Visiting the Sphinx - In Switzerland BY DAVID THOMPSON, TYF-61261 By the 1930s the great northern facing slopes of the European Alps had all been conquered, with one exception. Deemed as being unclimbable, it was 1938 before the Eiger North Wall was finally scaled by a four-man Austrian and German team. In its recent history the Eiger has claimed the lives of more than 60 experienced climbers. You From her desk in Interlaken Susanne Brunner can look up the valley towards Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. With a view like that how does Susanne get any work done! Best-known for Production-division pistols, Sphinx recently entered Open and Standard/Limited. Their modular-frame CZ-75 derivative accepts STI and Rescomp magazines. have to admire the skill and bravery of those who have scaled a hill that has such a fearsome reputation. I have skied from Kleine Scheidegg down to Alpiglen and then looked up and up 2000 meters to the summit of Europe's largest continuous vertical rock wall, the wall that has come to define extreme mountaineering. Shifting my gaze down into the valley I see the village of Grindelwald. Follow the natural course of that valley downward and you will finally reach the town of Interlaken, between the lakes of Brienzer See and Thuner See. Interlaken is the home of the Sphinx 3000 Service Pistol. While I was on a skiing trip to Grindelwald, Sphinx Systems Limited (www.sphinxarms.com) invited me on a tour of their production and range facility. Sphinx manufactures high quality pistols used mainly by military Special Forces, elite police units, and sports shooters. USPSA/IPSC shooters know them for their formidable competition models that are favorites in Europe. Here, Production is a high-capacity sport, with a very strong following. The CZ-75 design rules the roost on this side of the pond, and the Sphinx 3000 is considered among the finest, if not THE finest example of the CZ-75 derivatives. Russian Strength Meets American Ingenuity R&R Targets Re-Engineers the SAIGA-12 Into The AR-12 Double Comp. Sight Mount Left Side Bolt Handle AR Ambi Safety AR Stock Adapter R&R Targets, Inc. (503) 551-7283 http://randrtargets.com AR-Style Mag Well And Release AR-Like FloatTube with Door Breacher 12 or 20- round mags July/August 2010 FRONT SIGHT 51
I asked two top Production Division shooters for their comments on why they use a steel-framed Sphinx. For Production Division, the Sphinx 3000 is for sure the best choice, says Oiver Josi, of Switzerland. It is a heavy framed pistol that stays very stable when shooting short splits. I use a soft-shooting 145-grain load with power factor of 135. Especially on precision shots at 15 to 30 meters, this combination is perfect for me because I have a very good sight picture and excellent control over the front sight, even when shooting fast. Key to this, according to Josi, is the Sphinx s unusually low-slung bore. The gun lies deeper in the hand than the CZ Shadow because of the two part lower frame and grip, he says. Sphinx two-part frames are milled from solid bar stock, which gives Sphinx the design flexibility to make the slide sit extra-low in your hand. Compared to the SIG Sauer or HK pis- SOFT RUBBER MONOGRIP POWERSPEED HOLSTER HANDALL BANTAM GRIPS www.getgrip.com LESS LETHAL ORANGE STOCKS EZG EXOTIC HARDWOODS, FULL LENGTH BED BLOCK C OMPETITION ACCESSORIES Race gun grips that fit revolver & semi-auto s made from exotic hardwoods & soft rubber plus the popular HandAll grip sleeves. The PowerSpeed holster, one of the fastest - most versatile holsters ever made, fits virtually any semi-auto. OverMolded Rifle and Shotgun stocks available with pillar bedding or a full length bedding block also AR-15/M-16 grip and free floating non-slip forend tube. Call for a Free Catalog 1-800-GetGrip PO Box 1138 Paso Robles, CA 93447 RECOIL PADS AR-15 STYLE GRIP & FOREND OVERMOLDED RIFLE & SHOTGUN STOCKS, SLINGS 52 FRONT SIGHT July/August 2010
Josi. No cast or MIM parts! Jack Romer (an IPSC instructor based in Denmark) told us that before IPSC changed their Production rules to cap magazines capacity at 15 rounds, buying the Sphinx just didn t make sense. PepperBlaster II pyrotechnically fires a blast of powerful OC at 90 MPH! Stops attackers. Two very effective shots. New ergonomic shape. See it in action at www.pepperblaster.com 54.22 LR Conversion Kits fit most brands of 1911 pistols. Installation takes one minute without tools. Adjustable sight is included. The Kimber Custom Shop offers night sights, 1911 magazines, wood grips, Crimson Trace Lasergrips and refinishing in the KimPro II finish. KimPro Tac-Mag is the ultimate.45 ACP magazine for any brand of mil-spec full size or compact 1911. Three quick-change bases. Stainless steel with Teflon-coated follower. For more information on Kimber products, please send $2 to: Kimber, Dept. 309 One Lawton Street, Yonkers, NY 10705, call (800) 880-2418 or visit www.kimberamerica.com CAUTION: PepperBlaster II contains strong irritant. Not to be sold to minors or where prohibited. Keep out of reach of children. 2010 Kimber Mfg., Inc. All rights reserved. Peter Heller of the Sphinx IPSC team putting the 3000 through its paces. Sphinx pistols in various models are used by police forces in Australia, Denmark, Malaysia, Norway, Singapore, and Switzerland. tols (whose slides are really high), the advantage of the Sphinx 3000 is noticeable. Also every single part is milled out and hardened for best results, says Everybody bought a CZ SP01 because of the special 19-round magazines and of course the lower price, says Romer. With that advantage out of the way, the Sphinx and the CZ SP01 Shadow are running neck-and-neck. The Sphinx has advantages, but they come at a much higher sticker price. Quality Construction The typical Achilles heel of the CZ-75 is the slide stop. CZ-75 drivers often keep a spare (or two) in their shooting bag, planning for its eventual failure. My Sphinx 3000 had the original slide stop lever after more than 30,000 rounds, says Josi. During a competition in France in May, it broke. I changed the slide stop lever with the spare I d been carrying with me for five years (and got right back to shooting). Good pistols make shooters lazy! Josi uses Fiocchi primers in practice, Federal primers in competition, and has 100 percent reliability with both despite a double-action trigger that breaks at just less than 8 pounds. I have shot a Sphinx since 2005 and had my first and only jam during the competition in France, says Josi, and that s because I did not change the slide stop after every 10,000 rounds. Though the handling characteristics of the Sphinx are excellent, not many people can make a claim like that! FRONT SIGHT July/August 2010
The Production-dominating Sphinx 3000 comes in a range of finish and safety/decocker options. Design Advantages Though it looks like one, the Sphinx pistol isn t a true CZ-75. It s an ongoing development of the CZ-75, having evolved through the AT-84, AT- 88, Sphinx 2000 and 3000 designs. The earliest AT-84 pistols were licensed copies of the Czech CZ-75, manufactured during the 1980s. The AT-88 introduced several modifications, including the firing pin safety and slightly different barrel/slide locking mechanism. The Sphinx 2000 clearly shows its CZ-75 heritage, and is in use by Australian, Belgian, Norwegian, Swiss, and Venezuelan police forces. The Sphinx 3000 The Sphinx 3000 pistol appeared in 2003, and while US-based shooters don't see them often, Europeans are quite accustomed to seeing the Sphinx 3000 in the winner's circle. The 3000 was designed as a modern combat pistol with features like a Picatinny M1913 equipment rail, extended magazine release, various safety system options, various finishes, sighting systems, and frame materials to choose from. The 3000 is currently employed by the Swiss Police, the special forces units from Singapore, Norway, and Denmark, and by the Royal Malaysian Air Force Where most manufactuers rely on investment castings, every metallic part in the 3000 is machined from bar stock, then assembled by Sphinx master gunsmiths The outside finish on the Sphinx is Pistol Bullets and Ammunition ZERO Zero Bullet Company, Inc. P.O. Box 1188 Cullman, AL 35056 Tel: 256-739-1606 Fax: 256-739-4683 Toll Free: 800-545-9376 www.zerobullets.com July/August 2010 FRONT SIGHT 55
as close to flawless as you can get, and the inside is finished just as well, with no tool marks anywhere. I had a good look around several samples and could not find any flaws in their construction. A few tool marks will not affect the functional reliability, but it is great to see a pistol that does not have any. Modular Frame Flexibility Like the STI, the Sphinx 3000 frame is a modular design in two parts, an upper receiver / trigger guard unit that contains the firing mechanism, and the lower receiver which locates the grips and magazine well. The two-piece frame construction allows different materials, such as aluminum, steel and titanium to be combined. The seam between the two parts is almost invisible. They are attached securely, and the feel of the grip in the hand mirrors the much-loved CZ-75, only with a lower bore. As far as build quality, there is absolutely no discernable looseness of the slide-to-frame fit, nor the barrel-toslide fit. In my opinion, the fit of the parts on the Sphinx is equal to any hand-fitted target pistol. Most components of the Sphinx 3000 are machined out of bar stock (see above). This includes the slide and grip module. New Racing Models When it comes to IPSC competition, the Sphinx inherited the design limitations of its 9mm-based parents. It offered 18 rounds in 9mm, but in other calibers the frame was too narrow to load enough ammunition to be competitive. Sphinx took a radical look at their line up and redesigned the grip module around the STI double column magazine. To match that, they ve released radical new IPSC-specific models that take STI or Rescomp magazines, bringing Sphinx to the top of the list among European IPSC competitors. About the Author David Thompson competes on the European match circuit, mainly in Standard Division. He runs IPSC safety training courses for new competitors, plus coaching and development training courses for clubs. He writes for several European magazines and can be reached at david@practicalhandgun.com. Trigger Options That modular design philosophy also applies to the trigger. Sphinx pistols can feature either double action/single action (DA/SA), or double-action-only (DAO) trigger mechanisms - available either with a standard safety which locks the hammer, or a decocking lever. Unlike some other CZ variants, the 3000's safety, slide stop, magazine release, and decocking levers can all be installed on either or both sides of the frame, making them completely ambidextrous. The competition models sport an adjustable rear sight and plain black front sight, but front sights with colored fiber-optic inserts are available. The single action trigger pull typically measures a crisp 3.3 pounds after about six millimeters of take-up. The typical double action trigger pull measures just over 8 pounds, and feels very smooth due to the excellent shape of the trigger and the grip. Like so many of today's modern IPSC pistols, the Sphinx uses an external extractor, fixed ejector, and full-length guide rod. Accuracy and Reliability At various IPSC matches around Europe I have examined and test fired several July/August 2010 FRONT SIGHT 57
Sphinx pistols. I tried a variety of factory and reloaded ammunition and thanks in part to the shape and smoothness of the feed ramp, any type of bullet shape I tried cycled perfectly. While those few shots grouped well (around 2 inches at 25 meters), a few magazines does not give you the full picture, so I kept an eye on the four-man Swiss IPSC Production Team at various IPSC competitions with requirements of between 350 and 550 rounds. Each Sphinx pistol gave a flawless performance. Occasionally a pistol will come along that is a cut above the average semi-auto, being well-built with precision tolerances and quality materials. The Sphinx 3000 is one of the bestbuilt auto pistols available anywhere. Like the proverbial Swiss watch, it is manufactured to precise tolerances and built to last. I appreciate lightweight polymer framed pistols as working tools, but when you pick up a Sphinx Even the grip modules are machined out of solid billets of steel. you quickly realize that it has a bit of steel in it. Weighing in at 0.85 Kg (1.87 pounds), it is not overly heavy, but has that good solid feel when you pick it up. The Sphinx combines quality materials with precision manufacture, resulting in a reliable, accurate, and elegantly-crafted handgun. Located in the Bernese Oberland in the heart of the Suisse Alps, Sphinx Systems Limited is manufacturing precision excellence for their clients. It is no wonder that IPSC shooters, police officers, and special operations soldiers around the world place their trust in them. 58 FRONT SIGHT July/August 2010