Built to the SoroSuub Corporation's exacting standards, the Lancer was a sleek, modern-looking sporting blaster pistol with a long barrel and a weighted, finely-balanced stock, designed for hunters and competition shooters. The Lancer was designed with a custom-formulated, highly volatile mix of blaster gases and a supercharged actuating module to fire an intense, highly concentrated beam over longer ranges. Superior galven patterns in the barrel reduced beam degradation and dispersal, which allowed the pistol to maintain effectiveness beyond other blaster pistols in its class.
Princess Leia with a Lancer pistol
Among the most popular models of sporting blaster, Lancer pistols were relatively common in the Outer Rim Territories, appealing to the need for a pistol with both power and light weight. Many pilots of speeders and atmospheric craft kept a Lancer in an easy-to-reach storage locker, and many starships include them in their escape pods and emergency kits for self-defense. They were also popular among scholars and explorers for their reliability and easy handling, as well as big game hunters who enjoyed the challenge of pistol hunting.
During the Galactic Civil War, both Rebel and Imperial personnel made use of the Lancer. Rebel pilot Lieutenant Netrem Pollard wielded a Lancer pistol as the leader of Dagger Squadron. Later, during the Battle of Endor, the Alliance's Princess Leia Organa used the Lancer, as did many Rebel starfighter pilots, Imperial gunners, and AT-ST drivers in that same conflict.
This pistol was first used by Princess Leia in . It was created by modifying a Soviet-manufactured Margolin target pistol. The same model pistol was the basis for the longer-barreled Defender sporting blaster pistol used by Leia in .