[8th ID]

Ok. I own or have owned: Glock, Caracal C, M&P, Kahr, Walther PPQ, XD9.

I'm looking for the 'perfect' gun for me for: Carry & IDPA. I always shoot IDPA with my carry gun. Right now that is a Gen4 G19.

I have held the Steyrs, and I like the feel. Better trigger than my Glock also. My PPQ is one awesome pistol. But the bore axis is a little high. The Caracal is gone-no actual problems with it, I just could not get used to the very narrow rear sight notch. And I saw NO alternatives/support in sight for it.

The Steyr has been really pulling me. I'm looking at the M9-A1. Here's my dilemma: I'm reading a lot of threads/reviews that there have been problems with reliability. I know these forums seem to magnify small problems. Also, I've read where there are Steyrs being imported from some place in Washington, and those pistols seem to be 'grey market.' IF I were to do an online order and it specifies that it comes with 17 round mags, can I be certain that it is a pistol imported by SAI?

 

[ETH77]

A couple of comments.

You might want to try one of the drop-in triggers for the Glock, if it's allowed in IDPA. It will improve the trigger substantially.

If you really want to move to the Steyr, buy from one of our forum guys - xthexheadx. He'll fix you up.

 

[Inazone]

So far, the Steyrs imported by PW Arms have been serviced under warranty by SAI based on everything I've read here on the forum. Also, consider that while new Steyr owners with issues (usually FTF/FTE) are likely to post about them here, people who buy a gun and never experience a problem are much less likely to post about it. In reality, the number of "problem guns" gets blown out of proportion because of that.

I'm still a newbie here myself and first posted because I'd had a couple of FTEs and FTFs, and was concerned that I might have bought a lemon. I was advised to consider 500 rounds as a reasonable break-in period, and after getting through those 3-4 instances early on (200-300 rounds), I've since put hundreds of rounds through my M9-A1 without issue and am now at around 700-800 fired.

As far as being sure that your gun is an SAI version, just ask the seller what is stamped on the slide. Mine has PW Arms stamped on one side, "M9" (not "M9-A1") on the other, and included two 15-round mags.

 

[wschroer]

I am not sure how many new PW Arms guns are still available. Cabela's was selling them for $400 (not available online) and that is where I got mine, but a few weeks later they were all out of stock.

The PW Arms version had some issues with being left in storage for a considerable number of years, resulting in some issues with spring strength of the extractor. There also was an extractor redesign a few years ago which SAI has been supporting even on the PW Arms guns, but from what I read here simply supplementing the existing Steyr M plunger spring with a 1911 plunger spring solves the problem - even with the old style extractor.

My PW Arms version, with new extractor and supplemented 1911 plunger rig has been flawless.

My understanding is if you get the SAI version of the pistol, you will not have the extractor issues that plagued the PW Arms version. If I am wrong about that, will someone please correct me?

 

[Syntax360]

There is no guarantee - we have a few members with the newest version of the pistols that have had extraction troubles. It just makes you a lot less likely to get a lemon.