The Arsenal Firearms Group, which recently was awarded a contract to replace the Makarov pistols used by the Russian armed forces, has been diligently expanding on their new line of handguns to make them appeal to a broad range of users.
Their latest addition to the lineup is a select-fire version of the Strizh—which will be marketed as the Strike One in the U.S.—for military and police use. This makes their long-barrel of the pistol much more appealing, particularly once you add a rifle stock.
In this configuration, the Strizh is poised to become Russia’s next submachine gun, too. Like many fully-automatic pistols, the Strizh demonstrates a tremendous rate of fire, and will empty a magazine in the blink of an eye. Arsenal plans on producing extra-capacity 30-round magazines for these (that will also work with standard, semi-automatic Strizh pistols).
The Strizh pistol uses a falling locking-block recoil operation that allows the barrel to travel straight along the bore, making it possible to attach accessories to both the frame and the barrel, as is the case with the long-barrel version announced not too long ago. However the select-fire Strizh appears to have a second chassis that encloses the top half of the pistol, similar to CAA’s RONI kit and SIG’s Adaptive Carbine Platform.
In its full-auto configuration, the chassis makes room for a pistol suppressor, which can be attached to the pistol’s extended, threaded barrel.
Arsenal has developed a very different handgun with the Strizh, and we are champing at the bit waiting for them to come stateside. The Strizh, or Strike One, will be available in four models initially, chambered in 9x19mm Parabellum. Arsenal will eventually produce the Strizh in other calibers, specifically .40 S&W, .357 SIG and 9x21mm IMI.
The Strizh is being produced in both polymer and aluminum-alloy frame versions as well as in two sizes, a full-size and a compact. It’s a striker-fired single-action pistol with a trigger safety and has ambidextrous magazine release buttons. The gun has an extremely-low bore axis and the slide runs along a large one-piece steel insert. It’s clear from the full-auto video that the recoil is essentially straight backwards into the shooter. This is going to be one fast gun. For details and specifications, check out Arsenal’s product page here.
Although both the gun and the manufacturer are very new, this pistol is exciting and promising, and Arsenal is being especially aggressive in developing it for both public and private consumption, and they’re catering to both military and police users as well as competitive shooters.
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