There are new Arsenal Strike One pistols available

[MattyD380]

Interesting. Your experience seems fairly typical for what I've heard about the Strike One. Unfortunately.

I just went Archon's sight--apparently they started making the Type B in the Czech Republic now, instead of Germany. Maybe we'll see some of those trickle in soon. I mean, I'm not gonna be an customer. I'm house poor, at the moment. Plus, they're all SAO/no-manual-safety kinda' things. So... not really my cup of tea for carry.

[Tokarev]

I am one of the early adopters and have the Salient version of the Strike one.

Worked great for the first 1000 rounds, and then reliability became so bad that it basically jammed non stop at USPSA matches. It has been back to Salient twice, and reliability seems to be a bit better after numerous hand tweaks to the ejector plate.

I like the gun itself, it seems to fit my hand well but the whole low bore axis thing is moot. S2 and X5 legion have less felt recoil and run no problem.

The magazines are VERY similar to CZ mags but the notch is a split of a hair different. Given a gun that is already unreliable, it's best to stick to OEM even though the S2 mags are easier and cheaper to get, click in, and seem to feed by hand racking.

The magazine release design sucks, and mine was the first part that failed. It would allow your mag to drop in the middle of shooting, so it would need a tap, rack. After I modified the spring inside, it has not given me issues. The Type B improved on this.

The metal FCU on the type B is much better made, the Strike One has a mismash of folded small parts where the Type B is one machined piece I believe.

The striker indicator plate on the back that stupidly holds the sights is also a weak point and I had two crack. The Type B does not have the indicator.

The extractor/ejector plate is the last part - the extractor seems to loosely hold the casing against the edge of a flimsy steel part, and perhaps a stronger extractor spring would solve the FTE issue. But since there's barely any support or parts availability, this isn't possible to try out.

Yikes! Sorry to hear you've had so many troubles. The Strike One should be called the Strike Three? Maybe the Struck Out?

The Archon Type B has been updated. The frame is now modular. It has an interchangeable back strap piece and an extension that changes it from a compact 16 rd length to a full size 19 rd length. It is also cut for the Shield pattern red dot. Curiously it now seems the gun is made in the Czech Republic.

How does the Archon relate to the S1? They appear to be fundamentally the same pistol but with a few cosmetic changes. Did the Russian designer sell the design to both companies or is the two manufacture thing a way to get around some weird EU firearms export or sales laws?

I just went Archon's sight--apparently they started making the Type B in the Czech Republic now, instead of Germany. Maybe we'll see some of those trickle in soon. I mean, I'm not gonna be an customer. I'm house poor, at the moment. Plus, they're all SAO/no-manual-safety kinda' things. So... not really my cup of tea for carry.

Oops. I didn't see this post on the 3rd page. Yeah the early guns were German with a US barrel and Hungarian slide?

[Hot Sauce]

I am one of the early adopters and have the Salient version of the Strike one.

Worked great for the first 1000 rounds, and then reliability became so bad that it basically jammed non stop at USPSA matches. It has been back to Salient twice, and reliability seems to be a bit better after numerous hand tweaks to the ejector plate.

I like the gun itself, it seems to fit my hand well but the whole low bore axis thing is moot. S2 and X5 legion have less felt recoil and run no problem.

The magazines are VERY similar to CZ mags but the notch is a split of a hair different. Given a gun that is already unreliable, it's best to stick to OEM even though the S2 mags are easier and cheaper to get, click in, and seem to feed by hand racking.

The magazine release design sucks, and mine was the first part that failed. It would allow your mag to drop in the middle of shooting, so it would need a tap, rack. After I modified the spring inside, it has not given me issues. The Type B improved on this.

The metal FCU on the type B is much better made, the Strike One has a mismash of folded small parts where the Type B is one machined piece I believe.

The striker indicator plate on the back that stupidly holds the sights is also a weak point and I had two crack. The Type B does not have the indicator.

The extractor/ejector plate is the last part - the extractor seems to loosely hold the casing against the edge of a flimsy steel part, and perhaps a stronger extractor spring would solve the FTE issue. But since there's barely any support or parts availability, this isn't possible to try out.

Wow dude, I have to commend your level of patience. I woulda tapped out.

[Tokarev]

Jump to about 18:44 to see the mag fall out on LAV:



Interesting video in its own right. It should be of interest to those who are curious about the gun and where it came / comes from.

[porkster]

The worst part is.. if you go to Archon Firearm's instagram and look at the comments, there are many people who are voicing their complaints with the complete lack of customer support. It's one thing to have growing pains, and another to have zero customer service and leave your customers hanging. These guns have been out for years now.

I can't complain on that end because mine has Salient stamped on it (for quite a premium I might add), and that has gotten me a door into SAI's support which has been very positive. After the gun went back the second time, the gunsmith working on my gun communicated with me via text directly and we worked through each issue. The gun does indeed work much better now than it used to, and several of my parts were hand tuned and modified to my liking.

It boggles my mind how many people still seem so hyped up about the upcoming Type D when Archon still hasn't done anything to improve their customer reputation.

For what it's worth, they aren't the only guns I have had issues with but you at least have a large and knowledgeable customer base with a wide range of parts for other brands. When my Beretta 92X performance had FTE issues, the community was able to solve it using aftermarket parts. Arsenal/Archon has no such thing and if you need something even as simple as spare mags or compliant mags, holsters, etc, you could be out of luck.

[bac1023]

I love my Strike One pistols. I only own the high end all metal variants though…






The Phoenix pistols are awesome as well.






Arma Zekas run a little over $5K for the decked out models. The standard models are about $3500. They shoot extremely well.

[bac1023]

Anyone seen anything new? A couple youtube videos popped up a couple months ago that gave me hope. But now it seems the pistol is dropping (or staying) in obscurity.

And then there's this video. It doesn't inspire confidence. But maybe customer service is top notch.

To be fair, it’s a tightly fitted pistol and they are imported in fairly small numbers by American Precision Firearms. All of mine were fairly dry when I got them. I lubed them before shooting. I haven’t had a SINGLE issue with any of mine.

[Serrada36]

Sorry for the long post. Just skip it if you get bored easy or don’t GAF.

So, I got a great deal on a Salient Strike One Tier One a my lgs.

I got the deal largely (at first it seemed) because it was just the gun. No mags, case, manual etc.

I purchased 2 original factory mags from APF. I took the gun directly to the range to try it and some other guns I needed to test as I have been on a bit of a buying spree 😁.

I was instantly disappointed. 2 rounds through, I had a failure to feed. Next round ok… Then constant failures. Round after round. My heart sank. Then the mag would drop out with every shot. What the heck!?

Down the rabbit hole I went.

I’m no gunsmith by any stretch, but I am a locksmith and I’m familiar with diagnosing mechanical issues.

1st Step was diagnosis of the magazine’s constant attempts to flee the scene.

A quick search on the Google led me to this super helpful video by Rain6 https://www.rain6.com/

https://youtu.be/YM40KAQEaD0?si=pbif0OypzN7mZqrP

I knew right away this was the fix for the mag drop issue. However, I did notice the mag was sitting pretty low in the gun. I discovered the prongs that retain the mag were sitting low and leaving the mag loose. The fitting of the spring has to be very precise. Extremely small changes were like pulling a sweater string. Every change make a huge impact on a number of functions. Magazine retention, mag ejection button pressure and depth and magazine height. Many hours later, I got things working smoothly.

Time to visit the range again…. It was better. But not by much. I could get 2 to 3 rounds through and it would nosedive again. I went through 4+/- different types of ammo. All brass fmj. All with the same results.

I looked at the tip of one of the stuffed rounds and determined it had to be the feed ramp portion of the barrel. The round was getting caught between the frame portion of the ramp and the barrel part as well.

Sorry, I can’t figure out how to attach photos.

After a call to the very helpful rain6. He referred me back to APF to see if they would support the Salient warranty. He also said he would try and help me out if I didn’t get any love from APF. While very nice, APF was unable to provide any assistance.

I was still convinced it was an issue with the barrel and I was determined to find a solution.

After a search on gunbroker, I found a threaded barrel for sale. When I received it, I matched it up with the SAI barrel. The feed ramp profiles were indeed very different.

Now, I don’t recommend doing this if you don’t have experience working with this type of stuff. It can go bad really quick. I wouldn’t have done it without having the new barrel to work with and the ability to purchase another if needed. So, with nothing really to loose, I proceeded to reshape the SAI feedramp by hand. Not just polishing but reshaping to match the threaded barrel.

Another trip to the range. I started with the threaded barrel. 10 rounds 0 failures! Another 10, no failures. Hallelujah!

Now on to the original SAI reshaped barrel. 0 failures with about 50 rounds through!

At the moment, I’m feeling successful. I have yet to try any JHP ammo. I’ll give it a shot next time and report back. So if you have an out of warranty Strike One that isn’t working, there is hope. Find a good gunsmith or if you have nothing to loose and don’t mind possibly making an expensive doorstop, you can try it yourself. Also, I think there are still some threaded barrels still available on GB.

In case anyone is wondering, I’m in this for about $1k. I think I still got a good deal.

If you are experiencing any similar issues, I’m happy to answer any questions I can.

Thanks for reading!

Brian

[porkster]

Sorry for the long post. Just skip it if you get bored easy or don’t GAF.

So, I got a great deal on a Salient Strike One Tier One a my lgs.

I got the deal largely (at first it seemed) because it was just the gun. No mags, case, manual etc.

I purchased 2 original factory mags from APF. I took the gun directly to the range to try it and some other guns I needed to test as I have been on a bit of a buying spree 😁.

I was instantly disappointed. 2 rounds through, I had a failure to feed. Next round ok… Then constant failures. Round after round. My heart sank. Then the mag would drop out with every shot. What the heck!?

Down the rabbit hole I went.

I’m no gunsmith by any stretch, but I am a locksmith and I’m familiar with diagnosing mechanical issues.

1st Step was diagnosis of the magazine’s constant attempts to flee the scene.

A quick search on the Google led me to this super helpful video by Rain6 https://www.rain6.com/

https://youtu.be/YM40KAQEaD0?si=pbif0OypzN7mZqrP

I knew right away this was the fix for the mag drop issue. However, I did notice the mag was sitting pretty low in the gun. I discovered the prongs that retain the mag were sitting low and leaving the mag loose. The fitting of the spring has to be very precise. Extremely small changes were like pulling a sweater string. Every change make a huge impact on a number of functions. Magazine retention, mag ejection button pressure and depth and magazine height. Many hours later, I got things working smoothly.

Time to visit the range again…. It was better. But not by much. I could get 2 to 3 rounds through and it would nosedive again. I went through 4+/- different types of ammo. All brass fmj. All with the same results.

I looked at the tip of one of the stuffed rounds and determined it had to be the feed ramp portion of the barrel. The round was getting caught between the frame portion of the ramp and the barrel part as well.

Sorry, I can’t figure out how to attach photos.

After a call to the very helpful rain6. He referred me back to APF to see if they would support the Salient warranty. He also said he would try and help me out if I didn’t get any love from APF. While very nice, APF was unable to provide any assistance.

I was still convinced it was an issue with the barrel and I was determined to find a solution.

After a search on gunbroker, I found a threaded barrel for sale. When I received it, I matched it up with the SAI barrel. The feed ramp profiles were indeed very different.

Now, I don’t recommend doing this if you don’t have experience working with this type of stuff. It can go bad really quick. I wouldn’t have done it without having the new barrel to work with and the ability to purchase another if needed. So, with nothing really to loose, I proceeded to reshape the SAI feedramp by hand. Not just polishing but reshaping to match the threaded barrel.

Another trip to the range. I started with the threaded barrel. 10 rounds 0 failures! Another 10, no failures. Hallelujah!

Now on to the original SAI reshaped barrel. 0 failures with about 50 rounds through!

At the moment, I’m feeling successful. I have yet to try any JHP ammo. I’ll give it a shot next time and report back. So if you have an out of warranty Strike One that isn’t working, there is hope. Find a good gunsmith or if you have nothing to loose and don’t mind possibly making an expensive doorstop, you can try it yourself. Also, I think there are still some threaded barrels still available on GB.

In case anyone is wondering, I’m in this for about $1k. I think I still got a good deal.

If you are experiencing any similar issues, I’m happy to answer any questions I can.

Thanks for reading!

Brian

If you had the Salient version, did you contact SAI about having it sent in? What made your gun out of warranty aside from not having the box and manuals?

[APPDMike]

I got the stainless Strike one on Sale for 600. It overall performs very well, I’ve had a couple fte but one was a limp wrist for my gf and another with 95gr +p+. Overall my pistol doesn’t seem to have an issue with 115gr ammo.