Range Report STI Target Master 9mm

[sigarmsguy]

Just purchased a 6" Target Master in 9mm. The pistol seemed to have a thick grease applied throughout as it came from the box. After running a patch through the barrel I fired 8 rounds of Federal American Eagle 124 G FMJ. The first round chambered with the release of the slide and fired; as the slide came to the rear, the empty was tumbled out of the action, a fresh round from the mag flew out of the ejection port unfired, and the third round in the mag chambered. This occurred at least once with each mag fired for the first 50 or so rounds. The action felt very sluggish and slooooooow. I field stripped the gun and cleaned all the grease like lube. Re oiled with Tetra and ran a few more mags. The coughing up of a live round problem did not recur but the gun still felt sluggish. I detail stripped the gun, put it in my ultrasonic cleaner for half an hour, re assembled with light application of Tetra and the gun ran without issue for 300 or so rounds. This gun is VERY accurate....under 1.5" from rest at 50 yds. Out performs both of my Nighthawks. You have to love long sight radius :) I do not, however, like the sights....too tall in front, too complex in the rear...great for paper punching. I wonder if STI would fit a second slide with a proper Novak adjustable rear and a Dawson fibre optic front??? Anyway, a fine pistol; highly accurate and pleasing to shoot, almost zero recoil. A few nitpicks.....poor finish quality; there are small areas on the inside of the slide that are still in the white, the serrations on the slide are rough cut, the two piece guide rod finish is poor, but all that aside....It is a keeper.
Sorry, no pictures at this writing, but I will post some this week.