After having this handgun for about a month, and 5 trips to the range with about 1K rounds going down the pipe its time for a range report.
This gun was acquired via a trade with Gunnar at Armco. I no longer could afford to feed my AR-15 and was having some storeage issues at home so I wanted to downsize and save up for a SIG CQB
I phoned up Gunnar at ARMCO and before I knew it we had worked out a trade for a STI Ranger II and 3 extra magazines for my 14.5 and one 5/30.
Original I had wanted a STI Trojan. I was a fan of the 5" slide and the adjustable sights on the back, however since he was out of these my focus shifted to the Ranger II. I scoured the web looking for reviews and insight on the gun trying to find out if it was worth my money or not. Reviews of the gun were mixed, some people were saying the guide rod ala the "Recoil Master" was proving to be nothing but issues with FTF and FTE problems all over the place. The general consensus was that after 500 rounds the gun started running fine. I was optimistic but eager to try it out and form my open opinions.
After one nice phone call to the CFC before Labour Day weekend the transfer was approved on Tuesday and was shipped off to me. After a slight mixup with the post office the gun was in my hands the following Tuesday. One and a half weeks is not a bad turn around time from phone call to my doorstep so I was happy.
Upon inspecting the gun a few things hit me. This thing was heavvyyy! Weighting in at 33 oz it was almost 5 oz heavier than my P226. The gun is very solidly built and my hat goes off to them Texans. The fit and finish on this gun was outstanding. The fit on the frame and slide was very tight and the whole gun seemed very solid. The front strap has what STI calls, the "STIppled" front strap (clever ain't it?) and while it does provide an excellent grip it can be somewhat painfull if you dig you hands into to much. I have since used it for some ODPL practice and it was much appreciated after my hands started to sweat. I was able to maintain a tight grip without losing control and it was very comfortable. I have started to practice shooting using gloves and I have had no issues with the strap and I having become a big fan of the "STIppling."
The the comes with Heine sights with a low mount snag free rear. The sights are great for indoor and day time shooting, you can acquire the target very fast and its easy to follow up with repeat shots. I had the gun out for some night time shooting and under the yellow flood lights. I had a hard time focusing on the front sight compared to my 226 with 3 dot Trijis. I have Gunnar getting me some new sights in for the gun. I am planning on replacing the front with a fiber optic sight which should help alot or getting some 3 dot Night Sights which is my general preference. The grips the gun are awesome. I love the cocobolo wood and the color and texture is great. I doubt it will be replacing them.
This gun is very very accurate. More so than me. On a good day when I do my part I can plink 6" steel poppers from 25yards all day. From in closer and shooting paper at 7 and 10 yards I am just putting hole on top of hole after hole. At first I just found the accuracy to be on par with my 226 but after some more range time I think with a new front sight this will be my most accurate 9MM. Which brings me to my next thought... this gun barley recoils at all. In combination with the heavy weight of the gun and since its a 9 this thing is very pleasant to shoot. Even with my 135PF loads (re: 6.5Gr HS6 with 124CMJ) its very mild and controlable. Using my lighter target shooting loads ala (4.1Gr TiteGroup with a 124Gr CMJ) I could shoot all day.
The trigger on this gun is simply fantastic. It has a nice crisp break around 2.5/3.0 pounds and, its just beautiful. Using my reloads and the 4 magazines that came with the gun (3 STI and 1 MecGar) I have had only a few issues. I never had any FTE but occasionally after shooting the slide won't go far enough foward to reset the trigger and fully chamber the next round. Sometimes its just a few MM and one time it was about a half inch. This seems to have gone away since the first range session and its feeding it fine. There are no problems with shooting my light or hot loads as it feeds everything fine. I have never had any FTE but occasionally the slide will not lock back on the last round. I am not sure if this is due to my grip during firing of the last round, the magazines in use or some alien phenomenon but I'll dig deeper and see if I can't find the cause of that problem.
I am extremely happy with this gun. I have already scratched it up and made it my own (see first experience putting the slide stop back in a 1911) I plan on getting a 5" .45 next and I will not hesitate to look at the STI line of guns. Before I was all about Kimber and then I guess it would of been Springfield but owning the Ranger II has really put STI on my map as to what quality of the gun you get for the price.
