STI91 Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I have an STI Tactical that i have had for approximately 6 months with less than 1000 rounds through it and so far I've had the rear sight literally fall off on the floor and the ambi safety break. I personally took the gun back to the factory to have the sight reset and now the safety will only function when activated on the left side. I know I can probably fix it but thats not the point. For a gun that costs this much money, I'm kinda pissed. Also, when I took the gun back to the factory, they acted like they were doing me a favor fixing it. I've had 2 or 3 interactions with them and none have been pleasant. Now this. I'm not sure I want an STI anymore. Not company bashing, just wondering if anyone else has had the same experience with STI's or did I just get a lemon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STI91 Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 Sorry. Just realized I'm in the wrong area. Will repost under 1911. My bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STI91 Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 I have an STI Tactical .40 that i have had for approximately 6 months with less than 1000 rounds through it and so far I've had the rear sight literally fall off on the floor and the ambi safety break. I personally took the gun back to the factory to have the sight reset and now the safety will only function when activated on the left side. I know I can probably fix it but thats not the point. For a gun that costs this much money, I'm kinda pissed. When I personally took the gun back to the factory, they acted like they were doing me a favor fixing it. I've had 2 or 3 interactions with them and none have been pleasant. Now this. I'm not sure I want an STI anymore. Not company bashing, just wondering if anyone else has had the same experience with STI's or did I just get a lemon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donnyglock Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 All my STI pistols have been excellent. As well as my experience with there customer service. However I have broken my fair share of there ambi safeties. Im a lefty. I also have had pistols where you can't activate the safety from the right side. I always end up replaceing the ambi for an Ed Brown or my favorite the SV ambi. Sometimes mistakes are made. If they end up makeing it right thats really all you can ask. How does the gun function? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarozzy Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 The left side of the STI ambi safeties are notorious for braking. The female ear on the where the two sides attach is a week point. I have broken 2 before i took it to a gun smith and got a Ed Brown safety put on. When my safeties broke i called STI and they sent me a new left side for free. I have also herd people complain about the STI rear sight, something about hinges or pins breaking, but i have had no problem. I would go to a gunsmith have them replace the ambi safety with Ed Brown and have him look at the rear sight and make sure it is set correctly or the sight cut is correct. If the sight cut is incorrect i would call STI and get them to replace it because that is a warranty issue. They are good guns but as people tell me they are mass produced and sometimes things can fall through the cracks. I always tell people when buying a high priced non-custom gun to budget for a trip to a gunsmith of your choice to have an inspection done. I had a STI USPSA SS .40 that needed to go to Tripp Research due to it nose diving the first three rounds of each mag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueVFRank Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 I have a Edge and both my rearsight and ambi safety broke as already mentioned above. A pair of Ed Brown safeties and SVI sights fixed that problem straight away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shootingchef Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 (edited) I want to say: sadly STI does not make the products they once did. I won't cause I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Edited March 22, 2012 by shootingchef Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STI91 Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 Chef, thats what i was afraid of. Just as important, each time I've contacted them, they seem put-off. Not sure what the deal is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STI91 Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 Donny, the gun functions well enough. In 1000 rds, I've had about 5 FTF's, mag issues I'm sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpeltier Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Chef, thats what i was afraid of. Just as important, each time I've contacted them, they seem put-off. Not sure what the deal is. Don't take it to personally, provided they take care of your problem. You are probably not the source of their frustration, but seeing a recurring issue once again can be straining on a customer service rep. Not all people in that position handle cases like that with much enthusiasm. Though you may feel that they feel put off by you, that is probably not the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZip Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Chef, thats what i was afraid of. Just as important, each time I've contacted them, they seem put-off. Not sure what the deal is. Don't take it to personally, provided they take care of your problem. You are probably not the source of their frustration, but seeing a recurring issue once again can be straining on a customer service rep. Not all people in that position handle cases like that with much enthusiasm. Though you may feel that they feel put off by you, that is probably not the case. Wow, never looked at it this way. A friend of mine recently bought two Kimbers and is in the process of an "investigation" by them as to why none of his problems has been resolved. This is after sending both back for repairs with less than 100 rounds between both pistols. Yeah, I don't get it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaster113 Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 had two STI ambi's break, one off of a tuned Edge and the other off of a semi-custom gun. also broke the two STI grip safeties on those guns. no issues with sights though. warranty service was fast with no questions asked. wrote a letter and sent in the broken parts. a week later replacements arrived in the mail. when I buy another STI gun I just accept that those parts will fail and am prepared to replace them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hax Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 I've never had to deal with STI but this shocks me about their customer support as they are a co-op type company. Maybe mpeltier is correct and someone was just having a bad day. I hope all your issues are taken care of properly and in a timely manner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrbet83 Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 I've owned one STI limited gun for 4 months. Broken thumb safety, broken rear sight and broken mag catch. Just built a full custom 6" and made sure there wasn't one STI part in it other than the frame and slide (and the slide came with a pretty major cosmetic blemish that my smith had to fix). In fact a buddy just got a frame and a slide (separately from different suppliers) to do an open build and both had machine/galling marks on the rails (had been attempted to be fit). I could maybe see that on the slide (someone screws up, returns it and the supplier doesn't catch it) but on the frame (serial number) how does that happen? The only thing I can think of is on frames/slides that they screw up on during they're "pre-fit" frames/slides, they pull out and sell as individuals if it's still within spec. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skdmrklcy Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 Yikes, I called them up on my Trojan and the guy seemed nice. At the time they were going to send out a part no questions asked. Had a few other issues so they ended up just sending a call tag, this was all via e-mail and they seemed nice enough. I would have preferred to not have issues.. but as long as they fix it I will be happy. Never really seen an Ambi I was super impressed with, I prefer not to have them on anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 You are buying a pretty well priced machine. To keep the price where it is some parts are less expensively made. This can be ok for the occasional shooter but in our sport you will probably want to make some changes. I replace the trigger group and safety and spring it to my taste and my 3 STI's run great. I know it is a big first cost but it will last a long time. There will be upkeep costs. Make use of the great video and web instruction and you can start doing some of your upkeep. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripod Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 For me customer support has always been good. I've had my Edge for years, however when new the rear sight came apart within 200 rounds. The thumb safety would allow the hammer to go to half cock when you took the safety off. They sent me new parts but I didn't use them. Looks like history is repeating itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Anderson Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 I've always looked at STI's as decent quality guns that may or may not run when you get them. I'd still rather pay $1600.00 for an STI than $4K for an SV that also might or might not work. I can get a lot of gunsmithing done for that price difference. I've had a handful of interactions with STI's customer service, all over a GP6 though. They've all be really, really positive though. Most dealt with swapping the front sight out and me having issues doing it. They took the gun back, set it up for me. I had asked them to install the oversized mag release which they did without even charging me. Now that I got that one installed it shot high so then sent me another front sight and a newer design recoil spring all for free. I always hate to have to deal with gun companies customer service but I thought they were very professional about it and helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wes777 Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 I had a few issues with my sti, most of them I took down to Dave Dawson (bought several guns from him) and they fixed me up. Some of the parts I ordered and installed myself. For the money I saved by getting the sti, I accept that there will be issues. Bang for the buck is hard to beat. IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rambo Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 I have two STI guns... Both run flawlessly... On one the recoil master broke... I had a new part on my doorstep from them in two days! Good enough for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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