aalbert Posted June 15, 2023 Share Posted June 15, 2023 (edited) I just bought a STI Competitor in 38 Super w/C-More on a factory mount, and wanted to see if anybody had any background info on the model. In my particular case it comes with 10rd magazines, which indicates it was probably originally shipped during the 1994-2004 mag ban period. The serial is one of the SAS serial number series (Shirley Skinner), and from what I gathered elsewhere the comp is threaded on, instead of being from a one piece blank, and that this preceded the Master series.. Other info I have found indicates that like the Edge, this was to be an off the shelf race-ready gun, with no customization (from a 1999 archive of the STI-Guns website). Does anybody know what years this gun was offered in, or have any additional information about it?... Info online is pretty scarce about this model. Thanks. Edited June 15, 2023 by aalbert Clarification Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted June 15, 2023 Share Posted June 15, 2023 Stacatto might be able to tell you when it was shipped. IIRC it came around after the Eagle 5.5 Open gun (not many of those and those likely had Austin TX addresses) and was the blued entry-level open gun with the hard chromed and much more customizable Grandmaster coming in a bit later followed by the various TruBors, although there was quite a bit of overlap. USPSA has Front Sight scanned and archived on the web site if you're a member and there's probably a feature article on them in there somewhere. Check on archive.org for stiguns.com There were some URL shenanigans sometime around Y2K. Here's a page from the 2001 catalog: https://web.archive.org/web/20010611191314fw_/http://www.stiguns.com/catalog/STIcatalog2001.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aalbert Posted June 15, 2023 Author Share Posted June 15, 2023 Thank you for the research and also reminder about archive.org. - I will poke around various time points in that, to get a feel for the model years it was made in. Having cut my teeth in IPSC/USPSA around Austin, TX during the early years of the Tripp/STI development (shooting with Hill Country Practical Pistol Club, and Austin Lone Star PPC), often squadding with the Tripps, Skinners, Dawson, Benny Hill, McCords, etc. - and as I recall you as well, I find myself wanting to get back to that era gun wise (from a collecting and range toy standpoint). So from what you mentioned, it sounds like the Eagle 5.5s were mainly builds for local friends of the factory with custom features (sort of like my Eagle built to Edge specs, so I could have a custom serial), while the Competitors were built to a spec for the general public. Comp wise I guess it had one of Awesome 2 / STI S-2 comp, and the rest of the parts were in-line with their factory parts at the time. Do you recall any performance issues at the time with this series, etc? I have ordered a sampling of Atlanta Arms ammo to see what it likes, and how it performs (once it arrives). Thanks again for the info and link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted June 15, 2023 Share Posted June 15, 2023 12 minutes ago, aalbert said: Having cut my teeth in IPSC/USPSA around Austin, TX during the early years of the Tripp/STI development (shooting with Hill Country Practical Pistol Club, and Austin Lone Star PPC), often squadding with the Tripps, Skinners, Dawson, Benny Hill, McCords, etc. - and as I recall you as well, I find myself wanting to get back to that era gun wise (from a collecting and range toy standpoint). ... Do you recall any performance issues at the time with this series, etc? I have ordered a sampling of Atlanta Arms ammo to see what it likes, and how it performs (once it arrives). Yeah, I remember shooting stages with your MP5's at Richards HCRR (now a housing development, as are most old ranges around here) and maybe even have one of your old business cards. A few of us from then still shoot matches-- Payne, Jaschke, Sellers, Bishop, Rehn... I don't remember anything one way or the other on the Competitors, although .38 Super was slightly twitchy in early mags so people sometimes switched them to Supercomp with an extractor change. Way less twitchy than early 9 major guns though. Most of the people I knew that shot factory STI open guns bought them through Dawson who would test them and swap in some of his parts. I think Bob at Brazos and a few others would do the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aalbert Posted June 15, 2023 Author Share Posted June 15, 2023 A quick bleary-eyed update. Having gone through a bunch of the Front Sight issues, as well as archive.org it appears the Competitor model was introduced around 1999 (based on ads and site appearance), and discontinued sometime in 2003 (based on disappearing from their site). The Trubor Competitor (which is what I appear to have inbound), changes name around 2005 to just Trubor, but pictures still show it as the Competitor. I guess I will try running it by Staccato, but I have a feeling they want very little to do with the old days, but maybe I will get lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted June 16, 2023 Share Posted June 16, 2023 They don't advertise it, but they will support old STI guns within limits if you are nice about it. I think at some point the TruBor open gun got slightly shorter and there was the even-shorter Steel Master for a while too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aalbert Posted June 16, 2023 Author Share Posted June 16, 2023 Yeah, I kinda lust for a Steel Master (or even a Steel Master top - I have a custom serial frame sitting in the wrap since the 90s), there just haven't been any popping up lately so I went with this gun to satisfy the itch for now. I will reach out to them for info -- my brother also added a 2011 Eagle in 45ACP to his collection recently, so it is becoming a family thing now to collect these. Thanks for the guidance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OPENB Posted June 22, 2023 Share Posted June 22, 2023 On 6/15/2023 at 8:13 PM, shred said: They don't advertise it, but they will support old STI guns within limits if you are nice about it. I think at some point the TruBor open gun got slightly shorter and there was the even-shorter Steel Master for a while too. I had the shorter gun, the Match Master. It was rated for major ammo. The Steel Master was similar, but was built for Steel Challenge minor loads. The Match Master felt great in the hand, but was pretty flippy. I just don't think it was comped right. I sold it and stuck with my 5" guns with Jared comps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aalbert Posted June 22, 2023 Author Share Posted June 22, 2023 I took it out last night and fired it for the first time, using Atlanta Arms ammo. 38 Super Minor, Major, and 38 Super Comp Major all fed and fired nicely though it.. As you noted, a little more flip than I expected but I am also getting used to it and to shooting a centerfire dot.... for a range toy, and a little something different for steel now and then it is fine. Getting a Steel Master is still on my list of things to do, but I respect the gun for what it is. Gun seems to have been treated well, but the inside was bone dry (particularly in the trigger area) -- lubed it up and tweaked the spring a bit after shooting, and went from 3.25lbs and a little mushy/gritty, to 2.75 and pretty clean. I contacted Staccato about the serial, and they stated Quote Thanks for reaching out. Unfortunately we are not able to provide an info on that serial number as it pre-dates our remaining STI records which only go back to 2016. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted June 22, 2023 Share Posted June 22, 2023 I have a Competitor 38super. Has the one piece barrel / comp. IIRC, the newer versions had a flat top on the rear of the slide where the site should be. Mine does not. Don't know the year. In my gun, the hotter the load, the flatter it shoots. Running an 8lb recoil spring. If you reload, try a 115 JHP with 10.5 VV N105 @1.235. It will shoot very flat, but I caution you, it will be very loud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aalbert Posted June 23, 2023 Author Share Posted June 23, 2023 Here is a pic of the gun - serial is in the 5000 range. I don't see any signs of modification. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aalbert Posted July 9, 2023 Author Share Posted July 9, 2023 (edited) Following up with some links to the various catalogs I have found - if folks have other years, then feel free to forward them, and I will archive and link them https://www.biggerhammer.net/2011/catalog/STI_Catalog_2000.pdf https://www.biggerhammer.net/2011/catalog/STIcatalog2001.pdf https://www.biggerhammer.net/2011/catalog/STICatalogVol4.pdf https://www.biggerhammer.net/2011/catalog/STI_Catalog_2005.pdf https://www.biggerhammer.net/2011/catalog/STI_Catalog_2006.pdf https://www.biggerhammer.net/2011/catalog/2007_sti_catalog.pdf https://www.biggerhammer.net/2011/catalog/STI_Catalog_2009.pdf https://www.biggerhammer.net/2011/catalog/STI_2010Catalog_v1.pdf (65 meg) https://www.biggerhammer.net/2011/catalog/STI_2010_v20_web_Complete.pdf (75 meg) https://www.biggerhammer.net/2011/catalog/STI_2012Catalog_A1.pdf (99meg) https://www.biggerhammer.net/2011/catalog/STI-Cat2015_complete_1_13_15.pdf (62 meg) https://www.biggerhammer.net/2011/catalog/sti_2017.pdf Edited July 9, 2023 by aalbert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 If you really get digging into archives, Dave Skinner used to email out a 'SkinnerGram' with random STI news and info periodically. I vaguely remember those were available on one of the STI websites way back in the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aalbert Posted July 9, 2023 Author Share Posted July 9, 2023 I will look into the SkinnerGrams a little more.. Thanks for the suggestion. I see them as basically HTML blog URLs, so compiling them into PDFs by year might be easiest way to deal with them, without getting too crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aalbert Posted February 27 Author Share Posted February 27 (edited) Long term follow up -- a Steelmaster was recently added to the collection, so here is a comparison photo. Note shorter comp and 4.15" lightened slide in comparison to the Competitor, as well as blast deflector on the C-More mount (definitely needs it), and fly cut serrations that the later STIs came with (I have a soft spot for the looks of that design). Edited February 27 by aalbert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posvar Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 9 hours ago, aalbert said: Long term follow up -- a Steelmaster was recently added to the collection, so here is a comparison photo. Note shorter comp and 4.15" lightened slide in comparison to the Competitor, as well as blast deflector on the C-More mount (definitely needs it), and fly cut serrations the the later STIs came with (I have a soft spot for the looks of that design). These look great. Love those cuts. The Apeiro has them too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chillywig Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 I remember looking at those old STI catalogs back in the day and dreaming. STI made a bunch of cool guns. Not sure why I have a low opinion of staccato but those guns don't appeal to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banacek Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 8 minutes ago, Chillywig said: I remember looking at those old STI catalogs back in the day and dreaming. STI made a bunch of cool guns. Not sure why I have a low opinion of staccato but those guns don't appeal to me I have to agree, I had a Trubor and loved it but wanted a Grand master, they had been replaced with the DVC and I bought that and was not impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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