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Cracked Slide Costa Carry Comp

7K views 43 replies 17 participants last post by  Descartian 
#1 · (Edited)
LOL, I was just brag'n on how well she shot yesterday (in the other thread) and went to remove the barrel to clean the comp.

I found what looks like a cracked slide under the part of the slide which holds the reverse-plug or wth it is called. That is normally hidden by the FL-Dust-cover.

Have any of you guys seen an STI failure like this? The mussel/comp end is towards the top of the pic, the plug is half way out and will not come out anymore unless I go postal on it it seems.

Will be her third visit to STI in 2 years. Not good.

C.A.
 

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#2 ·
I wonder if they even have a slide for this model anymore as it was discontinued.
 
#5 ·
Not that many (I have so many guns lol) about 1,500: 230 grain, about 2/3 HST-HP, 1/3 PBC-ball.
 
#4 ·
I've heard reports of the comp itself cracking, specifically around/at the side ports. An sti brand ambassador told me that that played a role in the company discontinuing the CCC, and redesigning the Omni into the DVC-P. I can't confirm this info, however. As far as the slide itself cracking, personally I haven't heard talk of that issue, and most of the people I run across with the CCC love it to death. Absolutely reach out to the company asap. I'm sure they'll offer some solution. Please, update this thread when customer service responds!
 
#6 ·
Yea, I love mine too. Maybe they can fit the new 4" comped slide onto my frame, I think it looks better anyway, and don't really need Costa's name on it.
 
#8 ·
I have heard of different parts cracking on different guns, from bargain bin blasters to high-end beauties. My stainless Wilson Elite Pro in .45, one of my favorite guns, had a crack in the slide right by the barrel lug locks, with less than 500 rounds in it. Fixed right away.

The change from the Omni to the -P was indeed because the side ports did crack on very RARE occasion (like, less than 1:500). Therefore, the engineers just decided to make the change instead of dealing with any further potential issues.

Though not NEARLY as serious as your issue, my newly-acquired Omni in .45 (yes, an Omni and yes, it’s new) will have it’s barrel going back to STI because the front night sight came dead (barrel because it’s an island sight). Rear sights are fine.

So these things DO happen but will be addressed but it always sucks!
 
#10 · (Edited)
Yes, thanks Guy's...It was a bad day for my 2011's Monday at the range, my Infinity/SVI is still having lock-back problem's after last round (just got it back from Infinity last week ($350 in round trip shipping cost)), and my STI which shot so well will need a major overhaul.

I have full confidence in STI, although a smaller shop the WC, my experience with them indicates they are on par with WC when it comes to making things right.

Infinity/SVI is another story, I'm really disappointed with their customer service and warranty (only 1 year). Although the gun is my best shooter overall, Infinity doesn't take ownership for their problem's. First they blame your ammo (even though it is factory ammo), and after you switch to the ammo they recommend just to get past such a nonsensical assertion, if they still can't fix it the pull the Limp-Wristing-Card - LOL! Yea, I have 13 other semi-auto's and they all run 100%, but I limp wrist just the Infinity - just one of those Cosmic-Anomalies I guess - LOL!. 5500$ gun and they can't get it to run 100%. See my thread in the Gunsmith folder, I am going to have to try to figure it out and fix it without Infinity.

Any gun from any Co can have problems, 4 of my 5 WC's have had to go back too. Some of my polly's too. It is just part of the genera. Most companies are great, step up, solve the problem and fix things. Unfortunately, Infinity is not one of them they seem to have a strained relationship with many of their customer's. I couldn't understand this before I had problem's with their gun because they are very personal people and I have had long interesting discussions with the CS reps just about random shooting stuff. But when it comes to fixing their guns, they go into defensive mode rather than problem solving mode. Mix that with the high-end price and I can see why customer's get so irate with them. And they hold all the card's not much one can really do - 1 year warranty and that is a literal one year. Some customer's like Kimber state 1 year, but will do warranty work well after, if justified.
 
#13 ·
Yea, no worries - 3rd trip back for this gun :), Dale will have the label out either tonight or tomorrow AM...I will not ship it out till Monday anyway. The interesting thing will be to see if they have a spare Costa-Comp slide or they put the Omi-Comp slide on it.
 
#15 ·
I've come to the conclusion, and I don't care which manufacturer, it is just a way of life needed to participate in this genra - LOL! It would help if I had less guns though - less stuff to break.:biglaugh:
 
#17 ·
I'm sure the certainly have the ability to, and after watching the video I feel a bit brighter about the further of my Omni, should it develop issues... But still, can and will are different, and I sure hope they will support all of us step children with one of so many discontinued models! The thing about sti that has always left me scratching my head is just how quickly they move from announcement, to release, to redesign to discontinued!
 
#24 · (Edited)
Stuck reverse recoil plug.....

If you ever need to remove a stuck recoil plug, I would use a good spray lubricant inside the dust cover at the muzzle end, let it sit for a minute with the slide in the vertical position, then use an empty brass .45acp case inserted at the muzzle end to start tapping out the recoil plug, and even another can be added if needed to drive out the reverse recoil plug......:)

I have never seen a 1911 slide crack the length of the dust cover.....it may have been a fault/flaw in the steel, coupled with a heavy pound weight recoil spring.....if a recoil spring is heavier than necessary, or too long, once it stacks to "coil bind" it may act like a ram rod pushing the head of a FLGR into the dust cover.....:eek:

The main areas where I have seen cracked 1911 slides is below and near the front edge of the ejection port down and through the rail groove inside the slide.....:(
 
#26 ·
Spoke with Paul at STI yesterday...He acknowledge the crack and said one of the technical guys will be calling me to discuss option's to fix it. He recognized they don't sell this model anymore and said one way or another they will make me happy. I mention that the guys on the STI folder were eager to know how it will be resolved...He also said they are backed up, so It will likely be a slow process.

He did say they should be able to swap the grip to the new design (assuming it works with G1 45 10R mags). Again, need to speak with the technical guy when he calls.
 
#27 ·
Wow. Was not expecting that sort of an issue, that's why I tend to run guns in so hard and inspect all contact points so if something is uneven I expect it will crack but not that soon.

Hopefully they get you sorted out quickly, I'm thinking of getting some type of STI myself but can't quite decide what I want.
 
#29 · (Edited)
Thanks for well-wishes....What caliber are you looking for? If 45, they have a newer comped model (I may wind up with its slide on top of mine :))...If 9mm, depending what you will do with the gun (assuming you like your 45's for carry), you can even look at the Wather Q5-Match-Steel. Did I just say that on the STI forum ;-)? The Q5's are great shooters and have won championships, Steel should just make them even better shooters (only ~1500$).

Though it is nowhere near the level of your cracked barrel, they fixed my dead front night sight very quickly and it’s on its way back to me. Should have it back on my 45 Omni next Tuesday
It is a wonderful feeling when it is on the way back :)...They are 1 week with mine, if I don't hear from the smith by next Friday (if they are even open TGVN+1), I'll call them ~ 12/4, that will be 3 weeks with them having the gun. Not necessarily expecting it to be finished by then, but I would expect them to tell me how it will be fixed after 3 weeks in their lap.
 
#28 ·
Though it is nowhere near the level of your cracked barrel, they fixed my dead front night sight very quickly and it’s on its way back to me. Should have it back on my 45 Omni next Tuesday
 
#32 · (Edited)
3 weeks since they got the gun back with the cracked-slide. I haven't heard a thing from one of their smith's. The CSR guy keeps telling me a technical guy (meaning some sort of smith I would presume) is going to call, but it doesn't happen. I would think after 3 weeks they could answer 2 simple questions which I keep mentioning to the CSR: 1) What slide will they use to replace the cracked one? and 2) Approximately, how much longer from here?

Reasonable, right.

Already 3 weeks in the hole, and I'm thinking they haven't even looked at it. I would think warranty work should be a high priority. I've been happy with the warranty department so far (3rd trip back in only 2 years, and with only a measly 1600 rounds or so) but now they are starting to get my "Irish-up". And I'm not even Irish - that is the "funny" thing! LOL.:)

If something doesn't happen soon, I will have to retract my "STI CS is on par with WC Customer Service" statement above. That will show them! ;)
 
#34 · (Edited)
Wahooooo!

Didn't talk to the technical guys, but Paul (CSR) called me back with a status just now...

Slide has been fitted, gun is out to get coated/refinished, no idea if that is the entire gun or just slide. CSR didn't know if it was a Costa-CC type slide or some other slide. I could care less, as long as it shoots as well as it did.

ETA is around Christmas time.

So the gun is further along than I would have thought based on no-feedback, so at this point we can keep the "STI-WC CS equivalency" in tact ;), with noted caveat (communicating) already mentioned by D' above :). (WC is awesome on communication, but their CS "bench" is much deeper than STI).
 
#36 ·
Not sure which is worse absolutely no communication or every time I called a different manufactures customer service I received a different story.

I sent in a new rifle of a different manufacture for an issue straight out of the box and it was at the mothership for approximately 4 months or more when initially I was told it would be a very short visit. In fact the last call resulted in a service rep telling me something so obviously different than what I had been told a week prior. So by this time I had been told so many different things over the course of 4 months I requested to speak with his supervisor. He actually tried to tell me that he didn't have one other than the payroll department. I figured I would take a bit of time and explain how terrible this entire experience was and how if I ever had to experience this again I would track down his supervisor if I had too. I really don't appreciate a customer service reprehensive lying and then formulating a story that somehow takes me for a 2 year old for some stupid story he just concocted without actually checking the real status of my rifle and then refusing to let me speak with a supervisor. So when I got off the phone I did exactly what I told him I was going to do. This led me to track down via a number of different calls a customer service supervisor although not his boss she was very apologetic. One of my calls resulted in getting in touch with his boss who was on vacation so I kept calling until I got someone. She reviewed the tape and was very apologetic. Don't know that she actually did anything but considering she was in customer service but not in that department leads me to believe more may have been made of it had it just been his supervisor. If nothing else she checked into my situation and in fact provided me with a tracking number where the service rep said my rifle was at the end of the train but in line to be inspected.

Customer service and more importantly great customer service requires time and sometimes a vast amount of resources. Personally I don't like dealing with companies where their customer service is non-existent or bad. Resources are precious and cost money but this is one of the reasons I like being able to call Wilson Combat and get exactly that.

I'm glad it sounds like they fixed your gun. I hope no more visits back to the mothership are required.
 
#40 · (Edited)
Surprise! ;-) Gun is on the way back today....

No call from STI CS...Just a tracking number in my in-box. Should be here Monday after it sits in the UPS truck for 2 days - or maybe the UPS agents will take it to the back of the depot and break in the new slide for me. ;-)

I like to ship my gun's overnight and pay for the overnight upgrade to do so, but STI due to their lack of communication didn't give me the opportunity.

Not sure what slide type they used, the original (discontinued) Costa-CC, or the newer version. Just guessing it was the original version. The CS agent doesn't know.

Also, as I mentioned above, I wrote a request on the RMA to have them change my grip to the new G2 version (not for free, on my dime). Also told their CS agent about this 2X over the last month's. He has no idea if it was done.

Are these CS shortfalls significant? Meh, not really, as long as the gun shoots as well as it did NOOB. But, with a tiny bit more effort (like a phone call) they could improve their service dramatically. (Or maybe I am just a spoiled-puppy because of my time with Wilson Combat gun's- LOL!)

I'll strip and inspect it by Tuesday and give another update.
 
#41 ·
Glad it’s making it back. I’m picking up my DVCP today.

But I get what you mean about Customer Service and better communication, especially with the advent of email making it so much easier.

I had an issue with changing an FFL on a custom order rifle, email like they stated you should and didn’t hear back for 3 weeks. Talked to someone on the phone who said they changed it, they changed the To: line but then still shipped it to the old FFL.

Best CS I’ve run Into is Big Tex Outdoors, but he’s not a huge operation and doesn’t carry everything I want, and Shooting Surplus


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#42 ·
Glad she is on the way back! Like many, I have had good results with STI products but total frustration with their CS. It’s not even that the left hand isn’t talking to the right hand - it’s that NO ONE is talking to anyone, let alone the customer base (which, they should realize, drives their business).

So I guess Monday will be a surprise for you. Who knows - you may end up having a Staccato-C slide on your Costa frame LOL
 
#44 ·
Who knows - you may end up having a Staccato-C slide on your Costa frame LOL
Technically it’s a 4.15” slide on the 2019 model so that could happen.... but highly unlikely. The Costas are tri-topped so to match the profile of the comp they would have to tri-top the slide. That is unless they replace the comp/barrel as well. Then you’ll have a Staccato-XC which is now MSRP’ing at $4,299.
 
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