I was able to get in on the FBMG group buy not too long ago and picked up an STI Spartan. This is going to be kind of a bullet-point review. If anyone would like more detail on something I'll try to provide it.
I was able to get it to the range last weekend and test it out a bit. First off - I've got to say the fit of this gun is very nice! Slide to frame fit is probably the best of any of my 1911s.
While I like the looks of a parkerized finish, I swear its got to be one of the least durable. After a few dozen draws from a holster I think I'm down to bare metal in a couple spots already.
The sights are GREAT! I didn't need to adjust them at all - they were spot on. That red fiber optic really leaps out at you.
The 4 brands of factory ammo I tried all worked great. No problems whatsoever with factory... BUT, my reloads were another matter. (I'm guessing) 9 out of 10 first rounds fired failed to extract. Occasionally a round in the middle of the magazine would also fail to extract. When this would happen I'd lock the slide back, drop the mag and tap the back of the slide on my boot to get the spent brass out of the chamber. They all fell out after 1 or 2 taps. I've been loading this same recipe for a long time and they have been shot in at least 4 other 1911 platform guns and both my HK's without problems. In fact I use the same batch of reloads for all my USPSA shooting. That means they are all case guaged before they go into the ammo can. So this is a little disappointing.
I bought this gun to be my new single-stack USPSA gun. There is no way I'm going to start buying factory ammo just to shoot it. Any ideas on this problem? Could it be a little bit of a tight chamber?
I was able to get it to the range last weekend and test it out a bit. First off - I've got to say the fit of this gun is very nice! Slide to frame fit is probably the best of any of my 1911s.
While I like the looks of a parkerized finish, I swear its got to be one of the least durable. After a few dozen draws from a holster I think I'm down to bare metal in a couple spots already.
The sights are GREAT! I didn't need to adjust them at all - they were spot on. That red fiber optic really leaps out at you.
The 4 brands of factory ammo I tried all worked great. No problems whatsoever with factory... BUT, my reloads were another matter. (I'm guessing) 9 out of 10 first rounds fired failed to extract. Occasionally a round in the middle of the magazine would also fail to extract. When this would happen I'd lock the slide back, drop the mag and tap the back of the slide on my boot to get the spent brass out of the chamber. They all fell out after 1 or 2 taps. I've been loading this same recipe for a long time and they have been shot in at least 4 other 1911 platform guns and both my HK's without problems. In fact I use the same batch of reloads for all my USPSA shooting. That means they are all case guaged before they go into the ammo can. So this is a little disappointing.
I bought this gun to be my new single-stack USPSA gun. There is no way I'm going to start buying factory ammo just to shoot it. Any ideas on this problem? Could it be a little bit of a tight chamber?
