chrisrdba Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 Greetings. I’ve been holding out to buy a steel rival but someone that’s much more knowledgeable on these topics told me how picky the steel version is on ammo. Ive seen/ read lots of reviews on this gun and had the impression that’s not the case on the plastic? Several thousand round reviews have indicated the plastic runs really well with lots of different ammo. Is your experience with either version that it's picky on ammo? Either with regular target ammo or flat nosed/ JHP? To be clear I've only done a handful of competitions, and am starting to dabble in more. I know conventional wisdom says to shoot what I've already got but just sold a pistol so I have some cash burning a hole in my pocket. However, I'm not really dying to buy a gun that isn't reliable for the sake of a hobby I don't see myself being nearly as into as most on this forum are. I plan on throwing a dot on whatever I buy, and really I'd like this to double as both a HD gun as well a competition gun. Thanks for any insights! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColoradoNick Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 (edited) Theres a guy that shoots a lot of local matches that has one of each. I took a 2 day class with him a couple months ago as well. He's selling/sold his steel rival in favor of the poly gun. Not sure if it was ammo but that thing was constantly giving him problems. Both in the class (where he switched to the poly) and then multiple different matches leading up to that. Matter of fact I can recall 3 different people with steel versions having issues at matches. Edited June 10, 2023 by ColoradoNick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisDeRouen Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 2 hours ago, ColoradoNick said: Theres a guy that shoots a lot of local matches that has one of each. I took a 2 day class with him a couple months ago as well. He's selling/sold his steel rival in favor of the poly gun. Not sure if it was ammo but that thing was constantly giving him problems. Both in the class (where he switched to the poly) and then multiple different matches leading up to that. Matter of fact I can recall 3 different people with steel versions having issues at matches. I own both. I've got all of the bells and whistles on them as well. Both barrels are picky. You can send them off for $40+ and have them reamed....or just buy appropriate ammo. The guns are both amazing. The steel rival is definitely the way to go for competition purposes though. The benefits of weight cannot be ignored. The guy who had issues with his firearm likely tinkered with his springs and didn't know what he was doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fencer1960 Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 I've got the steel rival and my son has a couple of polymer rivals. They both run fine on my perfectly ordinary reloads and have never given us trouble with the various brands of factory ammo we shoot. They're both excellent pistols so you won't go wrong with either one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hump Posted June 11, 2023 Share Posted June 11, 2023 I have both and have not had any issues with either. I shot a match today with my steel gun in the pouring rain and it was flawless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpm2953 Posted June 11, 2023 Share Posted June 11, 2023 not a single issue with my steel rival. My wife's poly rival had a ton of feeding issues with factory recoil spring(even with me shooting it). A 15lb glock spring fixed that. neither are ammo picky. They are both VERY accurate. I normally shoot 125 BBI around 1.105" and 134PF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheChef1 Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 I’ve got 2 of each and had another poly I sold. ALL of them were a little finicky for the first 2-300 rounds but round like tops afterwards. Just need to get them dialed in if you’re tinkering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Racinready300ex Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 On 6/10/2023 at 3:26 PM, ChrisDeRouen said: The steel rival is definitely the way to go for competition purposes though. The benefits of weight cannot be ignored. I ignored the weight and went plastic. No regerts. Plenty of people are competitive with lighter guns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisrdba Posted June 13, 2023 Author Share Posted June 13, 2023 I’m definitely in the camp that won’t benefit from steel at this point. However, I sold a cajunized sp-01 tactical to fund this, and all the rest of my pistols are plastic striker fired. All said I want steel, but unwilling to overpay for it, and even at that may still wind up w plastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisrdba Posted June 13, 2023 Author Share Posted June 13, 2023 23 minutes ago, Racinready300ex said: I ignored the weight and went plastic. No regerts. Plenty of people are competitive with lighter guns. sorry, I couldn’t resist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Racinready300ex Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 15 minutes ago, chrisrdba said: sorry, I couldn’t resist I was totally picturing this as I typed that and what hoping it would jump out at someone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisrdba Posted June 13, 2023 Author Share Posted June 13, 2023 1 hour ago, Racinready300ex said: I was totally picturing this as I typed that and what hoping it would jump out at someone. Haha that’s awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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