Fast forward to 2019, new ownership came on board to STI and it was rebranded to Staccato. The amount of models were slimmed down to basically 4, and allegedly the magazines were redesigned by an outside company to actually work. Since I had grown tired or shooting a soulless Glock, I decided to get one.
The details
Why did I go with the Staccato?
The DPO portion of the name stands for Dawson Precision Optics. Think of it as the Glock MOS mounting system, but unlike the MOS mounting system, it does not suck. The optic mounting plate mounts to the slide using two beefy screws, and the front of the optic plate has two tabs that insert into two notches in the slide. You then press it down where two O-rings provide tension as you screw the plate into the slide. I did not take pictures of this as I mounted the optic up right before I went to work. The mounting plate itself includes a serrated rear sight that is drift adjustable, and with a Trijicon RMR, it gives you a lower 1/3rd cowitness, just as I prefer. The front sight is taller that standard sights and matches up perfectly with the rear sight. The front sight has a fiber optic insert, and included in the packaging is extra fiber optic inserts. The DPO mounting plate for optics are not included with the pistol and run $139. They are available for all of the common red dots out there. Some people cry about them not including a mounting plate with the pistol but I can appreciate the quality of the optics mount. If they included a bunch of free mounting plates like Glock does, they would probably be like garbage like the Glock MOS plates.
The slide stop is a rather common affair and pretty standard to 1911's. It is not the easiest to reach with your firing hand (for all the right handed people out there), but this is remedied by using your weak hand to release it after reloading. The safety is ambidextrous and slightly oversized. One thing that I appreciate it the safety engages and disengages with a crisp snap and no mush. The rear of the safety levers are nicely contoured as well, so they will not give you any problems or blisters when shooting with your thumb riding over the safety as God himself intended for you to do. The magazine release is slightly oversized, but not to the point where you will accidentally activate it. The face of the release itself is smooth, and I do not find myself having issues activating it, or accidentally hitting it. I completely forgot to describe the magazine release itself since it is just...there. I suppose that is a good thing?
The grip frame itself is polymer, and attaches with screws to the metal frame. I find the texture itself to be pleasant and not overly aggressive. Since it is cold in Northern Nevada at the time of purchase, I cannot tell you how it will work with wet hands. I could go and get my wet hands in the sink and test it out, but my mom told me not to get wet after dinner. The P comes from the factory with a magazine well. It allows for your to easily insert magazines, even if you aren't properly presenting it to the magazine well. Not quite Jenna Jameson-esque, but still easy to insert magazines.
The trigger guard is slightly undercut and helps you choke up on the grip like it is a girl with daddy issues. The grip safety has a slight "speed bump" at the bottom that helps with positive engagement. The P comes with a mag well that is removable, and presents itself like Jenna Jamison, so you can just toss the magazines in and you will get them in there. The trigger itself is polymer which some people are luke warm on. I could not really care less, the feel on it is good, and it breaks nicely right around 4 pounds with the great reset you are familiar with on a 1911/2011.
The plan
Will this thing live up to the hype? Will I be disappointed like I was with my last STI (the gun, not the disease, I expected the latter looking at her).
Gonna be up front here. I started writing this around the end of January, but kept having problems posting the photos I took with my phone because I have been too lazy to break out my DSLR. Well, turns out since I am five quarters retarded, I was just being dumb. I will now have to catch up since I have shot this thing a bit.
EZ