STI DVC vs CK Arms 9mm Open

[mayassa]

I will likely be murdered for saying this by STI guys but...

Several guys I know have bought brand new STI's. An Edge, a couple DVC Limited's, and a DVC Open.

ALL of them had multiple issues right out of the gate. The Edge was the worst, when my buddy called STI a week or two after purchase he was told "We need to do some more work on the barrel, you need to send it back". 4 MONTHS LATER he got his "new" gun back. He still had to tinker with the ejector when he got it back. Seems to run well now.

The others had various mag, ejection, or failure to go into battery issues. Once sorted, they seem to run well, but there seem to be a lot of teething issues with factory STI's. (Of course they all require "mag tuning", I think that goes without saying)

To me (and this is just my opinion) if you spend that kind of money on a gun, it better frickin' run and run and run and run. Sending a gun back for 4 months within a week or two of buying it?! Get outta here. Not for me.

I'm a CZ guy and run a Czechmate in Open (which has fulfilled my #1 requirement that it needs to work), but I fully intend on running a 2011 Open gun down the road. Based on what I've seen these friends deal with and what I've read here, I will be buying a custom 2011 without a doubt. The couple hundred extra for the CK is almost certainly worth skipping all the fuss of trying to make your new Open gun work, haven't heard or read anything about those being anything other than awesome right out of the gate (although I'm sure mag tuning applies there too).

At least he was able to talk to someone, all I was able to do was leave voice mails and emails. Not one has been answered to this day. Screw STI's customer service, my DVC open runs well now no thanks to anyone in that company. I received solid advice from Atlas Gunworks on dialing my gun in. I was pretty frustrated after dropping a lot of money for something that should have worked out of the box.

[js1130146]

That's an unusual STI customer service experience. I had a bit of trouble with my Trojan and all correspondence was promptly responded to . I had a shipping label within hours of first contact.

[Tino2212]

but you sure don't hear about many SVI's, CK's, FGW's, Brazos Customs, etc. having reliability problems.

You are absolutely right though, you are liable to have QC issues with any firearm. It's easy for me to say that "at that price it should run perfectly" but they are much less expensive than all the custom 2011's out there, and if they did all the custom work, they'd be custom prices too.

Here in holland we have a lot of reliability problems with SVI's , almost every new gun has been back to the european distributor ( most of them several times and stil not running right ).

Saw a guy with a brand new ( 7000 euro Open SV ) go trough a stage at our match like he was shooting a bolt action ( he had to rack him for almost every shot ).

He had to borrow someone's old SPS gun to finish the match .

Edited June 4, 2016 by Tino2212

[Chillywig]

Take away a little bit at a time. Here is what one of mine looks like.

20160523_114117.png

I'd like to see the rest of this slide???

[echotango]

Here you go.

[gerritm]

My open 38Super has run 100% out of the box. No changes no adjustment. Yes it took a couple of hundred rounds to break in. I ran AA major ammo for break in and followed the advice of a couple of guys who had DVC's in how to break it in and what oil/lube to use. The 2-stock STI mags and 2-MBX even though when you measure the feed lip and realize according to all I have read are not in spec have run 100%. I have had a couple of issues's with my reloads, but not the gun's fault. Even messed around with a 9mm load and 38 super comp brass with very good success and accuracy. I shoot with several guys who own DVC open and limited guns and the have all had the same experience I have. Seems like no matter who builds the gun there are stories of poor customer service and problems. I have seen several good shooters buy top of the line builder open guns have to send them back multiple times for adjustments and they spent way more than I did.

gerritm

[Chillywig]

Here you go.

20160604_102706.jpg

20160604_102746.jpg

That looks sweeeeet! And light! MCG?

[echotango]

Thanks. MCG(Used to be M2i) is Matt McLearn. I think the slide is 8.7oz.

Edited June 7, 2016 by echotango

[Odawgp]

Sti murauder has run flawlessly since day one.

The STI DVC open in 9mm I picked up last week needed a little ejector tuning since then it will run reman 115gr ammo and 124gr major 9

[Odawgp]

My open 38Super has run 100% out of the box. No changes no adjustment. Yes it took a couple of hundred rounds to break in. I ran AA major ammo for break in and followed the advice of a couple of guys who had DVC's in how to break it in and what oil/lube to use. The 2-stock STI mags and 2-MBX even though when you measure the feed lip and realize according to all I have read are not in spec have run 100%. I have had a couple of issues's with my reloads, but not the gun's fault. Even messed around with a 9mm load and 38 super comp brass with very good success and accuracy. I shoot with several guys who own DVC open and limited guns and the have all had the same experience I have. Seems like no matter who builds the gun there are stories of poor customer service and problems. I have seen several good shooters buy top of the line builder open guns have to send them back multiple times for adjustments and they spent way more than I did.

gerritm

What lube are they suggesting?

[Odawgp]

My open 38Super has run 100% out of the box. No changes no adjustment. Yes it took a couple of hundred rounds to break in. I ran AA major ammo for break in and followed the advice of a couple of guys who had DVC's in how to break it in and what oil/lube to use. The 2-stock STI mags and 2-MBX even though when you measure the feed lip and realize according to all I have read are not in spec have run 100%. I have had a couple of issues's with my reloads, but not the gun's fault. Even messed around with a 9mm load and 38 super comp brass with very good success and accuracy. I shoot with several guys who own DVC open and limited guns and the have all had the same experience I have. Seems like no matter who builds the gun there are stories of poor customer service and problems. I have seen several good shooters buy top of the line builder open guns have to send them back multiple times for adjustments and they spent way more than I did.

gerritm

What lube are they suggesting?

[gerritm]

I initially used BE Slide Glide on the rails and Mobile 1 synthetic on other parts. The SG seemed to slow down the slide action somewhat with lighter loads so to the advice when I took an armorer course and my buddies with DVC's I went back to using Mobile 1 5W-20 on the slide rails and all internal parts. I also use this on my 3-gun rifles. Being very hot here in Texas I shot a match Sunday and both guns ran perfect with absolutely no issues. I was told by the armorer instructor that Mobil 1 being designed to run and protect hot engines does not burn off. I have used it in all my guns for many years with no reliability issues ever. Gun seem to clean pretty easy, too.

gerritm