New For 2024: Archon Firearms By PTR Type B

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posted on March 9, 2024
PTR Archon Type B 01
Images courtesy of PTR Industries.

The Arsenal Strike One pistol is a unique firearm design whose place in the U.S. market has had its fits and starts. First introduced at SHOT Show 2013, the company later partnered with Salient Arms before opening its own U.S. subsidiary as Archon Firearms. New for 2024, Archon is partnering with PTR Industries to import the European-made Type B design to the U.S.

Left side of the Archon Firearms Type B pistol.PTR Industries is partnering with Archon Firearms to offer its innovative Type B pistols.

The Archon Firearms by PTR Type B uses a steel chassis inside a polymer grip frame. The action uses a striker-fired mechanism and has an automatic firing pin safety and trigger safety. There is no manual safety. Sights are a serrated rear notch with a front post with a fiber-optic insert and are Glock-compatible. The unique aspect of the pistol’s design is its “AF-Speedlock” system that uses a non-tilting 4.3” barrel and a U-shaped locking block that drops down as the barrel recoils reward to unlock it from the slide. This design allows for an extremely low bore axis, which helps control recoil.

Archon Type B pistol shown with magazine well inserts and interchangeable backstraps.The Type B Gen 2 pistol has a grip that is customizable for both length and circumference.

PTR is selling two versions of the Archon Type B. The Gen 2 version has a modular grip frame that comes with three backstraps that allow the circumference of the grip to be customized and two grip extenders that allow the length of the grip to be switched between subcompact, compact and full-size lengths. It comes supplied with one 15-round and one 18-round magazine. The Type B Gen 2 is available in a standard format or as an optics-ready pistol, with the choice of a RMR, RMS or ACRO optics footprints. It is 7.7” long overall with a height of 5.2” and a slide width of 1.1”.

Right side of the PTR Archon Type B shown with a mounted Aimpoint ACRO red-dot sight.Type B Gen 2 pistols are available with optics cut slides compatible with RMR, RMS or ACRO footprints.

The Gen 1 version uses a grip frame that is not modular and comes with two 15-round magazines. It has an overall length of 7.59” and a height of 5.12”, with a slide width of 1.38”. Both the Gen 1 and the Gen 2 version of the pistol weigh 30 ozs. An extended and threaded barrel is available as an option.

Right side of the Archon Firearms Type B pistol.In addition to the latest Gen 2 version of the Type B, PTR is offering an original Gen 1 pistol, pictured.

The Archon Type B Gen 1 has an MSRP of $855, and the Gen 2 has an MSRP of $960 for standard models or $999 for models with an optics cut. In the future, PTR plans to offer metal grip frames for the Archon pistol, as well as 13-round magazines compatible with the Gen 2 grip frame in subcompact configuration. For more information, visit ptr-us.com.

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