Even though one of mine has been a bit of a pain, nothing shoots like a 2011. They really are awesome when everything is dialed in.

SVI makes wonderful pistols and they have the price tag to match. I think they are great but you can buy a STI and have it smithed with money left over for mags and gear. When I was still active in USPSA I think I saw a couple SVs and hudreds of STIs.

SV is kind of like a Lamborghini for me. If I win the lottery I am having them build me a few. If I want to step up over a STI I think I would go to one of the well known smiths with Limcat being at the top of the list because I know them and they are local which is nice for when problems arise.

I emailed STI to confirm the front sight height on my gun so I could order a shorter one, and they mentioned that POI issues can be fixed under warranty if I'd send the gun in.  Your experience makes me think that may be a waste of time.   I am starting to think I should have just bought a G34, G17, and G19 (and still had money left in my pocket).  

i must be lucky

I've ordered two STI's

both from BRAZOS

he tunes them and makes sure they run right before shipping

Interesting.  I shot some 124gr XTP's loaded fairly hot, and they were closer to POA.  Seems to run counter to the conventional wisdom that a slower bullet with shoot higher.  I guess the muzzle is staying too flat with the lighter loads.  

This was going to be my 3-gun pistol, so I don't want to be shooting hot loads out of it.  I'm going to get a shorter fiber optic and, while I like the Heinie rear, I guess I will will also get a TAS rear.

I have a 4.0 tactical in 45 - Love it to death actually...

I can't help it, I love this thing.

I've been looking at the DVC Classic, but I need money elsewhere.

What you are calling freebore is actually the bbl's "throat". Mfg's have been cutting out 1 simple step in the bbl making process, namely using a throating reamer. The typical freebore on any 9mm chamer is 20/1000th's then there's a shoulder where the throat begins that tapers into the rifling and the lands and grooves.

Here's 3 different examples of a bbl's chamber/throat

A standard factory bbl that has the 20/100th's freebore, then a shoulder where the cut angle/riflings/bore starts. Note the short sharp angle on the riflings.



The same factory bbl that has had a throating reamer used in it. Note the long taper cut after the freebore/shoulder. It is long and angles into the rifles. Also the angle cut has changed on the riflings to a more gradual angle/slope. This deforms the bullet less and aligns the bullet to the bbl easier with less pressure/deformation of the bullet which leads to accuracy.



A factory MN bbl with a lllloooooonnnnnnnngggggggg tapered highly polished throat with long tapered riflings. The long polished tapered throat in these nm bbl's are excellent at centering the bullet in the bbl and not damaging the bullet when the initial short start pressure of the bullet is forcing it into the bbl.



The unthroated bbbl (top), is the most common bbl used today. It saves the mfg's a step/$$$ in the bbl making process. These types of bbl's/throats are designed to shoot different types of rn bullets. Shooting bullets in them with shoulders (swc's/tc/etc) normally takes a shorter oal because as you can see there's no throat/taper for the shoulder of the bullet to fit into.

The throated bbl (center) is a standard bbl the is designed with accuracy in mind along with allowing the firearm to use/shoot a wider range of bullets/ammo. It used to be a standard practice to throat every semi-auto bbl sold. Cost cutting and the "don't use reloads policy" has most mfg's omitting cutting throats in their bbl's. On a side note, pistol bbl's just like rifle bbl's have custom throats cut in them for specific bullets. It's common to have a custom bbl's throat cut for a specific bullet, hence max accuracy.

That factory NM bbl (bottom) is well made. It's highly polished (no tool marks) with a longer than standard taper reamer. That allows this bbl to use/shoot a extremely wide range of bullets accurately.

In testing different bullets in that nm bbl (40+ so far) I found it did surprisingly well and if I took my time with any of them I could find a sweet spot that was very accurate.

You wouldn't think either of these bullets would be accurate. The red bullet on the left is a 150gr flat nosed hollow based bullet (fn hb), lyman sold the molds starting in 1900. The bullet was designed to be used in the 38 long colt. The green bullet is a 125gr flat nosed hollow point (fn hp) designed for vermin.



Playing around with that 150gr fphb bullet in the nm bbl duplicating the standard (45acp/750fps target load).



A 1100fps+ plinking load with that 125gr fnhp in that nm bbl.



Sorry for the thread drift but it's something to think about when you're looking at these higher end pistols. The bbl design itself limits the owner to what kind/type of bullet/ammo they will be able to use/shoot. I'm not saying the unthroated bbl's are not accurate. It's just they are limited to size/shape of bullet they are accurate with.

Myself, I reload my own ammo along with casting bullets and swaging my own jacketed bullets. I wanted a bbl that would allow me to be able to shoot/test any bullet design I could come up with. I have yet to have any bullet design fail in that nm bbl.

At the end of the day I bought a pistol from a mfg and was impressed with it. No malfunctions of any kind and it ate everything I could run thru it. Swithed out the spring to a progressive so I could shoot target loads and p+ loads in the same range session. This is what the 1st pistol delivers on demand.



Was impressed enough with that 45acp that I bought another pistol from the same mfg, this time in 9mm. The 9mm has also ran flawless with everything I ran thru it and most importantly to me. It has the same highly polished throated nm bbl that the 45acp has. Everyone has their spotted puppy when it comes to mfg's. Myself I wanted max accuracy along with reliability along with the ability to be able to use a wide range of different bullet designs. I ended up buying from a mfg I've never owned any of their pistols in the past. Like their product enough to buy a 2nd pistol. They are nothing but springfields base models (ro's) and I have $1400 in both of them. 15,000+ rounds later they both are still running strong and shooting bugholes.

At the end of the day dw makes a good solid pistol but I would have no problem putting either of my ro's up against them. I believe the dw's would start to pull away accuracy wise at 50+yds and out.
It's rather surprising to read these posts about sti. hopefully it's just growing pains.

Just something to think about.

I have a Spartan , It runs extremely well for the price and has a nice trigger as well

Love my Guardian. Shoots great and feels great.