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DVC Limited 9mm accuracy?


450AK

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I've had my STI DVC Limited 9mm for some time now and it has proven to be a very accurate pistol.  With a good load it produces 1 to 2 inch groups at 25 yds from a solid bag rest.  Bullets I have loaded include Hornady 124 Gr. TXP's, Nosler 124 gr. JHP's,  Xtreme 124 gr. plated HPCB's and Xtreme 135 gr. HP's.  Surprisingly, the most accurate bullet so far has proven to be the Xtreme 135 gr. HP's....by a noticeable margin.  My load for that bullets is 4.6 gr of Hodgdon CFE-P with a COL of 1.100" for a MV of 992 fps.  Also had nice results with that same bullet over 3.9 gr. of W-231, COL of 1.090 for MV of 938 fps.  The Hornady 124 gr. XTP performed nicely with 4.0 gr. of Titegroup, COL of 1.100", MV of 1054 fps.   The Hornady 124 gr. XTP with 4.4 gr. of W-231, COL of 1.100" gave 1086 fps and also nice accuracy.

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4 minutes ago, hjweiss said:

I've had my STI DVC Limited 9mm for some time now and it has proven to be a very accurate pistol.  With a good load it produces 1 to 2 inch groups at 25 yds from a solid bag rest.  Bullets I have loaded include Hornady 124 Gr. TXP's, Nosler 124 gr. JHP's,  Xtreme 124 gr. plated HPCB's and Xtreme 135 gr. HP's.  Surprisingly, the most accurate bullet so far has proven to be the Xtreme 135 gr. HP's....by a noticeable margin.  My load for that bullets is 4.6 gr of Hodgdon CFE-P with a COL of 1.100" for a MV of 992 fps.  Also had nice results with that same bullet over 3.9 gr. of W-231, COL of 1.090 for MV of 938 fps.  The Hornady 124 gr. XTP performed nicely with 4.0 gr. of Titegroup, COL of 1.100", MV of 1054 fps.   The Hornady 124 gr. XTP with 4.4 gr. of W-231, COL of 1.100" gave 1086 fps and also nice accuracy.

Hjweiss, thank you! I will do some loading this weekend and use your data and see what I can come up with. 

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The DVC is a very expensive gun. I wonder why STI didn't make an accuracy guarantee with it. A minimum 1" @ 25 yards isn't unreasonable for the price and hype.

Is the DVC meant more for action pistol shooting than bullseye? Can it serve both roles? Has anyone gotten better accuracy out of it?

Edited by xmen
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Shooting a pistol from a bagged bench rest is a combination of art and science.... with maybe a little voodoo thrown in .   Some times I do it well and at other times it's a challenge.   My DVC Limited clearly exhibits a capacity to group very nicely.   I suspect that from a machine rest it would be capable of 2" or better grouping with best loads at 50 yds.  That would make it a very competitive gun for Bullseye competition.   The pistol shoots on par with my Nighthawk, Sig X5 and Sig P210.....and those are all superbly accurate guns.  

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My problem is my Pm9 shot right around 2 inches at 25 yards from the bags on the same day with the same ammo. I can shoot better groups free hand unsupported from my 4" Les Baer Stinger then what I shot with the DVC off the bench. I hope with some load development things get much better. If not I'll be sending it back. 

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5 hours ago, xmen said:

The DVC is a very expensive gun. I wonder why STI didn't make an accuracy guarantee with it. A minimum 1" @ 25 yards isn't unreasonable for the price and hype.

Is the DVC meant more for action pistol shooting than bullseye? Can it serve both roles? Has anyone gotten better accuracy out of it?

While the gun may be accurate, STI cannot guarantee the accuracy of the shooter behind it. 

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6 hours ago, 450AK said:

My problem is my Pm9 shot right around 2 inches at 25 yards from the bags on the same day with the same ammo. I can shoot better groups free hand unsupported from my 4" Les Baer Stinger then what I shot with the DVC off the bench. I hope with some load development things get much better. If not I'll be sending it back. 

I have a feeling they aren't going to do much with it if you send it back saying it'll only shoot 2" groups at 25 yards.  I've never heard of them offering a guarantee.

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3 minutes ago, Racinready300ex said:

I have a feeling they aren't going to do much with it if you send it back saying it'll only shoot 2" groups at 25 yards.  I've never heard of them offering a guarantee.

I'm only getting 6"-8" groups at 25 yards with my DVC. 

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2 minutes ago, 450AK said:

I'm only getting 6"-8" groups at 25 yards with my DVC. 

I miss read your post, your Pm9 shoots 2" groups. I imagine they'd still blame the shooter.  Does the barrel lock up tight? Does the crown look good? No other flaws? I would certainly expect better then 8" at 25 yards from bags.

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2 minutes ago, Racinready300ex said:

I miss read your post, your Pm9 shoots 2" groups. I imagine they'd still blame the shooter.  Does the barrel lock up tight? Does the crown look good? No other flaws? I would certainly expect better then 8" at 25 yards from bags.

Yes sir, the gun is fit extremely well. Slide to frame it is excellent and the barrel locks up like a vault. It almost seems like it has an over sized bore or something goofy. I'm going to try some different bullets this weekend and see if things straighten out. The only flaw on the gun is a pin sized hole in the grip safety. I'm not going to lie I'm on the OCD side and it's not a big deal but I wish it wasn't there. If this gun shot 2 or three inches at 25 yards I would be happy but so far it's not even close. 

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2 hours ago, 450AK said:

I'm only getting 6"-8" groups at 25 yards with my DVC. 

I am dismal at group shooting, and I can shoot 2-1/2" groups with my DVC 40 with practically any ammo I've tried.  Something is definitely not right if you can shoot 2" groups with other guns and are shooting 6" groups with the DVC.  Maybe have someone else shoot it some before sending it back to be sure, but that definitely doesn't sound right.

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450AK....If you're able to shoot 2" bagged groups at 25 yds. with other pistols, you're certainly a capable pistol shot.   If the DVC is only producing 6" to 8" groups for you at that range...then I agree with CaptainOverkill, something is definitely wrong....and that has to be either with the load or (more likely) the gun.   I would suggest trying one or two of the popular factory loads, just so your handloads can't be blamed, and see if the pistol is producing the same mediocre results.   If it is, then clearly something is wrong and STI should be given a chance to correct it.  Best of luck and keep the forum informed.  

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I'm having similar issues with my Edge 9mm. I started another thread before I saw this one. Here's my post from that thread:

I had to send my pistol back to STI. The groups were starting to open up. When mine was new it shot nice tight groups on an 8 inch paper plate at 25 yards. Now I'm lucky to keep 5 shots on the plate at 25 yards. 

My local gunsmith looked at the gun and couldn't see anything obviously wrong. He did notice the barrel lugs didn't show full contact with the slide for a full lockup. Only the rear lug showed a wear pattern. He slugged the barrel and the bore was really smooth with no pits or other imperfections and measured .355", however, the throat was really long. With my calipers, it measured a little over .380". I knew STI used a long throat on their 9mm barrels, so I looked up the 9mm SAAMI specs. SAAMI shows a max spec of .170". Even if I loaded to 1.2", that leaves a bullet jump of more than .180" and that's from the tip of the bullet not the ogive. That sure seems like a long way for the bullet to perfectly jump before it enters the rifling.

I'm hoping when I get the pistol back it will shoot nice tight groups.

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