This is my story for the fan boys of online gaming, airsoft players and gun nuts around the globe as Team Swiss Invaders got to go to a special place that only dreams are made of. It's always a privilege to visit a real firearms manufacturer, especially one which has a very much famous firearm that will soon be replicated for the airsoft market and anticipated by the global airsoft community.

I had a talk at Groundzero 2011 with my good friend Vic of Popular Airsoft and he made me an offer only a complete fool would pass on “Danny take your team and go to the home of KRISS and SPHINX Pistols in Interlaken, Switzerland and give me a story on their factory, guns and future airsoft products.”

What do you think would I have said no? Yeah right, like I would be such a fool. Vic put me in contact with Christophe Guignard Vice President Sales & Marketing who kindly said yes as we as an airsoft team can come over and for want of a better term, play and have fun.

We arrived at the SPHINX factory on Friday morning 10am at the factory, to which I might point out is small and I drove past it like an idiot looking for this big place and had to turn around and come back. Christophe greeted us and led us downstairs to a small cafe-type bar area where they relax whilst looking onto their gun range. I mean straight away it was like Christmas had arrived --- glass cases with stunning custom and normal-crafted SPHINX pistols in them. We all had coffee and Christophe gave us some cool gifts and we also did the same for him and calmed down a little. But if I am honest it was hard to do in such a place like this with all those nice looking real steel guns that you can't wait to lay your hands on.

Christophe began to explain a little about the company whilst leading us to the gun range where we were greeted by a very cool instructor whose name I will not say under the pain of death ;). Now the day really started getting more interesting not just because there were guns everywhere but due to what I'm about to tell you regarding airsoft, real weapons and well... just everything I am allowed to write about.

There are 3 main  brands for the KRISS Arms Group: KRISS, SPHINX, and DEFIANCE with the last one doing mostly side accessories like sights and silencers. First of all, let's start with KRISS, as they make the KRISS Vector SMG .45 whose airsoft version is about to become a reality and the airsoft community is excited about. This gun broke into mass culture after being featured in Future Weapons and even made more popular due to its appearance in the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 online multiplayer game. This is a cool looking piece of kit when playing the game and I thought “Hmmm... I wonder if that would work in Airsoft and how cool it would look.” I got on YouTube to see if I could find the real version or if it actually was a real SMG.”

In the old days the .45 round was a heavy gun when used for assault weapons and it made a massive recoil which was always a problem. The .45 round has been around for over 100 years and it's a good hard hitting round; it's not fast in speed of travel but its effectiveness is excellent. But the one problem was always recoil. So KRISS wanted to address this problem but still use the .45 round and have the same effectiveness in CQB situations. For those who don't know this gun, it's a strange looking but excellent SMG due to the way it works in having a downwards bolt action to force the action down reducing the kick on the gun so you are always on target and never have to find your target again.  Other SMGs like the MP5 have 9mm rounds and do not have much kick due to the small round and roughly 5.9 degrees of muzzle rise but the KRISS Vector is firing a .45 ACP round and only has 1.8 degrees average muzzle rise and that is just excellent however you look at it.  The gun disassembles using 4 Pins  and the lower receiver comes off so that you can change the calibre from 9mm, .45, to even .40 Smith & Wesson which will be featured on the new version in 2012. It has a closed-bolt system and the bolt system is like on the M4 or other carbines. It has a good, easy to use locking handle near the front and the magazine and you'll realise it is easy to use like a pistol. The magazines are from the Glock 21 and can have the small normal pistol or the large type extended magazines.

The gun has single, 2 round and full auto fire selection. The double tap feature is very nice and I might add feels like you're only shooting 1 round rather than 2 which is very good but the most impressive thing is that a 25 round magazine can be emptied in around 1 second and when you see that sort of thing happen it's just a massive buzz and also a great feeling do actually do as well.

I have played with the real version and held it in my hands, looked at it, felt it, shot it, you name it and it's a great looking bit of kit and to hopefully see the airsoft version looking just like the real deal and shoot in the same style with the double tap feature it will be awesome. To say this, as I was never a fan of GBB rifles unless it was a sniper replica but now I think I'm going to have to get one, no questions asked. I think I will have many people follow me on that one as well when they see one or even this video or videos we took while we was shooting the real thing.

There will be many cool features so I'm told, crossing over from the REAL version to the airsoft version from rails to sights to the stock so if you are a fan of the real thing then this is the airsoft GBB.

The SPHINX pistols look mighty good indeed. We had an arrangement of different pistols to look at and play with, everything from a compact pistol small in size that felt good in your hand and stunning craftsmanship to look at to larger pistols with compensators on the end for better marksmanship and even pistols with the silencer barrel end ready to attach and go quiet (which I might add felt REALLY good to shoot with). But the most stunning pistol was Christophe's very own custom one with the Ghost Recon skull on the side and I, being a fan of online gaming and especially that game, I wanted to take one home for myself but only thing that made me sad about was the fact I was able to shoot with it and oh well,  have to buy my very own, I guess.

Now on to the factory where the SPHINX pistols are made is high quality and you can feel the passion that the people put into these pistols. Each is handmade and set up from start to finish by each person there. I mean 1 person takes the starting block of metal for a customer and he then sees it through to the final stage of it actually setting and shooting it up so it's all perfect. When I mean perfect, I mean PERFECT. I've seen things made before but this is like I'm watching a Swiss watchmaker and an artist at the same time make a gun. The love and passion put into the work is there for all to see when you take a SPHINX pistol in hands and it's a thing of beauty. It is light enough but heavy enough to handle a fine balance based on the few that I touched and fired. But that does not matter as you can have the pistol made to how YOU the customer want: heavy, light, aluminium, titanium, carbon fibre, etc... the list is endless. It's like heaven for a gun enthusiast. Plus the Defiance Fiber/Tritium illumination sights for the pistols are a really nice touch it as they also look good and nicely integrated on the pistol.

There will be an airsoft version of the upcoming line sometime next year but when, I do not know exactly. Only the people there will know this sort of thing and they keep their cards close to their chests that is for sure and who can blame them? All I can say is it better be soon as I want one ASAP.

Before our visit, I didn't know a whole lot about DEFIANCE, but what I do know impressed me a lot was the way their silencers work and how they help reduce the noise and I can't really go into details on that side of things but it was very impressive let me tell you. Defiance is all about accessories for your SMG, rifle or pistol: rails,  silencers, optics and a few other things make up the bulk of what they do and like SPHINX products all feel very good in quality and look really nice.

I have so much information that I wish I could say or talk about their plans for the future such as what they have coming out for the real steel and airsoft markets. If I were allowed to write it here I might as well do my own book and put it out on the market for people to buy. Christophe is a great guy who help me out with so much information for this story and was really open on pretty much everything I asked him even down to the way we were treated during our visit. It was like going to your friend's house for a chat, talking about things you like or just hanging out with your family. The only difference is Christophe's front room had a shooting range in it and we got to shoot guns in his “house”. I bet Christmas at his place would be just as awesome.

I will be uploading videos at my youtube channel SRSpoony very soon about the Swiss Invaders shooting with the KRISS Vector and the SPHINX pistols so you can see what you will wish to have for airsoft and our Facebook page is Swiss Invaders so you can add us there and look forward your comments and we can discuss the fun that we had during our visit.

Last of all, I would like to say a massive thanks to 2 people for this: Popular Airsoft for letting me do this my 1st story for them and giving me and the Swiss Invaders the opportunity to visit the KRISS Arms Group. Christophe Guignard who is my 2nd big thanks for making a great day for me and my team, making us feel extremely welcome: letting us view the factory, the new things they have going on there, trusting us with information and also the usage of there pistols and SMGs for the day;  and for the things we talked about on the side together.

I would also like to thank my team for being well-behaved on our trip.