I can get a Staccato XC now and put an aluminum Grip on it as well as a Atlas flat short trigger (small hands), or wait and spend a tad more and get a HAYES CUSTOM COBRA which I have heard nothing but great things about. So for those that have had the AWESOME Fortune to handle both, thoughts? And for those that haven't but have a XC, have you done the Aluminum Grip mod and how did it shoot afterwards?
Thanks to all those who read and respond in advance.
As some of you know, I am an owner of a gun store with a rental fleet. We sell Staccato, Atlas, Watchtower, Wilson Combat, Nighthawk, Platypus, Prodidgy, Tisa, and then some one offs 2011s or double stack 1911s.
I have shot everything above that I listed but I have several thousand rounds through the XC. I had a race gun that I competed with made by Hayes that I no longer own.
If you look at the platform, a lot of people like them because they are very ergonomic and feel good in the hand. People that have had time on the 1911 platform take to them right away, same controls, kind of the same feel. They tend to be heavier and feel more substantial when compared to polymer striker fired handguns. A lot of people really like the safety mechanisms on the pistols, I can't tell you how many customers feel uncomfortable with internal safeties like in a Glock for instance.
So the specific pistols you listed I am going to categorize as high end range guns. Because of the porting or the compensator, you can't use them as competition pistols in most of the divisions in shooting sports except at the very high end (Open) and both of them are severely lacking in that division. I think that both pistols have triggers that are too light to be used as self defense weapons, this is a very arguable point but just my opinion. The Staccato is based on the model 70 Colt in that it is not drop safe which is a negative to me. I am not sure about the Hayes, some double stack 1911/2011s have the model 80 mechanism that makes them drop safe.
Of the Staccatos that I have shot and owned, the XC is the most frustrating to me. The spring is so light that if the pistol gets any gunk in it the gun will not go into battery so you have to clean it a lot. My solution to the problem was to contact Dawson precision and I bought heavier springs which helped quite a bit but in doing so I made it shoot a little less soft. As I mentioned above, I made the trigger pull a little heavier as well so for me I ended up turning an XC into a Staccato P which was kind of stupid. I had our gunsmith revert the changes and sold it.
For an average shooter, you will probably be a little more accurate and shoot a little faster with these pistols. The better you are with a pistol, the less you pick up going to one of these platforms versus something like a Glock. To explain this comment, at 7 yards shooting into a USPSA target. I can draw from a holster and empty a 20 round mag with all alphas in the 4.1 to 4.4 second range with most pistols. I do not really pick up significant amount of time going from a Glock to a Staccato. For an average shooter (less then 1k rounds a year) on the range, they will absolutely see a pretty big performance gain with a Staccato vs a Glock.
With respects to the metal grips and trigger. You can order Staccatos with aluminum triggers (curved and flat) now. I would not carry these pistols so to me I would prefer a steel grip module (Cheely for Staccato) and Hayes may make their own. I also prefer a working palm swell safety mechanism instead of the pinned but that is very much a user preference things.
