The K2 is a CZ-75 styled pistol scaled up for the .45 ACP cartridge. Designed to take Para magazines, it holds 14+1 rounds, can be carried cocked and locked, and is available now through EAA with an MSRP of $592

I’ve been to ranges in a lot of places, and you never know what you’re going to get.  I was interested to see what kind of range we’d be shooting at in Turkey.  We piled into our Tahoe at the plant and our hosts jumped into a Ford Mondeo with an assortment of pistols and shotguns pulled off the line, and we drove about fifteen minutes out into the country to a private range.

I said in an earlier post that Turkey really reminded me of Italy, and nowhere was that resemblance stronger than at the range.  Sitting near the top of a hillside looking over rolling, terraced green fields, all the houses I could see had red tile roofs, and the gentlemen busting clays on the trap line were all shooting Perazzis.

RELATED POSTS: DAY 1 – DAY 2 – DAY 3 – DAY 4

We had to chase a small herd of cows off the pistol range.  The cows provide an added benefit (short grass), but not without cost (occasional piles of what used to be grass after it had been processed through the cows’ digestive systems).

This is a polymer-framed B6 compact which is not yet available in the states, but there are plans to import it.

If we had expressed a desire to shoot something, our hosts brought one or three along. Sarsilmaz’ B6 was one of the favorites as this CZ-75-type pistol is very soft shooting, and we had an opportunity to shoot the polymer-framed version of this gun as well. The all-steel gun will be imported very soon.

I put a number of rounds through the SAR ST10. I’m told neither Sarsilmaz nor the people from EAA (the importer) like it when writers say the ST10 physically resembles the HK USP, but I’m a paid observer. The pistols went bang every time we pulled the trigger, but as I don’t like the looks of either the HK or the ST10 I will leave it for those of you who do.

Mark Hampton runs a SARPASP–That is, an SAR Arms Pump Action Special Purpose shotgun. Special Purpose means that it comes with a pistol grip stock and ghost ring sights. It features adjustable ventilated choke tubes, a receiver rail if you want to mount a dot, and the magazine tube accepts extended magazine tubes designed for Remingtons.

The pistol I most enjoyed shooting, and which is available now through EAA, is the K2. This is a CZ-75-type pistol, but chambered in .45 ACP. 14+1 rounds of .45 ACP! This pistol is fed by Para magazines, but the grip does not feel anything like a Para Ordnance, as it has the traditional CZ humpback styling, just scaled up. The plastic grips are thin and, honestly, it doesn’t feel big enough to hold that many rounds. Sights are good, felt recoil is not bad at all, and it can be carried cocked and locked (although the safety positioning/styling isn’t as good as you’re going to find on 1911s). At a suggested retail of $592 it’s a heck of a bargain.

We also had the opportunity to put the SAR pump (PA) and semi-auto (SA) shotguns through their paces. What was the most surprising thing I saw at the range? Remington ammunition made in Italy (if I remember correctly). I’ve never seen a 1 1/5 oz. loading of shot before, and figuring out the grams to drams equivalent had everyone on their smartphones.

We saw a lot of apparently free range cows on the way to and from the range. It makes driving….interesting.

We literally shot until the cows came home, and the gunfire didn’t seem to bother them. I guess that’s why they’re food.

I had a good time in Turkey, and while I wasn’t looking forward to either the 11-hour plane ride back or the airport I’d be arriving at (Chicago O’Hare, ugh), it’s always good to be home.

Sarsilmaz’ new facility is nearly 400,000 square feet, and features the most modern CNC equipment you’ll find in the world.

By Day 3 my companions and I had discovered two things about Turkish cuisine:

1. Everything was really good, and…
2.  Just about every meal involved lamb in one form or another.

It got so ridiculous that we started joking about it, and the NRA’s Brian Sheetz topped my “lambenade” with his “lamburger helper”.

All of us saw boars on our hunt in the Turkish hills half an hour outside of Alanya on the Turkish Riviera, but only Dave Bahde with Harris Publications actually tagged one.  As no one was really sure what the customs regulations might be on bringing back fresh tusks (“Are you bringing back any meat or produce?”  Um, well….kinda?) he decided to have his shipped to him later.

RELATED POSTS: DAY 1 – DAY 2 – DAY 3 – DAY 4

Ever seen a crate full of frames before? Sarsilmaz makes everything from forgings, and you will not find any cast parts in any of their guns.

After two hour ride back to the Antalya airport, during which we got to enjoy non-stop Turkish Techno music (Turkno?), then a short plane ride back to Istanbul, we took a two hour drive east to the town of Duzce (“doos-jay”) where the Sarsilmaz factory is located.  Two hours is close enough to the Istanbul airport to be convenient, while avoiding the city’s insane traffic.

Duzce is a medium-sized town of 134,000 people, and Sarsilmaz’ new facility is located in a rather new industrial park nearby.  It is huge, and once I did the conversion from square meters to feet learned that it is nearly 400,000 square feet.  Everything (including many of the CNC machines) are brand new, and they have all sorts of room to expand.

Sarsilmaz is running three shifts, seven days a week.  They produce 105,000 pistols a year, as well as 85,000 shotguns, 28,000 infantry rifles, and 15,000 submachineguns.  Unfortunately we didn’t get to watch them building the infantry rifles or subguns, and I can’t tell you what we learned about their plans in this area, but remember you heard the hints here first.

In the plant we saw 4-, 5-, and 7-axis CNC machines (I’d never even heard of a 7-axis machine before, and none of the other writers had ever seen one), robotic tool changers, and another machine identical to one used at the Ferrari factory they didn’t even want us taking pictures of.  I asked if that meant we would be able to get some Ferraris to test for our articles, but the Turks are very polite and pretended they couldn’t hear me.  These modern machines enable Sarsilmaz to produce firearms to the tightest tolerances possible.

What can a 7-axis CNC machine do? Turn bar stock into a finished cylinder in 20 minutes, and all the machine operator has to do is watch.

What can a 7-axis CNC machine do? Turn bar stock into a finished cylinder in 20 minutes, and all the machine operator has to do is watch.

If you’re wondering how, with such modern equipment, Sarsilmaz can sell such reasonably-priced firearms, it’s because the cost of living is so low in Duzce.  The average worker makes 12,000 Euros a year (less than $8,000).  If this doesn’t sound like much, just know that we stayed in a number of five-star hotels in Turkey, and none of them was nicer than the Gosterisli Otel in Duzce which cost $40/night, including breakfast.  The workers are bused in from town as well, so they don’t have to buy gas at $10/gallon.

The management at Sarsilmaz has realized that happy workers make better guns.  The factory is filled with natural light and potted decorative trees.  Their cafeteria was as nice as the one at Smith & Wesson, and the food was better (add Turkish spicy ketchup to the list of foods I need to try to track down over here).

Part of the four-course lunch we got at the factory cafeteria was a pile of French fries, and I asked the plant manager Nuri Kiziltan what they called them—French Fries, Turkish Fries, American Fries?  “Just fries,” he told me.

Stay tuned for Day 4, when we hit the range and shoot until the cows came home.

This is sort of a Turkish “Where’s Waldo?”, taken along the riverfront at Alanya. Find 1. McDonalds, 2. James Dean, 3. Girl kissing a mushroom, and 4. the Mosque. (Click image to enlarge)

RELATED POSTS: DAY 1 – DAY 2 – DAY 3 – DAY 4

A ported P8S stainless compact. This is a modernized CZ-75 type pistol which holds 15+1 rounds of 9mm and has an enlarged ejection port, squared trigger guard, and can be carried cocked and locked. It also has an adjustable no-snag rear sight and rubber grips.

Sarsilmaz plant manager Mr. Nuri Kiziltan test-driving a polymer-framed B6.

The view across the Bosphorus strait, which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmar and cuts Istanbul in half. As it is the official boundary between continents, that means that half of Istanbul is in Europe and half in Asia.

It’s not often that you get the opportunity to travel to a foreign country, much less travel to Turkey to tour a firearm manufacturing plant, but that’s what I did last recently.

I’ve heard it said several times that guns made in Turkey are a great bargain, if they work.  That may sound a bit harsh, but it also is rather accurate….or, at least, it used to be.

The SAR ST10 is a 15+1 capacity 9mm which resembles the HK USP. There are plans for it to be imported to the US soon. In Europe it is offered with either traditional or polygonally-rifled barrels, and it has a forged aluminum frame.

There are several gun manufacturers in Turkey, but Sarsilmaz is the largest.  They recently opened a huge new facility two hours outside Istanbul, and wanted to show some U.S. gun writers that things have changed.  Their equipment is state of the art, and because wages are so low compared to wages in the U.S. or Europe, they can produce guns at a substantially lower price.

RELATED POSTS: DAY 1 – DAY 2 – DAY 3 – DAY 4

Sarsilmaz will be importing their pistols and shotguns into the U.S. as SAR Arms, as it is a little easier to pronounce.  Sarsilmaz, by the way, means “Unshakeable”, has been in business since 1880, and is a 5^th-generation family business.  European American Armory (www.eaacorp.com) is the exclusive U.S. distributor of their products.

This diary will be a travelogue as well as a preview of guns that either are or soon will be available in this country, as you don’t fly a third of the way around the world without doing a few touristy things, and the first day we were there we toured Istanbul.

Istanbul has been around so long that pre-Roman architecture is pretty easy to find.  We toured the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, the Hippodrome, and an underground Roman cistern bigger than some high schools.  What got our guide the most excited, however, was talking about how just a few months before Daniel Craig had been in town filming for the next James Bond movie Skyfall.  Apparently they were racing motorcycles across the roof of the Grand Bazaar, a roofed marketplace of 66 streets that is the mother of all flea-markets.

Knowing Turkey was predominantly an Islamic country, and knowing how America isn’t exactly making friends in a lot of Islamic countries around the world, I deliberately didn’t cut my hair before heading overseas.  I usually prefer a military-length hairstyle, and while I wasn’t willing to plaster Canadian flags over my luggage and clothing to confuse the haters, I did get on the plane with hair longer than an inch for the first time in quite a while……turns out I didn’t need to.

Predominantly Muslim or not, Turkey isn’t an “Arabic” country, it’s a Mediterranean country that reminded me more of Italy than anything else.  Just about everybody wore western-style clothing, and there were a heck of a lot of European tourists everywhere.  And my plan to disguise myself by having hair longer than a fingernail and wearing jeans?  It probably would have worked better if I wasn’t walking around with a bunch of guys dressed in Blackhawk and 5.11 Tactical clothing, most of whom looked like they run regularly.

“Are you soldiers?  You look like soldiers,” one of the vendors in the Grand Bazaar said to us.  Sigh.

this is the K12, a single action competition-style 9mm Sarsilmaz offers overseas, with a match trigger, compensator, and adjustable target sights.

We also toured Topkapi Palace. This was the only place in the whole country where I saw any kind of military presence. The guards at the gate bore HK MP5 submachineguns that are made in Turkey by MKE, an HK-licensed factory. What I noticed was not only that the guards had the SMGs deployed on their HK slings, but that the stocks were extended and ready to go. I wanted to take a picture of one of them, but my guide informed me that would be a very bad idea. Istanbul isn’t bad at all, but Turkey borders Iran, Iraq, and Syria, and has a lot of problems with terrorists on the opposite side of the country. Turkey has the 4th largest standing army in the world at 2 million, and their troops see action.

Check back for Day 2 to find out what sidearms the combat-tested Turkish military uses, and where to vacation if you like Russian or German women….

The country of Turkey has long been known for its firearms manufacturing. Mostly for some of its shotguns, particularly those that involved woodwork. Pistols and other guns have come in over the years with varying quality. For the most part they were best known for being “okay” guns at a reasonable price.

In the last year, two guns imported from Sarslimaz have passed through my hands. The K2 .45 was a huge surprise and remains one of my favorite pistols to shoot. I also tested an ST10 that exhibited excellent workmanship, accuracy and reliability. Both were well made and offered at affordable prices. A far cry from guns that are “cheap” and just “okay,” they were clearly well designed and manufactured.

Turkish guns have been long known for being built in what amounts to a garage, but that was certainly not the case here. Thanks to Keith at EAA and the owners of Sarslimaz, a trip to the factory was arranged to observe why firsthand.

Factory Tour
It is clear that Turkey is a country on the rise. State-of-the-art factories are surrounded by high-rise buildings, well-appointed dwellings, and hotels and shopping. With its secular government and Muslim heritage, it may be the perfect mix of old and new. From ancient ruins to the latest fashions, Istanbul has it all. It is also one of the cleanest places around. From the grand bizarre to the average truck stop, everything is well kept, clean and staffed by some of the hardest working and most friendly people around. It was truly a delight and quite an experience.

Situated a couple of hours from Istanbul, the Sarslimaz factory is huge. It is also brand new and truly state of the art. With seven axis CNC machines, cutting-edge logistics, and trained and talented operators, it is as modern as any factory in America. The entire plant is spotless—more like a medical facility than a gun factory. It was easily one of the best-looking weapons plants I have ever seen.

Every step in the manufacturing process is taken with the greatest attention to detail. All of the parts start from forgings—there are no castings here. Most parts, including the famous Turkish wood stocks are made, in-house. Final assembly is completed with great detail and by experienced gunsmiths. High-tech tooling allows Sarsilmaz to get the tightest tolerances. This results in some excellent shotguns and pistols. As the supplier of pistols to the entirety of the military and police in Turkey, these are proven weapons with a long track record.

Sar Arms
Sar Arms is the newly formed import company for all Sarslimaz guns. In cooperation with EAA, they will be the sole importer. Given some time, the entire line of sporting shotguns and pistols will be available in America. Many are pending ATF approval right now. Once they arrive, they will have quite an impact. With state-of-the-art manufacturing, solid design and a proven history, Sar Arms will offer the consumer an excellent pistol or shotgun at a reasonable cost. Keep your eyes open: When they arrive, you are going to want to give them a solid look. For more information, visit sararms.com or call 321-639-4842.