, but it's just one of those guns that I'd own only for the sake of having one, like the Desert Eagle. It doesn't do anything my 1911s don't do equally well in terms of suppressor hosting. I have an original USP Match if I just wanted a giant .45 ACP. And if I did want a high cap suppressor host in .45 ACP, I'd probably look to the Sig 227 first, for less then half the cost. If I bought a Mk 23, I mostly picture it collecting dust in the back of the safe, and I have too many other guns doing the same right now already. I found a Springfield XD I completely forgot about the other day, and there is a Glock 35 back there that hasn't been shot in years. Perhaps if I unexpectedly come into some money, or get a really good deal on one, I'll pick it up. But right now, I still want a high end Hi-Power, the American Korth, and the new Ed Brown longslide more.
It's not "cool" though. It's a war crime using such ammunition vs any target where such a bullet can hit anybody, per Haague conventions since 1899 - this particular part of those, to be exact. Any sort of explosive ammunition qualifies as "easily expandable within human body". UK ratified it, as did all other major countries of Europe.
So firing those against any Zeppelin sure qualifies - there were people in and outside of Zeppelin's hull during any combat situation involving taking fire, since it was needed to patch up any bullet holes quickly.
To be honest, i also am quite puzzled why exactly brits had to use those bullets vs Zeppelins in the 1st place. Stated purpose - to take out Zeppelins, - was easily and obviously doable without any new kind of machinegun ammunition, because Zeppelin is such a big and relatively static target. So you can just blow it up to hell simply flying an WW1 airplane over it and throwing couple contact mines right down. By hand. Heck, probably even simple Molotovs would do in good number. And that'd be available pretty much any moment, without any need to make new ammunition, without all those delays to file the invention, etc.
