Quick! Describe a modern pistol for me. If you aren’t saying, “semi-automatic, striker-fired, polymer-frame pistol,” you haven’t been paying attention. That’s now the standard for the current pistol market. Rock Island Armory, however, is doing something just a little different with the STK100.
RIA kept the semi-automatic striker-fired design, but ditched the polymer frame. Instead, we get an aluminum grip.
The STK100 – It’s Metal
I got hands-on with the STK100 at Range Day, and you can color me impressed. The grip angle is very 1911-like and fits perfectly in my hand. The grip design utilizes texturing on the sides, front, and rear to keep the gun locked in place when shooting.
When I started throwing lead downrange, I was pleasantly surprised at how comfy the gun felt and how it sat in my hand so well between shots. Going fast feels natural with the STK100.
The gun comes optics-ready with a cut to accommodate Vortex mini red dots. According to the rep at Range Day, they plan to release a plate system to accommodate other optics. Oh, and yeah, it takes GLOCK magazines.
Seriously, the gun takes GLOCK mags, and that’s a great feature. The mags are widely available, cheap, easy to find, robust, reliable, and so on and so forth.
We get a nice crisp trigger with a positive reset. The sights are robust, but I fired the optics enhanced version, so I didn’t get to use them too much. Recoil and muzzle rise were very tame, and the gun handled extremely well. I popped a hostage plate back and forth over and over at 25 yards without much difficulty.
You can choke up nice and high on the STK 100, even if you have big paws. A beavertail keeps the slide from biting your hand, and the trigger has a nice little undercut to help with a high grip too.
Gucci’ed up
The STK100 comes outfitted with a Picatinny rail, a series of cuts to lighten the slide, and an MSRP of $599. That gets you a gun that looks and feels kinda Gucci without the Gucci price point.
What say you? Is the STK100 worth the squeeze?
Specifications:
Capacity – 17+1
Barrel – 4.5″
Overall Length – 7.91 inches
Overall Width – 1.25 inches
Overall Height – 5.16 inches
Weight – 1.80 lbs.
MSRP – $599
