I've seen plenty of STI DVC Opens at the matches, but I'm the only one I know shooting a DVC Steel (9mm). I love it. Moved up from a CZ AccuShadow to shoot Steel Challenge Open division. I would like to share my experiences and hear from others that are shooting it.
Mine didn't shoot factory ammo out of the box. The closest I came was WWB with 1 failure out of 100. WWB OAL is about 1.165. Other shorter loads would fail much more frequently. I don't like shooting WWB because it's so dirty. I sent it back to STI and they shot 80 rounds of WWB through it and said it was fine. Back to the drawing board. Got MBX mags, extended safety with shield to keep my thumb off the slide, Wolff 7, 8, 9# springs, no luck. Found some long loaded 147 grain 9mm (OAL 1.17) that shot 100%. That was a temporary fix because it was expensive and I want to shoot 115 to get some benefit from the comp.
I noticed that all my failures were FTF pointing up. Some had the jacket penetrated by the sharp edges on the top of the chamber. The answer was to knock down the sharp edges with a dremel and polish the crap out of the inside and top of the chamber and the feed ramp. Now with plenty of FP-10 and an 8# spring it runs 100% with Blazer Brass 115 which is OAL 1.16. Still won't run shorter ammo but that's fine.
2 guys at my club needed the same chamber treatment to get their DVC Opens running (also 9mm). I'm wondering if this is par for the course or a coincidence. Like I said I love the gun and the learning experience. It shoots flat and I'm moving up faster than I was in production.
I often get comments on the gun and hear "yeah and it shoots factory ammo out of the box". Any comments/shared experiences welcome.
Oh yeah - I expect to hear why aren't you reloading like the rest of us? Personal choice, for the savings in 9mm I'd rather spend my time dry firing.
Thanks,
Dan