RAPID FIRE COOL!

WHILST IN LAS VEGAS FOR SHOT A FEW YEARS BACK BILL HAD A CHANCE TO GET SOME RANGE TIME COURTESY OF STI INTERNATIONAL AND CAME AWAY VERY IMPRESSED WITH THEIR EXTENSIVE RANGE OF “1911 AND 2011” STYLE HANDGUNS… BUT TIMES THEY CHANGE, STI HAS BECOME STACCATO, AND NOW WE CAN HAVE THEIR LATEST HANDGUNS IN GBB FORM COURTESY OF ARMY/EMG… SO HOW DO THEY STACK UP?

I’ve always been a huge fan of the venerable “1911” and what a history that pistol has; getting the opportunity to get “hands on and live” with various of the real models then manufactured by STI International some years ago was a rare treat which gave me a far deeper appreciation of what they then offered.

For over 25 years the gun community knew STI, the company that evolved John Browning’s classic 1911 design into the 2011platform, and the new STACCATO website tells me that... “with its sophisticated ergonomics, increased capacity, and less recoil, our 2011® pistols were embraced by competition shooters for their speed and accuracy. The STI brand was (and arguably still is) the most decorated brand in the competitive shooting world, having won thousands of matches and championships. Flash forward to today: We are Staccato.”

At SHOT earlier this year, the AA Crew of Boycie, Li’l Stu, Dan and Steve had the opportunity to see the real STACCATO line first-hand, so I’ll pass things over to Boycie for a moment...

“In years gone by I had used the real steel STI International Race Gun and also I ran a custom selfbuild STI 2011 pistol during some competitions which have now become known as IPSC/UKPSA Action Air matches. I have to admit over a number of years I have been a follower, and had a soft spot, for Michelle Viscusi as a member of the Glock Factory Team and then onwards when she became part of the Staccato team. One of my highlights of Shot Show 2024 was to go and see, amongst others, the Staccato stand and get hands on with the real steel in the new form.

What I REALLY like about the pistols is that they feel just like the familiar 1911. I do have a preference for 1911’s generally but in the Staccato 2011’s there may be different size frames but they all feel great in my hand. The 2011’s are available in a multitude of calibres as well. Now Bill tells me that there is a 6mm range….. oh dear I fear my wallet being lightened quite quickly!

The platform has a wide spread of users, from competitive shooting all the way up to Law Enforcement with a number of Police Departments using the Staccato 2011 as their standard service sidearm. Also there are a huge amount of options for fitting tactical lights and red dot sights making it truly a firearm which can cover almost every area that it may be called upon to fulfil.

Now the icing on the cake for our Staccato standvisit at SHOT was to hear that Michelle was due to on the Staccato stand each day between certain hours and this meant that (oh the hardship!) we would have to go back and see if we could at least get a photo. Well I was chuffed to bits to go one better and had the opportunity to meet her and have a short chat about her time at Glock but a longer chat about her role within Staccato.

Like some of the Staccato pistols, Michelle may be small, but is such a powerful package; an Army Veteran, Mother, Wife and Practical Pistol Shooter, as well as a gymnast, but such a really nice person to talk to. After our chat, Michelle signed a photo and then agreed to stand alongside me so L’il Stu could take our own picture. I bade Michelle farewell and L’il Stu and I went off to find a dark room to chill out in, but decided it was time for a coffee and look at the photos. I didn’t realise just how small Michelle is when standing next to me (at 6ft 4”), I joked that I looked like Gulliver in Lilliput!

I do feel a little jealous that Bill got to get hands on the 6mm replicas first but I am sure that it won’t be long until one of the Staccato 2011’s is being delivered to me!”

So, a new name, but the same drive to manufacture some of the very finest 2011 models out there! Like STI International, Inc before them, STACCATO is a Texas-based company that manufactures complete pistols and parts for competition, duty and self-defence; although the focus appears at first to be on the competition- shooting world, STACCATO are no strangers to the law enforcement community, and indeed they continue to evolve the platform they created over a quarter of a century ago by building 2011handguns that are duty-ready. Again, as they say themselves“this means delivering all of the shootability, accuracy, and speed of our competition legacy, but with “out of the box” consistency and reliability required by law enforcement’s high qualification standards. To achieve this, we have invested in research and design, and brought precision manufacturing to the art of gunsmithing. The result is a world-class-line-up of 2011® handguns that are reliable, insanely accurate, durable, and easy to shoot well.”

And this appears to be 100% legit, as further research tells me that the real STACCATO P COMP SOC is approved for duty by more than 1,300 law enforcement agencies and carried by elite units like the Texas Rangers and the US Marshals Special Operations Group, as well as thousands of officers across the USA! Not just for the “comp shooters” then…

Today, STACCATO manufactures a full range of 2011 pistols, and their commitment to making some of the very finest custom-quality handguns that your hard earned money can buy goes far deeper than some plaque on a factory wall. It is a personal responsibility of every employee to put their best into each gun that leaves the building. For them it is more than a job, it is innovating and engineering to keep raising the standard; it is machining and hand crafting each part for a fit and finish that fills sings of quality, and it is the integrity to stay the course even if it means doing things differently. Each gun is fully function-tested and meticulously inspected for any blemishes, and completed STACCATO pistols represent some of the finest in handgun quality, performance and accuracy.

GOING SIX MIL!

Arriving recently to visit with iWHOLESALES I was stunned when Tim showed me the five-models currently available here of the new STACCATO GBB, and the diversity of what was available over the models. Taking in variants from the 2011 program,

“TIM SHOWED ME THE FIVE-MODELS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE HERE OF THE NEW STACCATO GBB, AND THE DIVERSITY OF WHAT WAS AVAILABLE OVER THE MODELS. TAKING IN VARIANTS FROM THE 2011 PROGRAM, WITH MAGAZINES AND STEEL PART KITS FOR IMMEDIATE UPGRADE, THE OFFERING IS EXTENSIVE AND UTTERLY COMPLETE AS IT STANDS” with magazines and steel part kits for immediate upgrade, the offering is extensive and pretty complete as it stands. As I got speaking to the Tim it became very clear that as no mean competition shooter himself he had both passion for, and complete faith in, all the models on show, and in short time he was saying to me “Well, you didn’t come here just to talk…”; that’s called putting your money where your mouth is…

At the end of my time with him, and having checked out the design of all five models available right now, it struck me that as a new range it was already pretty “mature”, but given that EMG have had a hand in this project, with ARMY ARMAMENT producing the pistols themselves, this came as no surprise as EMG are pretty scrupulous when it comes to those working with their licences.

Add to this that the STACCATO replicas are the product of the EMG’s relationship with 6mmProShop, Inc, and things get even better! Established in 2011 and based in the USA, 6mmProShop Inc. has a mission to bring law enforcement training, airsoft sporting events, and military simulation to the next level, and to read their spiel, “6mmProShop features exclusive licensed products, unique innovations, and distribution rights of many exciting products from Japan, Europe, South America, and Asia”; if the STACCATO GBB replicas are anything to go by, they’re doing a pretty darn good job!

The five models currently available from iWHOLESALES do indeed show a good cross-section of what STACCATO offer, a real taster that goes from the solid functionality and more simple lines of the C2 and P 2011 models (these look like prime fightin’ irons to me) to the more esoteric and range-shooterlike profiles of two different C COMP and P COMP SOC 2011. I was given a sample of the P COMP SOC 2011 to take away with me to range test further; Tim well knows my range-testing regimen, and knew that I would put the new pistol, stock, and with zero upgrades at this time, through its paces, and I have to admit that I left rather looking forward to this!

In the real world the P COMP SOC 2011 features a single-chamber compensator to reduce muzzle flip and felt recoil, and is finely crafted with wide, weight-saving cuts at the front and rear of the slide

SLIDE

READY providing superior grip while racking it back, reduced recoil and improved cycling speed, and all of this is replicated in the airsoft version very faithfully indeed. The slide is RMR ready and comes with a RMR plate for the installation of your favourite reflex dot sight (which I believe would please Stewbacca greatly these days!), but you still get a slide-mounted pronounced fibre-optic front sight and a tall rear sight that allows use of the “irons” even with most dot sights installed… this does of course mean that you’ll need to be careful in relation to holster choice as the front sight especially is sizeable, which is superb for superfast sight acquisition, but will obscure in a standard “1911/2011” holster!

The “P” metal frame is solid as a rock and nicely weighted for a very steady feel, and comes with an under-barrel rail for taclites or lasers. “As standard” is a textured polymer grip which provides a comfortable and secure hold, this featuring the “STACCATO Star” which is a very nice adornment indeed. Other external features include a comp-style flared magwell, skeletonized trigger and hammer, and a textured trigger guard (mirroring the texture of the grip) which potentially gives more stability while firing. The authentic licensed logos, patterns and trademarks present on the pistol also give it a real quality look, making it even more attractive to own if you’re a “2011 fan.

Internally there’s a lot of TM Hi-Capa compatibility, and we all know just how many aftermarket upgrade parts are available for the TM don’t we? Out of the box though the pistol has a perfectly adequate 6.03mm tightbore inner barrel, along with ARMY’s latest cold-resistant nozzle, designed for improved consistency and to combat potential cool-down, along with (I’m reliably informed) new-formula performanceoriented O-rings, routers and the like. All I’ll say here is that everything internally looks very tidy indeed, and time has obviously been spent here to ensure that the stock, out-of-the-box pistol is as good as ARMY can make it, and given the oversight of EMG and 6mmProShop, it’s actually very good indeed.

I’m told that although there are already steelpart internal upgrades available as a kit (I saw them, they’re for real!), it may be possible in the future to have a STACCATO GBB with these fitted as standard;

WITH A RMR PLATE FOR THE INSTALLATION OF YOUR FAVOURITE REFLEX DOT, BUT YOU STILL GET A SLIDE-MOUNTED FIBRE-OPTIC FRONT SIGHT AND A TALL REAR SIGHT THAT ALLOWS USE OF THE “IRONS” EVEN WITH MOST DOT SIGHTS INSTALLED” as I understand it this is still in the discussion/planning phase, and of course would add extra cost to the pistols, meaning in turn a higher price to the player, but I for one would love to see just how much extra these parts would bring to the party! That said, the “stock model” as-is certainly is no slouch on the range!

Downrange

If you’ve ever used a 1911 or 2011 then you’re going to be right at home straight away with the STACCATOs. There’s that big old “beavertail” grip safety at the rear, with the slide lock and oversized ambi safety in place as usual; I did note that the mag release on the P COMP stands very proud of the frame on the LHS; this makes it easier to operate with gloved hands, and although I didn’t have a problem in testing, it does suggest to me that you’ll need to be careful with this in-game so as not to lose your mag…

The P COMP feels like, and acts like, a well put together, accurate pistol from the moment you lift it from your holster, and in my opinion, where the some of the ARMY “2011s” of the past have been good, the P COMP is better… way, WAY better!

The P COMP initially chrono’d in at 0.86 Joule/305fps on .20g BBs, but it seems to enjoy being fed heavier weight fare best; with a .30g it was superb! With this weight of BB you get cracking performance at 10m, with consistent power delivery through the 30 BB magazine. Good standard sights let you get on target quickly, and a crisp trigger break lets you stay on target too… I say “standard sights” as this is where the RMR-ready STACCATOs take another leap forward, as that slide just cries out for an RDS!

Beauty they say is in the eye of the beholder, and personally I love the P COMP, especially the way the silver of the chunky outer barrel is exposed between the compensator and the slide every time you take a shot, or the action locks back! Put together to last, everything indicates to me that ARMY have done a great job in this respect as everything fits and functions together perfectly, and gives the STACCATO a really great feel in your hand.

In summation my time on the range with the P COMP SOC 2011 has been a highly pleasurable experience; I know that the real STACCATO handguns have an excellent reputation, and now I’ve had the chance to shoot with one of the replicas I can completely understand why in relation to ergonomics, balance and ease of manipulation. When you shoot a STACCATO airsoft pistol you can feel that it has been crafted by skilled hands to perform every time.

My sincere thanks to Tim for introducing me to the ARMY/EMG STACCATO handgun range, and it is most definitely one I will continue to watch as the program develops further! If you’d like to keep updated on the latest news about the STACCATO line, and many other new developments, then do keep an eye on www.iwholesales.biz and their socials. AA

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