Sphinx Arms pistols in the USA?

[Maks_H]

Shot some of these in Vegas, and while they are sweet guns, they certainly aren't worth the price tag IMO. I'd much rather go to the CZ Custom Shop before dropping the coin on a Sphinx.

You will still have poor fitting and low quality materials. I don't know about quality of CZ's in USA but here in Europe there are no much CZ guns past 50k without major part (barrel, slide, frame) broken knowing that and that the Sphinx will run past 100k mark...

Edited February 13, 2012 by Maks_H

[Morphire]

Yeah but at far more than twice (nearing 3 times as much actually) the cost of a custom tuned CZ Shadow, the Sphinx lasting twice as long still doesn't fit into a good economy of scale. You could have two to three custom Shadows for the price of a single Sphinx. I still haven't shot one of these and I'm still very interested in getting my hands on one and possibly buying one to shoot. So far Sphinx and Kriss arms haven't been returning emails with my inquiries about when and how to purchase one. They are not sending out a nice warm fuzzy that they are actually being sold in the US yet so I guess we just keep on waiting.

[Bigpops]

I imagine there will be better information in regards to US purchase options soon. The SHOT show was a big help and Sphinx saw a large US interest.

I had a chance to handle a 3000 at the Nationals and was very impressed. Every one has an opinion though, just like Ford vs. Chevy.

[J-Ho]

I'm going with the Rolex vs. Seiko comparison. I handled a Sphinx several years ago. It was a thing a mechanical beauty. Not flashy but when you really got to looking at it, wow. Does it work any better than a CZ or any other gun of that type? Nope. Just like a base level plain looking Rolex works no better than a Seiko. They do the exact same thing and even look a lot alike. I think it just comes down to can I afford it? and do I want it? I sure don't have any reason to knock CZs or Sphinxes. Will I buy a Sphinx? probably not right now. Will I buy a Rolex? probably not right now. But who knows down the road a little ways I might decide it's worth it to me. I wish Kriss and Sphinx the best of luck. I've always found that well made products tend help raise the bar a little.

[Walküre]

Shot some of these in Vegas, and while they are sweet guns, they certainly aren't worth the price tag IMO. I'd much rather go to the CZ Custom Shop before dropping the coin on a Sphinx.

You will still have poor fitting and low quality materials. I don't know about quality of CZ's in USA but here in Europe there are no much CZ guns past 50k without major part (barrel, slide, frame) broken knowing that and that the Sphinx will run past 100k mark...

Aside from the ST IPSC (the precursor to the current TS), I've never really heard any reports of major failings of CZs at any round count. The most common part to fail is probably the trigger return spring; maybe slide stops after that.

[photog]

I'm going with the Rolex vs. Seiko comparison. I handled a Sphinx several years ago. It was a thing a mechanical beauty. Not flashy but when you really got to looking at it, wow. Does it work any better than a CZ or any other gun of that type? Nope. Just like a base level plain looking Rolex works no better than a Seiko. They do the exact same thing and even look a lot alike. I think it just comes down to can I afford it? and do I want it? I sure don't have any reason to knock CZs or Sphinxes. Will I buy a Sphinx? probably not right now. Will I buy a Rolex? probably not right now. But who knows down the road a little ways I might decide it's worth it to me. I wish Kriss and Sphinx the best of luck. I've always found that well made products tend help raise the bar a little.

I wear a $300 Titanium Solar 200m Seiko, that gains 1.5 seconds a month, has better night visibility than anything else and never needs a battery. Rolex doesn't even compete.

I would love a Sphinx as a piece of art and even to shoot, but as a tool its too expensive at $3k. Like I said before make it $1999.99 and people would really consider them. Maybe they could farm out to Taiwan/China (like the swiss watch makers do) for some of the easier operations and "finish" them in Switzerland? I could care less is its 100% Swiss made. Even a "swiss made" watch can have significant steps done outside of Switzerland.

[Maksim]

Look at SVI. They have no problems being production @ capacity at over $3500 per gun. I have no doubts Sphinx will either.

My own conversations with them at Shot, issue is capacity (production) and filling demand. They have also launched a new polymer production pistol that was really really sweet.

[steel1212]

Shot some of these in Vegas, and while they are sweet guns, they certainly aren't worth the price tag IMO. I'd much rather go to the CZ Custom Shop before dropping the coin on a Sphinx.

You will still have poor fitting and low quality materials. I don't know about quality of CZ's in USA but here in Europe there are no much CZ guns past 50k without major part (barrel, slide, frame) broken knowing that and that the Sphinx will run past 100k mark...

So for 1000$ I can get a CZ shadow to last 50k, for 3500 I can get a sphinx to go 100K.....I'm not good at math but I think I can get 3 shadows and go 150k

[Maks_H]

Shot some of these in Vegas, and while they are sweet guns, they certainly aren't worth the price tag IMO. I'd much rather go to the CZ Custom Shop before dropping the coin on a Sphinx.

You will still have poor fitting and low quality materials. I don't know about quality of CZ's in USA but here in Europe there are no much CZ guns past 50k without major part (barrel, slide, frame) broken knowing that and that the Sphinx will run past 100k mark...

So for 1000$ I can get a CZ shadow to last 50k, for 3500 I can get a sphinx to go 100K.....I'm not good at math but I think I can get 3 shadows and go 150k

Your math is right It strange to me that in case of Sphinx it's hard to except for some that the quality has a price. If everyone would buy just on price basis and not on quality then also SVI and STI would be out of job because they are much more expensive then CZ TS.

Or in your opinion Sphinx can't compare to other top brands, because it looks like cheap CZ on first look?

[59Bassman]

Your math is right It strange to me that in case of Sphinx it's hard to except for some that the quality has a price. If everyone would buy just on price basis and not on quality then also SVI and STI would be out of job because they are much more expensive then CZ TS.

Or in your opinion Sphinx can't compare to other top brands, because it looks like cheap CZ on first look?

I don't know that the comparison is quite right. In the case of the STI/SVI pistols, there are very few other options in high capacity 1911's. Even fewer with a polymer grip frame. And most of the competitors are known to have quality and performance issues. Additionally, you can get an entry-level STI for about 60% of what a Sphinx costs.

In the case of CZ and Sphinx, the Sphinx is up against a pretty established pistol that has an outstanding reputation for out-of-the box quality and accuracy, along with the ability to have a very nice trigger. The claims of a limited life made in this thread are honestly the first I've ever heard mentioned about a CZ. Not doubting the possibility, but I've not heard that in any of the previous threads about CZ.

[steel1212]

Shot some of these in Vegas, and while they are sweet guns, they certainly aren't worth the price tag IMO. I'd much rather go to the CZ Custom Shop before dropping the coin on a Sphinx.

You will still have poor fitting and low quality materials. I don't know about quality of CZ's in USA but here in Europe there are no much CZ guns past 50k without major part (barrel, slide, frame) broken knowing that and that the Sphinx will run past 100k mark...

So for 1000$ I can get a CZ shadow to last 50k, for 3500 I can get a sphinx to go 100K.....I'm not good at math but I think I can get 3 shadows and go 150k

Your math is right It strange to me that in case of Sphinx it's hard to except for some that the quality has a price. If everyone would buy just on price basis and not on quality then also SVI and STI would be out of job because they are much more expensive then CZ TS.

Or in your opinion Sphinx can't compare to other top brands, because it looks like cheap CZ on first look?

I'll pay for quality but I'm not paying 3X for a gun that I can't get parts for and when the CZ series of guns have a awesome track record I just don't see the need for a 3500$ gun. Heck the 75 that I built up will do everything my shadow will do I just like some small ergonomic features.