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STI Eagle for IDPA


Boss1622

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I’m getting ready to buy a new STI Eagle for IDPA competition. While I understand a .40 or 9mm will work great in ESP, I’m thinking about a .45 so I could also use it in CDP. I reload .45 so I think I could work up a light .45 load for the 125,000 power factor of ESP. Is there any disadvantage to using a .45 in ESP? or advantage to a .40 or 9mm?

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I’m getting ready to buy a new STI Eagle for IDPA competition. While I understand a .40 or 9mm will work great in ESP, I’m thinking about a .45 so I could also use it in CDP. I reload .45 so I think I could work up a light .45 load for the 125,000 power factor of ESP. Is there any disadvantage to using a .45 in ESP? or advantage to a .40 or 9mm?

yeah i know what you mean...i don't own a 40 cal..buy my 9mm for any match i shoot...shoot 90% of match'es with a 45 ...so it depends on how YOU want to setup a good combo pistol for 2 divisions...the 45 at 125k is to sluggish for me..but also do a search on this there are several topics here on this subject...some guys will say just get a glock 21 or 30 and shoot it in 3 divisions...it just depneds on what platform you want to shoot..

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Hello; I have a STI 2011 I built for IDPA and USPSA. It has the bushing barrel like the Eagle and is 40S&W. I thought of doing a 45 as well since I have a slide and barrel. The advantage of the 45 is the large holes they make and really large holes if you use semi wadcutters ;-) I have not shot a 45 with 125,000 power factor but the slide would be a little slow I think. If you bump up the power factor to 140,000 I think it would be great with 200 grain bullets. The Eagle could be used for ESP and CDP if you limit your round count to 8 for CDP and 10 for ESP. Now you made me think of doing a 45 setup after my 9mm setup is built. Hope this helps. Thanks, Eric

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There are two choices. Get the Eagle in .45 and shoot it in ESP or CDP. I have an ESP load that goes 670 fps with a 200 gr SWC. Second choice is use 9 round .45 single stack mags. You start with 10 in the gun.

Matter of fact one could use 8 round .45 mags and not be at a big disadvantage. If you think about it the vast majority of IDPA stages are 17 rounds or less. The average stage is probably less than 14 rounds.

BTW there is no "waiting on the slide". That statement is total nonsense. You cannot pull the trigger faster than the gun will cycle.

I shoot a G35 in SSP. IMO 9mm is not the way to go. The .40 shoots softer and makes larger holes. It is difficult to see 9mm holes.

One thing else to consider - an Eagle in .45 would be difficult to sell. That being said I can't think of a better ESP gun than the Eagle in .45. On occasion I play with one of my Kimber .45s in ESP. In most 50-70 round matches I will pick up 2-4 seconds due to the large hole the 200 gr SWC makes in the target.

My wife is going to shoot one of the Kimbers in ESP this weekend.

Edited by Joe D
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Joe is right. I have been looking at having my spare upper parts put on a STI frame to produce an "eaglet" but have recently been leaning against due to the large grip around a double column .45 magazine. My hand size is way more comfortable on a real 1911.

I have some of the Joe D design 9-round Box compliant 1911 magazines and that may be the way to go. You will have ten in the gun and nine on the reload so if you don't miss or dump more than one you will get through the maximum 18 hit stage.

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I have uppers in 9mm 6" - 9mm 5" - 40 6" and 45 5" all built and fitted to the same fat body STI lower. I can play in any sport I choose by a quick upper swap and different mags. Works out well and is a lot cheaper. Another advantage is that you have the exact same fire controls and "feel" to the gun's grip and operations whatever game you shoot.

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Merlin: You are my hero. I will have a 9mm slide here next week so that will make my STI 2011 a 40-5" and 9mm-5" and I also have that 5" 45 slide and barrel as well. Now I just need a 6" 40 slide to complete the set. Then I just need a single stack frame to play with as well. Thanks, Eric

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If you want a little snappier load for the 125 PF loads go to a 175gr SWC or even a 155 gr SWC. I've shot a lot of Bushwacker 175's at 170 PF and they were snappier than the 200 but shot good. Something to think about

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In this particular gun, is there any difference in reliability between 45, 40, and 9mm?

I don't know about the Eagle in other calibers, but I recently acquired a 9mm eagle that's been 100% reliable thru about 5k rounds so far.

-Cuz.

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I have uppers in 9mm 6" - 9mm 5" - 40 6" and 45 5" all built and fitted to the same fat body STI lower. I can play in any sport I choose by a quick upper swap and different mags. Works out well and is a lot cheaper. Another advantage is that you have the exact same fire controls and "feel" to the gun's grip and operations whatever game you shoot.

I thought that the ejectors were different between 9mm and 45ACP.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have been using a Kimber BP10 II in ESP for a few months now and really like it. I wanted a double stack 1911 in 40 but the Kimber was a really good deal, and I allready load 45. I'm running 185 and 200 gr lead SWCs at about 142000 PF. I down loaded untill the gun would not reliablly function and then kicked it back up. I tried a lighter recoil spring but I was getting failures to go fully into battery. This gun is the same as the Bul M5 and the Wilson KZ. I considered getting the Charles Daly (Bul) but it does not have a barrel bushing (do STIs have a bushing?). I shot it in the NJ state match where I pulled a head shot enough that if I did not have the 45's dia. it would have been a miss!

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I don't think the Wilson is the same frame, nor is the BUL. If you are getting FTFs with a lighter spring then you are having feed issues that the heavy spring is masking. I run my 1911s with either a 11# or 12.5# spring.

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As far as the frames of the Kimber and Bul, I read that they are the same except for the imprint, they are Bul frames and both guns have Kimber top ends except for the rollmark. As far as the Wilson they look identical (frames). I would not think that Wilson would gear up to make a low volume item like that frame, the top end is standard 1911.

As far as my feed issues im running lead SWC and it runs like butter with the stock spring, why mess around?

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Actually if you look at the pictures of all three you will see that they are all different. The Wilson was built around a true 10 round mag.
Joe, I'm not sure what you mean by a "true 10 round mag"?

He means that the Wilson is built around what I've heard called a "semi-staggered" magazine instead of a true double stack, therefore it's considerably thinner.

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I am indeed Duane Thomas the magazine writer. Can't really remember doing any rifle articles with photos of me at all, much less wearing a bunch of equipment. You may be thinking of someone else in that regard. (And darn it, I was all set to be really flattered, too.) ;)

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Duane, I think he's got you mixed up with David Fortier, who writes/wrote for Shooting Times and is usually on Guns and Ammo TV with Garry James.

Jerry

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Don't make me go find that pic of the spoof Cosmotactical magazine cover and photoshop in a 'Duane' byline

I DARE Ya.............H3!!.........I DOUBLE DARE YA!

Can't be any worse than what what poor Jake was exposed to. ............ahhhhhhhhh the "HORROR"..............

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