SVI Infinity - Some concerns

[Mark100nl]

Hi everybody,

Hope you will be able to shed some light on some of this for me. I ordered my Infinity from a distributor (I'm in Europe) in januari. Since that time I have been speaking to some gunsmiths in my area and most, experienced with SVI, have pointed out some things to me leaving me worried that I perhaps made a wrong choice after all..

Here's what has been thrown my way:

- Delivery times, especially outside the US, have grown to 1,5 to 2 years

- Spare parts are impossible to come by (again, outside the US)

- Promised accuracy of the AET barrels is not or rarely achieved

- SVI has started making their own barrels (no more Schuemann), none of the gunsmiths was happy with that apparently (?)

- Interchangeable breachfaces keep coming loose

I should of course keep in mind that the people telling me this are also salesmen, trying to sell me an STI..

Bottomline is this: will I wait for who knows how much longer for the SVI or do I get the STI, which would be mine in 2 weeks, saving me more then €1000 in the process.

Your thoughts are more then appreciated!

[sgtis108]

Hi everybody,

Hope you will be able to shed some light on some of this for me. I ordered my Infinity from a distributor (I'm in Europe) in januari. Since that time I have been speaking to some gunsmiths in my area and most, experienced with SVI, have pointed out some things to me leaving me worried that I perhaps made a wrong choice after all..

Here's what has been thrown my way:

- Delivery times, especially outside the US, have grown to 1,5 to 2 years

- Spare parts are impossible to come by (again, outside the US)

- Promised accuracy of the AET barrels is not or rarely achieved

- SVI has started making their own barrels (no more Schuemann), none of the gunsmiths was happy with that apparently (?)

- Interchangeable breachfaces keep coming loose

I should of course keep in mind that the people telling me this are also salesmen, trying to sell me an STI..

Bottomline is this: will I wait for who knows how much longer for the SVI or do I get the STI, which would be mine in 2 weeks, saving me more then €1000 in the process.

Your thoughts are more then appreciated!

I'll comment on what I have experience with:

Spare parts, 99% of STI parts will work on the SV.

Interchangeable breech face,I've never had one come loose. I do use thread locker.

I think the AET barrel is the schuemann so that concern should go away since SV is no longer using the schuemann. I'm not 100% on that someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I have no idea on the time frames.

The STI guns are nice, but they are not quite SVI. I've had to do some work on my factory STI's to get them going.

[CocoBolo]

I have not had any trouble with the replaceable breech face in my 9/40 limited gun and switch back and forth between calibers in about 10 minutes. The gun has the Schuemann barrels but I find it does not shoot any better than my Dawson HPF Edge (STI).

In the open gun the replaceable breech face is an asset, breech faces can be damaged by loading too hot etc. I sold my SVI open gun and the guy that bought it went a little too far on his loads and has replaced the breech face twice. Take a look at the breech face on some open guns and notice the impressions of the brass on the breech face, this is common, not common on 40 Limited guns.

The out of the box STI open guns may or may not run and will in all probability need a little tweaking from a smith. They are not however custom guns, and may not perform up to your expectations. The TruBore line in my opinion does not have the compensator efficiency it needs and the slide is a fat cow that needs to be trimmed down. The steel master is a rocking little minor gun and the match master is a good gun if you like a shorty with a little extra flip. Any of these guns can be customised to be a excellent top notch gun with a little smith work.

It is always nice to have a backup gun, so get an STI shoot it while you wait on the SVI. When you get the SVI let your smith do a make over on the STI.

I can't get excited about the small differences in barrels which is only noticable when shooting from a rest and may be as much as a 1/4", when I'm punching 8 holes at 50 yards with a reload in the middle in 8 seconds, no barrel is going to make much difference in the group size. A very good trigger job on the other hand will do more.

[Mark100nl]

It is always nice to have a backup gun, so get an STI shoot it while you wait on the SVI. When you get the SVI let your smith do a make over on the STI.

That had crossed my mind, but with prices for these guns as they are here in Europe I will have a hard time affording that..

I forgot to mention in the initial message, I ordered a limited class SVI, so the STI counterpart would be the Edge.

[Pezco]

Hi everybody,

Hope you will be able to shed some light on some of this for me. I ordered my Infinity from a distributor (I'm in Europe) in januari. Since that time I have been speaking to some gunsmiths in my area and most, experienced with SVI, have pointed out some things to me leaving me worried that I perhaps made a wrong choice after all..

Here's what has been thrown my way:

- Delivery times, especially outside the US, have grown to 1,5 to 2 years

- Spare parts are impossible to come by (again, outside the US)

- Promised accuracy of the AET barrels is not or rarely achieved

- SVI has started making their own barrels (no more Schuemann), none of the gunsmiths was happy with that apparently (?)

- Interchangeable breachfaces keep coming loose

I should of course keep in mind that the people telling me this are also salesmen, trying to sell me an STI..

Bottomline is this: will I wait for who knows how much longer for the SVI or do I get the STI, which would be mine in 2 weeks, saving me more then €1000 in the process.

Your thoughts are more then appreciated!

I have 3 SVI's and can tell you the salesmen you are dealing with are just trying to shake you up. The SVI's do take some time to get built mine have all been <1 year (in the U.S. which shouldn't matter). Everything else they listed is rubbish and not true.

I also own and STI and the comparison I will make for you is a Ford Mondeo (STI) to a BMW (SV) as far as build quality.

Good luck!

[G-ManBart]

Many people have found that AET barrels don't shoot well with cheap bullets....especially plated, so that could be some of what you've heard. I have a couple of guns with AET barrels and so far the results have been outstanding. If I'm buying a barrel for a 1911/2011, it would definitely be an AET, no question.

On the whole SV/Schuemann deal, it's a little bit "complicated". Schuemann essentially licensed their barrel technology and production methods to SV, but that deal fell through and the outcome is what I'd politely describe as unpleasant, but it's likely that if your ammo didn't get along well with an AET barrel, it won't get along with your SV barrel. R,

[Mark100nl]

The SVI's do take some time to get built mine have all been <1 year (in the U.S. which shouldn't matter).

That's some good news right there. From what I have been told exporting firearms and parts out of the US has been made much more difficult lately due to time consuming and expensive export licenses. No clue as to how much of that is true..

[RIIID]

It's well worth the wait on a custom built gun as opposed to a production line gun.

Rich

[slickmix]

Unless you have a gunsmith there. I would wait for the SVI. As far as the AET barrel like g-man said if you dont shoot plated bullets with it you will not have any problems with it. You can shoot jacketed, moly or even lead and I have great luck with sub inch groups at 25 yards.

[Carmine]

All of my STI's have SVI components.

Sometimes it's a question of cosmetics...but in most cases if you are going to replace a part on the STI...you may as well upgrade along with replace and go SVI for the component.

Just say'n....but it worked for me.

Ciao.

[The HUGE D]

Hi,

I got my SVI, for standard division, from a European distributor. From the time I ordered it until I received it was 6 months. It's a fantastic pistol, worth the money and the wait. Order the spares you think you will need, before you need them, and you shouldn't have a problem. The accuracy of it is far better then I can shoot it.

[CocoBolo]

I just rechecked my post and I didn't say anything bad about Schuemann barrels, they are in fact the defacto best of breed. I also didn't say anything negative about the SVI, it is a fully custom built gun and that shows in the fit and finish of the gun. So don't get your panties in a wad.

The skill of the smith building the gun and fitting the barrel will have a great influence on accuracy.

For the record I don't use plated bullets.

The STI isn't a Ford its more like a Camary and the SVI is the Lexus.

[Mark100nl]

Hi,

I got my SVI, for standard division, from a European distributor. From the time I ordered it until I received it was 6 months. It's a fantastic pistol, worth the money and the wait. Order the spares you think you will need, before you need them, and you shouldn't have a problem. The accuracy of it is far better then I can shoot it.

Can I ask how long ago you ordered yours?

[L9X25]

I should of course keep in mind that the people telling me this are also salesmen, trying to sell me an STI..

I quoted the most important part of your post. The info they provided is intended to push you away from SVI.

I have 4 guns with the interchangeable breechface and NONE of them have ever come loose.

The barrels in the Guns use AET techmology but the rights to use the "Schuemann" name were sold when Wil sold the company.

The SVI barrels are as good, or better, than the Schuemann barrels that I own.

If you think that STI and SVI guns are equal, you have not seen them both, side by side, and examined the parts that comprise the pistols. If you cannot wait (or will not wait) save the money and buy the STI. If you have the time, the SVI is well worth the extra wait.

[Mark100nl]

Thanks everybody for the comments. The worries regarding the barrels, breachface etc. are now pretty much gone

Now I have to figure out whether I can live with the frustration of not knowing if I will receive in a week, a month or a year.. Since I am currently gunless it is going to be a challenge!

[Putty]

I had an sv (2). Breechface' were always loose with screws constantly backing out. Loctite would hold em for awhile, then back out they would come.

My .02 is to have a custom build on a caspian or sti.

[elenius]

I had an sv (2). Breechface' were always loose with screws constantly backing out. Loctite would hold em for awhile, then back out they would come.

My .02 is to have a custom build on a caspian or sti.

Was this an open or limited gun? Red or blue loctite?

I ordered my SVI recently. They told me 12-13 months wait currently... About a year ago they had a 6-8 month wait, so these must have gotten more popular.

[G-ManBart]

The barrels in the Guns use AET techmology but the rights to use the "Schuemann" name were sold when Wil sold the company.

I'm not sure where you heard that, but it's not true. Feel free to PM me for more. R,

[RangerTrace]

I have two SV Infinity pistols, with another one on the way. My primary competition/duty pistol is a new (delivered Feb '10) short dustcover, AET, bushing barrel, 40S&W with the stainless signature grip. I absolutely love the pistol. It runs perfectly with AAA ammo. My round count is about 3K and it's still extremely tight, accurate and I've had no issues with the breech face.

I recently traded for an older version, polymer gripped 9mm with an AET barrel. It has about 11k rounds down the pipe. It too, runs perfectly with AAA and is still extremely accurate. I'm not sure how long ago the breech face was checked, but today, it was just as it should be.

I have been very impressed with Infinity's quality and customer service. But, I live just a few miles from the factory. I'll bet the SV Infinity will be well worth the wait!!

BTW, I was so impressed with their pistols, I changed my user name on here and the LP on my pick-up!

Edited July 8, 2010 by SV-COP

[BlueVFRank]

Thanks everybody for the comments. The worries regarding the barrels, breachface etc. are now pretty much gone

Now I have to figure out whether I can live with the frustration of not knowing if I will receive in a week, a month or a year.. Since I am currently gunless it is going to be a challenge!

Where did you order your gun Mark?

I assume it was with Jurgen Flass?? I am sure you won't be dissapointed. I hope to be ordering my next gun somewhere this year and it will definatley be one from Jurgen.

Frank

[Mark100nl]

Where did you order your gun Mark?

I assume it was with Jurgen Flass?? I am sure you won't be dissapointed. I hope to be ordering my next gun somewhere this year and it will definatley be one from Jurgen.

Frank

Yep, from Jürgen, great guy! Very friendly and forthcoming, he has been a lot of help in putting the design together just right and getting the paperwork in order. He can't give me any real info on estimated delivery times either because he just doesn't have that info..

[jsykes]

The barrels in the Guns use AET techmology but the rights to use the "Schuemann" name were sold when Wil sold the company.

I'm not sure where you heard that, but it's not true. Feel free to PM me for more. R,

If the info is not true, why correct it in PM, why not make sure that everyone knows the correct information? I'm sure the OP and others would like to know the truth.

[G-ManBart]

The barrels in the Guns use AET techmology but the rights to use the "Schuemann" name were sold when Wil sold the company.

I'm not sure where you heard that, but it's not true. Feel free to PM me for more. R,

If the info is not true, why correct it in PM, why not make sure that everyone knows the correct information? I'm sure the OP and others would like to know the truth.

Unless something has changed very recently, they are using what should probably be described as an "AET style" barrel. The rest is simply too contentious to post about.

[pjb45]

I probably would not get into a discussion about SV and Schuemann with Chris. He is privy to information that is not available to the general public. That said, SV barrels are very good. AET barrels are very good. But so are Nowlin and BarSto.

I have three SVs with a fourth on the way. I had an STI first and sold it after I got my SV. I like the analogy of SV is a BMW/Lexus and STI really is a Ford/Chevy. SV parts are superior to stock STI parts.

SV is well worth the wait.

A bit of history; I called every big name gunsmith about the differences between STI and SV. Almost all of them preferred the STI. So I purchased a STI kit and had a named gunsmith finish the build. Later I found out that SV sells their frames to just a couple of gunsmiths, the price of their parts are more and sometimes availability is not up to par with STI. So it turns out that is why most gunsmiths prefer STI to SV.

Read above where it says I have three SVs and waiting on a fourth. SV is an awesome company. Their quality and customer service is superior.

I have never had to replace a SV part, I can not say that about some other brands.

[RangerTrace]

I probably would not get into a discussion about SV and Schuemann with Chris. He is privy to information that is not available to the general public. That said, SV barrels are very good. AET barrels are very good. But so are Nowlin and BarSto.

I have three SVs with a fourth on the way. I had an STI first and sold it after I got my SV. I like the analogy of SV is a BMW/Lexus and STI really is a Ford/Chevy. SV parts are superior to stock STI parts.

SV is well worth the wait.

A bit of history; I called every big name gunsmith about the differences between STI and SV. Almost all of them preferred the STI. So I purchased a STI kit and had a named gunsmith finish the build. Later I found out that SV sells their frames to just a couple of gunsmiths, the price of their parts are more and sometimes availability is not up to par with STI. So it turns out that is why most gunsmiths prefer STI to SV.

Read above where it says I have three SVs and waiting on a fourth. SV is an awesome company. Their quality and customer service is superior.

I have never had to replace a SV part, I can not say that about some other brands.

Very well said