Over the years, 2011s have grown significantly in popularity among shooters in the gun community. There’s a number of companies who make them from Staccato, Infinity, Atlas along with other manufactures. I was always extremely curious what the reliability of them would be in the long term. I teamed up with my buddy Tommy who is boom_stick03 to test the reliability and longevity of the STI Tactical handgun. During the covid shutdowns, I borrowed his 2011 for 3 months to determine how it’ll hold up after being shot 15K rounds. I decided to put 2,500 rounds through to get an overall idea of how accuracy is after being shot a fair amount over its lifetime. Let’s dive into the Staccato Tactical DS H.O.S.T 4.0 and how it does after a high round count.

Specs

The Tactical DS could be considered a medium to full-size handgun with a 4.5″ barrel and full-size grip. The trigger is also between 4.25 and 4.5 LBS with a smooth single action only trigger pull. The trigger has a defined wall before a crisp break making it predictable while easy to fire fast with a lighter trigger. The Tactical DS has a fixed tritium front sight with a ledge rear sight making the contrast easy to pick up and shoot quickly. I didn’t shoot much with the irons because I was using a Trijicon SRO mounted on top for the majority of my shooting.

The polymer frame has a textured grip that Staccato calls “Tree Bark Grip” which is appropriately named with the large pattern. Some of the features are nice to have when shooting a high round count through something like a handgun. I really appreciate having a bull barrel along with it coming standard with two 20 round magazines. Another nice feature is the minimalist magwell coming standard that is low profile while offering assistance with quick magazine changes. MSRP was $2,599 on the Tactical DS and the actual price with tax and everything was $2,570.

Range Time

Over the last 4 months, I put 2,500 rounds through the Staccato Tactical DS despite the current ammo situation. When it comes to firing the Tactical DS, it really is one of the smoothest and easily controllable handguns I have fired. The Trijicon SRO on it really adds to the experience with fast point shooting. Combine that with the lighter single-action trigger and you have a great shooting range gun. I can honestly say it was one of the most fun guns to shoot quick drills with and felt more like a competition gun than a regular handgun to carry concealed. Having a full 20 rounds in the magazine made the gun feel bottom heavy which added stability for me and really balanced the gun out.

Adding all these factors together and you have a very controllable handgun. The ambidextrous safety was also nice to shoot offhand around barricades and having the option to easily control the safety from either side of the handgun. I was happy to see the bull barrel still holds around a 1″ group at 25 yards despite having around 16K rounds through it over time. The Tactical DS definitely has a high-end feel to it and for the price tag, it should feel different from regular handguns.

What’s The Role Of The Staccato Tactical DS?

The Staccato Tactical DS handgun is one of those chameleon handguns where it can really morph and wear multiple hats. Whether that’s a competition handgun, concealed carry handgun or a fully equipped range gun with a weapon-mounted light and red dot. With the 4.5″ barrel and polymer frame, it’s light and small enough to carry on a regular basis. The party piece of the Tactical DS is the fact it can do all these really well without seeming either too big or too small in what it’s doing.

It’s one of those Glock 19 sizes where it’s the best of both worlds. I would say it’s truly at home on the range, and that is why it’s so good for competition shooters. Even though it’s a match made in heaven for the range, it’s still very possible to carry concealed on a daily basis. I prefer a carry gun without a safety, but it’s still a great option and it’s easy to disengage the safety with a bit of practice.

Overall Thoughts

In the beginning, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the 2011 style handguns in 9mm. I love shooting striker fired handguns and enjoy single action only in 1911 platforms but I didn’t know how it would be to mix both. With the best of both worlds, you get an incredibly soft shooting handgun that is controllable as well as predictable. It may be not the best gun to conceal carry in the grand scheme of things but it does it very well and the manual safety is very easy to manipulate so it’s easy to learn.

I definitely plan on trying more down the road and would love to see different options in the 2011 market. Let me know what you guys think about 2011s and what your experience has been in the comments below. I know some love and some hate them so I’d love to hear your thoughts below. If you have questions don’t be afraid to shoot me a message on Instagram @fridgeoperator and check out Tommy’s page @boom_stick03. Stay safe out there.