When two Wilson Combat single stackers arrived from Elite Airsoft in my latest consignment of guns to test, I will admit my heart sank a little. I remembered the experience I had had with the Wilson Vreaker, when I found myself unable to fill the magazine with gas due to the deep buffer.

However, when I actually opened the Striker's box two things piqued my interest. First off was the look of the gun. With a metal rail, under the barrel, the Striker has a touch of the single stacker, Xcelerator about it. Secondly, it had a standard, flat bottomed, single stack magazine, so I knew I wasn't going to have trouble filling it with gas!

In the Box

The only unusual thing about the Striker's plain beige cardboard box is the sheer size of it. The Striker is a 5" barreled 1911, basically, but the box is easily long enough to accomodate another 2 inches of barrel. I am not aware of a Prokiller version of the Striker, but this almost suggests that it was in someone's mind when the packaging was designed.

The contents of the box are standard fare, with the gun, a barrel bushing spanner, a pair of Allen keys (one for the Hop-Up, one to remove the rail), a small bag of BBs and a WA Colt 1911 manual, target and some other pieces of paper, relating to the Striker and warranties, etc.

First Impressions

The Striker is the most distinctive looking 1911 single stacker I have seen (Discounting the M945, which is only a 1911 clone in part).

This is all due to the long, metal rail which extends under the barrel. This lends it as single stacker, Infinity Xcelerator look and makes it look quite different to the majority of single stack 1911s.

Otherwise, it is typical of WA's high quality 1911 clones, with excellent 'wood' grips (actually plastic), with a very attractive Wilson medallion on each, tactical sights and a heavyweight material slide. As observed before, the Striker (thankfully) comes with a standard, flat bottomed single stack 1911 magazine.

Closer Look

Some of WA's other 1911 clones have a small bolt on rail, but this one, a bit like that on the Para-Ordnance Doberman is a full size rail, which should make heavier accessories more secure. It also adds a considerable amount of weight to the plastic frame (480g vs 410g of the, otherwise similar , Infinity Single stacker.)

Other than the rail, however, the Striker is very much a standard, Magna R system Wilson 1911. Nothing wrong in that, of course, as the WA 1911s are impecible pieces of airsoft engineering. Familiar features, such as the grip safety, checkered, metal mainspring cover, skeletonised hammer and drilled, custom trigger (very KSC S&W 945 in appearance) are present on the Striker.

The sights consist of a Novak rear, marked "Wilson Combat" and a single, dovetailed in, blade on the front of the slide. The sights have white dots for quick acquisition.

The controls (hammer, safeties, magazine release and slide lock) are all black, on the Striker, with only the silver trigger standing out as ornate on this very purposeful looking gun. Up front, the barrel bushing (marked "WILSON'S",as is common on Wilsons) is also black.

There are not a lot of markings on the Striker, with the slide featuring the legend "WILSON COMBAT SERVICE GRADE" on the left hand side only. On the left side of the frame there are no visible markings and the right bears just the familiar makers name and address ("WILSON COMBAT BERRYVILLE AR. U.S.A" in this case) above the grip. There is a "WA" and ASGK mark on the frame's right side, just above the trigger, in another familiar WA 1911 feature. The chamber cover (black on this gun) is marked "WILSON .45 ACP" and the word "WILSON" is stamped into the barrel bushing.

The Striker features a plain 1911 single stack magazine, which does not feature the troublesome 'buffer', which makes filling some Wilson magazines difficult with most gas cans. Western Arms guns are generally very good, but their magazines are generally plain and lacking in detail, especially compared with some of those made by KSC.

Shooting Impressions

The Striker is a Magna system gun, but I am coming to believe that this gives a slightly slower, but more pronounced kick than the newer SCW guns, although the differences are marginal and impossible to quantify.

Carrying out my standard 5m/6 round, off hand test, at the same time as the newer Wilson Combat CQB which has the SCW system, the Striker placed all 6 rounds within the central target area and within a 2 inch (5 CM) diameter. This was achieved with no practise and the best 5 rounds were actually within just 1.25 inch (3.2 CM), one of the very best results I have achieved.

Certainly the Magna system exhibits no inferiority in accuracy, but the differences between this and the CQB were close enough to be irrelevant.

Over 10 shots, the Striker averaged 267 fps, using 134a gas and .2g BBs, outdoors (around 20C).

This compared favourably with the SCW system Wilson CQB, which only recorded better fps figures by less than 5%

Take Down

Take down on the Striker is basic 1911, as the rail simply bolts to the lower frame and does not need to be removed to take the slide off.

With the magazine out, the slide should be moved back until the slide lock can be pushed out of the frame. The slide and barrel can then be slid off of the front of the frame.

The barrel bushing should be rotated 45 degrees anti-clockwise, it can then be removed. The recoil bushing will pop out, with the spring.

The outer barrel and chamber can then be drawn out through the front of the slide.

Conclusions

Overall, the Wilson Striker is an excellent and refreshingly different take on the single stacker 1911.

The hefty metal rail gives the gun a distinctive look and feel, changing the balance of the gun and, generally, it is a fine example of the single stack 1911s Western Arms produce.

Other than the rail, it has to be said it does not do anything better than any of the other multitude of 1911s WA produce, but that is no criticism.

If you are looking for something a little different in the single stacker 1911 style, search out a Wilson Striker.

Weight : 940g

Realism : ****
Quality : *****
Power : ****
Accuracy : *****