Will North Sylva treat the Steyr L9 A1 future owners better than the M9 A1 ones?

[maurice]

BT guide rods makes a steel guide rod for the L9A1,...Mine should be here this week. I tuned the ejector so the brass does not end up in your face, and the mags drop free.

[m900mwk]

Does anyone know the EXACT part number of LPA target sights for the L9? My emails to LPA are not being answered nor are my emails to Steyr Austria. FYI, the L9's have 3 dot sights NOT the trap sights and the front sight has a RED dot, rather than white. It is crap!!!!!!! Try sighting a black target at 20M indoors with a red front sight. Absolutely pathetic.

[odelleng]

I believe I can help you with this. The original M9 is not the M9A1. It is a dark blue colour, not gray like the M9A1, and it has a rail which is a pretty "wacko" proprietary thing with rectangle shaped indentations that the light clips into (try finding the light to fit that now... collector's item). These were made from about 1999-2003. The MA1's were made from about 2004-2008. Then they were not made for the better part of a couple years, and then in 2010 Steyr came out with the redesigned MA1's with a new trigger and extractor. The hallmark of these new guns is the left-right roll pin under the rear sight, and "W" as the middle letter in the 3-digit date code. We have yet to see these in Canada. The old blue ones (like below) there are some of these in Canada but they always have some kind of threaded or extended barrel, as they are from after the prohib cut-off and too short for our laws. The 2004-2008 ones are what you always see. Hopefully we will see the new ones at some point.

Hey Ghostie, good to hear from you. We did the import of the original M9s and M40s along with FN Sports in Montreal before North Sylva was on board and the guns were exactly as you say too short for import so rather than put 8-10mm of barrel out the front we went the Mk23 way and designed the suppressor barrel with the boys in Austria (no, there are no kangaroos there) and imported that. The thread should be M13.5x1LH and it is made to fit a Brugger & Thomet Impulse suppressor. (They are pretty rare over here.)

The frame of the original gun is to my hand much nicer, the new one going to Glockey-stick profile, and the rail is a Steyr version for which there was a (also rare) ITG adapter made which would plunk a 1913 rail section on the front. The Steyr light was so rare even I don't have one but it was rumoured to exist. I brought in a bunch of the ITG adapters and I think Steyr USA has them again now. The only ugly of the adapter was the factory holster no longer fit. They have new (beautiful) leather holster for the originals and the A1s but the adapter guns don't fit.

Lastly we also have some of the replacement extractor kits for the 9s with FTE issues and yes the early guns had serious issues firing IVI and DA ball ammo but that seems to have been fixed with the later guns. We did install some extra spacers on the striker springs of early guns (serial numbers starting 030xxx) to remedy this if it was of concern to the owners. Mine has shot commercial ammo fine from the get go. Hope this helps.

[dinhulks]

You mean to say the L9-A1 still has the ejector problems brand new???? Sorry won't buy them now.

BT guide rods makes a steel guide rod for the L9A1,...Mine should be here this week. I tuned the ejector so the brass does not end up in your face, and the mags drop free.

[flixy123]

BT guide rods makes a steel guide rod for the L9A1,...Mine should be here this week. I tuned the ejector so the brass does not end up in your face, and the mags drop free.

Maurice, can you describe how you tuned the ejector? ie. which areas you filed/polished to accomplish this? Thanks.

[Dr.Islay]

Maurice, can you describe how you tuned the ejector? ie. which areas you filed/polished to accomplish this? Thanks.

Interested in this as well.

Further, any L9A1 owners experiencing a slide lock failure on an empty magazine?

[thewolfchild]

A few months ago I bought a brand new Steyr M9 A1. It looked nice, impressive ergonomics, trigger OK but when I started to shoot ... it was failing to eject like crazy, especially with 115 gr ammo. I followed the dealer advice and ran more rounds through it to break it in; the same, maybe even worse. At the same time I was not able to install a Streamlight laser / flashlight on it (which had been installed perfectly on other brands). I measured the Picatinny rail and ... it was completely out of specs.

I took the gun to North Sylva under warranty, with very detailed explanations, photos and measurements. They didn't do ANYTHING. For the FTE problem they said they couldn't reproduce it, although I had given them many photos with empty cases stuck inside. For the Picatinny rail, they came up with the story that, actually, it was not a Picatinny one but a "Steyr proprietary rail". As all Canadian dealers sell the M9 A1s imported by North Sylva as having Picatinny rails, they said the ads were incorrect.

Now, the truth:

1. For FTE, it is well known (research CGN Forum) that North Sylva had imported all M9 A1s from a batch with problems. Some of the guns in this batch (not all) have FTE. For these, the solution is to replace the rail spring and the extractor. I was not the first one with FTE problems, I even knew before buying I could hit a junk, but I took the chance having been informed UPFRONT that North Sylva would replace any faulty parts. However they didn't want to do it.

2. For the rail, the old M9s had indeed a Steyr proprietary rail but the M9 A1s were designed and manufactured with Picatinnys. (Anyway, the rail measurements were even farther away from the so-called Steyr proprietary rail.) It looks like North Sylva doesn't know this and did not even bother to call Steyr for clarifications.

I was lucky to have bought the gun from a very nice and honest dealer: SFRC. They took it back and gave me a full refund.

I am not at all pleased to be obliged to criticise a member of the Canadian firearm business, so I have been reluctant up to now to post this info. However, seeing the enthusiasm many CGN fellows have for the new L9 A1 imported as well by North Sylva (I understand, the 9 mm Steyr handguns look and feel special) I don’t think it would be fair towards them to keep all this hidden.

CBBWATSE : DR


(can't be bothered with all the silly emoticons : didn't read)

[Jarvy]

Interested in this as well.

Further, any L9A1 owners experiencing a slide lock failure on an empty magazine?

Yes, and I experienced the same failure on my Glock, too - failure to keep my thumb off the slide stop.

[Maxkeg]

I meant the M40-A1 model, stay away from the M9-A1 model that has given lots of headache to all shooters.

[Dr.Islay]

Yes, and I experienced the same failure on my Glock, too - failure to keep my thumb off the slide stop.

Interesting; thanks. Although I don't experience this behaviour with my Glock, I haven't considered this. Will definitely have to consciously think about this next outing. Will either solve this particular problem or rule it out...