#StrikerFiredPistols

Welcome back to another edition of Concealed Carry Corner. Last time, we talked about consumable carry items and when to replace certain items you use daily to carry your firearm. To check out that article, be sure to click on the link here. In the world of carrying a concealed firearm, the market is shifting in strange directions and is even starting to move back into the world of single-action type 2011s and 1911s over something like a striker-fired handgun. With the gradual shift from small micro-style guns to larger framed firearms, it’s important to look at the reliability of certain firearms as time goes on. Let’s take a closer look at pistol type reliability over time.

At today’s pre-Industry Day at the Range, Standard Manufacturing unveiled their newest SG9 pistol.  This new striker-fired offering comes in both a regular and optics-ready version. Their president was kind enough to show us the newest pistol first.

Rock Island Armory (RIA) has just unveiled their first striker-fired pistol – the STK100. The STK100 features a 17 round standard magazine capacity, aluminum grip, and 1911 style grip angle. The STK100 will be launching officially on June 17th at 10am Mountain time and you can register for the live presentation and Q&A session via the Armscor/RIA website. The new STK100 should have an MSRP right around $599 and will be manufactured by Rock Island Armory in the Philippines.

In 1999 Steyr unveiled their first polymer frame semi-auto handguns, the Model M-A1 pistols.  Included in this lineup was the M9-A1 pistol that they so kindly sent over for me to review.  These pistols featured an on trigger safety system that Steyr called a “Reset Action Trigger”.  To top it all off, the pistols came equipped with Steyr’s patented triangular trapezoidal sighting system.

Recently, it has become a priority for manufacturers of new striker-fired pistols to furnish their offerings with triggers they perceive as “better” than the competition (generally meaning Glock, the still-reigning heavyweight champion of the striker-fired world). The problem with many of these efforts, in the eyes of this humble blogger, is that they prioritize only the weight of the trigger and not its other characteristics, like overtravel, reset, and especially creep. In many cases, these triggers feel little or no different than the familiar creepy, spongy trigger of a Glock, with the exception of the poundage they put out. While this might be some kind of advantage for a square range competition gun, to me it’s actually a minor detriment to a carry piece: The trigger has not actually been made better, but due to its lower poundage it has arguably been made less safe.