Posted: 2/4/2011 3:06:35 AM EDT
| I was at a local gun shop yesterday and looked at a STI Spartan. Fit and finish were great and had a good feel to it. Brand new gun $694. Does anyone have one of these 1911's or any input? Pretty nice piece I thought for the money. It was a lot nicer than my SA park loaded I presently have.(Brazil) |
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A guy about 25 miles from me has one $600 which is the best price I could find so you might want to check it out, I have been thinking about buying one myself.
Harts Guns |
| nice gun - i think you'll be pleased with it. I just picked one up for myself for $600 and its a 9mm. was thinking about going for a RIA but the extra features like fiber optic front sight, adjustable rear sight, serrated slide (front and rear) kinda sold me on the gun. nice shooter also. going to pick up about 4 or 5 more Mecgar (sp?) magazines when i can find them. |
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I purchased the RO over the Spartan. Both were nice looking pistols (fit and form wise, did not test function), I just chose the harder than a hens tooth SA slide and forged frame over the Cast frame of the STI.
Both were close enough in cost that I found the RO to be the better purchase. |
| The Spartan is an Armscor (Rock Island Armory) slide, barrel, and frame that STI purchases and then fits together and fills full of STI internal parts. For the money, it is probably the very best budget 1911 on the market, especially in 9mm. The nice thing about the STI guns is that if/when it throws a part (as 1911s are wont to do) you'll actually be able to order spare parts from STI quite easily. The cast frame/slide combo has held up really well on the competition guns used by the guys down in the Philippines. I personally would climb over a mountain of similarly priced Taurus' and Springfield's to get an STI. |
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My IDPA ESP gun is a Spartan in 9mm with a set of VZ grips, Dawson 10 rd magazines, and a 10lb/17lb recoil/mainspring combo. The gun shooting 1040fps 125gr loads barely even moves in your hands, is very accurate and the only issues I've EVER had with it were due to crappy magazines. With Dawson or Wilson magazines it's never had a single failure (well, there was this one time didn't seat the magazine and looked like an ASS when the buzzer went off but.....).
The finish however is not sturdy at all. Granted mine gets drawn and holstered quite a lot but it wore rather quickly. That's my only complaint and it's not really a complaint because nothing will hold up forever with that kind of use. |
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I'd get the Spartan over an SA Loaded w/ an "N" serial number.
I'd get an "MN" # SA Loaded over the Spartan. There is a quality/fit difference in all the "N" SAs I've handled/seen/owned compared to "MN" guns. The SA RO is "MN" from all I've seen/read. I'd give that a look for sure. |
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Quoted:
I'd get the Spartan over an SA Loaded w/ an "N" serial number. I'd get an "MN" # SA Loaded over the Spartan. There is a quality/fit difference in all the "N" SAs I've handled/seen/owned compared to "MN" guns. The SA RO is "MN" from all I've seen/read. I'd give that a look for sure. FYI, it's NM, not MN. |
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Quoted:
I purchased the RO over the Spartan. Both were nice looking pistols (fit and form wise, did not test function), I just chose the harder than a hens tooth SA slide and forged frame over the Cast frame of the STI. Both were close enough in cost that I found the RO to be the better purchase. Agreed. I'd take an RO over a Spartan in .45ACP, but for a good inexpensive 9MM 1911 the Spartan is pretty much impossible to beat. |
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Quoted:
Have one in 9mm and its a nice gun. Price is a little high. Where are you located in KY I live in Lexington. The Gun Wharehouse has both the Spartan and RO. The only thing I did not especially like about the RO was the park finish. I already have one of those. But I did like the fit of the RO. |