Detonics STX - striker fired polymer 1911

[spyderco monkey]

Does anyone know what ever became of this design? I know Detonics was a hit or miss brand, but the STX was a seriously cool pistol design. Essentially a Striker Fired 2011 for $1000.



http://detonicsdef.squarespace.com/stx

-modular tactical frame, designed to accept 4 barrel/slide lengths, as well as a full size or compact grip.
-striker fired trigger that also maintains the short length of pull and crispness commonly found on a single action trigger system.

If a company made a version of the STX that took Glock mags, I think they'd be printing money. Rather then debate Glock vs 1911, this would combine the best of both into one pistol.

I'm actually pretty surprised that a company hasn't come out with a striker fired SAO pistol with a 1911 style sliding trigger.

[MattyD380]

I remember seeing that. I also remember seeing something to the effect that the military was considering a similar design for what's now the M-17?

But, yeah... it crossed my mind too. It was neat.

[RevolverRob]

Detonics paired with STI to attempt to market this piece during the XM17 MHS trials. STI hired a CEO who had previously procured .MIL contracts with other companies.

Gun never made it out of the first round of testing under the solicitation.

Multiple reasons - reliability, production capabilities of STI, etc.

As for a double-stack, striker fired, 9mm with ergonomics of a 1911 - well it didn’t work for Hudson.

—

[spyderco monkey]

Detonics paired with STI to attempt to market this piece during the XM17 MHS trials. STI hired a CEO who had previously procured .MIL contracts with other companies.

Gun never made it out of the first round of testing under the solicitation.

Multiple reasons - reliability, production capabilities of STI, etc.

As for a double-stack, striker fired, 9mm with ergonomics of a 1911 - well it didn’t work for Hudson.

—

Thats a bummer.

As for Hudson, I think if they had started out as a polymer frame that took Glock mags, they would have sold more then enough to stay afloat.

Small company + metal frame + proprietary $44 mags kept me on the sidelines for the Hudson, despite really liking the concept.

Pretty much anything that takes Glock mags will find an audience; we need only look at the failure of the original Ruger PC9 vs the smash success of the new Ruger PC9 that takes Glock mags.

[BillSWPA]

The magazines of Sig’s P365 are expensive, and Sig seems to sell as many of these guns as they can make.

I like the idea of combining the best of Glock with the best of 1911, but a few different attempts to do so have failed.



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[MGW]

What killed Hudson was lack of reliability.

[RAM Engineer]

I guess we ended up with the Staccato, G45, etc. , so it all turned out all right.

[Nephrology]

Gross

[RevolverRob]

Thats a bummer.

As for Hudson, I think if they had started out as a polymer frame that took Glock mags, they would have sold more then enough to stay afloat.

Small company + metal frame + proprietary $44 mags kept me on the sidelines for the Hudson, despite really liking the concept.

Pretty much anything that takes Glock mags will find an audience; we need only look at the failure of the original Ruger PC9 vs the smash success of the new Ruger PC9 that takes Glock mags.

No big company would willingly use someone else's intellectual property if they could avoid it. One of the reasons Glock updates magazines regularly is to refresh IP. the Ruger PC9 comes with an interchangeable magazine well to support Glock magazines. You'll note it doesn't come with Glock magazines, because Ruger would have to pay Glock to sell their magazines.

The SilencerCo Maxim9 that uses Glock magazines ships with Magpul magazines for the same reason.

The Hudson didn't actually use a proprietary magazine, I thought it did at first and folks here corrected me. It used Mec-Gar made 3rd Gen Smith and Wesson magazines, like those for a 5906. Baseplates were just Hudson marked.

What killed Hudson was lack of reliability.

Yes and no. The no part is...they were basically screwed financially. At the bankruptcy hearing in April revealed that Hudson is about 12 million bucks in the hole. No wonder they couldn't get anyone to bite on buying them out, a Hudson H9 made of polymer, aluminum, and steel could not recover 12 million bucks in profit for at least a decade. No investor wants to wait 10+ years to recover even 1% of their investment. Not when they can recover 3-10% in a year depending on what they do. And the break-even point for Hudson had to be at least 7-years out assuming little-to-no manufacturing growth.

They were way over-extended financially before the first deliveries hit the shelves. You expect to be in the red at first, but a path to breaking-even and then profiting should be your 3-year plan. In the case of Hudson, they've admitted that they did not believe they would turn a profit until 10-years in. There is no way you can ride private goods in a highly competitive market to profitability over a 10-year period without subsidy. That subsidy can come through private investment, public investment, or .gov contracts - but it has to come from somewhere.

Hudson was either planning on scrimping by until they were bought out, or they thought they could land contracts somewhere, or they really had no plan. Given they had no one on payroll who had experience in .MIL or LE acquisitions they clearly weren't serious about path 2. I suspect they were hoping for path 1, but really were on path 3 from the word go.

[spyderco monkey]

No big company would willingly use someone else's intellectual property if they could avoid it. One of the reasons Glock updates magazines regularly is to refresh IP. the Ruger PC9 comes with an interchangeable magazine well to support Glock magazines. You'll note it doesn't come with Glock magazines, because Ruger would have to pay Glock to sell their magazines.

The SilencerCo Maxim9 that uses Glock magazines ships with Magpul magazines for the same

At this point the Glock mag is the AR mag of 9x19. It's an open source mag available from multiple manufacturers. And like the AR mag, nearly everyone already has some.

I'd argue this very proliferation of Glock mags is also a core part of Glocks ability to fend off competing pistols, despite these new designs being cheaper, better ergonomics, and better triggers.

CZ designed the P10c to use most Glock holsters. But if they actually wanted a chance at being a viable Glock competitor, they should have designed it to take G19 mags and sights. I know I would have bought one.Whereas the prospect of buying 10-20x new $35-44 mags has kept me out of most new pistol designs.

Rifle manufacturers have learned to standardize on AR mags if they want any traction in the US market. Pistol manufacturers would be very wise to heed this lesson.