STI Double Stack .45 Reliability?

[cheers623]

So,

I have asked a similar question before but for different reasons. I have an STI Tactical .40 that is drop-dead reliable I bought from Dave Dawson. At the time I was looking for a limited division gun that could also work as a home defense gun. Well, 15,000 rounds later I have it set-up as my limited division gun and want to keep it that way. I love the pistol and would now like to get a .45 STI Tactical exclusively for home defense. My question is for the gunsmith gurus that have had experience with both .40 and .45 in the STI platform. Are the .45s more or less reliable than their .40 counterparts? I know that the magazines swell a little bit when loaded fully. This is not a concern of mine as I have no problem downloading the mags a round or two. I am just wondering if there any other issues that would make buying this gun in .45 a mistake. I do not want to get into .40 vs .45 for self defense discussion. I have always preferred the .45 for self defense and have always carried one. As much as I like the .40 Tactical I have I would love to have one in .45 for the house, BUT, only if it is as reliable as the .40.

Any insight or first hand experience would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!

Thanks for looking guys....

cheers623

DVC

[chizzle]

I bought an STI tactical in 45 acp, and the gun has been fairly reliable. I had to tune the magazines, and polish the frame where it meets the barrel ramp, as it was catching on some of the 230 gr. HP ammo I was using. After those two small adjustments, it has run like a top! The mags do swell a little when loaded completely full, but if you're not in a hurry to reload them they work just fine. If you're willing to download a round or two, you'll never notice.

Good luck!

[Duane Thomas]

Years ago Brian Enos put forth a post in which he ranked, in his experience - which is immense - just how easy it is to make a 1911 feed with 100 percent reliability, taking into account the magazine type and cartridge. From easiest to hardest, it went like this:

Single stack .45

Double stack .40

Single stack .40

Double stack .45

So, to answer your question, I would say, "Possibly, but don't count on it."

[38superman]

I own an STI Edge double stack .45

My experience with the gun has been that they require a little more tuning to get them to run, but once done, it is has been reliable as any of my other guns.

When the gun was new, I experienced a lot of feeding problems that turned out to be magazine related.

I had Bevin Grams tune a set of mags for me and the feeding issues melted away.

However, I discovered that his follower was radical enought to lock the slide while there was still a round in the gun.

I ended up having to modify the followers and the slide stop.

It seemed the the tang on the slide stop would rub the ogive of the bullet and the bullet would engage the slide stop.

Once that was done all issues went away.

I use the gun for L10 so I rarely load the mags to capacity but have never been able to get them to hold more than 14+1 loadable.

Now that the gun is tuned up, I would have no problem using it for self defense.

It's just too big and heavy to carry but 15 rounds of 45 caliber attitude adjustment makes it an excellent choice for home defense.

Tony