Guns news in the last 12 months was interesting, 2017 wrapped up nicely and the firearms community had some good news and some bad news over the year, which was to be expected. When 2017 opened we were hoping to see a functional version of the pistol in our feature image, the Stryk B. As 2017 ended we found ourselves in the same position as last year when it comes to the Arsenal Firearms USA and the Stryk B.  When I say same position, I mean almost exactly, right down to the recent announcement that was broke on Guns.Com, that the company formerly known as Arsenal USA Firearms has yet again changed it’s name.

Now just when I think I have seen it all, the universe shows me it has a few more tricks up it’s sleeve. The saga of the Stryk B reads like something that can only be described as a worst case scenario for a firearms enthusiast. When I sat down and read the article and press release at Guns.Com I was hit with the normal wave of emotions, frustration, anger, and pity, and I will explain why in a few moments. Lets look at the checkered history of this pistol who’s manufacturer has changed it’s names several times over the past few years, and why at the end of the day it’s the poor suckers who at the end of  the day have ponied up cash and have a very real chance of never receiving a firearm.

Image Courtesy:thefirearmblog.com

 

The Name Game

To date as best as I can recall this pistol has been called the Strike One, and the Stryk A (full sized) and the Stryk B (compact size). The interesting thing about this is that the pistol has been marketed and was scheduled to be manufactured by the following companies at one time or another: Salient Arms International, Prime Group, Arsenal USA Firearms and now by a company called Archon. This timeline that I can accurately reference as far as names and models only goes back to 2013 as best as I can tell when the original pistol was being marketed to the Russian Federation for potential use by the Russian Military.

Details IF You Read Between The Lines

On the surface the rebranding was said to prevent any copyright infringement with the more well known Arsenal of Las Vegas, the one that makes Kalashnikov patterns rifles. The interesting thing about this story is that IF that was the case then why didn’t someone catch that little detail over a year ago when they rebranded from Prime Mfg/ Salient Arms International ? Any casual observer or person employed by almost any level of marketing firm should have thrown this red flag when the rebranding first came up. Something here doesn’t smell right, and is throws up a huge Red Flag that something not completely truthful is a foot.

When we placed our order for the pistol in September we were told that the first batch of roughly 35,000 pistols was in customs and awaiting final approval. Now this means the guns were 100% done and boxed, tested and shipped, and ready to be sent to distributors. Now when a person reads this quote from the Guns.Com article we see that those stories from September might also be a little stretch of the truth.