This effort was doomed from the start, which is too bad since it looks like a neat pistol.
The mistakes made in producing and marketing this pistol:
1.) Contracting Tanfoglio to do the manufacturing. Sorry but Tanfoglio has no history, to my knowledge, of making duty grade service pistols. They make CZ clones that aren't as good as CZ's for the most part. There were reports of the Strike One pistols having some teething issues with magazines and cycling. These days to get any market share a service type pistol better run like a raped ape out of the box, and Tanfoglio is not known for making pistols that do that.
2.) Releasing a full sized 5" barrel pistol first. Not many agencies, or civilians want a big full size duty pistol. The sweet spot is the Glock 19 sized gun: small enough to work as a concealed carry/plain clothes gun, while still large enough to shoot well and carry a payload of 15 rounds on board. A compact version should have either come first or at the same time.
3.) Idiotic sighting arrangement. Using the back plate on the slide to also serve as the rear sight is just stupid. Unspeakably stupid. Arsenal should have picked a common dovetail size used by another manufacturer and used that. That way an end user could easily put on aftermarket sights to replace the marginal stock sights. Alternatively Arsenal could have stepped up and offered some sighting options right off the bat like night sights etc. Just cutting the slide for a common dovetail size would have been better. Instant existing aftermarket options.
4.) Importing pistols through a relatively small importer with limited resources and support. What happens if you need parts or warranty work? I would hesitate to be a beta tester on their customer service.
5.) Re forming their US sales, and now manufacturing with Salient Arms. Really? Are you guys <edited> kidding me? Arsenal decides to make guns in the US (smart move getting away from Tanfoglio), but instead of partnering with a large manufacturer with an engineering staff, and history of making high quality weapons on a large scale, plus servicing them; they pick Salient Arms. Why did they pick Salient? A company that specializes in turning out cosmetic work for exorbitant prices on Glocks and AR15's, with the occasional butchered 1911 here and there.
This is all further proof that aside from Beretta, that Italians do not understand the US firearms market. Nor do the Russians (who don't really understand pistols at all). This is the unfortunate result of some gold chain wearing <edited> with no idea of how to make a product out sourcing their work to others, but selecting them for all the wrong reasons. Which normally would be amusing (like the entire EAA line of firearms), but in this case is infuriating since the Strike One, properly executed, would be a neat pistol.
