Sphinx SDP Owners, status update?

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IMightBeWrong

New member
I've had my eye on the Sphinx SDP, particularly the Compact size, for a while now. The main thing that's kept me from dropping the money on one is that there just isn't much out there to indicate how reliable the guns are. In my mind the SDP would be an alternative to my SIG M11-A1 with some different features.

For those of you that have owned and fired an SDP for a while, how has it performed for you in the long run? How many of you have over 1,000 rounds through the gun? 5,000? How is it holding up? Does anybody have both an SDP and a SIG that can compare the two for fit and finish?

I've been hoping to see a track record develop for these pistols but unfortunately they seem to be a very niche product. I rarely hear anything about them and it just seems as though most people just aren't paying attention to them.

Thanks!
 
I haven't shot mine much, yet -- other things have kept me away from the range. (Probably no more than 400 +/- rounds thus far -- so give that due considerations as you read on.

My SDP is my third Sphinx (I previously had two 2000-series semi-autos) and see nothing that would make me think it would be less durable than they were. That is, of course, an assumption not based on long-term usage. Maybe someone else will be able to help you with THAT.

(I would have preferred a safety-based model, but they weren't available when I got it, and there was no word on when they might hit the states. I'm not a big fan of decockers, and only have one other decocker gun.)

Out of the box the DA trigger is pretty heavy, but manageable -- because it is very, very smooth. (It was still heavier than I liked, and I changed to a lighter hammer spring.) You may also want to go to a lighter hammer spring -- and the CZ compact hammer springs sold b Wolff Springs will give you some options. Changing the hammer spring is much easier with an SDP than with a CZ.

Very smooth, very accurate.
 
I've only shot 200 rounds thru mine. Heavy da and very nice sa. Trigger reset is the best I've ever shot. Very smooth. I'd say a little better than the sig. And i love my sigs. Fit/finish is better than any other gun i own. Better than sig. Flawless function so far.
 
I had the Compact model for a few months. The machining, fit, and finish are very impressive. I found the mechanical accuracy to be excellent and the recoil was almost non-existent. That said, the DA trigger pull was off the scale on my Lyman digital gauge (12 lb.+). I also had numerous failures to lock back (even shooting one-handed so I wasn't riding the slide release) and I had a number of failures to eject as well. My gun was sprung extremely stiff from the factory. The Blazer Brass and Fiocchi 115 gr I was using weren't powerful enough for the gun to function reliably. While those aren't high power loads, they aren't junk either and it's typically what I'll use at the range. It made the gun a bit annoying at the range, though great for practicing malfunction clearances.

I'll also say that the rear sight on mine was notably off center from factory and it showed in the point of impact. Adjusting the sights on these are a massive, massive pain in the ass. The rear set screws are held in with green loctite. You need a heat gun, not just a hair dryer, to liquefy the loctite and remove the screws. Even then the rear sight is extremely tight in the dovetail (the slide underneath the rear sight is actually serrated to better hold in the sight). I actually ended up having to dent the rear sight to get it to move.

Finding magazines is a pain in the ass, although there are alternatives you can use. Aftermarket sights are almost non-existent (I have never seen the one mentioned in the Sphinx advertising actually available). I called Kriss a number of times to ask about a replacement backstrap as mine got a nice gouge in it, from my own stupidity. Every time I called Kriss they neither had the parts nor had any idea at all when they might get any parts or magazines.

At the same time as this I had a CZ P-01 with Cajun Gun Works parts. The CZ never malfunctioned with the same ammo, parts and sights were easy to get, and while less well finished it still shot very well and even stock had a nicer trigger (with the CGW parts it wasn't even a contest). I sold the Sphinx in the end.

This is just my experience.
 
TunnelRat,

Do you recall roughly how many rounds you put through the gun? Just curious how much break in the gun got before being sold. Since the guns are built tight, perhaps some of them need some break in?
 
Only 400 or so. I've never really been one to be tolerant of break in periods on a defensive handgun, but you're right it might have been better after some time. I just didn't see the advantages in he pistol to keep trying.
 
I'm truthfully not happy when I hear of a pistol needing a break-in period either, but that said I've come to accept it on occasion. I've heard of HKs and SIGs needing some break in due to overweighted springs that were designed for high pressure defensive ammo in the past as well, unfortunately.

Ideally, a gun should function 100% right out of the box. Realistically, some guns come out of the box a little too tight or with slightly too strong a spring and a few hundred rounds can often fix this right up.
 
Ideally, a gun should function 100% right out of the box. Realistically, some guns come out of the box a little too tight or with slightly too strong a spring and a few hundred rounds can often fix this right up.
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That's true, and I've had to do that with a P30. I lost track at 70 pistols owned, so I've been through teething issues. But this was worse than poor or weak ejection. The Sphinx I had was choking on quality factory ammo. Honestly I should have sent it in.
 
I had one for about 6 months an recently sold it. Machining on the gun is incredible.

Had issues with with the accuracy. After going back and forth with Kriss about paying for the return shipping ( on a $900.00 firearm) they darn well should pay for the shipping to their facility, they finally relented.

I was surprised, the return label was UPS Ground, and when they returned the firearm, it was sent back FedEx Ground.

The gun was returned 6 weeks later with a new slide and barrel. The new slide was a bit marked up from taking the sights off the old slide and installing them on the new slide. The test target they sent with the return was better than what I was getting, but still looked to be shooting low left. Paperwork showed accuracy was within spec.

DA pull was very heavy, SA was nice, but found quite a lot of takeup.

The biggest issue I find with these, is total lack of support from Kriss. As noted above, mags are almost non-existent. Sights that were promised for several years, are vapor ware.

On another site, one of their reps keeps promising new products and some aftermarket support, but again vapor ware.

I am not sure where these will wind up in the States, but the brand will need much better support from Kriss then what they have put forth so far.
 
I've had my SDP Compact for around a year or so. I'd guess it's have a few thousand rounds through it, mostly my hand loads. To this date, it's not had a single malfunction of any kind. Even with this many rounds and all of the dry firing and working the slide, it's still pretty tight. The slide will release from the slide catch but, it takes more effort still than any other gun I own.

My DA pull is pretty heavy even with a CGW spring kit. It also has a flat spot in the pull when the hammer hits the half cock position. The SA pull is pretty good as is the reset. Not Sig good as my West German 226 with SRT is far better. Accuracy is also very good and above average but not exceptional like my 226 or PPQ. Muzzle flip and recoil are pretty low/good for a gun it's size. Likely due to it's combination of lower bore axis and weight.

I like the that it has decockers on both side of the gun. I have five magazines for mine and never had any issue getting them. They were also less expensive than my HK P-30's (VP-9 same). Quality is very good on the gun and about as good as it gets for the price. It has a unique design with the polymer/aluminum lower. The grip length is just barely long enough for my hand. While I like this gun, I like it the least out of my other four 9mm's.
 
I have five magazines for mine and never had any issue getting them. They were also less expensive than my HK P-30's (VP-9 same).
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You either got a smoking deal on the Sphinx mags or overpaid for P30 magazines.
 
I agree on the trigger not being as good as SIG's SRT, but I can see why one would also prefer the Sphinx trigger. I have had the chance to fondle the SDP line at Bear Arms Firearms a couple of times in Scottsdale but just haven't worked up to buying one yet. The SA is not as crisp and has a bit more slack than the SRT in my experience, however the reset was also more tactile than the SRT in the sampling of SDP models I held so it's pretty much preference. It still hasn't stopped me from considering the pistol on and off for a while now.
 
It sounds like you're pretty interested in the pistol. It's probably worth picking up to scratch the itch. People can sound off on what they think but that's no replacement for firsthand experience.
 
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The rear sight on my SDP was held in place by two 1.5 metric allen-type set screws. (I went out to buy the proper tool, and after I bought it found I already a set in the tool box. Duh.) You can pick one of these small sets at Harbor Freight for well under $10 (and get a SAE set and a Torx set, too.) I had no problems getting the set-screws loose and but did use a heat gun (after a warning from a Kriss rep that it might be needed.) Sounds like somebody overdid the loc-tite on yours. The tool I used (which had many different flip up/down sizes) lets you apply a lot of leverage easily.

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After I changed the factory hammer spring to a CZ compact 17 lb. hammer spring, my complaints about the trigger went away. (Others have gone to lighter hammer springs. I had some failures to ignite with the 16 lb. spring; a friend who also had an SDP had no problems with the same 16 lb. spring. It makes a big difference in the trigger pull. It's heavier than it feels, because it's so smooth.) I've got a Cagun Gun Works spring kit for the gun, but haven't installed those springs yet. I just wish my CZ Kadet Kit would fit the frame -- it doesn't. Changing out the hammer spring is a 2-minute job; on a CZ, it takes a bit longer.

I've been using CANIK Stingray mags in addition to the factory mags (and they work in the the CZ P-07 as well) -- a perfect fit after thinning down the top of the base plate (plastic, with extra material). Got them from J&G Sales.

I had to do something similar with a SIG P226 X-Five in .40 -- when I didn't want to have to get a second mortgage to buy factory mags -- using a similar hi-cap Mec-Gar mags for the standard P226 gun. The X-5 factory mags are pricey.

I have a P228 SRT that has been worked over by Grey Guns, and I think it and the Sphinx SDP are very similar in most respects. (Luckily, I bought the P228 used, so didn't have to pay the full price. But the work done on that gun (or the similar M11A1) to achieve a similar level of performance to the Sphinx was several hundred $$$ more. Aftermarket support for SIGs, of course, is much better.

I've had several other Sphinx pistols (2000 series) and aftermarket parts were never an issue -- because they were never really needed. My experience with them is what caused me to get an SDP. The biggest difference between the newer Sphinx models and older models seems to be the effort that Sphinx put into redesigning the guns to make them equally precise in fit and finish, with less hand work. Sphinx makes a very refined weapon.

Whether KRISS follows through with better customer support and whether aftermarket parts will be available remains to be seen. When I had the earlier Sphinx models, the only support came from talking directly with Sphinx in Switzerland -- happily they could deal with English-speaking (or writing) customers -- and the only thing I ever needed from them was a slide stop and a user manual (which I had misplaced) spring. Transferring funds internationally can be a challenge for some banks, ans Sphinx eventually sent me one free of charge. They didn't have to do that.
 
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I used a similar tool to try to get leverage. I ended up stripping at least one Allen tool in the process. I had to heat the slide up to a point where it needed to sit for 15 minutes before I could touch it again to liquefy the loctite enough.

I tried the CGW spring kit but on my particular mode the resulting trigger pull weight was then still sightly over 10 lb. in DA, though the SA was quite nice.
 
I still like my SDR Sphinx. Must agree, the DA is tough, much more force needed than on my HK Mark 23, which I've always thought was too much; but then I'm a wimp. The only issue with functioning is the slide failing to lock back on the empty mag; it happens too frequently. But, less so with 147 gr..

I have three 9mm's in that size range, the SDR, a SIG p239 SAS Gen ll and a DW Guardian. Of the three, I favor the SDR.

It hasn't gotten as much use use as I expected. I tend to carry the more target oriented guns to the range. I've only run slightly over 500 rounds thru it.
 
TunnelRat said:
I used a similar tool to try to get leverage. I ended up stripping at least one Allen tool in the process. I had to heat the slide up to a point where it needed to sit for 15 minutes before I could touch it again to liquefy the loctite enough.

I tried the CGW spring kit but on my particular mode the resulting trigger pull weight was then still sightly over 10 lb. in DA, though the SA was quite nice.
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Wow. I guess you have to strike (twist) while the iron (steel) is hot!! Gloves, etc. :) But with a new allen wrench, in your case.

With the 17 lb. CZ compact hammer spring installed in mine, it measures about 7.5 lbs on DA, but feels lighter. SA is about 4 -- but also feels lighter. I used a spring-loaded trigger scale rather than a digital one, but measured it several times to get a sort-of-average result.
 
Walt Sherrill said:
Wow. I guess you have to strike (twist) while the iron (steel) is hot!! Gloves, etc. :) But with a new allen wrench, in your case.



With the 17 lb. CZ compact hammer spring installed in mine, it measures about 7.5 lbs on DA, but feels lighter. SA is about 4 -- but also feels lighter. I used a spring-loaded trigger scale rather than a digital one, but measured it several times to get a sort-of-average result.
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Yea I should have tried some different springs. I don't know why I didn't. I think I have a 75 hammer spring pack kicking around somewhere too.
 
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