Transition - I have carried a Glock pistol since 1988. I am on my third Model 23 and first Model 27. I did have a Model 30 for a while but it was not mine (borrowed) and was a little too thick for me to comfortably carry and get a good grip. In order to learn the safety system on the STI I conducted well over 2000 repetitions of drawing from the holster and disengaging the safety, then re-engaging the safety and re-holstering. About half of this was dry and the remainder live fire. I am totally comfortable and confident now as I do it instinctively. I can transition between different shotguns with one or two triggers or different actions and never think about it. When it's time to shoot my cognitive ability allows me to decipher what is in my hands and use it accordingly in an instant without thought. The same now applies to transitioning between a pistol with or without a safety.
SHADOW
Testing- I traded for and loaded several thousand 45 ACP rounds (all 230 grains). I have three magazines all 7 rds, the STI factory, a WC and a ProMag. I began shooting with the gun right out of the box without any cleaning or disassembly. Round 89 and 193 were failures to go into battery with a reload and non-factory magazine (WC). Round 211 was a failure to go into battery with the factory magazine. I cleaned it at 1000 rounds and every time I was done for the day or reached 1000 more rounds. Since then I have put 5369 rounds through it without any malfunctions. However there was one catastrophic event that was not the guns fault. In February this year I tried some Chip McCormick 8 rd magazines that extend one round out of the grip. First, the metal follower put a little dimple on my aluminum frame. That annoyed the snot out of me but the gun did not work with that mag anyway. CMC said they'd send a new follower that was made for aluminum frames. I installed that and began to shoot. The second to last round did not feed, turned in the ejection port and ignited when the primer hit the extractor. This explosion caused the last round left in the magazine to also explode. The detonation blew the magazine follower, spring and floorplate out of the gun and swelled the magazine in place in the magazine well. It also blew the slide stop off of the gun. Other than that , the gun was not harmed. This was round 4242 that exploded. I had little pieces of brass blown through me cheek and nose. A trip to the ER got me some x-rays that showed bits of brass. These were removed, and a week later the swelling went away and now there is no evidence of the injury (plug for safety glasses right here!). Two days after the incident I took the gun to STI in Georgetown, TX unannounced and walked in to the office. The receptionist got a gunsmith, Randy to come meet me. Randy said this gun has a lifetime warranty and I am going to make it work or give you a new one if you can wait 20 minutes. Holy wow! 15 minutes later Randy returned with my gun. No more dimple on the frame, new slide stop, new RecoilMaster, new hammer spring, new magazine. I took the pistol home with a new-found respect for STI customer service and product support as well as the guns durability. I shot another 1308 rounds in practice and over chronographs. So in a total of 5580 rounds this gun has only had 3 malfunctions related to the gun and 3 specifically related to the CMC magazine.
Assessment- this pistol is only 22 ounces with an empty magazine and less than one-inch thick. The short barrel and grip make it the most comfortable pistol I have ever carried and one of the most concealable. I really love this pistol. But ... The chronograph and FBI Protocol Ballistic Testing had me slightly concerned (uncomfortable is another good descriptor). Very few 230 gr hollow point bullets performed like they are intended with the lower velocity. CCI Gold Dot standard bullet achieved 808 fps and expanded every time but never to full proportions. The CCI Gold Dot short barrel bullet achieved 818 fps and expands sooner, and to a greater diameter than its sister standard bullet but still not fully and with a minor loss of penetration (12.5" v. 14" for the standard Gold Dot). Federal HST standard got 788 fps and the same bullet +P got 860 fps. Throughout the protocol testing the HST's were inconsistent. They'd work textbook perfect one time and the next time on the same exact media and barriers it would not open up and/or lost penetration and integrity. The easy thing to do would be to stick to the Gold Dot short barrel factory load, or load the bullets up to a little more velocity. No- I am not going to a lighter bullet - that defeats the reason I went with the 45 ACP from a ballistic perspective. Lastly, the 8-rd capacity and 7-rds reload left me wanting in certain circumstances where more rounds would increase my comfort level. This lead to to the purchase of the STI VIP...
VIP
Testing - This gun is a 3.9 inch barrel and 3.80 inch slide. The grip is polymer and holds a staggered-stack magazine that holds 11- rds (12 in the pistol with loaded chamber). The grip is not thicker than a standard 1911 with standard width grip panels. This one comes with standard black sights. It weighs 27.5 ounces. It is not as comfortable or concealable as the Shadow but it is equal to a Glock 23 in both catagories. I took it out of the box at Ricky's house and he and I took turns loading and shooting. The first 150 rounds were flawless. The pistol has very little recoil, a great trigger and good ergonomics. With round 160 I had a lock-back slide with one round left in the magazine. It happened again with the next magazine to me. Then it happened to Ricky. This was all with Remington Golden FMJ factory ammo and always the last round in the magazine. If we loaded any other kind of ammo as the last round it would shoot the Remington just fine and also shoot the last round of the other kind, locking back on the empty magazine. I called STI about this and Randy said he knows exactly what it is and will fix it when I stop by on Tuesday in about 5 minutes. That day straight out of the box we shot 400 rds of 4 kinds of reloads and 4 kinds of factory ammo with the Remington causing 3 lock back with one round in magazine problems. The next day I painted the front sight chrome-yellow (way more visible even in low light). I cleaned the pistol and grabbed more ammo. We shot another 150 rds without a hiccup. The next day I shot another 300 rds with no issues. Today I shot another 100 and cleaned it. It now has 950 rounds through it with those 3 Remingtons causing the only problems.
Assessment- Shooting different ammo over the chronograph and conducting the FBI Protocol Ballistic Testing shows this pistol allow bullets to perform as intended. The average loss of feet-per-second from what the factory stated velocity states is only 21 fps. CCI Gold Dot in either bullet form performed as reported by independent tests. The standard velocity HST worked great and mimics previously reported testing, eliminating a real need for the +P in this pistol as the performance ends up being the same in spite of the 60 fps more produced by the +P load. The VIP is a very, very nice pistol. I don't love it. I like it a lot. It is not as comfortable to carry as the Shadow. Nowhere near as comfortable. But it does shoot great, extremely accurate, pushes bullets to a velocity where they perform as intended and holds 12 rds plus 11 in a reload. I guess I am keeping both and using each for different occassions. If I could get 50-75 fps more out of the Shadow and have 9 loaded + 8 for a reload I might keep it exclusively, but those circumstances are hard to create. Either way, you can't go wrong with these STI's!
