STI Trubor

[38supPat]

Considering an STI Trubor as a new Open gun. What are your experiences with them? Specifically looking at a .38 super, I'd like to hear how they run out of the box and what kind of accuracy you are seeing out of them, rested preferably.

[3gunpinoy]

STI trubors are great Open guns. i have seen it in the hands of grandmasters and it really really works. however. may i say, the common caliber that seems to be used are 9mm instead of 38 super. i am not saying it will not work with a 38 super, but it seemed to me (maybe it just me) that most trubor owners are running it on 9mm .

very accurate indeed

[38supPat]

In my case all my other guns are Supers and I have all kinds of brass so I won't be switching. Most of the ones I've seen have also been 9mm as well.

[Retread1911]

My Trubor is the most accurate handgun I own and is a great open platform.

Mine is chambered in 9mm major if you ate keeping track of the caliber choices.

Retread

[RangeJunkie]

My is in 9, and I had nothing but issues to start with. It went to a local smith (very, very, very talented), back and forth a couple times from me to him, then sent it to STI and they sent it back and it still wouldnt run.

From my experience and all of the open guys who run 9Major in STI's locally, extractor tension seems to be key. I have a huge amount on mine and that's what it took to get it going.

Tried an egw ejector, factory, factory with slight cut angling from bottom to about halfway up, tuned the extractor etc..

Still none of these worked.

For me, it took a shorter ejector, and a whole lot of extractor tension to get it to run.

You may have headaches in the beginning, but if your patient and have good resources (here or locally) you will figure it out.

Would I recommend it to someone? Yes, but realize that your buying a mass-produced open gun. Not like buying a custom one from a well known smith.

You could get lucky, or spend weeks getting it tuned.

Just my 2 cents, hope this helps

[walter hornby]

personally anyone i have seen in 9 major has had a pain to get running right. the biggest problems seem to be mags. once you get all of the bugs worked out it runs great but you have to have a lot of patience.

However in 38 super they just run after a break in period. mine and a friends took about 3000 rounds before they started to smooth out but another friends ran perfectly out of the box. the other problem is again mags. i tired tuning them as all the experts suggested and they gave me problems so i got mad and tuned them like single stack mags and then they ran great. when all of my gear got stolen in 2009 u replaced them with SVI mags and the SVI mags ran right out of the box. YMMV of course but i don't think you are making a bad choice in 38 super. Mine is about 7 years old and i just shot the Canadian Nationals with it and it didn't hick up once.

[Whoops!]

In my experience, definitely don't buy one in 9. Since they are a full size with only a comp, you need to use the slowest of the slow powders to trully work the comp effectively. That means, filling up 38 super cases with powder. The 9's just don't hold enough to make major with the appropriate powder choices.

I know a couple of people with Trubors who thought they shot flat, then I gave them some of my super slow loads and they almost couldn't believe it.

Edited August 14, 2012 by Whoops!

[orangeman711]

Mine in 9Maj. has been flawless. I went with the Aftec extractor to begin with. I have the bigger 38Sup. comp instead of the regular 9 comp and run 7.1gr. WAC with a MG 124gr.JHP for a 170PF. I love the Trubor. Good luck on your choice.

[Retread1911]

I did have extraction issues with my Trubor as well. The factory extractor lost all tension around 2000 rounds and while STI replaced it for free the gun was down for longer then I wanted in the middle of the season. M

I put in an AFTEC and put the factory replacement in the gun bag as a backup. No other problems since

My load is a MG 124 JHP with 8.0 grains HS-6 SRP and an OAL of 1.160.

[GrumpyOne]

I have an older Trubor Competitor, the predecessor to the New Trubor, in 38 super. Same gun, same barrel, only thing different is the name and no cut on the back of the slide. I have probably 20,000 rounds through it, bought it used, with 500 rounds down the pipe. Absolutely no issues, no jams, stovepipes, etc. I'm using STI mags I got from Brownells, I think. They worked flawlessly right out of the box.

Using a MG 115 JHP with 10.5 of VV N105 @ 1.235 gives me around a 178 PF, which makes it shoot very flat. Seems the higher the charge, the flatter it got. Started at 10.2.... Accuracy is stunning, less than a 2" group (off a rest) at 50 yards, if the shooter can do their part.

[Hi-Power Jack]

Considering an STI Trubor as a new Open gun. What are your experiences with them? Specifically looking at a .38 super, I'd like to hear how they run out of the box and what kind of accuracy you are seeing out of them, rested preferably.

My most accurate gun, and the one I bought from

Brazos has been consistently flawless - great gun.

[markm59]

Hey Pat,

Just got my new GM about a month ago. Had extractor problems but easily resolved. Factory trigger needed work but a local smith did a fantastic job on it. Accuracy, off a bench, was unreal although this is my first open gun. Mine is 38sc. I have been running both Autocomp and SR 7625 at 7 Grs and make major with the MG 124 JHP at 1.235 OAL. Of course I am at 7400 feet elevation and using super comp brass. I am leaning towards the 7625, more accurate at lower PF and feels softer

My only complaint is delivery. STI is way behind and I am still waiting for my wife's GM and they were ordered the same time. I have to give kudos to Chuck at Shooters Connection. He has been outstanding and has spoon fed me the entire way since as I stated its my first open gun.

Would I do it again, maybe. The gun is great but the customer service and delivery is unacceptable.

[eric nielsen]

Dave Skinner retired, that might have something to do with it.

[R.Elliott]

I had one of these Pat. It ran just fine and was much more accurate than me. Out of the box I found the slide was much too heavy for the kind of tuning I like (and I know you do too) but that's an easy fix if you have access to someone with a mill. You may also end up chopping off the front (side) ports. They don't do much except add weight.

[Matt P.]

Pat,

I think the STI open guns are very good. Dave Dawson is having some specials on them now and you can get his tuning and an ICE mag well at a very decent price.

I use 38SC for reasons other than cheap brass. I do pretty much have my pick of the litter with powder and bullet weights. I am not a fan of 9mm BUT that is probably a different topic all together.

[Mark R]

I have a 38 Super Trubor which I replaced the extractor with a 9mm/SC extractor and now shoot 38 SC exclusively. I really enjoy shooting it. I'm currently shooting Starline brass and 124 gr MG JHP with N350, but going to try 115 with HS6 powder to see if I can get it flatter and cheaper on powder costs. I recommend the Trubor.

[Desmo412]

I would much rather have a 38SC open gun, but I couldn't justify the brass cost. I have been getting 5-6 reloads out of my 9x19 brass with no problems. Running 9.0gr of HS6 under a MG 115 JHP. If I was going to run a stock Trubor in 38SC, I would at least have a slot milled in the slide and a few popple holes drilled. Take GrumpyOne's advice and try N105 - I don't think there is a powder out there that works the comp better.

[diehli]

Is there some reason why you couldn't have a custom gun built around a Trubor barrel? Seems like that could take some of the reported woes out of the equation.

[Desmo412]

I know Bobby at FGW offers the Trubor barrel on his build sheet. I also remember him writing an article on this forum about how he prefers using a threaded barrel vs. the one-piece setup.

[wanttolearn]

i have an STI Trubor in 38 super on order...hopefully just another month or two. Ordered it from Thunder Mountain, they seemed very nice to deal with. They offer a trigger tuning service along with tuned magazines, polished ramp and an extended magazine release so i opted for them as well. Wondering if people found the need to added a shield for the C-More optic?

[EkuJustice]

you mean the one for glare reduction or blast shield

[Mark R]

i have an STI Trubor in 38 super on order...hopefully just another month or two. Ordered it from Thunder Mountain, they seemed very nice to deal with. They offer a trigger tuning service along with tuned magazines, polished ramp and an extended magazine release so i opted for them as well. Wondering if people found the need to added a shield for the C-More optic?

You only need a blast shield if your barrel has popple holes. Stock Trubor barrel you do not need it...it just adds weight.

[EkuJustice]

stock mount now comes with a built in blastshield

[wanttolearn]

cool....yes, sorry about that, i meant blast shield...new to open pistols, still learning.

really looking forward to the pistol. anything else one might recommend as options on the pistol, don't want to go too crazy but its probably cost effective to do critical elements now rather than have to ship the pistol back.

thanks in advance. great forum by the way, learning a lot.

[38supPat]

Ok, so I think I have a plan. I'm going to build a new Trubor top end on my old STI frame. It'll be a new STI slide and Trubor barrel. I'll refit that gun into a copy of a factory Trubor, then in the spring after I get my tax return I'll buy a new Trubor as a backup (or it might become the main match gun)