Jump to content
Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

STI Pistols


gunracer38

Recommended Posts

I have many STI pistols and all of them work great. I have had pistols made by the best gunsmiths and they are excellent. You can still buy a reliable pistol from the factory.

You must have been very lucky to have all of them run 100% without needing any attention at all, but you're definitely in the minority. Most of them need at least something done to get them to run.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have many STI pistols and all of them work great. I have had pistols made by the best gunsmiths and they are excellent. You can still buy a reliable pistol from the factory.

You must have been very lucky to have all of them run 100% without needing any attention at all, but you're definitely in the minority. Most of them need at least something done to get them to run.

I have to agree with DaMan here... What I have seen at the club and friends are mostly mag issues though. :o I don't care what anyone says, mag tuning is an art... esp in the 9mm realm. I think it involves a pentagram and candles......

Edited by JThompson
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The mags will only run as well as the guns will accept them (and vice versa). Point being, you can fix the mags, but in the end, if the gun itself isn't running at its best, then it doesn't matter how well it CAN receive the rounds.

It doesn't take much to make the factory guns better, but there is enough that it is worthwhile to either have a full custom gun built (especially in Open) or have say an Edge tuned up a smidge (like my carry gun).

Rich

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am not a S_I owner (yet?), and I was wondering, if you have magazine issues, can you just send your magazines off to get the work done to tune them, or does the entire gun have to be sent off for the work to be done?

You can buy "tuned" magazines from a number of sources. If you go that route, you're unlikely to have mag issues assuming you don't really trash them and replace the springs periodically (varies with how much you shoot).

You can also send the mags you have to a handful of people who will then tune them and get them so they're reliable...no need to send the gun to them. Some of the bigger names are no longer tuning supplied mags because they don't know what they're starting with and it's too much trouble....but they'll sell you complete tuned mags for about the same total cost.

A typical 140mm mag that's been tuned and has a Grams or Dawson mag pad, better spring and follower will run you about $125 by the time all is said and done. Sometimes you can get lucky, buy a factory mag, put a Grams or Dawson pad on it and an aftermarket spring/follower and they'll run perfectly (I have two like that).

If the gun still isn't running, then it's time to send it to a reputable smith that will get it working right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the info, I didn't mean to hijack this thread! It has just been a question I had for quite some time.

I am still undecided about the 2011 type pistols. The same way I was with the 1911's a few years back. I have one 1911 now, and would welcome another gladly. I see the 2011 in my future, I just don't know when!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a fairly new Edge in 9mm, that needed some fiddling to get it working like it should.

When I got it, the disconnector had some 'bind', which caused the slide to hang when I hand-cycled it, but after some reading and a bit of sear-spring tweaking that was fixed.

Soon after that (and after firing about 500 rounds) I got a lot of feeding and extraction problems and I noticed that the extractor had no tension at all, so with a bit of bending I got that fixed.........and now it's working like it should and I think I have some understanding about the 2011 concept ;-)

On the other hand, I found out that my pistol works perfectly without the mag-spacers and .38 super followers from Arredondo (or better yet) with Grams internals (I load my ammo to a 29,5mm COL).

So if you just want to shoot and have little to worry about: go buy a Glock (I also have one of those), but I think that my Edge is a great pistol and it just needs some TLC ;-)

BTW, my gunsmith is about 125km from my house, so I prefer to do these little tweaks myself, since driving to and from my smith, takes more time ;-)

Edited by pevadijk
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...