Sidearms & Scatterguns STI Trojan

[PaulMc]

Well, I've come over all traditional and decided to give my race gun a break.

I've just had a new Trojan prepped for IPSC Classic Division. Trigger job, ambi safety, mag well & grips, and some nifty new mag bases that just squeak into the "box".

Can't wait to give it a whirl, and see if I can still hit anything without a C-More!

It'll be running 38 Supercomp like most everything else here in Australia.

 

[ShtrRdy]

That sounds like fun! Let us know how it goes.

 

[Mead]

What sights are those? I've been looking to upgrade mine and those look perfect.

 

[bjay]

What sights are those? I've been looking to upgrade mine and those look perfect.

im pretty sure its dawson

 

[Mead]

im pretty sure its dawson

Thanks, I'll look into them.

 

[PaulMc]

im pretty sure its dawson

Yep, Dawson front. I've used 0.160" x 0.090" which gives a bit more gap than the STI standard front 0.170" x 0.110". Should be perfect for IPSC use, but not so good for bullseye.

Rear sight of course is the stock STI Bomar style.

 

[PaulMc]

That sounds like fun! Let us know how it goes.

Found time for a quick test run today, ahead of the club comp Saturday.

I knew just by racking the slide that this was a pretty tight gun albeit smooth as a very smooth thing. I had a few different test loads with me, all using coated cast 150 gr RN. I also had some major power loads from my race gun which I loaded first, just to wake things up. The first couple of major loads didn't cycle properly, but the last 6 or so in the mag were fine - perhaps a little "snappy". The two lowest loads of the minor rounds didn't come close to cycling even they they both chrono'd at around 850fps.

I ran a few more majors through it, about 70 or so, all of which functioned perfectly, hoping to get things moving. Then on to the slightly hotter minor loads (chrono'd at around 950fps, so well over 125 power factor), and these function fine, thankfully.

I'm tempted to pop in a lighter recoil spring, but I think I'll wait until I get a few more rounds through it and see how it goes. All up so far it's only run about 150 rounds, but the weekend will add another 300 to that which might start to loosen things up.

First impressions are pretty good overall. The VZ grips give a really good texture without ripping my soft little accountant's hands apart, so a pretty good compromise. The Dawson FO sight is quite bright, and the trigger is almost identical to my race gun now, so that'll make it easier to go from one to the other. If only the muzzle would sit as flat...

 

[PaulMc]

Well first competition today and things didn't really go so well. My slightly hotter "minor" loads (150 gr RN ahead of 4.2 gr Win 231 for 950 FPS) still didn't cycle reliably. The first 3 stages brought at least 1 FTE on every mag and my sense of humour was quickly starting to desert me!

I don't know what the standard recoil spring weight is, but I relented and popped in a brand new Wolff 10 pounder. That seems to have done the trick. The last 2 stages for the day went through without a single hang up. By that time my shooting had gone downhill a bit as I was waiting for the gun to malfunction, but I'll get my confidence back in the thing eventually.

I spent some time after the match just blowing rounds into the backstop until the gun was getting too hot to hold. Now with about 500 rounds through it, just racking the slide feels noticeably better, but that could be the lighter recoil spring too. I have a feeling the worst is behind me but next week's match will tell the tale.