Again, I have a buddy to thank who had a FFL in those pre-Clinton days. His FFL is long gone, but he still maintains his contacts in the industry. That how he still gets in to the SHOT Show, and why we're getting deals on two identical AIs in .338 Lapua, and matching Schmidt u Bender scopes.
But back to the "old days", when he called me about a distributer offering a deal on the one-and-only Sites Spectre the guy had, and was ever going to get. "Exotic" weapons still in bonded warehouses were ordered sent back to country of origin, and BATF was leaning on distributors to surrender the ones that cleared customs and were already in inventory.
So, for a reasonable price (so long ago, all I remember is it was "reasonable"), I got one of these, of which 2000 were imported, but only an unknown number actually went into private hands.
This is a 9mm semi-auto handgun with a quad-stack magazine. It's based on the Sites SMG which looks identical, except for the folding stock on top.
Both are blowback-operated, but fire from the closed bolt position with a separate firing pin and hammer. This is an advantage because there is no huge bolt mass, powered by heavy springs, slamming into the barrel when you pull the trigger on an open-bolt weapon. This does away with the tendency for the weapon to tilt downward when the trigger is pulled, something I experienced when firing an Uzi and a S&W 76.
Open-bolt firing has the benefit of keeping a round out of the hot barrel when not firing, so there's less danger of a cook-off. The Spectre's bolt is shaped to act as a piston to pump cool air around the inside and outside of the barrel while it's cycling. This tends to keep the barrel cooler.
My handgun (and I remember how the cop's eyes got big when I brought it in for registration) came with one 30-round magazine. The dealer had two 50-round "hi caps" for $50 each, so I bought them too, knowing what the handwriting on the wall was saying. One 30-round mag sold for $185 recently on Gun Broker. I have no idea what the track record for auction sales on the handgun itself are.
Another interesting feature is the dual-mode safety. The front lever is the safety, which can only be applied when the weapon is cocked. The rear lever is a hammer drop. When applied, there's a scary "thunk", and the hammer is safely decocked. With a long trigger pull, the trigger will cock the hammer and fire the weapon, just like a double action revolver.
And, despite all these neat features, I've never found the time to take it out and shoot it. Maybe I find the thought of loading a 50-round quad-stack magazine a bit intimidating. :)
As far as I can remember, I've seen this handgun used in only one episode of some TV cop show, where it was portrayed as the typical teen gang-banger's gun, available on three out of four street corners.
