buddy_fuentes

Yes it is ridiculous for these magazines to be so horrible. You can buy plastic magazines for other pistols at a much cheaper price and they run from the beginning. Maybe STI could take lessons on building mags or make serious changes. My 2011 is a pump action or a single shot at this point. I know I can buy new tuned mags for $135 each or more, but I really cannot afford that. I would just like to have these reworked. Thanks

I'm a police officer for the Department of Agriculture and Forestry and have been carrying a Glock 19 due to the problems I am having with my (130mm) magazines for my Commander length STI 9mm. One of the magazines works most of the time and two give me grief all of the time. The pistol is not the culprit because it runs fine with two or three 140 mm magazines that I've tried. Most of the problems seem to be cause by the follower sticking. I bought new followers and springs.....it didn't help. Any ideas of who can repair, tune, or do whatever is necessary to make these magazines reliable enough to bet your life on? I've shot 1911"s & 2011"s most of my life and prefer them to other pistols. Thank You

Thanks guys!

I have a commander length STI 9mm that is my carry gun. For some unknown reason the follower frequently hangs up half way while shooting. That happens on the flush magazines and not on the 140mm magazines. Of course I cannot carry the pistol without utter reliability. Can any of you help? Is there a kit or someone that has a mandrel to fix the problems? Thanks!

Well I bought the spring kit and also bought the new striker. I took the gun to the range and the same ole business, MISFIRES! I was ticked off until I put some of the reloads in two of my Glocks and they did the same. The Glocks have the 3.5 trigger connector and they would not set off the primers either. I then pulled out my STI and my Kimber 9 mm's and they shot everything with no problem. The Kimber has a 2.5 pound trigger and the STI is 3.5. I have a good many primer that I keep on hand for reloading. I ran across some Sellier & Bellot primers at a reasonable price a while back and picked up 5K, I loaded some for my Limited gun and they worked fine. I try to save my Winchester primers for matches so I have been using the S&B primers for practice. I had not tried them in a striker fired pistol so I had no idea that they were as hard as the are. The M&P and the Glocks work fine with Wolf, Winchester, Remington, and any factory rounds I have tried. So the problem all along is a hard primer...glad it pushed me to rework my M&P because it has an even better trigger than it did before.

LOL, you must be buying different ammo boxes than me. Just kidding, but I have had a few break. If you happen to run across one of those videos please pm me the link. I did a search and didn't find anything. b

I don't consider 2" at 25 yards accurate either, but, in my experience, it doesn't usually get much better with any of the "plastic" guns. My guess is that when firing, they flex just enough to change the way the barrel is locked in to the slide, before the bullet exits. Do you really feel that the pistols, such as the Glock, flex? I've heard this before and feel if they really did flex, even a small amount, that a crack would occur in the frame eventually. I've seen several with well over a 150K rounds through them and have heard of one with over a 1/4 of a million rounds through it. Seems they would have cracked. Have you seen some high speed photography or something else to show this? If you have and know where I could view it, I would appreciate the link. Sorry for high-jacking the thread, but I've heard this before and really was curious of the answer. b

"Well, I never really had a habit of saving targets." Yeah, if you are going to save a target this would be the one to save, that is sweet! Was that hand held off a bench, Ransom, or free hand? At any rate that is an awesome group. I've seen PPC shooters that shoot some fine off-hand groups at 50 yards, but they are truly few and far between. I have a factory test target where one of my pistols shot a .63 or .68, can't remember, and the pistol is very accurate. I can't duplicate the group even with the same loads, but I'm sure happy with that gun.

Over the years I've had a good many custom guns built and paid a pretty penny each time. I have and do own Baer's, Clark, Ngai, Wilson, EWG, Dawson, and a few others built by gunsmiths that are not well known. All shoot extremely well and are reliable on top of that. When have the gun built or ordering I never thought about the price of one option over the other. If a barrel was purchased for a custom and I wanted a particular brand, I bought it. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't make any difference if I spend $150 or $250 on a barrel if it makes me feel that it is a better product than the other. My last build was close to $2000 and I used a KKM barrel, less than $150, because a friend had a commander built with one and it shot like a laser. Most of us cannot shoot to the potential of our firearms in practical use. Off a bench if your eyes can see the sights and the target the same way each time, you can shoot some pretty good groups, but the ole Ransom Rest is the best way I have found. I own a Ransom Rest and have tested many pistols and revolvers through the years. Most won't shoot anywhere near 1" at 25 yards unless you find the prefect load and all of the stars in the universe are aligned with Mars and Pluto. So what I'm saying is it is your money and your gun, buy what makes you feel better and enjoy it. It may or may not meet your expectations, but you won't be sitting back saying I sure wish I had bought that xyz barrel instead of the cheap one. Best of luck to you.

Thanks! I called and they were closed, but I'll call tomorrow and make an order. I appreciate everyone's help in getting me back in action. b

I took it out and cleaned the striker and the channel a little while ago and it is black. It does show some wear on the striker tip and the shoulder. I went to a couple of sights and they were out of stock. One site was Mid-Way and I don't remember the other. Any ideas on locating one? Thanks, b

No it isn't high primers, that is the first thing I checked. Then I had a Kimber 1911 9mm with me and was alternating one round from into each gun from the box and the Kimber would shoot and the M&P wouldn't. I'll pull the striker out and clean the channel as suggested. I ordered an Apex spring kit a few minutes ago and between the cleaning and the springs...hopefully it will do the trick. Thanks, b

Fitting the barrel is one of the main things you can do to improve accuracy in any auto pistol. I have seen 1911's with a loose slide shoot extremely well. I've had knowledgeable gunsmiths tell me that a tight slide to frame fit would give you about 5% better accuracy. So, personally I think that a fitted barrel would be the logical step if you are trying to gain the best accuracy available for a particular pistol. It may not shoot like a s PPC gun, but it would help wring out the accuracy potential of you pistol. I'm sure you could send it to XYZ gunsmiths and get even more accuracy. I saw a video yesterday on You Tube of Jerry Miculek shooting an M&P CORE, with optical sights. He stated that they had gone to a 1 in 10 twist barrel for accuracy. Maybe this is something to look into. By the way, my 5" M&P Pro 9 mm shoots two and a half to three inch groups off the bench with almost anything. If I had inserts for my Ransom Rest, I bet test would prove it to be a 2" gun or less.

I have an M&P (about three years old) that has been flawless for about 10 K or more rounds. While shooting at the range today it started having light firing pin strikes. Anybody have any ideas, I really don't think that a firing pin spring would loose all of it's tension at one time? The trigger pull feels the same and the pistol has not had any modifications. Just an out of the box Production Division pistol. Thanks,

When adjusting sights think of FORS Front sight opposite...Rear sight same. Crank your rear sight to the level that you want. Shoot a few groups to see where the impact is located, then measure your front sight and go up or down from there. Even if you buy a sight that is a little off the rear sight adjustment should have you covered. If your pistol is hitting where you want it with the factory front sight, why would you want to change the height?

Glock prefection? If you are having the same issues with the stock barrel and the Lone Wolf, but your ammo will fire in several other pistols, you have a problem with your pistol. For some reason it doesn't like your reloads. I would suggest trying some dummys loaded out long and some loaded short (remember that this will increase pressure in live rounds) to see if that works. I would make couple of dummy rounds with lead projectiles and color the brass with a marker to see if hand cycling will work and if there are any marks on the bullet or case. Since you have tried lead, plated, and jacketed without positive results, either you gun or your magazines may require a different length. I've been reloading for well over forty years and rarely find a gun that is at fault when relaods are involved. It is usually the reload that is causing the problem. If we were neighbors, I think I could make that gun shoot for you. Best of luck......

I'm not saying the Dawson mag well is any better than any other, but it makes my 1911 feel like my STI Limited guns. I have used a varity of magazines in my 1911's and really like the Cobra mags, but I have not had a lick of trouble with the Wilson and the McCormick with the base pad.

"I have seen guns Come apart from plated bullets", why would plated make a difference? I've shot thousands upon thousands of plated and lead bullets through Glocks and never had an issue of any kind. What would make the plated bullet more likely to break a pistol? I know what they say about the Glock rifleing and the use of lead bullets, but I've never had an issue. Thanks!

I have a Colt, Springfield, and Kimber in 9 mm. None of them has never failed and all are accurate. I like the Kimber (Target II) best and it has digested well over 40K rounds. The only problem is, I had to change the rear adjustable sight...it broke from too many adjustments. It is probably more accurate than the others. I won't say it is better or worse than the STI or any other pistol out there, but it is really a nice shooting pistol and fits my needs.

I really don't see why it wouldn't run, but everything I have in 1911's has a ramped barrel. Well take that back, I have an original Colt 9x23 that has a non-ramped barrel. My Springfield 9x23 is ramped, too.

My carry gun is an aluminum frame STI Commander length 9mm. Shoots great and a joy to carry. It weighs 26 ounces, so it is only a couple of ounces heaver than a Glock 19. I bought the frame without the ramp barrel cut, but my gunsmith made the W/N cut and fitted a KKM match barrel. I've shot the pistol 1500 to 2000 rounds and haven't had any issues. I'm sure a good gunsmith would make the cut for a very reasonable amount and then you don't have to be concerned. Good luck with your build.

I have a Kimber 1911 9mm that shoots with anything out there. I bought it to shoot steel and it has digested over 40K rounds. My carry gun is a custom built STI Commander length 2011 with the aluminum frame. Sweet to shoot and only weighs 26 ozs. empty. So that tells you the 9mm is just an easy shooting round. When I shoot production I use the M&P Pro and I am very pleased with it...probably 12K rounds through it.

Any game you play has some rules that must be followed. You either play by the rules or you are penalized for the failure to do so. The only other choice is to not play. IDPA and USPSA are games and we must follow the rules to play. Buddy

Duane, mine was a holster problem due to it having the wide body, however, I accidentally found out that a holster for the SIG P220 fits almost perfect. I have several Hoffner holsters that I use with other pistols and I really like them. I intend to have him make one for this pistol. I tried to attach a photo, but it came back as "Error No file was selected for upload"

I have several Government size 1911's in 9x23, love the caliber. A friend mentioned to me that I could shoot 9x19 (9 mm) in the 9x23 pistols without problems. I tried it and it shot extremely well, but the surprise was the point of impact was almost the same out to 15 yards or so. I didn't try at longer distance, but it was pretty darn close at the distance shot. The point of the above information is that I had a custom STI (aluminum frame) 9 mm Commander length carry gun built a year or two ago. I had planned to have a 9x23 barrel fitted to it also, however, just didn't get around to it. I spoke with my gunsmith a couple of weeks ago and he is going to get a barrel and fit it to my pistol. I have a Fixed Heinie rear sight and .190 front sight. I don't intend to change the front sight height because I believe that point of aim and impact will be very close. Most of the time I shoot 125 grain +P Gold Dots or 127 grain Winchester +P+. The pistol weighs 26 ounces and has very little recoil. 9x23 should be sweet! Good Luck Buddy