STI v my 1911

[SamTuckerMTNMAN]

Well, I'm relatively new to the autoloaders portino of THR...so please forgive me if this is an ar v ak flame thread starter. My predicament is that I have a beautiful Springfield 1911 a1 that is a little older, no add ons, nothing much just a nice parker finish.

I would love to jump up to a competitive target model but most things seem a bit out of my price range....then there are these STI target guns coming from gunsmiths which appear pretty good for the money. What is your experience with these? Any competitive target/action shooters out there (this is something I'm looking in to locally). I dont want a multi thousand dollar 'race gun' that will bust on one walk through the mountain with a fall on some hard rocks, but something thats a strong 1911 style competitior in 45 or 9mm.

1911's are pretty sweet. Pretty new to me. Compact plastic is a thing of the past for me. . .

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[loop]

I shoot IDPA regularly and USPSA occasionally. My first advice would be to take your gun to a few matches and talk to people about what they are using. If your Springfield has been reliable in the past just go ahead and shoot it in a few matches. You may be surprised. I can't tell you how many people have malfunctions in matches, where the shooting is fast compared to target shooting, with guns that "never had a problem before."

If your gun proves reliable you may want to do the upgrades you want to the platform you already have. Once you see what others are using you may change your mind about what you want.

My IDPA gun has no major changes to it from how it came out of the box and I do quite well with it. It also happens to be my least expensive .45. I have guns that I have as much as three times as many dollars in that don't perform as well in competition.

One of the first things you will probably notice is striker-fired and DA/SA weapons are generally faster on the first shot so they start with an inherent advantage. Heavier guns have less muzzle flip and are faster on followup shots.

Once you shoot some matches ask some guys if you can try their guns. That's how I got started on the CZ97B and eventually ended up shooting a Tanfoglio.

If you're looking for something you can fall in the rocks with and have it still function well in competition, the only suggestion I have is a Glock.

 

[Hawk]

I don't shoot competitively but from what I've seen many do quite well with the "run what ya brung" approach.

As far as STI's staggered column service models go, they're neither prima donnas nor delicate in my experience. One can do stuff to a VIP that just wouldn't be considered with a Nighthawk with that 40 lpi checkering on the tail end.

I wouldn't be too concerned about one of thier service models taking a ding on the trail and they pretty much bounce off rocks. The same might not be applicable to the optics on a racegun but you probably wouldn't go hiking with an all-out racegun anyway.

VIP not being pampered:

IMHO, they are the plainest looking 1911s in their price range, possibly bordering on ugly but I like 'em anyway. Nevertheless, what you've already got will do just fine.