Basically, I can only use 1 word to sum it all up... AWESOME!!!
We ended up hitting the range yesterday, since I was doing a range qual with an instructor for my UT CCW.
I used my kimber for the qual, but later the Instructor, myself, and the wife shot the Steyr. Each of us was extremely impressed by the lack of recoil. I have shot a few 9's, but this thing shot like a Ruger Mark II, on steroids. Very little, to no muzzle flip. The instructor, a Master class shooter was printing sub 1" groups at 25 ft cold. I was shooting 1-2" groups, adjusting from the 1911.
Most important, my wife, who has been looking for something she could get comfortable with, had a blast. She ended the range session in great shape, the instructor will be doing her range qual soon and said she shouldn't have any problem. In fact, he was amazed that this was the first time she had shot the gun. She hit solid inside the 8, 9, 10, and X rings. I was very happy for her, the instructor mentioned that "He wouldn't want to be a bad guy and have her pointing a gun at him".
My wife loved the sights, and I found them very easy to aquire, although I need to adjust from the standard type sights I have shot with for over a quarter century, the adjustment was simple. Even when you loose the rear sight, the front sight is just sitting there, nice and bright in the sight picture, very easy to concentrate on the front sight with this gun.
The trigger was really stiff out of the box, but has since softened up, possibly some gunk, or a burr on the sear, but the trigger is much tighter than the 5.5 lbs Steyr advertises. Need to take care of that. Take up is very nice, and break seems crisp.
I could get used to this. I drug my son in law out later in the afternoon to the range and he shot the Kimber, and the Steyr, although I had him shoot the Steyr more since he's a lefty, the Kimber doesn't have the ambi safeties, and I didn't want to screw him up, he had never shot a handgun prior to that. He managed to hit solid center mass, with many 10, and X ring hits as well...
I would imagine that any gun a novice can pick up and shoot that well must be pretty impressive. It does remind me of a Glock 19, although I do like the added safety features the Steyr offers.
Best part... No malfunctions whatsoever in 150 rounds.
With the performance of this thing, I am seriously looking at picking up an S series when they become available, make mine a 40.
Overall, although they don't have the popularity of a Glock, they are every bit as good, and in some areas, better.
Probably the only downside to the Steyr... The gun is a new design, and no pre-ban mags exist. It would be nice to have the LE only 14 round mags for the M9, but the reality is 10 rounds should get any job done, the extra rounds just add weight, and when the S series becomes available, the 10 round mags are a perfect fit for a G27 sized gun.
Like I said, it is just an awesome peice of equipment that my wife will be able to use with confidence. I can see her improvements already, and I know we made a great choice.
We ended up hitting the range yesterday, since I was doing a range qual with an instructor for my UT CCW.
I used my kimber for the qual, but later the Instructor, myself, and the wife shot the Steyr. Each of us was extremely impressed by the lack of recoil. I have shot a few 9's, but this thing shot like a Ruger Mark II, on steroids. Very little, to no muzzle flip. The instructor, a Master class shooter was printing sub 1" groups at 25 ft cold. I was shooting 1-2" groups, adjusting from the 1911.
Most important, my wife, who has been looking for something she could get comfortable with, had a blast. She ended the range session in great shape, the instructor will be doing her range qual soon and said she shouldn't have any problem. In fact, he was amazed that this was the first time she had shot the gun. She hit solid inside the 8, 9, 10, and X rings. I was very happy for her, the instructor mentioned that "He wouldn't want to be a bad guy and have her pointing a gun at him".
My wife loved the sights, and I found them very easy to aquire, although I need to adjust from the standard type sights I have shot with for over a quarter century, the adjustment was simple. Even when you loose the rear sight, the front sight is just sitting there, nice and bright in the sight picture, very easy to concentrate on the front sight with this gun.
The trigger was really stiff out of the box, but has since softened up, possibly some gunk, or a burr on the sear, but the trigger is much tighter than the 5.5 lbs Steyr advertises. Need to take care of that. Take up is very nice, and break seems crisp.
I could get used to this. I drug my son in law out later in the afternoon to the range and he shot the Kimber, and the Steyr, although I had him shoot the Steyr more since he's a lefty, the Kimber doesn't have the ambi safeties, and I didn't want to screw him up, he had never shot a handgun prior to that. He managed to hit solid center mass, with many 10, and X ring hits as well...
I would imagine that any gun a novice can pick up and shoot that well must be pretty impressive. It does remind me of a Glock 19, although I do like the added safety features the Steyr offers.
Best part... No malfunctions whatsoever in 150 rounds.
With the performance of this thing, I am seriously looking at picking up an S series when they become available, make mine a 40.
Overall, although they don't have the popularity of a Glock, they are every bit as good, and in some areas, better.
Probably the only downside to the Steyr... The gun is a new design, and no pre-ban mags exist. It would be nice to have the LE only 14 round mags for the M9, but the reality is 10 rounds should get any job done, the extra rounds just add weight, and when the S series becomes available, the 10 round mags are a perfect fit for a G27 sized gun.
Like I said, it is just an awesome peice of equipment that my wife will be able to use with confidence. I can see her improvements already, and I know we made a great choice.
