Is my STI Spartan V alright? With Range Videos

fdc said:
Sorry you are absolutely correct. Both are conversion coatings however and won't chip.
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Alright, chip is a poor choice. But call it what you will, some areas, the parkerization has come off in small specks - if you will (some larger like underneath the thumb safety). Trigger guard area, between the grip and mainspring housing/beavertail, the lower half of the beavertail, underneath the thumb safety (both upper and lower portion), underneath the slide stop. I've never dropped the gun or banged it against the safe.
 
Protege said:
Alright, chip is a poor choice. But call it what you will, some areas, the parkerization has come off in small specks - if you will (some larger like underneath the thumb safety). Trigger guard area, between the grip and mainspring housing/beavertail, the lower half of the beavertail, underneath the thumb safety (both upper and lower portion), underneath the slide stop. I've never dropped the gun or banged it against the safe.
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I want to hold back all of the expletives I want to hurl at the screen right now. You obviously don't know what you're doing.

You are describing WEAR AREAS on the gun where it was done to TEST FIRE the gun. These guns aren't sterile, there's been a bit of hand fitting that's done, it's never perfect.

Quit crying and enjoy your damn gun already.
 
If you want it to look pretty in ur hand go buy a SAM. If you want a shooter get a STI. Their finishing is weak but all good shooters even with their lowest grade option Spartan.

Fit is more important than finish unless you just want it to look good in pictures.
 
from the video, you are too uptight with the gun and hold it too tight(I know that because the flitch after the 7th shot in the first video). and your body just move back and forth as each shot. you need to have a proper stance, lean forward and hold the gun tight enough, but don't fight it with your strong hand, close the gaps between your weak hand fingers.
I can see you are bigger and stronger than me and I can shoot both my sr1911 and G41 with ease. so, it's not about strength.
 
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Hrcboy said:
If you want it to look pretty in ur hand go buy a SAM. If you want a shooter get a STI. Their finishing is weak but all good shooters even with their lowest grade option Spartan.

Fit is more important than finish unless you just want it to look good in pictures.
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If it's pretty and does't shoot it's gone if it can shoot and is ugly I keep it.. for both it's a very small affordable list
 
Protege said:
Well, finally made it to the range last night. From looking at the gun, and examining the finish, machining, etc. it certainly does not feel like a $900 gun. The finish rubs off very easily. Even though I have yet to handle a SAM Thunderbolt, I do feel that gun is the better buy for $300 less. Now, I'm not exactly a marksman. I have poor trigger control because I've been focusing on my grip, stance, and sight alignment. Last night's range visit gave me a bit of a revelation in regards to my fundamentals though. I've been working on my mechanics for the past month, and last night, was able to see its effectiveness. I have - in my opinion - significantly improved my recoil control of 9mm. It still requires a lot work, but I feel I finally have a foundation to build upon. Now, having said that, I still do not have the required strength to handle .45acp. So please bear that in mind when watching the videos below. The Spartan shot well. It cycled well. It functioned well. I do like its balance - I prefer it over the Beretta 92FS and the Glock 41. The Glock 41 felt violent under sustained fire. My support hand index finger took a beating, but not so with the Spartan. Again, I attribute that to poor strength. I didn't like the polymer trigger. I might replace it with an aluminum or steel trigger. Also, the trigger break felt heavier during live fire than it did during dry fire. I used 5 E-Lander mags, and they all work well, with no FTE/FTF using American Eagle and Sellier & Bellot factory ammo. My only gripe with the E-Lander mags are that it was a bit difficult inserting the 8th round.
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As others have said, the gun is fine. At the $900.00 price point you are not going to get gem quality finish but what you have there is a 100% functional and accurate 1911 that will last you the rest of your life. I would be elated if I were you.

You have all the strength you need to control the 45 acp. If you want to shoot it faster than what I see in the video then you will have to modify your technique. You are standing on your heels and the recoil is pushing you around, which adds time to recoil recovery. Get your shoulders in front of your knees, grip very hard with both hands and get the weak hand fully rotated so the base knuckle of the thumb fits into the space created by the mid knuckle of the strong hand thumb as it rests on top of the safety. From this angle of view if your weak hand is fully rotated, the wrist will be visibly above that of the strong side, which will help create the mechanical advantage you are looking for. Your wrist currently looks pretty straight. Make sure the base of both hands are in contact with each other. You want to create a "meat wall" for the gun to recoil against. Any space there is a weakness in the grip into which, recoil will try and twist the gun. Take care not to push on the gun or crank on the safety with your thumbs. They should just be pointing at the target. You want to grip/crush the gun with the fingers into the palms.

Also, if it was my gun I would put some grip tape on the front strap. but I am less concerned with aesthetics than I am with function and performance.

Just shoot it and try to wear it out.
 
Conscript said:
I want to hold back all of the expletives I want to hurl at the screen right now. You obviously don't know what you're doing.

You are describing WEAR AREAS on the gun where it was done to TEST FIRE the gun. These guns aren't sterile, there's been a bit of hand fitting that's done, it's never perfect.

Quit crying and enjoy your damn gun already.
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Honestly, what's wrong with you? A little thread like this, and you're ready to throw a fit? You got some anger issues brother. FYI, when the gun came, the major OOPS scratch coming from the factory was underneath the slide stop. The rest was when I was in possession of the gun. Yes, I would hold it up, establish a grip, field strip it to lube it. Outside of that, it never left the safe. In fact, it never left the room. Never placed on a sofa somewhere where my dog might start playing with it. Just because you come off as an experienced shooter doesn't mean you know everything about everybody's gear.
 
luckey said:
from the video, you are too uptight with the gun and hold it too tight(I know that because the flitch after the 7th shot in the first video). and your body just move back and forth as each shot. you need to have a proper stance, lean forward and hold the gun tight enough, but don't fight it with your strong hand, close the gaps between your weak hand fingers.
I can see you are bigger and stronger than me and I can shoot both my sr1911 and G41 with ease. so, it's not about strength.
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I ain't bigger and stronger, I'm just short and fat. :p But yes, I will admit, my weak hand wasn't gripping the gun as tight as I wanted to. However, I am using the same grip, stance, etc. with my Glock 17 and that was recoiling flatter than ever before. And yes, I was leaning forward, just not as aggressive as I used to.
 
relliott said:
As others have said, the gun is fine. At the $900.00 price point you are not going to get gem quality finish but what you have there is a 100% functional and accurate 1911 that will last you the rest of your life. I would be elated if I were you.

You have all the strength you need to control the 45 acp. If you want to shoot it faster than what I see in the video then you will have to modify your technique. You are standing on your heels and the recoil is pushing you around, which adds time to recoil recovery. Get your shoulders in front of your knees, grip very hard with both hands and get the weak hand fully rotated so the base knuckle of the thumb fits into the space created by the mid knuckle of the strong hand thumb as it rests on top of the safety. From this angle of view if your weak hand is fully rotated, the wrist will be visibly above that of the strong side, which will help create the mechanical advantage you are looking for. Your wrist currently looks pretty straight. Make sure the base of both hands are in contact with each other. You want to create a "meat wall" for the gun to recoil against. Any space there is a weakness in the grip into which, recoil will try and twist the gun. Take care not to push on the gun or crank on the safety with your thumbs. They should just be pointing at the target. You want to grip/crush the gun with the fingers into the palms.

Also, if it was my gun I would put some grip tape on the front strap. but I am less concerned with aesthetics than I am with function and performance.

Just shoot it and try to wear it out.
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Many people are pretty much saying relax and not worry about the finish. Trust me guys, I'm just making an observation. I'm NOT pulling my hair out or freaking out because the gun's finish is not 100%. Some of you are making a mountain out of a molehill. However, I am saying, based on the guns I've bought under $1000, and based on the reviews I've seen regarding the Spartan, my expectations were set pretty high. My CZ shadow was dirty, but after cleaning it, I saw the quality and workmanship. Same with the glocks I bought. Even the walther ppx and m&p selling for almost half the price. That's all I'm saying. Am I disappointed? Yeah, slightly. If I was terribly disappointed or upset, I would make the effort of shipping the gun back. But I didn't, because just like what you guys are saying, wait until I shoot it to see if I truly like it or not. And functionally, I do like the gun. It didn't misfeed, all the rounds ejected fine, the elander mags work well with it, the gun goes bang every time I press the trigger.

Anyway, enough of that. On to relliot's advice about shooting. Thanks first of all for the advice. I'm going to play around with the grip angle next time out. But keep in mind, I was having more of a grip pressure issue than a grip placement issue. And I know what you're about to say, if my grip placement is correct, then I can apply proper grip pressure. So like I said, I'm going to play around with it next time. However, something to keep in mind. Since luckey talks about his Glock 41. Here's me with a Glock 41 with an over-rotated support hand grip on the same night:


And while we're talking about recoil control. Here's a Glock 17. Same night, same technique as the Spartan and Glock 41:

 
Hrcboy said:
If you want it to look pretty in ur hand go buy a SAM. If you want a shooter get a STI. Their finishing is weak but all good shooters even with their lowest grade option Spartan.

Fit is more important than finish unless you just want it to look good in pictures.
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both the SAMs i have are tight as a drum and shoot perfectly.
and both are nice looking guns.

why would you think you cant have a nice looking gun and have it shoot nice at the same time?
thats just silly.

i have looked at picking up a STI over the years to add to the dozen 1911's i already have and of all the ones ive handled and shot ive come to a conclusion about STI.
their mid to high end guns are super nice.
their budget guns are not so nice.
but like mentioned above that is probably mostly to do with the fact that their low end guns where being farmed out to Armscor.
good to hear that they killed off the low end guns.
 
Protege said:
Anyway, enough of that. On to relliot's advice about shooting. Thanks first of all for the advice. I'm going to play around with the grip angle next time out. But keep in mind, I was having more of a grip pressure issue than a grip placement issue. And I know what you're about to say, if my grip placement is correct, then I can apply proper grip pressure. So like I said, I'm going to play around with it next time. However, something to keep in mind. Since luckey talks about his Glock 41. Here's me with a Glock 41 with an over-rotated support hand grip on the same night:
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Actually from what I'm seeing your grip pressure is sufficient. More grip strength is never a bad thing to work on and the more casual strength you can apply to the grip, the flatter it will recoil but for now, you hands are recoiling together with the gun and at this playback speed I'm not seeing any slippage. So nothing to sweat over there. Grip placement and grip pressure are two different things though. It's difficult to tell from this camera view (shooting from the other side would help) but with correct wrist offset and position the top of your support wrist should be visible from this side. It would be roughly in line horizontally with the base knuckle of the trigger finger. This means the elbow will also be visible from this side. All this is to put the wrist closer to the axis of the bore axis and to create a wrist/tendon lock that must be overcome before recoil can lift the gun. This also assists in returning the gun faster and settling it faster, without the tuning fork effect at the end of the cycle (muzzle bobble). These are very small tweaks mind you, and not required if all you want to do is shoot groups.

Last thing to notice: pick a reference point like the back edge of your ear pro or the profile line of your face and watch what happens during the recoil cycle. See the horizontal displacement? That is stance, exclusively and it happens with both guns. Recoil energy is transmitting through your shoulders and out into space instead of into ground. Try flexing your knees a bit, pull your hips back and lean the shoulders forward till they are over or in front of the knees. The horizontal displacement will go away and recoil recovery will be much faster.

All just small tweaks and suggestions. Hope it helps.

Hijack mode off.....
 
Bend knees a little bit, also your arm should NOT be 100% straight, but bend a little bit as well. lock your wrist and elbow and lean forward. If you do all that properly, you should not be seen swing back and forth with each shot. 45acp is more recoil compared to 9, but not much. Take your time, pay attention to what you do and enjoy the shots. You will feel

better.


Protege said:
I ain't bigger and stronger, I'm just short and fat. :p But yes, I will admit, my weak hand wasn't gripping the gun as tight as I wanted to. However, I am using the same grip, stance, etc. with my Glock 17 and that was recoiling flatter than ever before. And yes, I was leaning forward, just not as aggressive as I used to.
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