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 has an MSRP of $599

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 optic’s ready design, good grip, and decent trigger made it easy to go fast while hitting the target. (Travis Pike for TTAG)

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.

The STK100 comes in several colors. (Travis Pike for TTAG)

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.

Vortex optics fit the STK100 (Travis Pike for TTAG)

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

 

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

18 COMMENTS

  2. hmmmmm…nice but not interested. The huge ‘STK100’ on the slide puts me off. Its got nice styling and lines, I like the slide cuts, when i’m looking at it but then I come to this huge ‘STK100’ on the slide and it just spoils it for me cosmetically. If I’m going to pay almost $600.00 for it I don’t want the looks spoiled by a company vanity cry for attention.

    • That is similar to the “Old” style Rock Island logo on it pistols from years ago.Maybe they’ll see the light and reduce the image.
      I like my Rock 1911 in 9mm but I wonder if the STK100 will come in 10mm someday?

  3. It’s interesting to see RIA’s move into the striker-fired field, and also moving more into the mid-range market with the STK100 and their newer revolver lines.

    I like RIA in general, and it looks like they’ve come up with a competitive offering here. The decision to take GLOCK magazines was a smart one. $599 seems just a wee bit high given there is so much better established competition at the price point, but street price will surely be a bit lower.

  4. From what I originally read/heard was that the metal frame was a clamshell-type similar to many of Kel-Tec’s offerings. On the right-side of the grip of the STK100, one can see some extra holes. If that is the case, what is the serialized part of the firearm?

  6. Takes Glock mags but not a lot of other Glock parts.

    This gun is close to greatness; not quite there yet.

  7. It takes Glock mags because it IS a Glock. Check out the positioning of the two pins above the tirgher, their sizing, and also the take down lever in front of them. And the distance to the familiarly shaped mag drop button. Just like the Stoeger STR-9 and FMK9 that is a Glock copy cat. BUT I do like they kept it fed with Glock mags, still would be curious to handle one.

    • Eh…I’ll pass. I hate those Glock style takedown tabs. I put up with them on my little Taurus carry gun because it’s cheap and reliable, but at the $500+ price point there are many, many other choices that won’t be so irritating.

        • Extended tabs don’t help at all if you’re missing a thumb. But it really doesn’t matter- I hated those asinine tabs long before I had a thumb amputated.

          With all of the simple, proven, straightforward disassembly levers that have been out there, like… forever- it’s just ridiculous that GLOCK insists on using a design that requires two thumbs and multiple fingers to activate (and that so many companies just HAVE to copy them).

          It’s not perfection when you make things more difficult than it has to be.

Comments are closed.