Steyr M9-A1 .9mm (Opinions needed)

Slyder73

Regular
EE Expired
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Location
Vancouver
I'm looking at a new .9mm Steyr M9-A1 pistol.
I'm wondering if anyone has opinions of said gun, positive or negative reviews? It is I believe a DAO? How is the trigger pull? What do you think of the sights, recoil, handling etc.?
 
played with one,and in the same boat as you.. i think ghostie will chime in here i think he has one. the bad news i have heard. its really hard to get parts, and accessories. sights are odd, but doable unless you pay more for the night sights. even getting aftermarket sights are hard. i read somewhere wolverine has a few that are broken and still havent been fixed,

but i still like it. it fits my hands nice, pretty looking, trigger is similar to the glock .but a bit different. its very accurate. not a badly priced either.
i have never fired one, so i cant say anything on recoil ,what not . i hear the trigger pull is bit longer and heavier than the glock 17, .

im interested as well in what people have to say
 
I have had one for a year now. Reliable and ergonomic, sits just as low as a Glock in the hand. The trigger is not very good, its heavy and squishy but has a great short reset. The trapeziodal sights take about 30 rounds to get used to, they are great for close range work, not so great for PPC shooting out to 50 meters. Think of the M9A1 as an ergonomicly accurate improved version of the Glock. The 106mm barrels for Canada have tighter chambers and IMHO match barrels, mine did not work 100% with crappy Canadian BDX commercial reloads, but runs 100% on factory ammo and my own reloads
 
Have had mine for two years, great feeling grip, sights are no problem at all. The trigger is the only improvement needed(I left even that since it is satisfactory). The price is excellent at $600 if that is still what they are going for now. It has a unique look and has been great for new shooters I have introduced for target shooting. Many of my friends chose to shoot it over Para 1911`s, Glock,M&P,XD, and too many other pistols I brought out. That said not my fav. pistol but I would not sell it. Get one you will be happy you did. As for parts I have never seen or heard of any available.
 
I like mine. Runs very well and is built to take the hottest loads full time without damage.
Kind of similar to Glock, but has a steel skeleton inside the plastic frame.
Really interesting unit. You will not go wrong getting one.
 
I had one, sold it to get M&P...

Trigger pull was kinda inconsistent, but the reset is very short
ergonomics are decent but wasn't perfect for me.
sights are different, but I just prefer regular 3 dot
build quality was very good, but I idin't like the finish of the slide.
I had some problems with reloads, but it worked fine with factory
 
I've got one. From the tupperware I've shot, it's my favourite (G17, M&P, SIG Pro). The grip ergonomics are absolutely phenomenal, and trigger pull is as good as any of the other safe-action triggers I played with. Recoil feels more manageable than with the Glock 17 for me, and it's fed flawlessly so far (not a lot of rounds through, though. 100-200ish).

My only issue with it is that I can't hit ####, which is primarily due to the sights (if they bother you too much you can always switch 'em for regular sights).
 
We had one we used as a loaner for a while at CRAFM... I know we sent it in to be repaired a few times before we sold it. In the year we had it, it was probably out for warranty repairs for about four months.

The Glock loaner however, has probably seen WAY over 50,000 rounds and is still going strong.
 
I have one in .40 S&W. It, together with a Browning .22LR, was my first purchase the day I got my PAL. I do not particularly like it but that is more likely the calibre than the pistol. I find .40 (and .357, for that matter) a little noisier and jumpier than I prefer. I have several nines, although not a Steyr, and find that calibre suits me well. As everyone else has pointed out, the Steyr's trigger is not great and the sights are weird. OTOH, I love the short, heavy "blaster" look of the thing and a young lady I know, of delicate build, finds the .40 calibre version very much to her liking.

The best thing about it is field-stripping. I know of only one gun that strips faster than a Steyr (HK P7) and nothing goes back together faster or more easily.

So far it has had somewhat more than 1000 rounds through it with no mechanical failures but, I believe, slightly more than usual stovepipes and FTEs. This might be my fault for not gripping the .40 S&W well enough -- one of my friends has never succeeded in firing a full magazine from any of my guns without two or three jams.
 
Last edited:
I like the sights on them. I believe they are called "Gutter Snipe" sights.

The triangular front sight is what made the browning HP shoot so well for me.

It gives you a very fine point of aim.

That said. I prefer a 1911 grip angle to such a drastic rake.
 
both 1911 and Steyr M9a1 supposed to have the same grip angle 111degrees IIRC, but they don't feel the same at all.

Forgot to mention before, one of the good things about the Steyr is that it was designed to accept a shoulder stock. I couldn't fine one so I made one myself when I had the gun, I think i still have it somewhere... The stock really brought out the accuracy for me.
 
both 1911 and Steyr M9a1 supposed to have the same grip angle 111degrees IIRC, but they don't feel the same at all.

Forgot to mention before, one of the good things about the Steyr is that it was designed to accept a shoulder stock. I couldn't fine one so I made one myself when I had the gun, I think i still have it somewhere... The stock really brought out the accuracy for me.

Same grip angle but Steyr put that weird bump on the back to 'aid' the shooter to keep a high grip. For some shooters, it can be a bit annoying...and the bump on the back feels uncomfortable in the palm.
 
We ran two. Both had the trigger fail after a few thousand rounds. Both were sent to the distributor for warranty work and have been there for over a year.
 
I wish I could defend my Steyr more successfully. I got mine second hand with tritium sights. It was more accurate than many other pistols I've fired with big fancy names and reputations, and I and many other shooters did find that trigger a joy. After around two thousand rounds or so most of the wrinkles were ironed out, like that firing pin skid across the primer. Different, but no biggie. I found those tight tolerances meant it needed to be kept clean. There's lots of positive info at Steyrclub.com.

North Sylvia Imports(?), the distributor, were glacially slow and expensive. They emailed me promptly but had no inventory and told me they waited to build up an order before sending off to Austria for their parts. Then they skipped me. I waited four months for a mag release that I wanted to tinker with to make an extended one. I wound up searching for extra mags here on CGN and from Wolverine, rather than pay the $65 bucks they wanted.
 
I used to have one. I agree with some of the posters on here that, unfortunately the M9-A1 is more of a gun that you want to love, but it lets you down, rather than a gun that makes you love it again and again. I did a big comparison thread on various guns awhile back. Steyr was in there.

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=175105

The SIG 229 is the best gun in that comparison by a wide margin, in my view... and for my preferences.

Good things about the Steyr:
- It has a great ergonomic grip and a very nice feel;
- the trigger feels a little less mushy/more crisp than the stock GLOCK trigger;
- they are something different and unique;
- they look pretty cool;
- they are reasonably inexpensive.

ah hem.... and now the bad news:
- the triangle/trapazoid sights are terrible. I wish I would have gotten the three dot night sights. This issue has been covered in various threads on this board, and I won't rehash my views here other than to say that the sights are the single worst aspect of the Steyr pistol;
- Mine ejected erratically... sometimes right, sometimes straight back hitting me in the head, sometimes even left... Some guys thought it might be a chipped extractor, but it wasn't. What I think it was... that weird loaded chamber indicater "cone" on the breachface... not a great idea in my view.

Watch this vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjZx3v4Utnk

- The gun is fitted extremely tight - which can be good for accuracy, but when this gun dirties up, it will jam up. At least that is how mine was. I had a variety of ejection feeding failures. The gun Steyr is always compared to (GLOCK) doesn't do this...even with aftermarket barrels and no cleaning.
- One more thing... hardly any parts, holsters, support, anybody that knows how to fix them, etc.

My take on the guns generally - there are better guns out there. It all depends on what you have and what you want. If you have one or two other guns and are looking at this, look elsewhere. If you have every 9mm pistol under the sun and/or really want try this gun and/or the bizarre sights... then go for it. You can always sell it for 80% of what you paid for it anyway (hopefully). That's what I did.

It is a good looking gun though, some pics of my old one:
Steyr_rightside_small.jpg

Steyr_leftside_small.jpg
 
Last edited:
I wish I could defend my Steyr more successfully. I got mine second hand with tritium sights. It was more accurate than many other pistols I've fired with big fancy names and reputations, and I and many other shooters did find that trigger a joy. After around two thousand rounds or so most of the wrinkles were ironed out, like that firing pin skid across the primer. Different, but no biggie. I found those tight tolerances meant it needed to be kept clean. There's lots of positive info at Steyrclub.com.

North Sylvia Imports(?), the distributor, were glacially slow and expensive. They emailed me promptly but had no inventory and told me they waited to build up an order before sending off to Austria for their parts. Then they skipped me. I waited four months for a mag release that I wanted to tinker with to make an extended one. I wound up searching for extra mags here on CGN and from Wolverine, rather than pay the $65 bucks they wanted.

North Sylva not the best guys to deal with, will not bore you with the story but very bad customer service. They make a lot of sales so do not care about the problems brought to their attention,
 
Back
Top Bottom