So, although I would peruse the ‘net occasionally searching for something interesting enough to pull the trigger on, nothing ever grabbed my attention. You were either paying up front, or paying as you go with mods in this game as far as I could tell, so I shelved the idea. That is, until the fateful morning that I opened up my gun club’s monthly newsletter and perused the “For Sale” section.
There, listed under some half full boxes of hunting ammo for way too much (I’m not kidding), was an interesting ad: A used Staccato XL (previously STI, and their current “competition” model in their lineup) with a swath of accessories and extra magazines, for a price that wasn’t a steal, but wasn’t insulting either. Curious, I texted the seller for details. Everything seemed to check out, and upon our text conversation it became apparent that the accessories it came with came darn close to the value of the gun itself (higher end competition magazines, holsters, and magazine pouches).
After some back and forth, we agreed to meet at the club and he let me put a few mags through it. While, quite frankly, I wasn’t blown away by the gun, I was still curious. What can I say? I’m a sucker for a deal. I told him I would think about it over the weekend, which is when he offered to throw in a Trijicon SRO to the deal. There it was, my sign: He was motivated to move the gun.
(Or maybe I took my scanning of “Never Split the Difference” a little too seriously. Great book.)
After running some numbers, both on the gun and my financials, and asking a few friends more knowledgeable on 2011’s, I decided to throw out an offer. Much to my surprise, while he did not take my offer, he came down on his asking price enough that I knew I would be a fool to pass on the deal. With a virtual “hand shake” we set a time and place to meet up and exchange goods, and conduct the FFL transfer. A few days later, and there I was with my new-to-me Staccato XL with SRO in hand:
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However, as I mentioned, I was looking for a project. For better or worse, that’s exactly what I got...
I knew the gun would need some work. It wasn’t exactly spotless, and the previous owner had installed a short trigger and extended magazine release that I wasn’t particularly fond of. I immediately set about doing a better inspection of the gun and making my plans. Unfortunately, I very quickly found a potential trouble area that I should have identified before purchasing:
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I’m not sure how I missed this, but as you can see, the previous owner did (or had done) possibly the worst grip reduction job I’ve seen, and on a pistol that originally MSRP’d for more than many mortgages no less! While not pleased with myself, I resigned myself to the fact that this was the risk you take when you play the used gun game.
(He also had lost the trigger guard screw, but that's an easy fix)
Prior to either replacing the grip or throwing the gun out the window, I took it out to the range to function test the gun with my preferred bulk factory ammo, and every magazine it came with. Fortunately the gun functioned fine, which means I wouldn’t be wasting my time salvaging the grip situation. No photos of the groups, as the rear sight became to work its way loose. Good thing that wasn’t staying.
Remember when I said everything in this platform is expensive? I briefly flirted with having Staccato replace the trigger and the grip. Unfortunately, I was quoted, how shall we say, a whole Glock for the parts and work. While it might have been worth it, that wasn’t the spirit of the project. Fortunately, I found a source of factory blemished Staccato grips for a fraction of the new price (the only good deal in the 2011 space, it would seem), and pulled the trigger.
Next came the detail strip, which is required to swap out the trigger and grip. As I tore the pistol down (fortunately, just like everything these days, there are some excellent YouTube videos online about this, and no specialized tools are needed) I found that the gun, though wiped down on the exterior, was absolutely FILTHY under the hood. Like, it looked like it had been stored in a literal sandbox. This simple trigger swap became a deep cleaning mission. Nothing is ever simple.
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Fortunately, after a good bit of cussing, scrubbing, and two attempts to reassemble the gun, it went back together without much fuss (especially for a platform this cantankerous). The original OEM medium length trigger does not fit as well in the new grip frame as the original, but that is to be expected, and there are ways to tackle this later should I choose to. The trigger is also, quite frankly, lighter than I would prefer, and will likely get tweaked a bit (or replaced with an aftermarket unit and tuned). Fortunately, the trigger is the only area where the fitting of the replacement grip is not as good as the first one, and it functions 100% as far as I can tell with basic function checks. It’ll do for now.
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So I now have in my possession, despite fate’s best efforts, a clean competition grade 2011 with a SRO, and everything I could need short of a literal belt to run it in USPSA should I decide to. While I’m not head over heels for the platform yet, and I certainly don’t plan to sub out my Glock 34 for it in USPSA, I’m interested to put some rounds down range ASAP.
Which, speaking of, I have hired a crack team of local pros to help put the gun through its paces. More to follow on that later...
