Steyr M40!! (feeling a bit teary right now)

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twoblink

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First, I'd like to thank Pete, whom I feel Steyr should pay some advertising dollars to. Without him, this day probably would not have come for me, and so many thanks goes out to Pete.

I did it!!! After about a year of reading, studying, debating etc.. I finally did it!!

I bought a Steyr M40 yesterday!!! I'm excited. Of course because of Kalifornia's stupid laws, I won't be getting it in my hot little hands for 2 weeks, but now I will own one.

There was (still is!) a sale at Turner's on the Steyr, and so I've picked one up. Serial number 10056. :-)

I hope to put up a nice report after I take it for a spin.

Thank you everybody who have helped me in my decision for a gun.

Albert
 
Congratulations on your new purchase! I am going through the same waiting game for my new Steyr M40, due to California laws.
 
petej88: Thanks for posting your link to your page. I enjoyed it a lot. I read your Steyr M-series report and wondered what would have happened had you had the need to use your early M40 for serious self defense?
Steyr/GSI offers the trigger group replacement and $35 to ease the pain of brief separation from the pistol during repair maintaining that no safety issues are involved. I think a gun that fails to fire when you pull the trigger could be a very serious safety issue. This gun had(has) serious design/engineering flaws in early serials. I resent that thousands of early purchasers (like me) were used for Beta testing. Hey, let's call it like it is. My M40 failed after but a single round fired in front of a large number of Delaware LEO's on a police range. Another M9 was locked with key and could not be unlocked. Safety issues to my way of thinking! I hope that the bugs are out now, but I would not bet my life on this gun until I hear lots of good things from users. Sorry, Mas, this is NOT "wicked cool". Not yet, anyway.
 
Yes, I agree, the Steyr had teething problems, which now hopefully have all be solved.

But so have every gun, the HK's, Glocks (See the Glock frame crack thread), Berettas (the little arch at the very front of the slide will crack) etc... No gun is 100% reliable, no machine can ever be.

But the steyr is remarkable, it was based on solid design theories, and GSI has worked night and day to listen to the complaints and have tried to solve them all. So hats off to GSI and Steyr, this is what customer service is.

Albert
 
I picked up a new M40 just yesterday and had a chance to try it out. It's a nice little gun with a very solid feel to it and the quality is there. Mine was very accurate and the recoil quite snappy. I did experience 3 failures to feed, which may be related to the cheap ammo I was using. I hope it becomes as dependable as my Glock 27 after this initial break in. It has many features such as a loaded chamber indicator, external lock and safety, and the sights are pretty neat. You won't be disappointed with the M40; it's a winner.
 
Optimist,

Thanks for your feedback.

I consider even my early model M40 a good pistol. The times it had issues, I did a tap, rack, bang and continued almost immediately. I wouldn't use the limited access lockwith the pistol in my holster of course. But I am very curious of what the resolution was with the lock, if it is known by you.

My newest M40 has worked perfectly for me and is "Wicked Cool".

Even the extremely popular Glock has had many teething problems over the years. There were the famous early models that would go into full auto because of a worn part. In 1992 Glock made the famous 6 point enhancement to fix several issues. See Dean Speir's site for details.

My early sigpro had some issues.

etc, etc.

The bottom line is that nobody builds a perfect product and hopefully they keep improving.

It can be kind of like programming. You test an application with everything you have. Then you put it into production and sure enough, you find a few bugs that need to be worked out.

At any rate, don't rule out the M series yet. Keep your ears and eyes open for continuing reports.

My Steyr is still my favorite gun, followed by the sigpro and the glock 31 :)

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http://home.earthlink.net/~petej55


[This message has been edited by petej88 (edited October 01, 2000).]
 
Why I said I would like to see some military or police agency somewhere put a lot of rounds through a few and then put some big money down to buy them. I did not buy a sig pro until the DEA blessed it. Still waiting for that impartial T&E and a track record. The other guns may not have perfect official track records, but he Steyr has none so far. :)

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[This message has been edited by BrokenArrow (edited October 01, 2000).]
 
You mean my record is not impartial? Just kidding. I of course don't have the money to do a full test of the Steyr like an agency would. I think you'll be able to purchase a Steyr in the near future, since Steyr is actively working that market now :)
 
I think pete's review has been very fair, he's the one that brought use the "brass hit face" issues, etc...

If you look at some of the problems that the Steyrs had in the past, all of them were pretty simple to fix. Breech face opened up stopped the brass in the face, the light firing pin strike can easily be solved by a heavier spring, the slight creep in the trigger is being upgraded, so is the heavy trigger pull; the "click" sound of the external safety being engaged seems to click every time now, and the gun is without a doubt the most ergonomically correct one I've had in my hands.

So instead of coming out with untruthful marketing of "We have built the perfect gun the first time around" which is not true, they have said that they are making every effort to listen to their customers and improve upon every part that there has been complaints. That I think is just great.

I do not know when I get to shoot it, if I can write up a review that is as detailed as Pete's, but I'll try.

In the mean time, shoot safe everybody.

Albert
 
Optimist,

regarding your statement:
>M9 was locked with key and could not be unlocked.

If possible, please let me know if the gun was simply returned or if it was fixed with an explanation.

I have of course tested the limited access lock before. Due to your statement, I tested my M40 lock several times in succession. I have to admit that I normally don't use the limited access lock. I keep my pistol in a lock box.

Here's what I found:

1. To lock and unlock the pistol with the limited access lock while the slide is locked open, then it works very well.

2. To lock and unlock the pistol while the slide is in full battery, you must continue turning the key clockwise until you feel pressure, and then as you remove the key with this pressure, the lock pops out into position as expected. If you don't turn the key enough, as in no pressure in the clockwise position, then you can run into an issue. So keep the pressure in the clockwise position as the key is removed.

If you continue having problems, then do step 1 above. Or, you can rack the slide partially or put a little pressure on the trigger that can also help pop the block out into position, although these methods are non standard. It's best to use a little clockwise pressure of the key to pop the lock out into position as designed.

You have to remember that the limited access lock is not meant for speed drills. You very carefully put the key in place, and either lock or unlock it accordingly, for storage purposes. Note: The limited access lock is very inexpensive and easy to replace.

During general disassembly of the pistol, the access lock is pushed in a little bit with your finger so the take-down lever can swing down. This technique is very clean and easy to perform, and has worked flawlessly for me since day one.


[This message has been edited by petej88 (edited October 03, 2000).]
 
You should not have to wiggle and jiggle any part of an expensive brnad new product to get it to work. The Steyr M Series looked awfully interesting when the magazine articles came out, but it sounds as temperamental as a British car. :(
 
David,

At least the Steyr doesn't leak oil ;)

It really doesn't matter what pistol you pick. You will find people who will like your choice, hate your choice, and everything in between.

[This message has been edited by petej88 (edited October 02, 2000).]
 
Now that Jaguar is owned by Ford, they actually run for days at a time w/o breakdown and do not leak oil. That said the Lincoln LS and Jag are the same car beyond skin deep, and both are superb autos. Would take either or both in a heartbeat. But then again, would take any gun in a heartbeat also if given to me at no cost. I can be amzingly open-minded when the price is right!
 
On a related note, I just found a place that sells new factory Steyr M40 10-round magazines for $29.99 a pop. I have looked around, and this seems like the lowest thus far. They have the M9 magazines at the same price. The only down side is that they charge $8.99 for shipping, and it seems to be the same rate no matter how many you order. I was going to order 2, but changed the order to 4 after seeing that the shipping rate was the same. See: http://cdnninvestments.com/m404010blune.html
 
Steyr, Austrian utilitarianism, but has that Swedish ergonomics to it..

the days are ticking... Damn waiting period!

Albert
 
There are several police agencies in the process of purchasing Steyr pistols. The first order is close to fruition right now.

I'll give you more info later ....

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http://home.earthlink.net/~petej55

[This message has been edited by petej88 (edited October 04, 2000).]
 
I received the four M40 magazines that I ordered from CDNN investments by UPS today. These are indeed new factory magazines, shrink-wrapped on original green Steyr thin cardboard material. Why am I posting now? They included a coupon that is good for free shipping on any order over $200. Normally they charge a fixed rate of $8.99 no matter how much you order. The coupon expires on 11/30/2000, and is: H-1642-97. This is good for Internet (Web) orders only. If a few people got together to make a group order of Steyr M40 or M9 magazines ($29.95 a pop from them, which is the lowest price anywhere), the shipping would be free with this coupon, as long as the order is over $200, and it's done before the end of November. M40 and M9 owners unite!
 
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