I remember seeing this in the 2011 SHOT show... fun fact: the other original maker of the '2011' platform is SVI/Infinity. STI's 'Apeiro' (pronounced 'AAH-pee-roh') is a Greek word that means... 'infinity'. A coincidence, I'm sure.
This gun is basically an STI Edge, with a Schuemann 'island' barrel, which Schuemann had already been selling for several years, and is still selling today. Back then, other '2011' pistol gunsmiths were making even more extreme versions of this idea (heavy barrel, lighter slide, for increased cyclic rates and less recoil/flip), with much bigger portions of the slide being cut off. Here's an example (made in Germany by HPS):
These STI guns also come with light (17lb) mainsprings, and IIRC STI's recommended recoil spring for a 5" pistol in .40S&W is 14lbs (or an equivalent RecoilMaster setup)... so those slides race backwards FAST. The idea is that they will then race forward just as fast (elastic collision? Hmm...), thus returning back to battery quicker, for faster follow-up shots. I'm not sure I fully agree with the concept, but it has a lot of fans in the 'racegun' world and I'm not going to argue against it.
HOWEVER, I'd wager that this concept may not be the best idea when converting a .40S&W pistol to 10mm. If it were my gun, it would get much heavier recoil AND main springs. Remember: most people who make 10mm guns, go for setups with heavier-than-normal slides, sometimes with 6" barrels. Not the other way 'round.
Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.
M. Setter
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