Tag Archives: gun industry

The Many Colors of…Celik?

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While wandering around the IWA Outdoor Classic Show in Germany recently, we came across a company making Hi-Power clones and had to find out more.

Celik Arms, located in Beyşehir, Turkey, has been in the gun business since 2005 and makes pistols, rifles, and shotguns, with most of its production headed to the U.S. under a variety of importer’s banners. Odds are, you have probably seen them already and may already have one or two in the gun safe.

One of the company’s newest lines is the FP-14, which is a decent-looking BHP clone in several variants.

They look to be fairly straight-up Mark III-style clones with ambi safety levers, external extractors, and ring-style hammers, but all the models we tested did not have that gun’s dreaded magazine safety.

Further, talking to the reps at the Celik booth, they have just signed a deal with a Nevada-based importer to start shipping the FP-14 to America, so you can be sure to see these in our neck of the woods starting in the next few months.

When FN/Browning closed the O.G. Hi-Power line in 2018, the pang of regret from the gun community was real enough for Springfield Armory, EAA, and SDS Imports to all start rolling their own or having them made in Turkey.

Have we reached max BHP cloneage? Only time will tell, but signs point to “no.”

A Peek at the Creapeiron Elysien Hatchery

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One of the more head-turning debuts I saw at the recent IWA Outdoor Classics show in Germany recently came from a new Czech gunmaker who has a story eight years in the making.

We caught up with inventor and gunmaker Jan Lysak, who spent almost a decade of blood, sweat, and tears crafting something a bit different. Lysak’s company, Brno-based Creapeiron, introduced its first product at IWA: the Elysien pistol.

The Elysien looks very Laugo Alien and CZ75-ish from the get-go, sharing an extremely low bore axis, grip angle, and internal slide rails with those two pistols. Lysak admits the design borrows from the CZ75, a traditional Czech design, but stresses he had his gun under development before the Alien was released.

Like many classic handgun designs, the Elysien uses the so-called geometrical “Golden ratio/Golden section” in length and height to produce an aesthetically pleasing firearm offering a natural point of aim. (All photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

Going past the basics, the Elysien uses a hammer-forged heavy barrel with a triangular profile inside a ported slide that allows a better lockup.

Added to this is extensive use of magnets including both in the trigger regulator and screwless grip panels. When it comes to sights and optics, the pistol uses what the company calls the System Miridel, which includes the ability to use custom-made iron sights, a direct mount RMSc footprint MRD on the slide, or a fixed RMR/RMSc platform that stands independent of the slide.

More, including a 10-minute interview with Lysak, in my column at Guns.com.