Armsel Striker

Notes: The South African-designed Striker was at first manufactured in the US, but this manufacturing agreement was later discontinued when the Assault Weapons Ban’s proponents declared the Striker a "destructive device." The Striker was then manufactured for several more years in South Africa. A descendant of the old Manville Gun, the Striker is considered (even by Armsel) as an "assault shotgun," and meant primarily for CQB and to provide large amounts of firepower in a relatively small package, even though it was also sold (at least in the US) to civilians. Users include SANDF, the IDF and Israeli police, hundreds of police departments across the US, and reputedly the militaries of several countries for special applications.

The Striker does not have a magazine as such; instead, it is essentially a huge revolver, feeding from a revolving cylinder, and using a double-action firing mechanism. When the cylinder completes a full 360-degree rotation (or before loading it in the first place), the cylinder must be wound in a manner similar to old Thompson submachinegun drum magazines. The rounds are loaded through a loading gate on the upper right side of the cylinder. The cylinders may also be manually rotated, which is a rather slow way to fire the Striker, but does provide a handy way for the shooter to index different ammunition types if he has more than one type of shell in the gun.

That said, the Striker does have a number of shortcomings (other than the need to wind the cylinder). It is possible to pull the trigger far enough to rotate the cylinder, but not enough to actually trip the firing pin and fire the weapon. As with the typical revolver-type weapon, if a misfire occurs, the bad round cannot simply be ejected. The Striker has an ejector rod, like the typical revolver-type weapon; however, this rod ejects only one shell at a time (the one lined up with the loading port), and the trigger must be pulled halfway back while the ejector rod is pushed. This effectively means that in addition to the time it takes to load the magazine, another phase must be spent winding the drum before the Striker may actually be loaded, and that loading each round may be done at a rate of only 1 shell per phase.

Construction of the Striker is largely of Dural (a light, but strong alloy); the barrel is also Dural, but with a steel liner. The pistol grip and foregrip are made from high-impact plastic. The stock is of twin metal struts with a plastic buttplate, and folds over the top of the weapon. The Striker was built with two barrel lengths, with the 12-inch barrel meant primarily for police and military concerns, and the 18-inch barrel for civilians. There are no sights of any sort on the Striker, but it is drilled and tapped.

Armsel later set out to improve the design of the Striker. This produced the Protecta. The first problem to be addressed was the cumbersome loading method. To this end, the winding mechanism was deleted, replaced with a conventional-looking charging handle on the left side of the barrel which, though it must be pulled back forcefully, winds the cylinder completely and with one motion. The loading gate and ejection rod are also gone; instead, fresh rounds are loaded directly from the rear of the cylinder, and as the cylinder rotates while firing, the spent (or dud, if it comes to that) rounds are automatically ejected. Safety has been improved; the safety catch remains, but has been supplemented drop-safe trigger lock, a hammer safety, and a trigger which will not fire the Protecta unless the trigger is completely pulled.

As most countries classify the Protecta as a destructive device, no civilian version is offered. Like the Striker, the Protecta is built largely of high-strength aluminum alloy, but the metal used on the Protecta is stronger than the Dural used on the Striker. Parts which were built of plastic on the Striker are made from stronger fiberglass/polycarbonate composites. In addition to the standard drilling and tapping, the Protecta is equipped with an Occluded Eye Gunsight with a 3.5x magnification. A compact version of the Protecta, the Protecta Bulldog is also offered; this version has a 7-inch barrel (as opposed to the Protecta’s 12-inch barrel), no stock, and a smaller cylindrical magazine.

Twilight 2000 Notes: The Striker is common enough in the Twilight 2000 timeline, but the Protecta and Protecta Bulldog are rather rare.

Weapon

Ammunition

Weight

Magazines

Price

Striker

12 Gauge 2.75"

4.2 kg

12 Cylinder

$567

Striker (Civilian)

12 Gauge 2.75"

4.41 kg

12 Cylinder

$597

Protecta

12 Gauge 2.75"

4.22 kg

12 Cylinder

$767

Protecta Bulldog

12 Gauge 2.75"

2.22 kg

11 Cylinder

$491

Weapon

ROF

Damage

Pen

Bulk

SS

Burst

Range

Striker

DAR

4/1d6x20 or 2d6x4

2-3-Nil/Ni or 1-Nil

3/5

4

Nil

22

Striker (Civilian)

DAR

4/1d6x24 or 2d6x4

2-3-Nil/Ni or 1-Nil

4/6

4

Nil

38

Protecta

DAR

4/1d6x20 or 2d6x4

2-3-Nil/Ni or 1-Nil

3/5

4

Nil

22

Protecta Bulldog

DAR

3/1d6x16 or 2d6x4

2-Nil/Nil or 1-Nil

3

6

Nil

9