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The Sarsilmaz corporate offices in Istanbul overlook the Bosphorus, while its brand new, 400,000
square-foot factory is located two hours away.
THE TURKISH REVOLUTION
Turkish guns have quietly infiltrated the U.S. market, but now a real invasion is on,
instigated by Turkey's biggest manufacturer.
By James Tarr
A
t the last few SHOT Shows in Las Vegas I
have seen the rather large Sarsilmaz booth,
but not had much opportunity to peruse the products.
I knew it was a Turkish company, but that was about it.
From the sheer size of the booth, I should have known
it was a little more than that, as SHOT Show floor space
costs about as much per square foot as an apartment in
Manhattan overlooking Central Park.
When I was recently asked if I wanted to travel to Turkey to tour the new Sarsilmaz facility I have to admit I
hesitated before I said yes. I had preconceived notions
about the country, even though I’d never been there—
there’d be a lot of dirt and camels and beat-up cars. But
then I realized I was being the stereotypical ignorant
American, and I decided the invitation should be viewed
as an opportunity.
My knowledge of Turkey and its firearms was very basic—Turkey was a predominantly Muslim country, and
the guns that come out of it are a great bargain—if they
work. That may sound a bit harsh, but it also is accurate….or, at least, it used to be.
There are dozens of gun manufacturers in Turkey, but
Sarsilmaz is by far the largest. They recently opened a
huge new facility two hours outside Istanbul, and wanted
to show some U.S. gun writers that things have changed.
Turkey, in fact, is considered a First World nation, and
is a member of NATO. It is not yet a member of the European Union, which means that even though (like much
of the world) their economy is not roaring, it is doing a
lot better than most of Europe.
Sarsilmaz has been in business since 1880, and is a
5th-generation family business. Most of the world has
a cultural history America just can’t share. When your
country is filled with Roman and pre-Roman ruins, the
fact that Sarsilmaz is a 132-year-old, 5th-generation
company is no big deal. In America, that’s almost unheard of.
European American Armory (www.eaacorp.com) is
the exclusive U.S. distributor of Sarsilmaz products. They
will be importing their pistols and shotguns into the U.S.
under the name SAR Arms, as it is a little easier to pronounce. Sarsilmaz, by the way, means “Unshakeable.”
Istanbul doesn’t have any problems with terrorists, as
it is on the opposite side of the country, which is shaped
more or less like a rectangle and roughly the combined
size of Texas and Oklahoma. I was expecting an Arabic
city, and one not necessarily in the best of shape, given
the age of the culture in the region. The truth was that
Istanbul was very nice and new—a Mediterranean version of Toronto.
Istanbul is a huge city, more than 75 km in diameter,
with a population of more than 15 million, but it is anything but dirty. It is a truly modern city, and most of it
looks new.
The city is split by the Bosphorus Strait, which is the
official demarcation line between the continents—which
means part of Istanbul is in Europe, and part in Asia.
The European side is actually much more crowded, but
that is where most of the tourist sites are located.
With gas priced at $10/gallon you’d think people would
be hesitant to drive anywhere. Hah! Most of the cars were
small, but they’re new, and everywhere. The most common vehicles I saw were Fiat LCVs (light commercial
vehicles) such as the Doblo and Fiorino. They look like
the slightly melted inbred offspring of a Ford Transit and
Escape.
Traffic is insane. The Turks can find four lanes to drive
in on a three-lane road (motorcycles don’t need lanes,
they just zip in-between the cars) in a continuous consensual good-spirited game of chicken. While the Sarsilmaz
corporate offices are located in Istanbul, the factory is
This was the cleanest, brightest plant—of any
kind—Tarr had ever been in. Natural light from
rows of skylights and tree-line aisles made it nice.
Turkey has the fourth largest standing army in the
world at 2 million. Turkey borders Iran, Iraq, and Syria, and we were told by our hosts that they have a lot
of problems with terrorists on the opposite side of the
country.
I’ve also heard from the other side that they aren’t terrorists, they are Kurdish separatists fighting for their independence. That is an argument I don’t want to get in
the middle of, especially since I don’t know nearly enough
about Turkish history and culture to even pick a side. The
winners write the history books.
My point is that Turkish troops see action, and have
money, so they buy what works—and they chose Sarsilmaz for their pistols. Sarsilmaz is the sole pistol supplier of the Turkish armed forces. This pistol is known
as the Light. They also produce the official pistol of the
Turkish National Police, the Mega.
Both of these are CZ-75 clones, the only difference
being that the Light has a safety that
allows the pistol to be carried cocked
and locked, while the Mega has a
squared trigger guard. I’m told the
military carries the Light with the
chamber loaded, hammer down, and
safety on.
The Mega is going to be imported as
the SAR B6 (and by the time this article
makes it into print you may already see
some of them in the USA),
For their long guns, the military uses
HK G3 rifles and MP5 submachine
guns made in Turkey by MKE, an HK- This machine electronically measures many data
points on a new pistol frame. The 10-inch-thick
A seven-axis CNC machine turns bar stock into a finished revolver cyl- licensed factory.
marble tabletop weighs as much as a small car.
inder in just 20 minutes, without the operator having to reposition it.
The seven-axis Okuna CNC machine at work: Tarr
had never even heard of a seven-axis machine, and
none of the other gun writers had ever seen one.
Before and after: it takes two CNC machines to
do the work necessary (minus polishing and fitting) to turn a forging into what you see here.
Slides are measured mechanically as well in statistical sampling. Every dimension is checked.
The closer they are, the less hand fitting needed.
A forged blank goes in the first unit of these
three, and 12 minutes later, a completely machined shotgun receiver comes out the other side.
An over-under monobloc starts as a forging,
then is drilled for the barrels and shaped into a
finished piece using a variety of cutting tools.
The birth of an over-under shotgun receiver can be seen
here, from raw forged blank to nearly finished
product. No hand work in this process.
located two hours to the east just outside of Duzce (pronounced “doos-jay”). This is not just because of the traffic in Istanbul, but the cost of living. Two hours is close
enough to the Istanbul airport to be convenient, while
avoiding the city’s clogged streets.
Duzce is a medium-sized town of 134,000 people, and
Sarsilmaz’ ew facility is located in a new industrial park
nearby. Their old plant was about two miles away, so
there was no relocation necessary for the workforce. The
employees live locally, and are bused in.
The new building is huge, and once I did the conversion from square meters to feet learned that it is nearly
400,000 square feet. Everything (including many of the
CNC machines) is brand-new, and they have all sorts
of room to expand. Sarsilmaz also has about 40 retail
stores around the country, and we ran across one in Istanbul walking from the corporate offices to the Grand
Bazaar.
I have toured a number of firearms factories over
the past few years (in addition to small and large factories unrelated to the firearms industry including a
GM plant roughly the size of the moon), and the first
thing I noticed about the Sarsilmaz factory was how
bright it was.
The factory is filled with natural light and potted decorative trees, and it is clean. I mean eat-off-the-floor clean,
even though it has been operating for over a year. I had
never seen anything like it, and asked around among my
German-made Chiron three-axis CNC machines tied together, with a robot arm moving the part from one machine to the other to the other. I was told this was one of
only two setups like this in the world.
A forged blank goes in the first unit, and 12 minutes
later, a completely machined shotgun receiver comes out
the other side. When it comes to machining parts, the less
human interaction required, the better.
Some of the CNC machines they were using had robotic tool changers, and the factory has computer-tracked
tools and toolheads for inventory control. They showed
us another production machine identical to one used at
the Ferrari factory they didn’t even want us taking pictures of. Whoever designed it has obviously watched a
few Transformers movies.
Perhaps the most unique feature of the Sarsilmaz
facility is just how much they do there, all under one
roof. They do not just machine parts, they also do injection molding, make their own magazines and even
do the wood stocks for their shotguns—from wood
fellow gunwriters. The only plant remotely similar to the blank to oiled, varnished final product. I’m not aware
Sarsilmaz factory any of them had seen was the Walther of any other firearms company in the world that also
factory in Germany.
does their own wood stocks and injection molding of
Sarsilmaz has roughly 350 employees and is running plastic parts.
Sarsilmaz makes a number of shotguns with polymer
three shifts, seven days a week. They produce 105,000 pistols a year, as well as 85,000 shotguns, 28,000 infantry ri- stocks and fore-ends, and we watched an operator at
fles, and 15,000 submachine guns. Unfortunately we didn’t an injection molding machine producing fore-ends at a
get to watch them building the infantry rifles or subguns, rate of about 25 an hour. Sarsilmaz also makes polymer[Cont. to page 40]
but their hope is to bring a familiar semi-auto rifle design
to the States, at a price most people won’t believe.
Firearms are not nearly as complicated to make as
computers or cars. What is the difference between quality
firearms and junk? Tolerances and workmanship….and
if your machining tolerances are tight enough so as to
require little to no fitting, the human element becomes a
much smaller factor. Sarsilmaz has invested a lot of money in the new facility, and filled it with the finest CNC
machines on the planet.
The first station we stopped at on our tour of the plant
was a seven-axis Okuma CNC machine. I’d never even
heard of a seven-axis machine before, and none of the
other writers had ever seen one. It is capable of turning
bar stock into a finished revolver cylinder in 20 minutes,
without the operator having to touch the part. It is machinery like this that allows Sarsilmaz to manufacture
firearms to the tightest tolerances possible.
The aluminum blank, and the finished shotgun reAcross the plant floor were a number of five-, four-, ceiver from the linked Chiron machines: automaand three-axis CNC machines. One location had three tion and low labor cost keep Turkish prices down.
was no sawdust to be seen on the
floor. Once the major machining
was done the stocks were all fine
sanded/stained/oiled by hand,
and there the workers did get a
little dusty.
We didn’t get a tour of where
they make their pistol magazines,
but we did watch an employee
silver-soldering ribs onto shotgun
barrels, which was interesting.
We were told at a meeting with
the plant executives that most
shotgun barrels which come out
of Turkey are made from tube
or cold-drawn pipe, designed for
plumbing. The barrels of Sarsilmaz shotguns are solid drilled
and cold forged.
In fact, the management at
Turkish walnut is well known for its beauty and grain, and Sarsilmaz has Sarsilmaz doesn’t believe in castfacilities for turning the local product into finished stocks for shotguns.
ings. None of their parts on any
of their firearms are cast, they are
[Cont. from page 38]
all machined from forgings. Forgframed pistols, and they make those frames as well. We ing is one of two things Sarsilmaz doesn’t do itself—the
saw one worker doing a final inspection on those frames, other is metal finishes. We watched a worker matching
cleaning up the excess material with a file. Interestingly, serialized frames and slides which had returned from the
Sarsilmaz even makes its own gun cases and inserts, hol- finisher, and the slide to frame fit on the pistols was so
sters and magazine pouches—if you’ve got the machin- perfect he had to lightly tap each slide into place with the
ery, doing it yourself is always cheaper.
heel of his hand.
Pistols are assembled in a quiet room on the second
The factory also does its own camo dipping for their
synthetic stocks. The camo pattern being applied the day floor where we weren’t allowed to take pictures. Every piswe were there was Advantage Wetlands. After the initial tol, before it leaves the factory, is function-fired with one
dip, the workers checked the patterns out, and if there full magazine of ammunition. For the testing and demos
were any flaws in the application they touched them up Sarsilmaz did of their pistols for the Turkish Army, they
actually sent their engineers and assemblers instead of PR
by hand.
The over/under shotgun stocks we saw being worked people. While this may seem only common sense, trust me,
on were all Turkish walnut, and their grain was beauti- it’s not.
If you’re wondering how, with such modern equipment,
ful. They started out as blanks, and were machined four
at a time in a big computer-controlled router/lathe. They Sarsilmaz can sell such reasonably-priced firearms, it is
told us it was the only machine in the world that could because the cost of living is so low in Duzce. The average
worker makes 12,000 Euros a year (less than $8,000). If this
machine four stocks at once.
The interesting thing about this machine (and the doesn’t sound like much, just know that we stayed in a numwhole “woodworking” area) was that it was in the middle ber of five-star hotels in Turkey, and none of them was nicer
of the plant floor. The four-dock lathe had a completely than the Gosterisli Otel in Duzce, which cost $40/night, inenclosed work area, with fans and ventilation, and there cluding breakfast and the best coffee I had in the country.
The management at Sarsilmaz has realized that happy
workers make better guns. They pay them a good wage,
they bus them in so they don’t have to buy gas at $10/gallon, and the factory is filled with natural light and potted
decorative trees.
Their cafeteria was as nice as the one at Smith & Wesson, and the food was better. Part of the four-course
lunch we got at the factory cafeteria was a pile of French
fries, and I asked the plant manager Nuri Kiziltan what
they called them—French Fries, Turkish Fries, American
Fries? “Just fries,” he told me.
A four course lunch? Yep. Every meal we had in Turkey
had 6-10 courses, although each course was small. Still,
by the end of the trip we had more than had our fill of
lamb, which was everywhere. Its presence in the Turkish
diet is pretty much the opposite of what you’ll find in India with beef.
This was the first time Kiziltan had taken western gunwriters through his factory, and what was interesting to
me was seeing how he was sometimes surprised at what
interested us. I did my usual thing and asked him if the
Turkish walnut shotgun stocks came from Russia.
We were able to get some range time with a number
of different firearms from the factory. We drove to a
nearby shooting range just outside of town on what
turned out to be a beautiful and warm day. I mentioned
before that Istanbul reminded me of a Mediterranean
Toronto, and the countryside around Duzce really reminded me of Italy.
Sitting near the top of a hillside looking over rolling,
terraced green fields, all the houses I could see had red
tile roofs, and the gentlemen busting clays on the trap line
were all shooting Perazzis.
I have had to chase cows off ranges before, but I can
honestly say I’ve never drank 150˚ Turkish tea in 90˚
weather. They say drinking hot liquids in hot weather
cools you off, but whoever “they” are, they’re idiots. If
that was true, you’d see NFL players dumping urns of hot
coffee over their coaches when they win the SuperBowl.
Sarsilmaz produces 65 models of pistols in 10 different
calibers. We got to look at (not touch) what appeared to
be a copy of a Baby Browning in .25 ACP, but unfortunately they can’t export that to the U.S. They do make a
very popular and well-made copy of the Smith & Wesson
K-frame revolver (the SAR REV), and 6-inch versions of
those loaded with .38 Spls. were very pleasant to shoot.
[Cont. to page 42]
The four-station multi-spindle lathe is completely enclosed, so no sawdust was found on
the floor in the woodworking area of the factory.
Finish sanding on shotgun stocks is a rare hand operation. A group of
workers does the sanding, staining, polishing and buttpad installation.
These freshly finished over-under
shotgun stocks are Turkish walnut,
and every wooden stock that Tarr saw
in the factory was just as handsome.
Sarsilmaz injection-molds not only shotgun stocks and polymer pistol
frames, but makes its own gun cases, holsters and magazine pouches.
Turkey’s rapid economic growth over the past couple of decades has combined large capital investment with stable wages and sensible labor regulations.
[Cont. from page 40]
Everybody overseas seems to make a copy of the CZ75, and Sarsilmaz is no different. If that seems weird
to you, just sit back and try to name all the companies
which make 1911s for the American market. Sarsilmaz
makes several variations on the design, including both a
steel- and polymer-framed version of their B6. They also
make a compact version, and you should be seeing some
of those models being imported shortly. The all-steel version was popular on the range, as it is very soft shooting.
Taking the pistols apart revealed a distinct lack of tooling marks, which goes to not just the quality of the machining but an investment in turning out well-made guns.
The only jam we had on the range that day was due to a
blown case, and we blew through a lot of ammo.
I put a number of rounds through the SAR ST10.
The ST10 physically resembles the HK USP, but no-
Shotgun barreled actions await stocking. Sarsilmaz
is one of the few makers that can stock with either wood or plastic from its own on-site facilities.
body from Sarsilmaz or EAA likes it when writers say
that. The ST10 has an aluminum frame with tactical
rail, holds 16+1 rounds of 9mm, and is already available in the U.S. Most of the pistols seem to be offered in
either an all-stainless or two-tone version, and the ST10
is no different. I’ve seen the two-tone versions retailing
for just $529.
The pistol I was most looking forward to shooting
was the K2. This is available now through EAA. This
is a CZ-75-type pistol, but chambered in .45 ACP. 14+1
rounds of .45 ACP! This pistol is fed by Para magazines,
but the grip does not feel anything like a Para Ordnance,
as it has the traditional CZ humpback styling, just
scaled up.
The plastic grips are thin and, honestly, it doesn’t feel
big enough to hold that many rounds. What makes the
K2 different from a standard CZ-style pistol is that it has
a SIG-type lockup, and that is reflected in the contour of
the slide.
Sights are good, felt recoil is not bad at all, and it can
be carried cocked and locked (although the safety positioning/styling isn’t as good as you’re going to find on
1911s). At a suggested retail of $592, it’s a heck of a bargain. We were told a smaller-framed 9mm version of the
K2 survived a 25,000-round endurance test.
Sarsilmaz produces 28 models of shotguns in 12- and
20-gauge, with six different barrel lengths. Their nomenclature is easy to figure out—SAR shotguns are either
pump action (PA) or semi-auto (SA). “Special Purpose”
(SP) equates to a pistol grip and ghost ring sights, so an
SARSASP is a semi-auto shotgun with a pistol grip stock
[Cont. to page 44]
and ghost ring sights.
Sarsilmaz has about 40 gun stores around the country, and Tarr ran across this one on the way to Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar. Note the U.S. brands sold.
Tarr was most interested in
shooting the K2, which
combines a CZ-style lower with
a SIG barrel lockup, it has been
sized up to chamber the .45 ACP.
Sarsilmaz has chosen to base many of its pistols on the time-proven double-action CZ75, including this compact, polymer-framed version of the B6.
Even though the K2 has a double-column magazine
which holds 14+1 rounds of .45 the grip did not feel
big at all. Tarr says workmanship was excellent.
[Cont. from page 42]
The pistol grips on the shotguns are some of the most
comfortable I’ve ever shot. They are a little big, and covered in rubber. Both pump and semi-autos are being imported now, and if you want a few more rounds in the
tube than the 5+1 they come with, the magazine tube
threads are the same as the Remington, so any mag tube
extensions which fit the 870/11-87/1100 will fit the SAR
shotguns.
Hakan Ozadali was our official chaperone and gave us
the guided tour of his company and his country. When
he is not busy babysitting spoiled gunwriters he is the im-
time. Hakan just shrugged and threw up his hands. “They
like a disco?” he guessed.
In addition to the factory tour we had an opportunity
to do a few touristy things. Istanbul has been around so
long that pre-Roman architecture is pretty easy to find.
We toured the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, the Hippodrome, and an underground Roman cistern bigger than
some high schools. What got our guide the most excited,
however, was talking about how Daniel Craig had been in
town filming for the next James Bond movie Skyfall, and
Liam Neeson had been there filming Taken 2.
Turkey is a predominantly Muslim country, but it is a
secular republic. Almost everyone you see (including the
women) is in Western dress. Most of the women don’t cover their hair, and very few people get married in mosques.
When we were doing the tourist thing in Istanbul our
guide told us that any women we saw in burkhas were
tourists from Saudi Arabia and parts east.
Most of our second day in Turkey as part of the Sarsilmaz/SAR Arms whirlwind tour was spent traveling to
the Antalya region, which is the “Turkish Riviera.” This
is hundreds of miles of Mediterranean coastline
frequented by tourists, especially Germans and
Russians (it’s only a short plane ride for them).
If the Turkish Riviera was a little closer to the
U.S. chances are a lot of us would be spending
some time on their beaches. We stayed at a beachfront hotel in Alanya with three pools where all
the drinks and food (and it was great food) were
included, all for about $70/night.
If the travel expense was the same, I would rather
vacation in Turkey than anywhere south of the U.S.
border. The people are polite, the country is full of
world-famous tourist attractions, and the food is
great. I would stay away from the ayran, though,
which is the traditional Turkish yogurt smoothie that
is both sour and salty. Definitely an acquired taste.
I had a great time in Turkey, and neither it
nor Sarsilmaz was what I expected. The Turkish
government actually encourages Sarsilmaz/SAR
Arms to export, and gives them tax breaks…
unlike the U.S. government which seems to view
guns as a source of evil as opposed to revenue.
Because of that, and the quality and price of
their products, you should expect to see a lot
Not satisfied with the 5+1 capacity? SAR shotguns
more guns from SAR Arms on dealer shelves.
will take any magazine extension tubes designed
To use what little Turkish I picked up, as a value,
for Remingtons, making a perfect defense shotgun.
the pistols and shotguns made by SAR Arms are
gösterişli—spectacular.
port/export manager for Sarsilmaz/SAR Arms. Istanbul
traffic being what it always is, we spent a lot of time in the
car with him, and I asked him a lot of questions.
As I’m always being interested in gun rights, I asked
him about Turkish gun laws, and learned they are a
mix of good and bad, like many places. Turks are allowed to own pistols, rifles, and shotguns, apparently
with no magazine capacity restrictions. Concealed
carry permits are very tough to get and usually only
reserved for those people who have to transport cash
or jewels for a business.
Citizens can keep a loaded gun in their home but if
they confront an intruder they have to respond with an
equal or lesser weapon—if he has a knife, you’d better
use one too, because if you shoot him you’ll get in trouble. You also only have a right to defend the “private”
areas of your home, namely the bedroom. On the whole,
Turkish gun laws could be better, but they’re still a lot
better than you’ll find in Canada. Or California.
I also asked Hakan why every single police vehicle we
saw on the road had its red and blue lights going all the