Vektor SP1

The Vektor SP1 has been produced since 1992 by Denel Land Systems of South Africa, formerly Lyttelton Engineering Works. SP stands simply for Service Pistol. It is the improved successor to the Vektor Z88, itself a South African copy of the Beretta 92F produced during the apartheid-era arms embargo, and consequently the SP1 traces its lineage directly to the Italian Beretta design.

The pistol is short-recoil operated with a locked breech, using a Walther-type tilting locking piece located beneath a straight-recoiling barrel to lock it to the slide - the same arrangement as the Beretta 92 rather than the more common tilting-barrel system. The frame is aluminium alloy with steel for the remaining parts, keeping weight to just under a kilogram. The trigger is double action with an exposed hammer and a frame-mounted ambidextrous safety that permits cocked-and-locked carry. The sights are fixed, the front pinned to the slide and the rear dovetailed, with tritium inserts for low light. Magazines are double stack, holding 15 rounds in 9x19mm and 11 in .40 S&W, and the magazine release sits at the base of the trigger guard.

Variants include the Vektor SP2 in .40 S&W, compact SP1 General and SP2 General models with shortened barrels, slides and grips, and a limited-edition SP1 Target with single-action lockwork, large adjustable sights, a straight trigger, a modified trigger guard and a compensating weight on a longer barrel.

The SP1 served with the South African National Defence Force and the South African Police Service, and both SP1 and SP2 were exported to Europe and South America in several configurations. Outside South Africa the pistol has been seen in service in several South and Southeast Asian countries, notably Singapore and Malaysia, where it is carried by the Department of Immigration, and with the Peruvian Air Force.