SVI / STI's

[skyugo]

If you want a gun for games, you can get a gun that was designed for playing games.

If you want a gun for fighting, get a gun that was designed for fighting. The 2011 does not meet that standard.

how about something like the STI spartan?
is that carry worthy?

i've got a 45ACP obsession lately.

currently shoot and carry 9mm glocks... rather well if i may say so....

i'm curious what the 1911 hype is all about. if i get one i'm not into spending over about 800 bucks on it though....

[1oldgrunt]

Not looking to get in a whizzzin contest but lets look at this logically rather than being biased. I have been in combat, was an LE for a time , have shot IPSC since 1988 and IDPA since it's inceptionand Steel as often as possible. I just lurk and learn rather than chime in all the time. But I do have a little experience, real world and games.

as "Surf" said you want defense/duty get a 5" stock gun and run it as such. it will be as reliable as any good quality 1911. Don't screw with the trigger, the springs or the mags and it WILL run fine. Just maintain it as any 1911, and we all KNOW 1911's DO require more maintenance. They aren't Glocks and should be treated as such. S_I mags are problematic only if they are dirty or screwed with.

Problem with race guns is smiths and the real problem , the shooters themselves keep looking for an edge! They are constantly lightening this or that. Trying new mag followers to get an extra round or have it feed smoother. Always using the lightest springs that allow the gun to function......getting the idea. I've seen guys changing one thing or another the night before a major match, and I've been to a few!

this is a major difference between a carry/combat and a *game gun. I had jim Hoag build me several hi end 1911's. The only diff between my match guns and my carry guns was.......NADA ! NOTHING!

* edited in ....what I was talking about was say a Steel gun vs say an IDPA gun. My IPSC limited guns and IDPA guns are the same as my carry weapons.

Here in TX we have an active duty ranger carrying an STI 5" stock gun.....AND he shoots them!

Get a 5" shoot it, if you don't like or trust it, sell it! They have a High resale value.

[Alpha Sierra]

IIRC he was talking about at least 1000 rounds before he gets concerned about it.

Wow.... some track record.

I'll get concerned with my M&Ps (revolvers and semi autos) reliability around the 10K mark for the wheelguns and around the 5K mark for the semis.

[Mr. Smith]

We like to run 2011's however you need to have a good smith you can trust to do the work on the gun. They are not reliable out of the box in our opinion. The fact is that lots of 1911 do not work out of the box. But most of us are ok with that. The 1911 is an enthusiast’s gun that is a quote from LAV.

[Surf]

Old thread and I will add an update. I did a pretty hard T&E on the STI Tactical I posted above for the first 8 months or so after I got it. Within the first 15K rounds the only issues I had were a couple of failures of the slide to engage fully forward when stripping a new round (in battery). This only happened less than 5 times during the first 4K or so rounds and only when the gun was run for several hundred rounds and not getting what I would consider a "proper" lubing. So I when I said it ran without hiccup, I mean that the pistol not going back into battery really is not the design fault of the weapon, but rather the lack of proper maint, or lube that it should normally get.

Since I last posted, I have put around 3-4K more rounds through the pistol. I very much expected to have issues with the .40S&W and with stock magazines. Not sure if I got lucky but I am still running stock magazines, direct from Brownells and they are not giving me issues. Again, I am still amazed by this and fully expected to work over the mags. I am not as hard on the pistol and cleaning and lube comes at lower or normal round counts, or more what I would do for my higher end pistols, but the pistol seems to be in its sweet spot right now and just flat out runs, and runs very very well. I am still amazed at its accuracy and how it handles. I don't have my log book on this pistol in front of me, but I haven't had a single failure of any sort, since the slide not going back into battery when not properly lubed. And that was in the stages prior to hitting 4K or so. I actually haven't changed or replaced a thing on it from when I got it box stock.

Just to clarify, I do not use this as a duty weapon but it is without a doubt one of my favorite pistols.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Wow.... some track record.

I'll get concerned with my M&Ps (revolvers and semi autos) reliability around the 10K mark for the wheelguns and around the 5K mark for the semis.

Maybe we are talking about the same thing, he doesn't think about cleaning it till past 1000 rounds, in repsonse to some people, in general, cleaning after a few hundred rounds. IIRC he ran a season with out clean, just adding a little lube. When the slide starts to slow down is when he cleans them. He is a natural shooter, so he is not inclined to try to trick out guns with this or that. I'll have to ask him what his round count is before he tears a gun down and does real preventive maintenance.

I do agree that the mags are the real weak link. I got some dust in mine at the Pueblo MD class and that was a nightmare. The gun still ran, but I had a a lot failure to go into battery and I couldn't get near full capacity. For CCW probably not a real issue. I'm looking at maybe experimenting with some chomeplated or ZeroPlated mags, along with some of those teflon Arrendo followers and do some "shake and bake" tests in a zip loc bag with the dry sand/talc we have here in Colorado and see if that makes them more reliable. I'd be happy if I can get 140mm more reliable.

To me an Edge shoots great; but then again it is a heavy gun, shooting 40SW vs 45ACP, and it has that recoil master in it. All that makes it nice and forgiving.

[bushmasterar15]

I've been using gunbuilder and emailing with Brandon. It looks like this one.