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Armsel Striker


Semi-Automatic Shotgun


South Africa | 1983



"The semi-automatic Striker design originated with Hilton Walker in the early 1980s and went on to see use with the South African Police and as well as military."

Physical
The physical qualities of the Armsel Striker. Information presented is strictly for general reference and should not be misconstrued as useful for hardware restoration or operation.
780 mm
30.71 in
O/A Length
305 mm
12.01 in
Barrel Length
9.26 lb
4.20 kg
Weight
Semi-Automatic; Rotating Cylinder
Action
12-Gauge
Caliber(s)
7- or 12-round revolving cylinder magazine
Feed
Iron Sights; Removable Optics
Sights
Variants
Notable series variants as part of the Armsel Striker Semi-Automatic Shotgun family line.
Amsel Striker - Initial Design; manual winding of ammunition drum.
Amsel Protecta - Improved Striker; automated winding of ammunition drum; improved reliability.
Amsel Protecta Bulldog - Shortened Amsel Protecta sans stock.
Sentinel Arms Striker-12 - License-produced American model of the Amsel Striker; short and long versions made available.
Cobray/SWD Streetsweeper - Based on the Amsel Striker; cost-friendly alternative.
Cobray/SWD Ladies Home Companion - Smaller caliber version of the Streetsweeper.
Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 06/21/2018 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site; No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.

The Amsel Stiker was a two-handed, semi-automatic repeating shotgun firing a variety of 12 gauge ammunition from a 12-round rotating cylinder. The weapon featured a foldable stock, pistol grip with attached trigger group, a 12-inch barrel and an integrated foregrip. Originally developed by Hilton Walker out of the Republic of Rhodesia (bordering the north of South Africa), the system was accepted into service with the South Africa Police and military upon his arrival to the South African Republic in the early 1980s under the Amsel brand (Rhodesia ceased to exist from 1979 onwards, becoming Zimbabwe in 1980). From there, the weapon went on to achieve some level of notoriety and proved to be more than just a novelty shotgun. Its high magazine count and short barrel length made it an ideal weapon system for both military and security roles - the former useful as a manstopper and a breaching "tool" while the latter serviceable in riot-control duties.

The automatic shotgun had long been a dream of many-a-gunsmith since the advent of the shotgun itself. Most shotguns throughout the 20th century relied on operator actions to extract the spent shell casing and introduce a new shell into the chamber for firing. This was commonly done through actions such as a pump-slide mechanism. The Striker now allowed the operator the ability for a semi-automatic fire mode through a healthy 12-round ammunition count. The operator need only squeeze the trigger to fire off each consecutive round as oppose to operating a lever or pump slide allowing for a substantial higher rate-of-fire over contemporary shotguns. Essentially, the Striker relied the tried-and-proven principles developed during the heyday of the standard revolver. Reloading of the actual cylinder was a manual process via a right-side opening located on the rear plate of the cylinder housing. The cylinder itself remained with the gun body through all actions and was only removed for maintenance.

However, to compensate for the Stiker's larger and heavier ammunition container, Walker relied on a pre-wound "clock-work" type spring to rotate the cylinder. Though effective in some regard, it made the automated reloading process longer than desired and the rotating cylinder action itself was prone to skipping available rounds in the loaded chambers. The Striker also proved a somewhat cumbersome affair despite its relatively short length, though more due to its large cylindrical magazine housing as the stock was collapsible over the top of the gun body. Walker was forced to reassess his weapon and re-imagined it in the "Protecta", a design doing away with the slow rotating cylinder and introducing a manually-rotating cylinder instead.

Beyond the original Striker and the improved Protecta, the weapon system evolved into a handful of useful variants in the shortened "Protecta Bulldog", the American-market "Sentinel Arms Striker-12", the "Cobray/SWD Streetsweeper" with 18-inch barrel for the budget conscious and the small "Cobray/SWD Ladies Home Companion". Viewed as an "assault weapon", the Striker was banned in Canada and its availability in the United States was limited though not impossible.

The Striker itself was something of a revolutionary product in its own right in that it became one of the earliest production attempts at a trigger-actuated/cylinder-fitted shotgun to actually come to market for security and military forces. In some ways, Walker's original attempt has today been perfected in the new advanced and fully-automatic shotgun designs being actively used and tested by such forces such as the Russian Spetsnaz and the United States Marine Corps. With technology providing the capability and the military providing the need, the soldier of today can be armed with a devastating man-stopper and ultimate "lockpick" realized in the new generation of fully-automatic/rotating cylinder shotguns such as the IZHMASH Saiga-12 and the Auto Assault-12 (AA-12).

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Operators
Global customers who have evaluated and/or operated the Armsel Striker. Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national small arms listing.

Contractor(s): Armsel / Sentinel Arms / Reutech Defense Industries - South Africa
National flag of Iraq National flag of Israel National flag of South Africa

[ Iraq; Israel; South Africa ]
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The Armsel Striker Semi-Automatic Shotgun appears in the following collections:
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