Sphinx 3000 Competition Range Report

[T@Gger]

Since a month I've been the proud owner of a Swiss masterpiece, the Sphinx 3000, a gun based upon the CZ-75 (but looks nowhere near the original)

I've had about 400 rounds through the gun, function is excellent. The gun was extremely tight when brand new, the slide would easily hang up when cycling by hand. First 5 rounds: the slide failed to return to battery fully 3 times. Second 5 rounds: the slide failed to return to battery only once. After those initial 10 shots, firing and extracting went flawless. The first 75 rounds the slide wouldn't lock back on an empty mag when shooting, it did lock back when I pulled the slide manually. The next 325 rounds the slide locked up every time.

I bought the Competition version, being a true single action with a straight trigger and two overtravel stops in both directions. Travel distance of the trigger is like 1/4 of an inch and it breaks nicely at a little above 3 lbs. Sights are nice Bo-Mars that are nicely fitted onto the slide. The gun is extremely accurate at 25m, I did not test any further. I've heard that this gun is as accurate as a SIG P210 at 25m, I'll have to do a test at the 50m level

To complete this short write up, I'll end with some pictures.

[T@Gger]

If I lived in the US I most certainly would own a nice 1911 like your Nighthawk or an Ed Brown. I agree that this gun is like the European answer to the American customs. I like the versatility of this gun, it has target grade accuracy but it is also high capacity. I use it for IPSC. Will probably train for bullseye matches with it. I picked the 9mm so I could shoot it as much as I wanted with the cheaper ammo. In 2007 Sphinx should have their .45 version ready, they are trying to get some American market share.

I'll try to get some pictures of groups up in the near future. One thing I noticed is that this gun is accurate with practically any brand of ammo, it doesn't mather how cheap the fodder is. The other day I checked if it fed empties and that was no problem, as long as the cartridges were fired with the gun. Glock brass was offcourse oversized. Field stripping is not that easy I literally have to knock the slide stop out of the frame with a hard plastic object, so stripping is not something that goes that easy 'in the field'.

I might have to take you up on that visit to the US

[CCV]

Great pictures of a beautiful pistol.


Keep us posted!