STI Nitro 10 arrived :) Tonnes of pics

[SnApPyNHaPpY]

This was a bit of a Black Friday impulse purchase but I think it was a pretty solid decision, nevertheless.  It just arrived this morning, courier banged on the door and the g/f answered it as she was putting on her coat.  Dang!  Another 2 minutes and she would have been out the door!  Oh well, keeps me somewhat honest, I guess.  Let's get this unboxed.





There was quite a bit of rattling around inside the box as the sponge didn't hold things too tightly in the case.  It was nice to find another mag in the gun.



The 2 Allen wrenches are for the grips and for the Recoilmaster spring and guide rod setup.

[SnApPyNHaPpY]

It came with the factory test-fired cases and dirty breech work.  I guess there's some comfort in that.  The whole thing was covered in a sticky clear grease inside and out.

[The_Shadow]

Great looking piece...

[SnApPyNHaPpY]

Nice contrast in the gloss brushed flats and matte black bluing.  The 25 lb. recoil spring puts you on notice that this is a brute.   Those super chunky serrations are purposeful and part of the overall theme.

[SnApPyNHaPpY]

After wrestling with the Recoilmaster for a couple of minutes, I decided I'd better YouTube it and got it out without idiot scratching anything.  As sharp, tight, and heavily sprung everything is on this, nothing glides into place easily.  Cleaned up the grease with G-96 and had a look at the ramp polishing.  Looks like it will work nicely as is.

[SnApPyNHaPpY]

Elegantly chamfered.  No exaggerated reverse-crown on this delicate flower hehe.



It's all shiny in there but we'll have to see how she sprays.

[SnApPyNHaPpY]

You can get an idea of the overall very uniform matte finish throughout.  I don't see much point in polishing the bottom of the slide that drags on the disconnector.  The slide stop has the standard contoured bottom.  STI says they spent a lot of time balancing out the timing with the spring rates.



I tried to capture how carefully blended the extractor rear face is but when the photo's blown up it's not as impressive.

[SnApPyNHaPpY]

I was a bit relieved that the Heinie sights weren't the "Straight 8's" but are plain black serrated without any white dots or lines. 

[SnApPyNHaPpY]

I had ordered a couple of stainless Metalform 10mm/8 rounders beforehand and they appear to be identical to the blued STI mags other than the finish and baseplate markings.  I have to be careful not to pinch my palms when inserting them without any basepads.  The brutality of the gun keeps speaking to me.  I didn't take any pics of the magwell but there is a half-way 45 degree chamfer (not right out to the grip frame edge but about 1/32" in) to help ease the single-stacks in there.

[SnApPyNHaPpY]

STI's are their own little oddball things and sometimes the styling is a bit hit-or-miss for me.  There are some things that I've found that are quite delightful on the Nitro, however.  The beavertail has a pleasingly svelte contour.  I didn't take pics of it held in but there was work put into the fit to frame.



Another cool detail is the finish on the hammer.  It's matte blued and then polished on the flats so it's all business when you're aiming and real purdy from the side.  The design is carried over from the Hex series, I believe.





The functional design helps when cocking that extra-power hammer spring. 

[Blades]

Very nice and congratulations.

[SnApPyNHaPpY]

When photo'd against a dark background, it can appear to be stainless.



But it's very much a dark black-blued finish.  I like the styling on the mag release and slide-stop.  Tactile, functional, unique and elegant.



Other random thoughts before taking it to the range -

I had a Ranger II a few years ago and so I had some ideas of what to expect from an STI product.  The overall fit and finish is of course, excellent.  Slide to frame locks up tight, at rear it has a tiny bit of movement but when disassembled without the recoil spring, at the rearmost position the slide to frame is tight with no play.  That's all nice to have and reassuring but I consider it to be more of an indication of things rather than essential to accuracy.  Trigger pull was, well, almost brutal as the theme continues.  Not gritty, but a small takeup requiring a consistent 5 3/4 lbs. of pressure to hit that fast break and short lock time.  Not an unwise setup for a 10mm 1911.  The trigger has an over-travel adjustment but I'm going to leave everything as is for a while. 

I had some reservations about the grips as I remembered the grips to be a bit too thin with my Ranger II.  My hands aren't at all on the large size but I notice it mainly in the fingertip grip area where I need to press in a little more because of the thinness.   Smooth glossy grips wouldn't seem to be the first choice for a 10mm handgun but they look pretty good .  They'll probably be perfect with the thin shooting glove I wear when shooting my G-29.

I enjoy what STI dares to do with their styling.  I'm guessing that generally most shooters will be able to find something in their lineup to be quite appealing.  Being competition equipment makers gives them greater creative freedom and that carries into their more traditional lines.  They're an interesting company to watch as things seem to go so fast there.  They've stopped 10mm production for now but I have a feeling that won't be forever.

The manufacturing staff at STI are also owners, and they each tend to their own station in the assembly process.  One school of thought amongst semi-custom manufacturers is to have one gun - one gunsmith.  This is something interesting to ponder as at STI you get the same fellow or gal fitting thumb safeties (or name a part) all day.  It might seem that that person could have a lot more experience doing that many times a day than a single smith who does that maybe a couple of times a day.  So you end up with a team of experts with many more collective hours of experience working on a gun than a single long-bearded gunsmith.  Or maybe they just get to doing it a lot faster but not necessarily better.  Who knows?  Unknown variables are at play.  This Nitro 10 seems to be a solid value.  Now to explain to the g/f when she gets home.  I didn't think she would notice another 1911.

I can't get this YouTube video embedded (anyone know how?) so here's the link showing you around the STI shop:

https://youtu.be/fPWt1-G2VYk

Thanks for making it to the end.  Hope this was interesting for you.  Please share your thoughts .

Cheers!

SNH

[Sneed]

Excellent post. Many thanks for all the work. Too bad you hated doing it!

[blaster]

very nice pistol! best of luck with it.

[BEEMER!]

Here are a couple of links to the same tv show at Les Baer's shop.  There is a contrast to how they do things. 

Which is better?