Stephen A. Camp
Moderator In Memoriam
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2002
- Messages
- 2,430
Hello. I recently purchased an STI Trojan in the 5" barrel chambered in .38 Super. I ordered the gun with their Bomar-like adjustable rear sights and a plain black front post. The barrel uses a tightly fitted bushing as per most 1911 pistols. The OD of the barrel from the muzzle rearward about 1.46" is 0.58" with the remainder being 0.575." STI lists the pistol's weight at about 36 oz. Normally, these come with STI's thin stocks, but I ordered this one with standard thickness grips. According to STI, the pistol's approved for folks liking to shoot IPSC, USPSA, IDPA, and SSSA matches. It comes standard with a FLGR and a 12-lb. conventional recoil spring. I didn't measure the trigger pull, but estimate it at about 4-lbs, perhaps a little less. The barrel uses a 1-piece feed ramp and the case is very well supported.
In .38 Super, a 1-piece feed ramp is used. The same has been the case with my 9mm. The .45 ACP uses the conventional, two-piece ramp. The barrel is of stainless steel, has a 1:16 twist, and is designed to use 9mm diameter bullets.
STI has recently changed from the flat front straps to the rounded ones favored by most folks. They've continued with their proprietary "STIppling." I didn't really have a preference other than for looks between the two, but do note that the more rounded front strap seems to let the STIppling take "hold" better. I think this is an improvement over the older Trojans like my other two.
You can see the more rounded front grip strap, STI's standard thickness stocks, and their "STIppling" in this picture.
The .38 Super Trojan uses Metal Form 9-round magazines with the rounded follower and comes with one. My older Trojans came with Mec-Gar magazines. This pistol is very comfortable to shoot.
The pistol has a flat mainspring housing that is plastic as is a trend these days and an extended single-side thumb safety.
The STI magazine release typically holds the magazine about 0.02" higher than is the case with most other pistols in an effort to improve feed reliability. Just for grins, I'd substituted conventional magazine releases in both my 9mm and .45 Trojans; reliability was not affected. Such was not the case when I tried it with the .38 Super. My gun, at least, requires the "lift" provided by the STI magazine release.
Earlier I mentioned that this pistol comes with a Metal Form magazine. While my other Trojans work fine with Mec-Gars, such has not been the case with the Super. It definitely "prefers" the rounded follower. The flat ones on my Mec-Gar spares ride forward when the last round's chambered such that the magazine will not drop free. Fortunately, the Mec-Gar .38 Super magazines work fine in my 9mm Trojan. I've not tried any other make .38 Super magazines....yet.
While my other two Trojans worked great out of the box, such was not the case with this one. It had a disturbing habit of engaging the thumb safety on ocassion during strings of fire. This turned out to be a very minor problem that I corrected after a discussion with Chris Schirmer of STI. A little work on the detent of the the safety where the plunger meets it solved the problem. If I shot "high thumb" as do many folks, I'd never have known there was a problem.
I did remove the FLGR and replaced it with a standard GI recoil spring guide and spring cap. I did the same thing with my 5" .45 Trojan as I just don't care for them. The gun runs just as smoothly with the GI rod as with the full-length.
Ammunition: This was done over several days as I didn't have my reloading gear when the pistol arrived and factory loads besides being expensive compared to either 9mm or .45 were pretty limited in choice.
The following loads were fired and average listed velocities are based on 10 shot strings and given in ft/sec as are extreme spreads and standard deviations.
Corbon 100-gr PowRball +P:
Average Velocity: 1583
Extreme Spread: 36
Std. Deviation: 11
Corbon 115-gr JHP +P:
Average Velocity: 1467
Extreme Spread: 43
Std. Deviation: 13
Corbon 125-gr JHP +P:
Average Velocity: 1448
Extreme Spread: 31
Standard Deviation: 10
Remington UMC 130-gr FMJ +P:
Average Velocity: 1224
Extreme Spread: 64
Std. Deviation: 20
PMC 130-gr FMJ +P:
Average Velocity: 1091
Extreme Spread: 35
Std. Deviation: 12
Handload:
Hornady 147-gr XTP*
8.4 grains Blue Dot
Remington UMC Cases
Winchester Small Pistol Primer
LOA: 1.235"
Average Velocity: 1143
Extreme Spread: 24
Std. Deviation: 8
(*I was very surprised at this velocity. Two days earlier, I'd chronographed it on two ocassions at over 1300 ft/sec. I suspect that those figures are in error, but have no idea why I got such differing results. I THINK the figure above is correct and is more closely aligned with expected results based on various loading data.)
Handload:
Rainier 124-gr Plated Round Nose
Same as above for powder, primer, etc, except that the case used was PMC.
Average Velocity: 1172
Extreme Spread: 59
Std. Deviation: 23
Continued...
In .38 Super, a 1-piece feed ramp is used. The same has been the case with my 9mm. The .45 ACP uses the conventional, two-piece ramp. The barrel is of stainless steel, has a 1:16 twist, and is designed to use 9mm diameter bullets.
STI has recently changed from the flat front straps to the rounded ones favored by most folks. They've continued with their proprietary "STIppling." I didn't really have a preference other than for looks between the two, but do note that the more rounded front strap seems to let the STIppling take "hold" better. I think this is an improvement over the older Trojans like my other two.
You can see the more rounded front grip strap, STI's standard thickness stocks, and their "STIppling" in this picture.
The .38 Super Trojan uses Metal Form 9-round magazines with the rounded follower and comes with one. My older Trojans came with Mec-Gar magazines. This pistol is very comfortable to shoot.
The pistol has a flat mainspring housing that is plastic as is a trend these days and an extended single-side thumb safety.
The STI magazine release typically holds the magazine about 0.02" higher than is the case with most other pistols in an effort to improve feed reliability. Just for grins, I'd substituted conventional magazine releases in both my 9mm and .45 Trojans; reliability was not affected. Such was not the case when I tried it with the .38 Super. My gun, at least, requires the "lift" provided by the STI magazine release.
Earlier I mentioned that this pistol comes with a Metal Form magazine. While my other Trojans work fine with Mec-Gars, such has not been the case with the Super. It definitely "prefers" the rounded follower. The flat ones on my Mec-Gar spares ride forward when the last round's chambered such that the magazine will not drop free. Fortunately, the Mec-Gar .38 Super magazines work fine in my 9mm Trojan. I've not tried any other make .38 Super magazines....yet.
While my other two Trojans worked great out of the box, such was not the case with this one. It had a disturbing habit of engaging the thumb safety on ocassion during strings of fire. This turned out to be a very minor problem that I corrected after a discussion with Chris Schirmer of STI. A little work on the detent of the the safety where the plunger meets it solved the problem. If I shot "high thumb" as do many folks, I'd never have known there was a problem.
I did remove the FLGR and replaced it with a standard GI recoil spring guide and spring cap. I did the same thing with my 5" .45 Trojan as I just don't care for them. The gun runs just as smoothly with the GI rod as with the full-length.
Ammunition: This was done over several days as I didn't have my reloading gear when the pistol arrived and factory loads besides being expensive compared to either 9mm or .45 were pretty limited in choice.
The following loads were fired and average listed velocities are based on 10 shot strings and given in ft/sec as are extreme spreads and standard deviations.
Corbon 100-gr PowRball +P:
Average Velocity: 1583
Extreme Spread: 36
Std. Deviation: 11
Corbon 115-gr JHP +P:
Average Velocity: 1467
Extreme Spread: 43
Std. Deviation: 13
Corbon 125-gr JHP +P:
Average Velocity: 1448
Extreme Spread: 31
Standard Deviation: 10
Remington UMC 130-gr FMJ +P:
Average Velocity: 1224
Extreme Spread: 64
Std. Deviation: 20
PMC 130-gr FMJ +P:
Average Velocity: 1091
Extreme Spread: 35
Std. Deviation: 12
Handload:
Hornady 147-gr XTP*
8.4 grains Blue Dot
Remington UMC Cases
Winchester Small Pistol Primer
LOA: 1.235"
Average Velocity: 1143
Extreme Spread: 24
Std. Deviation: 8
(*I was very surprised at this velocity. Two days earlier, I'd chronographed it on two ocassions at over 1300 ft/sec. I suspect that those figures are in error, but have no idea why I got such differing results. I THINK the figure above is correct and is more closely aligned with expected results based on various loading data.)
Handload:
Rainier 124-gr Plated Round Nose
Same as above for powder, primer, etc, except that the case used was PMC.
Average Velocity: 1172
Extreme Spread: 59
Std. Deviation: 23
Continued...
