STI Spartan

[Jherexx]

Anyone ever shot one and put it through its paces? Thinking about getting one for USPSA single stack. I know the frame and slide are made by armscor and its assembled in the PI, so is it any better than an RIA.

[SA Friday]

Anyone ever shot one and put it through its paces? Thinking about getting one for USPSA single stack. I know the frame and slide are made by armscor and its assembled in the PI, so is it any better than an RIA.

Yes, and yes. As with any 1911 that you are going to put through paces like USPSA, or any pistol for that matter, it might need some tweaking before you are entirely happy with it. But, the critical dimensions of the pieces on the STI frames and slides are tight and correct. Not a lot of other companies can say that. It plays hell on upgrading the gun. I have a colt I upgraded and run in single stack on occasion. I had to have the entire grip safety recut to fit any quality made beavertail on it. The barrel, slide, and frame fittings are all great, but colt never really fugues out how to make tha back of the frame correctly IMO. As just one example of dimensionally correct.

Hannu is the guy to really talk to about this. He know 1911s very well.

[CO-Exprs]

While the Spartan might be assembled overseas, STI goes to great lengths to ensure the critical parts are top quality. I run heavy in SS as well and wouldn't hessitate to run a Spartan. The barrel is decent and the the lock works are the same match grade tool steel offered in all of thier 1911 and 2011 pistols. You'll spend twice as much on a Kimber or Springfield and still get MIM internals. It might require a little more tweeking to get it running just right on your match load (especially if its 200gr swc), but overall the Spartan is an excellent value.

[ldmaster]

http://www.stiguns.com/FAQ-MIM.php

STI itself says so...

I've shot my 1911's for about twenty years now, the biggest failure I've ever had was gunsmithing failures, like badly staked tubes or over-stoned sears. Never broke any of my 1911's due to MIM parts failing.

I am intrigued by the Spartan, at 650 bucks, it MIGHT be worth investigating. I'm just curious though, when did STI go low-end?

[gcrookston]

STI builds some great guns. The Spartan is one of the best for fit and finish below $1,000. They are a great entry level gun and lend themselves extremely well to modification and building -- which is what STI intends.

Slide to frame to barrel fit is match grade. Accuracy is excellent. I particularly like the Bomar style rear sight.

There were just three things I changed on mine for preference reasons.

1. Alumagrips.
2. Nighthawk Match trigger / trigger job (this was a mild refinement, as the existing trigger is quite good).
3. Wilson Ambi Safety.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj19/gcrookston/DSC00120-1.jpg

[Jherexx]

[quote=gcrookston;346516]STI builds some great guns. The Spartan is one of the best for fit and finish below $1,000. They are a great entry level gun and lend themselves extremely well to modification and building -- which is what STI intends.

Modifications aside. I was looking for an entry level gun, that I could run hard straight out of the box and grow with. Looks like this will fit the bill for me. Now to find a dealer in town who stocks it, so I can see what one looks like

[SA Friday]

http://www.stiguns.com/FAQ-MIM.php

STI itself says so...

I've shot my 1911's for about twenty years now, the biggest failure I've ever had was gunsmithing failures, like badly staked tubes or over-stoned sears. Never broke any of my 1911's due to MIM parts failing.

I am intrigued by the Spartan, at 650 bucks, it MIGHT be worth investigating. I'm just curious though, when did STI go low-end?

MIM parts suck ass, and not in a good way. I see them fail at the range on a regular basis. Run the gun hard and MIM parts become the single point of failure. There's a reason the guys and gals shooting 30,000+ rounds a year don't have them on their 1911/2011's at pistol matches.

[CO-Exprs]

Average guy will probably never even know he has MIM parts in his 1911. If you want a really precision trigger and you want it to last though, the MIM parts won't get the job done. With a 2lb competition trigger, the MIM sear and hammer edges will break down within a couple thousand rounds which is only a month or so for me. I just think its a travesty that you pay $1200 for a mid model Kimber or Springfield or SW and you get powdered metal, molded parts inside. The barrel in my TLE RL had chatter marks from the boaching process. Didn't seem to effect accuracy, but its still thoughtless workmanship on an expensive pistol.

The STI Spartan is a good buy for the guy who wants to get shooting in SS and can't bank role $1500 minimum for a hand fit pistol. Drop on a magwell, an ambi safety and some grip tape on the front strap. It already comes with decent sights and the trigger can be easily tuned up to break competition style, and at 2.5 to 3lb should hold up for several years of hard shooting. One more small upgrade would be to buy the Ed Brown extended mag release button head. Drill and tap it onto your existing mag release button. Its cheap and easy to do yourself and will make a world of difference in hitting those mag drops quickly. Also, get some decent mags as good mags go a long way to keeping any 1911 running smoothly. My personal preference are the Tripp Cobra Mags. They feed just as well as Wilsons, but they are easier to lock in during a reload. Most competition guys start with Wilsons and then lose them after the 4th or 5th time they bust a reload only to have the mag fall out in the middle of a stage. McGar 8rd mags are also very well made and feed well, but only buy the stainless ones. The carbon McGar mags are too brittle and the feed lips crack off under hard use. So that means a no go on Act and Novak mags as they are rebadged carbon McGars.

One other thing in favor of the STI Spartan. Customer service. Kimber fixed all the problems with my TLE, free of charge and even covered shipping, but it took a year and 5 trips to get it shooting right. I purchased an STI rifle for 3gun which came with a barrel defect. STI had that rifle back in my hands with a new barrel in 7 days. No questions, no guff and a very happy rifle owner. STI customer service is tops in my book. Should something not be right with your new Spartan, its nice to know that STI will take care of you and quickly.