(This was an IM request a while ago)

The Sites Spectre is unique for several reasons.  One of which is a bizzare magazine that is in effect, a 4 column into two, into one.  The intent being that one gets a 30 round magazine in the vertical distance of a normal 20 rounder.  It functions very well, the only drawback being that it is very hard to load.  I giggle at people selling loading tools for magazines like the AR, or AK...  Of course, this is not a big problem in a police/anti terrorist SMG, where you can load up mags at the office.

Note the tapered points in the body at the top and half way down.  The body is the most important part of the equation, as these angles have to be designed and executed so that they do what they are supposed to (while working with the follower), without binding and screwing up the feed.



The two sides are separated for most of the length of the mag.  Note the ridge, and you can't see it, but there's a small ridge on the other side reaching out about 1/4 of an inch, the flash didn't quite catch it.  These ridges are part of the tack welded on sheet metal on each side.  You can see it on side in the first photo.  From there, you can see just how far they extend up the magazine as the ridges run the same distance as the line on the sheet metal.  The bottom line is that the magazine functions as two mags for most of the distance the ammo travels.



Here you can see that the springs are actually separate and are treated by the floorplate (and the follower) as two separate entities.  Here you can see the 1/4 inch ridge.  Obviously, the ridges in the body keep them from intefering with eachother.



Floorplate, springs, & Follower



Here you see the follower, which rides in the gap between the internal body ridges.  You can clearly see the slots cut for this purpose.  As it is one piece, each side of the body feeds up at the same rate.  Note the swinging roller.  The picture isn't great, but you can also see the thick wire it is mounted on.  The wire functions as a hinge and is attached to the front and back of the follower.  This rides up the side of the magazine itself until the reductions (squeeze points) force it to adjust the ammo stack on this one side of the magazine and allow feeding to pass the squeeze point.  When it comes time to fire the last couple rounds the roller is forced futher over by the tapering sides of the magazine and thus forces the whole assembly to mimic a simple 2 into 1 mag.



Bottom line, pure genius!  How this can be made to function flawlessly rigid standards, and some shitty aftermarket mag manufactures can't get AR15 mags right is beyond me.

I always thought the Spectre and it's mag where neat, had a semi auto awhile back and it was very reliable. Question... is the Spectre Subgun still in production? I never hear anything about it anymore.

Quoted: I always thought the Spectre and it's mag where neat, had a semi auto awhile back and it was very reliable. Question... is the Spectre Subgun still in production? I never hear anything about it anymore.

No, from what I understand, Sites went out of business (or at least out of the firearms business).  Thus, even if the '89 didn't apply, there would be no more.  

It's a real shame it didn't catch on, as it's much more of a machine pistol as opposed to a the rifleish SMG that is the MP5.  Much more on par with the MP5k.

The double action pull does suck, but who uses that on a range queen anyhoo...

Here is mine, still NIB.  I have another one, that is a shooter...