Ltbrown117

Just to follow up, I did get my gun back from the warranty department shortly after sending it back to them. They fixed the front sight and put some time into it to remove the machine marks and smooth everything out a little bit. They also sent me 2 extra magazines for the trouble. It's unfortunate that it took a substantial amount of time and effort to get this gun to where it should have been when I bought it, but at the end of the day STI will continue to fix your gun and try to make things right as long as you're willing to keep sending it in. Hopefully things will change at STI in the future, but at least some resolution is possible through their warranty department if you have issues.

If you're still looking, check out Tulster. I use one of their Profile holsters for my 43 and it's been great for appendix carry. They have an adjustable 0-15 degree cant, a clip for a 1.5" belt, and they look like they have a decent selection in stock. The only downside is that the price is pretty steep for what it is, but the same can be said for just about any decent holster.

I apologize for the delay, but I wanted to wait until I had the gun back from STI so that I could give everyone a complete update. It took about 2 days to get in touch with someone in the STI warranty department; they must be busy because they never pick up the phone. Literally every time I’ve called, it rings through to the receptionist who takes a message. It usually took a day or 2 to get a call back. Out of 15-20 phone calls and numerous messages left, I only ever spoke to someone in the warranty department 3 times. Once I initially spoke to someone and submitted my information on their website, they sent me a shipping label to send in just the upper portion of my gun. I sent it out on June 15th, and I finally got a call from them last Monday (July 10th). The guy I spoke with told me that they would replace the front sight and try to buff out the groove on the island portion of the barrel, but that there wasn’t anything they could do beyond that since it was a cosmetic issue. He assured me that the groove wouldn’t cause any wear on the slide, since the slide and the island are not supposed to touch. He also said that the wear marks on the inside of the slide are normal, since the blued finish is so soft. He actually recommended having it DLC coated in the future, so I asked why they would even go with a blued finish in the first place. He informed me that it was a decision by the marketing team to make it different since it’s a special edition gun. That was pretty frustrating to hear, but I was hopeful that at least the major issues would be fixed. Well I got the upper back today, and was I surprised when I opened up the package. They definitely put a new front sight on it; the only problem is that they put it on backwards! That’s right, the STI warranty department had my gun for almost a month and sent it back to me with a backwards front sight. The groove on the island portion of the barrel looks slightly better where they buffed it, but it somehow now extends to the front edge of the barrel and is visible when the gun is fully assembled. I have no idea how that happened. Overall, I’m extremely disappointed with STI. I really wanted to wait until I got the gun back so that I could give them a fair chance to fix everything, but they just can’t seem to get it together. While all of the employees that I spoke with were very friendly, it’s clear that the process at STI is badly broken. The fact that they would make such an obvious mistake on a repair is extremely embarrassing. I will definitely be contacting them to try to resolve these issues on Monday, but if you’re in the market for a 2011 I would suggest avoiding STI.

I just purchased one of the new STI DVC Limited Islands in 9mm, so I figured I’d post a quick review. This is my first 2011, and will replace my Glock 34 for 3 gun. After a few months of research and reading through countless posts here, I was between an STI DVC, CK, or Atlas gun. When I came across the DVC Island on Gunbroker, it seemed like a good compromise between the features that I wanted and cost. I really liked the concept of a sight tracker, which previously limited me to an Apeiro or custom gun. This seems to be a good middle ground between those 2 options, although CK and Atlas definitely offer an amazing value for non sight tracker guns. The DVC Limited Island is a limited production gun (like the DVC Limited DLC), and is essentially a hybrid between the DVC Limited and Apeiro. It has a 2 tone finish, with the slide and frame tumble blued and the barrel, magwell, and hammer matte silver. I received the gun last week and made a few observations. Pros: The action seems pretty smooth (although I don’t really have anything to compare it to), and the trigger is awesome coming from a Glock. I measured it at 2 lbs 15 oz on my digital gauge with a very short reset. I also really liked the texture and double undercut on the Extreme Shooters grip. I don’t mind the blued finish, but I figure that I can always have it refinished in the future. Cons: Unfortunately, I noticed a few minor issues. Once I took apart the gun, I noticed a large machine mark/groove on the right side of the island portion of the barrel (see pictures). There were also some minor wear marks on the inside of the slide where the finish appears to be worn off, which I found unusual for a new gun. I should also mention that the island barrel is an STI, not a Schuemann barrel. While I was hoping to be surprised, the STI barrel is what I expected. At the range, I was very happy with how the gun handled. Although I didn’t notice a huge difference in sight tracking/follow through, I think the island barrel still has its merits. It definitely shoots really flat. After putting about 150 rounds through the gun, however, I ran into a problem. I was having some issues zeroing the gun, so I checked the front sight. Sure enough, the sight was very loose and could easily be moved from one side of the dovetail to the other. Based on some other posts that I read, this seems to be a common issue with the DVCs. I contacted STI on Friday, and was told that I would hear back from them on Monday. I really like the gun, but it’s very disappointing to have to send it back already. I was mostly concerned about the front sight issue, but I’ll also see what they can do about the machine mark on the barrel. It’s minor from a cosmetic standpoint, but I’m concerned about long term wear on the slide. I’m cautiously optimistic that STI will be able to get everything fixed. If not I may send it elsewhere to get it tuned/fixed, but that could bring my total investment into the custom gun range. Hopefully I’ll be sharing an STI customer service success story later this week. As long as these issues are specific to my gun, the DVC Limited Island could still be a good option for those looking for a sight tracker but not wanting to go the custom route. I would love to hear from anyone else who buys one of these so that we can get more information and help future buyers make an informed decision.