The Continuing Evolution  of the 1911   

The Eagle semi-automatic pistol from STI International is what John Browning would come up with if he were designing the Government Model of 1911 today rather than during the early part of this century. The only difference in their top assemblies is the design of the STI barrel. It's full-support chamber and full-length feedramp enables those of us who shoot the .38 Super is USPSA/IPSC competition to safely push lightweight bullets to Major speeds without worrying about blowing a case. Another plus is the barrel has a heavy contour with a muzzle diameter of .695 inch and does not require the use of a guide bushing. Eliminating the bushing makes the barrel easier to fit for maximum accuracy. It also adds an extra ounce of weight to dampen muzzle jump compared to a conventional barrel and its bushing. The STI barrel will work on any type of full-size 1911 gun, although its installation does require machining a clearance cut in the frame for its full-length feedramp.

Downstairs the STI Eagle differs from Colt's Model 1911, but a number of parts are interchangeable between the two. In fact the triggers, magazine catches, and mainspring housing crosspins are the only noninterchangeable parts in the lower assemblies.

The modular frame of the Eagle is a two-piece affair. The grip section is made of Compolite, which is a lightweight space-age polymer that is basically fiberglass-reinforced nylon. The grip has sharp molded-in checkering on its frontstrap, on its sides, and on its mainspring housing. It also has an integral magazine well funnel. The grip is joined to a CNC-machined insert of Type 4130 steel, and the insert has precision-machined rails that accept the slide. The insert and grip are held together by three screws and are easily taken apart for cleaning. By using a grip section made of lightweight polymer rather than steel, STI is able to keep weight of the standard Eagle at 34.5 ounces, which is over a quarter-pound lighter than Colt's all-steel Government Model.

Three Models Available
STI offers three models. The Eagle you see in this report is basically a mirror image of Colt's Government Model in size. With its 4.3 inch barrel and 27-ounce weight, the Hawk is best described as a lightweight modern version of Colt's Commander. Moving on down in both size and weight we have the 3.9-inch Falcon at 29 ounces, which is quite similar in size to the Colt Officer's ACP.

Magazine capacity of the three models depends on who you are and/or where you live. If you are in law enforcement anywhere in the world or if you live in most places outside the U.S., capacities of the Eagle and Hawk are 13 for the .45 ACP, 17 for the .357 SIG, .40 S&W, and 10mm Auto, and 19 rounds for the .38 Super, 9x19mm Luger, and 9x23mm. The Falcon holds two fewer .45s and four fewer of all the other available chamberings. Thanks to the passage of the Crime bill, maximum capacity for guns sold to private-sector U.S. citizens is 10 rounds regardless of caliber. And though the grip of the compact Falcon is shorter than the grip of the Eagle and Hawk, its capacity is still 10, even in .45 ACP.

Lightweight versions of the three models have a frame insert machined from Type T6 aircraft-grade aluminum in lieu of steel and weigh around four ounces less than the standard-weight guns. Think about it - a match-grade Officer's ACP-size semi-auto in .45 ACP that's capable of holding 11 rounds (one in the chamber) and weighing only 24 ounces. Fully loaded it should weigh around 33 ounces. That's over half a pound less than the toting weight of my steel-frame Colt Officer's ACP and eight rounds of ammo. A fully loaded .45-caliber Eagle should tip the scale at about 39 ounces, which is exactly what the Colt Government Model weighs when empty.

STI machines its 1911-style slides from Type 4140 barstock after they are hardened. Doing so wears out expensive cutting tools faster than machining the slides prior to heat treatment as some manufacturers do, but it does eliminate heat warpage and the negative effect it can have on critical dimensions. And speaking of holding dimensions to close tolerances, the breechface of the STI slide is cut by ultraprecise electrical discharge machining rather than the more common broaching. That enable STI to keep its dimensions within an extremely close .001-inch tolerance range. The rails of the slide are also precision cut for straightness.

The STI slide has a lowered and flared ejection port, something seldom seen on anything but a full-house custom gun. And two styles of grasping serrations are available: coarse cut as illustrated by those on the review gun and fine cut. Both styles are available at the rear end of the slide, the front, or at both its rear and front ends.

Before leaving the subject of slides, I must mention that the snubnose Falcon has a longer slide stroke than the similar-size Officer's ACP. For that reason it is easier on recoil springs and probably a bit more reliable to boot. The long stroke is just another benefit that comes with using a no-bushing barrel.

The slide stop on STI guns is a two-piece affair rather than one piece as is commonly seen on 1911-style guns. It consists of a separate thumbpiece and crosspin joined together by a hex-head screw. STI keeps crosspins of nine diameters in stock, ranging from .193 to .201 inch in .001 inch increments. Rather than machining the underlug of the barrel to the exact dimension for a match grade fit with the crosspin, it is machined close to the required dimension and then a precise fit is achieved by selecting a crosspin of the necessary diameter. Doing so saves time during assembly, and yet the end result is the same as fitting the barrel underlug to the slide stop.

More Options Than Most
Some may argue that the STI Eagle, Hawk, and Falcon are production guns and for that reason they don't belong in a column on custom guns. But that's not entirely true. In fact, STI offers more custom options on its guns than are offered by a number of similar shops. Four trigger options are a good example of what I'm talking about. The space-age STI trigger consists of a titanium bow and carbon-fiber finger piece and can be ordered in short or long style as well as flat or curved style. (I prefer the short, flat trigger with the short, curved style in second place). Three styles of lightweight hammers are also available - Commander, Squared Commander, and Lightened Spur.

Other options include a fully adjustable Bo-Mar or fixed Novak rear sight; either is available with or without tritium inserts. Up front the choice boils down between a Patridge or undercut blade-style sight. Eight safety options include the Brown or Wilson in single or ambidextrous style with wide or narrow thumbtabs. STI offers two grip safeties - the Competition and Locator. Both are high-sweep style for maximum gun control with heavy loads, and both have a raised metal pad on their lower end for positive disengagement when the gun is gripped naturally. While STI officials are considering other metal finish options, only two are presently available - blue and industrial-grade chrome.

Continuing on with options, we have the Krebs magazine well funnel in polymer, aluminum, or stainless steel. If I were ordering an STI gun for carry, I would leave off that option because it adds too much bulk. Besides, the tapered top end of STI's double-stack magazine and the flared mouth of the magazine well of the Eagle and Hawk make for snag-free reloads. On the other hand, If I were buying the Eagle for USPSA/IPSC Limited class competition, I would definitely go for the stainless Krebs funnel like the one in the gun you see in this report.

Build Your Own

In addition to offering complete guns, STI sells parts. Modular frame kits, slides, bushingless bull barrels, compensators, electronic sight mounts, titanium firing pins, lightweight hammers, tool-steel sears, and all the other parts mentioned in this report are available for those who prefer to build their own gun. The four styles of ultralight titanium / carbon-fiber triggers I mentioned earlier are available not only for the STI guns, but they are also available for Para-Ordnance guns as well as for the Colt Government Model and its clones.

STI also offers an interchangeable polymer grip that accepts standard single-stack magazines made by Colt, Springfield, Wilson, C&C Metal Form, McCormick, and others. Called the Converter Grip, it is not available for the Falcon since it has a shorter grip than the Eagle and Hawk. In case your wondering why anyone would want to use single-stack magazines in a gun designed to use double stackers, I am told it has to do with economy. The 10-round STI double-stack magazine costs $50, which is considerably more than what single stackers can be bought for. Some shooters who use the Eagle in USPSA competition have both types of grip frames and magazines for their guns. They use the less expensive single stackers for practice and reserve the STI double stackers for matches. When the subject turns from competition guns to carry guns, the 10-round double-stack magazine wins hands down since only its thin basepad extends below the butt of the gun. Ten-round single-stack magazines extend far below the butt, making them less than ideal for concealed carry.

The Eagle's Performance Soars
Putting the STI Eagle through its paces has been great fun. As this is written, I have fired close to 3000 rounds of various factory loads and handloads in it at the range and in several USPSA matches. The gun bobbled twice during the first 50 break-in rounds and once during a match, but the latter problem was caused by the ammo and not the gun. After those three chokes it sang a pretty tune on any load I chose to try.

Accuracy was about as good as you can get with full-power loads in a no-frills, dead serious defense gun. No, it was even better than that - it was about as good as you can get when firing powderpuff loads in a bullseye gun. I clamped the Eagle into my Ransom Rest and watched it carve out 10-shot groups measuring less than two inches with five loads; the two most accurate averaged 1.7 inches. Yep, you read that right - less than two inches for 10-shot groups. It takes a darned good gun to average that with five-shot groups and an exceptional gun to do so with twice as many rounds. To say that I'm sold on the STI Eagle is somewhat of an understatement. I like it so well that you may see me shooting it at the USPSA Limited class Nationals this year.

Everything else about the Eagle gets equally high marks in my book. The match-grade stainless-steel barrel resisted lead buildup when digesting a steady diet of full-power loads with cast bullets. It did accumulate a bit of leading (as any barrel will) when pushing lead bullets to Major speeds, but its extremely smooth bore surface kept leading to a minimum.

PERFORMANCE RESULTS
Bullet	Powder		CASE	PRIMER	VELOCITY	GROUP
.	(Type)	(GRS)	.	.	(FPS)	(INCHES)
Hornady 185-gr. HP/XTP	APP	8.8	Win.	CCI 300	1014	1.7
Bull-X 200-gr. LSWC	W231	5.8	Win.	CCI 300	903	1.7
Speer 200-gr. TMJSWC	W-N320	6.2	Win.	CCI 300	912	1.8
Nosler 230-gr. FMJ	AA 2	5.5	Win.	CCI 300	815	1.9
Sierra 230-gr. FMJ	WAP	8.5	Win.	CCI 300	931	2.2
CCI Blazer 200-gr. TMJ	.	.	Factory Load	.	983	1.8
Hornady 200-gr. HP/XTP	.	.	Factory Load	.	872	2.0
Winchester 185-gr. STHP	.	.	Factory Load	.	972	2.7
Black Hills 230-gr. LRN	.	.	Factory Load	.	802	2.8
Black Hills 185-gr. JHP	.	.	Factory Load	.	966	2.9
Speer 230-gr. GDHP	.	.	Factory Load	.	833	2.9
Hornady 230-gr. FMJFN	.	.	Factory Load	.	837	3.0
Black Hills 200-gr. LSWC	.	.	Factory Load	.	838	3.1
Remington 230-gr. BJHP	.	.	Factory Load	.	812	3.3
Black Hills 230-gr. FMJ	.	.	Factory Load	.	774	3.4
Winchester 230-gr. FMJ	.	.	Factory Load	.	819	2.5
.	.	.	.	.	.	.
NOTES: Accuracy results are based on two 10-shot groups fired at 25 yards with the gun mounted in a Ransom Rest. All velocities were clocked 12 feet from the muzzle with a PACT PC chronograph.

Sights on the Eagle are quite good. A .110-inch square notch in the blade of the Bo-Mar rear sight leaves plenty of daylight on either side of the .110-inch front blade - a sight picture I have come to prefer for fast and accurate shooting. I also found its trigger to be quite good. First comes a slight amount of takeup, and then it breaks crisply at 46 ounces with no perceptible overtravel. And I'm really glad to see STI install a rear-entry recoil spring plug and full-length recoil spring guide in its guns.

While the grip on the STI gun is the same width or thickness as the grip of the 1911 Colt, it is a bit deeper and that makes its diameter slightly greater. Most who try the gun consider this is a plus rather than a negative, and most shooters with small hands find it not at all oversize. I know several ladies who shoot Eagles in competition, and they do so because they find them more comfortable to shoot than the old 1911. The handfilling grip does a good job of distributing recoil over a large area of the hand, and the recoil-cushioning characteristic of the polymer it is made of seems to take the sting out of heavy loads.

There's no question about the durability of STI guns because they long ago proved capable of hanging in there with the best the competition has to offer. I'm convinced the Eagle, the Hawk, and the Falcon will last for as many rounds as nay other semiauto made today, and they will probably outlast quite a few. I know of several compensated guns in .38 Super and 9x21mm built on STI frames, and each of them has gobbled up well over 50,00 rounds of Major ammo and are still going strong. That's more rounds than most shooters would fire in a handgun in a lifetime.

 

WARNING! All load data should be used with caution. Always start with reduced loads first and make sure they are safe in each of your guns before proceeding to the highest loads listed. Since HandGunning has no control over your choice of components, guns, or actual loadings, neither HandGunning nor the various firearms and components manufacturers assume any responsibility for the use of this data.

After shooting the STI Eagle rather extensively, I could easily justify permanently adding it to my handgun battery. It is extremely accurate, quite dependable, comfortable to shoot, fits my hand like an old glove, and serves equally well as a carry gun. I shoot dozens of guns each year and am tempted to keep very few, but it's different with the Eagle. I wonder if old "Squint Eye" Crowley would notice an extra $1549 on my next expense report?

- Layne Simpson - HG

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