STI Open versus CK Arms

[RangerTrace]

33 minutes ago, chenault said:

I've owned 3 CK guns.  I'm not one to become a fanboy of any brand, so I think I can give some non biased information.

 

 2 of the CK's I've owned are newer, the third is of the earlier generations.  I think that like many things the early gens had a couple issues they fixed.  These are pretty well known, short chamber, tight slide, cracked slides.  The slides I found out were an issue for several companies using STI blanks, I talked to a  gunsmith that was in contact with STI when this was happening and they were wondering if the steel which came from India wasn't of high enough quality.  Reguardless, there were a lot of cracked STI slides.  My older CK is no exception, it's slide cracked very early.  I do notice that my newer CK guns have the hole for the gas port moved further back.  That said, the new one that was put on my original one has gone 8k with 0 problems.  

 

All three of mine have had good chambers which were an issue early on.  None of the new ones that I've heard of had this problem.

 

The first slide on the older Ck gun was very tight.  It always cycled, but I wasn't a fan.  The replacement side and the newer ones were much improved.  

 

With all that said my newer ones haven't been perfect.  I broke a couple of extractors on both of them and I was getting strange wear on the slide where it met the barrel.  Turned out that KKM changed how much clearance they were taking off and CK didn't catch it so the extractors were bouncing off the barrel causing the slide to set funny thus causing the wear.  

 

Bobby did own up to the issue and replaced one of the slides.  I did have to pay for shipping to him, but he shipped them back on his coin.

 

Another thing I have noticed is that the triggers have been inconsistent.  The oldest one had a 3ish lb pull which I wasn't super impressed with.  When I shipped it back they fixed that, again free of cost.  One of the newer ones was amazing and the other between the two which I again had them work on so now they are all the bees knees.  

 

Finally, my early CK had a comp that would come lose.  I'm not sure what they changed but all of the newer ones have stayed put.  

 

I can't speak for any one else but my own experiences with Bobby have been good.  He put the FGW slide cuts on my replacement slide free of cost and has been open and communicative.  He has also taken time to explain why issues have occurred.  I do sometimes worry if they are over extended, and that does concern me, but overall my experience has been solid.  

 

My my main issue now is that I've fallen in love with carry optics, but that's a different subject entirely.  

Where is the gas port, I've never seen??

[chenault]

Lol sorry I meant the hole for the poppel holes

[Chillywig]

1 hour ago, RangerTrace said:

My my main issue now is that I've fallen in love with carry optics, but that's a different subject entirely.  

 

Carry optics? 

 

How did this happen? 

[chenault]

36 minutes ago, Chillywig said:

 

Carry optics? 

 

How did this happen? 

 

Ha! Honest to god I don't know, but it's all I think about, can't explain it.  Still do open though 

[corny]

3k through my brand new STI Matchmaster 9 Major......Broken slide.  Sent a RMA and shipping label right away.  We will see.

[sstephns]

CK, all day over STI

[chase214]

I almost bought a "custom" pistol from Bobby until I talked to him I told him what I wanted and he basically told me I didn't know what I was talking about and to send him the money and he would build me a pistol with the parts he wanted so I called Shay at akai custom guns and had the pistol that I wanted built since then iv bought 3 pistols from him . I will never recommend Bobby to anyone some people have great results from him I'm just stating my experience with him I no nothing about his work never shot one of his pistols even though iv had the opportunity and I never will 

Edited September 30, 2018 by chase214

[Sarge]

19 minutes ago, chase214 said:

I almost bought a "custom" pistol from Bobby until I talked to him I told him what I wanted and he basically told me I didn't know what I was talking about and to send him the money and he would build me a pistol with the parts he wanted so I called Shay at akai custom guns and had the pistol that I wanted built since then iv bought 3 pistols from him . I will never recommend Bobby to anyone some people have great results from him I'm just stating my experience with him I no nothing about his work never shot one of his pistols even though iv had the opportunity and I never will 

He can be blunt for sure but your experience with him is not typical.

[racer-x]

I have 2 CK Open Thunder's in 9 major that I have run for the last 18 months. I shoot a lot and have no illusions that there won't be some problems along the way. In that time, Bobby's support has been top notch. He has been responsive, competent and fair with my requests. 

[chenault]

3 hours ago, chase214 said:

I almost bought a "custom" pistol from Bobby until I talked to him I told him what I wanted and he basically told me I didn't know what I was talking about and to send him the money and he would build me a pistol with the parts he wanted so I called Shay at akai custom guns and had the pistol that I wanted built since then iv bought 3 pistols from him . I will never recommend Bobby to anyone some people have great results from him I'm just stating my experience with him I no nothing about his work never shot one of his pistols even though iv had the opportunity and I never will 

 

Did you ask to have it stroked?  That's about the only thing I've heard Bobby have that response on.

 

 

[echotango]

52 minutes ago, chenault said:

 

Did you ask to have it stroked?  That's about the only thing I've heard Bobby have that response on.

 

 

I believe tungsten sleeve is another. 

[chase214]

No it was a limited 9mm for 3 gun. I glad he did that because shays pistols are works of art and shoot better than I'm capable of 

[Gordn]

CK Arms.........(mic drop)!

[AKJD]

When you ask for opinions on just about anything you’re going to get those that love and those that hate whether it’s guns,  bullets, powders, primers, or optics. Well except when it comes to Glocks, everyone loves perfection.

[Hi-Power Jack]

5 hours ago, AKJD said:

  when it comes to Glocks, everyone loves perfection.

 

[ElkChaser]

I love my DVC Open and have zero complaints I have also owned a coup,e of CK and they were awesome too don’t think you can go wrong either way just depends on what you want on a Gun CK has more options available 

[NamesNotMike]

I love my DVC open, I've shot it next to a CK and on slow mo video the DVC shot flatter for both of us. But with the experiences with the owner of CK I wouldn't recommended anyone to do business with them.

[teros135]

7 hours ago, NamesNotMike said:

I love my DVC open, I've shot it next to a CK and on slow mo video the DVC shot flatter for both of us. But with the experiences with the owner of CK I wouldn't recommended anyone to do business with them.

 

This is the problem with taking "surveys" in a forum.  Those with gripes are happy to air them and those with successes often don't mention them, and somebody turns the gripes into "oh, that's a terrible brand, don't buy from them".

 

My CK open is going strong at 30k rounds, is soft, accurate, flat, reliable, still pretty tight.  I've spoken with them a couple of times, no complaints. 

 

Edited October 9, 2018 by teros135

[Sarge]

37 minutes ago, teros135 said:

 

This is the problem with taking "surveys" in a forum.  Those with gripes are happy to air them and those with successes often don't mention them, and somebody turns the gripes into "oh, that's a terrible brand, don't buy from them".

 

My CK open is going strong at 30k rounds, is soft, accurate, flat, reliable, still pretty tight.  I've spoken with them a couple of times, no complaints. 

 

Yep, EVERYTHING has to be taken with a grain of salt. I read things here every day that talk about problems with everything from guns to ammo to presses to customer service etc. none of which I have ever experienced 

[NamesNotMike]

On ‎10‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 5:48 AM, teros135 said:

 

This is the problem with taking "surveys" in a forum.  Those with gripes are happy to air them and those with successes often don't mention them, and somebody turns the gripes into "oh, that's a terrible brand, don't buy from them".

 

My CK open is going strong at 30k rounds, is soft, accurate, flat, reliable, still pretty tight.  I've spoken with them a couple of times, no complaints. 

 

I'm glad your gun runs good, I did not say the CK was a bad gun and I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, I gave my opinion from my experience that the DVC run flatter for two experienced shooters that shot the guns side by side. 

I responded to the OP question about why I would choose one over the other, the same as you have done. If I deal with someone that blames everything except for their quality of work, then I'm going to call them out on it and maybe that will help other people decide if they would like doing business with them. 

When I said that I love my DVC (both of them), that was me mentioning their successes, they are great running guns. STI gets beat up on here pretty bad sometimes but I won't take offence by someone sharing their opinion of their experiences. 

Thanks for sharing your opinion of your gun, I'm sure the OP will take that in consideration when choosing which gun to go with.