ogiebb Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 i was just talking to a shooting buddy of mine about my out of the factory EDGE that i just got from Dawson.. he told me that a factory edge will not last that long compared to a custom built one shooting same PF ammo..any truth to this? i mean the fit on my edge doesnt suck .. and im really happy about the stock parts thats included..i tried looking up on some threads about this and some are actually happy like me with their stock S_i pistols .... wil the hardchrome prevent fitting problems with regard to slide frame kit?....thanks...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julien Boit Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 Once you'll have shot few rounds (maybe few thousand rounds) you could go for hard chrome on your pistol, this will give him a "second life". As for lifetime of the edge, I saw Dave skinner's personnal Edge, and it's 190 000 rounds old ! The fitting is still tight , despite few wear marks on it, the gun still looks good. Pistols well built, wether by a gunsmith or a factory such as STI or SV, will last a lifetime. A shooting buddy has a .40 SV which is +130 000 rounds old and he still prefers to shoot this one instead of his "match pistol" which is newer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Suber Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 I think your frame and slide will do OK. There are other parts that are prone to failing. Within the last 7 months, two friends of mine have bought factory Edges from two separate vendors. Neither would work with the Recoil Master. After inspecting both, I really doubt any reliability testing was done on either pistol. Both had tool marks visible on the RecoilMaster, so much so that they had a "crunchy feel." On both pistols, if you racked the slide back by hand slowly, you could get the slide would stay back. It would lock up just ahead of the slide stop. Customer service was poor - the only recommendation was to send the pistol back to STI (more cost and more time without the pistol). The only way this was cured was to polish the RM and the recoil plug's inside. The other part prone to failure is the adjustable sight. Both of these broke immediately (the retention pin broke in half) and I have seen numerous others break after little use. Apparently, this pin is held in place by another spring loaded pin. The smaller pin seems to bounce during recoil and causes the larger pin to break. I have heard STI has fixed this problem. Other than that, you should have no problems with the Edge. I lucked out with my factory Edge. I think mine was one of the last ones shipped without the RM. It came with a standard tungsten guiderod and ran beautifully from day one (I bought it to take to the 2002 Ecuador Open). After seeing so many sights fail, I didn't even bother with the STI sight. I had a BOMAR in hand when the pistol arrived and installed it before I even fired the pistol. I also put an SV modular trigger in it, Keonig hammer, and EGW sear (those mods were made for taste and not because of failure). Other than that, I put one of Jim Shanahan's grips on the pistol and an AFTEC extractor (again, not because of failure but because of personal preference) and it has run fine. I have at least 15 - 20K rounds through the pistol and have only changed recoil springs and mainsprings. Would I buy another factory Edge? Probably not. The reason is because of what I have seen with the RMs. I wish I would have taken pictures of the RMs that came out of these pistols. They were horrible. I would be embarrassed to let a part come out with tools marks like the ones my friends pistols had. Because of the way the pistols functioned, one is led to believe that they were not tested. I believe that if I pay $1800 for a pistol, it better work when I get it. I didn't fork that kind of money out for a pistol I would have to send back or wait to have repaired. So, my next STi will be a custom pistol. I am not trying to bash STI - I love the pistols. I just think they need to rethink how they make some parts and test their pistols. Hope this helps. Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loves2Shoot Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 Depends who built it and if it was built right. Hardcrome won't hurt the fit if done right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julien Boit Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 That's strange because all the STI I know runs great since day one. All fitted with RM and had no jams with them wether hard chrome or all black. It's true that the finish of the RM is not the best I've seen, but for me, It work on four different pistols (three standards and one open). Don't know why, maybe depends on who built the gun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ogiebb Posted December 23, 2003 Author Share Posted December 23, 2003 my edge did not run like a clock the first day. i had a lot of jams during its first few rounds maybe around 1 in every ten. i fixed this by polishing the feedramp with a 600 grit sandpaper(thanks Brian )....and also the pin thats on the hinge of the sight also keeps on coming out..fixed that with a little loctite blue..and what really nice about this is that i have never had to use custom reloads with a longer oal for this to function i just use winchester value packs from wally world.. i was thinking of having it hardchromed after a few thousand like julien has suggested to give it a second life..can i also hardchrome the recoil master and plug ?...thanks for great inputs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julien Boit Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 The reverse plug on my Executive is hard chromed, but not the rest of the recoil master. You would have to disassemble it to get it chromed. I don't see any advantage in having the RM chromed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue edge Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 I have a factory EDGE, two years old with about 20k through it.The first year was flawless! Then I had it hard chromed ( good move ) then started having extractor problems ( lesson learned do not hard crome extractor) AFTEC fixed this problem. Went to the factory gun nats, the little hinge on the sight broke BOMAR fixed this problem. We ask a lot from these guns, yes they will break. would do it again? YES!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigbadaboom Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 Most of the factory STI's that I am around have a hard time feeding factory length ammo and the shooters lengthen their loads out to get them to feed reliably. I've always had custom built STI"s with Schuemann barrels and mine feed everything from 1.130 to 1.200 reliably every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chp5 Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 My factory Edge feeds my short Glock .40 loads with no problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STIshooter Posted February 8, 2004 Share Posted February 8, 2004 Same here...my factory edge has fed everything I've offered it including factory loads, short moly coated Glock loads, 1.2" 170pf Limited loads with Moly, JHP, FMJ, plated, etc. (with the exception of a few short loaded JHP hang ups during the first 200 rounds of break-in) The hinge pin on the rear sight also broke in the first 1K....replaced the pin with a similar diameter allen wrench cut to length and staked on both ends....no problem since. Had Jim Shanahan turn the 2x4 grip into a good fit with a cool paint job to boot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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