I just got back from FBMG where Larry and James let me disassemble their demo STI Spartan. I've gotta say that the pictures floating around on the net don't do this gun justice. I was very impressed with the fit, and the bead-blasted parkerized finish is a lot more refined than all of the web shots I've seen. Also for some reason the rollmark doesn't seem as massive in person.
The slide moved like butter on a hot skillet and the trigger pull is exactly what I like, smooth, short, not too light and not too heavy, with a clean break. I'm not a big fan of the walnut grips against the parkerized finish, I'll probably swap them for black plastic. Shaking the gun produced no rattle and there was no play at all in the slide to frame fit.
There were a couple of little negative things I noticed that according to some web research are said to be rectified by STI in the new batch. Still, keep your eyes peeled. There were a couple other very little things that only I would notice, not worth mentioning especially on a gun at this price.
So, to make a long story short, I bought one. I was planning on a Px4 or another XD, but compact this time, but this was too good to pass up. Can't wait 'til the new batch comes in and I get to shoot this beauty.
p.s. I thought I'd hate the polymer trigger, I don't.
The slide moved like butter on a hot skillet and the trigger pull is exactly what I like, smooth, short, not too light and not too heavy, with a clean break. I'm not a big fan of the walnut grips against the parkerized finish, I'll probably swap them for black plastic. Shaking the gun produced no rattle and there was no play at all in the slide to frame fit.
There were a couple of little negative things I noticed that according to some web research are said to be rectified by STI in the new batch. Still, keep your eyes peeled. There were a couple other very little things that only I would notice, not worth mentioning especially on a gun at this price.
So, to make a long story short, I bought one. I was planning on a Px4 or another XD, but compact this time, but this was too good to pass up. Can't wait 'til the new batch comes in and I get to shoot this beauty.
p.s. I thought I'd hate the polymer trigger, I don't.
