Until my slick bit of quick talking, I’d never owned a 20-gauge so it went along with me that fall and turned out to be a pretty fair little smoothbore. I hadn’t even set up deer camp yet and managed to put two rather large blue grouse in the cooler with two shots. Can’t beat that.
Being a fan of side-by-side doubles, especially those with double triggers, this little shotgun started earning its keep by filling my game bag on subsequent outings. It has never been a display model, having a rather plain hardwood stock, but it didn’t matter.
Finally getting around to doing a bit of research on the Stoeger Uplander family, I discovered there was a .410 bore model in the lineup. It awakened a memory dating back decades to a now-deceased pal from school who, in his youth, had a side-by-side .410 I just found irresistible. I finally talked a magazine editor into allowing me to review this little gem and ordered one up for the field test.
Anybody who thinks the 28-gauge offers more challenge — while maybe feeding a bit of elitism — should set such guns aside and really get down to basics with a .410. My little double gun has two triggers, fixed chokes, 3” chambers and has proven itself a nice little gun for rabbits and upland birds.
Why Stoeger’s New STR-9 Pistol Model Got My Attention
Dave with his .410 Stoeger Uplander and the result of a quick
ridge-top shot during a past grouse hunt.
About 30 years ago, I literally smooth-talked a guy out of a 20-gauge side-by-side shotgun from Stoeger, a double-trigger model they call the Uplander, with fixed chokes, 3-inch chambers and 28-inch barrels.
Its previous owner had tried it out on sporting clays, suggesting to me he didn’t understand this was not a sporting clays gun but a bird-buster. He’d been given some reloads by a buddy that were, upon my examination, just terrible. Compounding his difficulties, this guy had spent years shooting single-barrel shotguns and he apparently didn’t understand the difference between shooting a semi-auto and a side-by-side with double triggers. But I did.
The first shotgun I ever bought was a Beretta side-by-side double with fixed full and modified chokes, double triggers, a satin-nickel receiver with subtle engraving, deep blue finish on the chrome-lined barrels and a straight grip stock. I’ve killed more wild fowl with this 12-gauge than with any other shotgun I own or have tested and it remains today one of my most valued possessions.
So, when the old gent commented somewhat disgustedly he was ready to drop this shotgun in the nearest lake, I quickly suggested he could just give it to me and be done with it.
The Stoeger STR-9S Combat model takes a 20-round magazine and
features high profile sights, a threaded barrel for silencer use and the
ability to fit a red dot sight on the slide.
One of the smartest features on Stoeger’s 9mm pistol is a flared magazine well for fast reloads.
So, when I recently received a new catalog from Stoeger which included information on a new semi-auto pistol, it got a bit more than a cursory glance. After all, the two shotguns in my safe wearing the Stoeger brand are pretty well-built and wholly reliable, so maybe this handgun has a decent pedigree, eh?
That’s how I got acquainted with Stoeger’s STR-9S Combat pistol, a 9mm striker-fired duty, personal protection and competition-capable handgun. This pistol is the newest incarnation of the STR-9 platform.
The STR-9S Combat enters a field seemingly saturated with semiautomatic handguns sporting polymer/synthetic grip frames and double-stack magazines. Most of these guns have molded accessory rails forward of the trigger guard and fairly easy disassembly.
But Stoeger’s entry has a few more features shooters just might find practical and useful. For openers, it features high-profile sights so one can use them even when the 4.17” barrel is fitted with a suppressor. It comes with four interchangeable plates which fits on the top of the slide just forward of the rear sight. These plates allow the use of most popular after-market red dot sights.
It also comes with three interchangeable backstraps so the user can virtually tailor the gun to fit his/her hand. The magwell is also flared for quick reloading.
Stoeger offers this pistol with a 20-round magazine (or 10 rounds in restrictive states).
From the rear, Stoeger’s STR-9S metallic high-visibility sights are easily acquired for quick shots.
The STR-9S Combat weighs 1.6 pounds and measures 7.44” overall. The grip angle is designed to match the drift-adjustable fiber optic sights and offers a low bore axis for reduced muzzle rise during recoil. The trigger has an internal safety.
Like other pistols of the genre, Stoeger finishes the slide and barrel with black nitride to resist corrosion.
Under normal circumstances, this pistol would have been available for shooting at the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show’s annual “Day at the Range” for gun writers. But this year’s show was cancelled due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, so I’ve still got to get my hands on one.
That said, I’ve got no doubts about the STR-9S Combat’s reliability, since folks at Stoeger obviously know a few things about gun design.
For people on a budget, the STR-9S has an MSRP of $549.
Meanwhile, Stoeger still markets the Uplander Field Shotgun family. Today’s versions are prettier than my guns, thanks to better wood and the fact both of my guns have spent some time in the field. If you’re in for a little shotgun nostalgia, you could do a lot worse than take one of these guns afield.
