Last October, I was invited out to the Staccato Ranch for a sneak peek at the upcoming Staccato HD P4 and HD P5. These are two pistols the newly appointed CEO Buck Pierson claimed would change the game. When I pressed him for more, all he would tell me was that the new HD’s were “a complete overhaul of everything you thought possible.”

Introducing the Staccato HD

For those unfamiliar with Staccato (formerly STI), they are the Texas-based inventors of the 2011 platform. Likewise, it is a company that prides itself on innovation. From the designers to the newly reshuffled executive team, Staccato’s goal is to create the most reliable and shootable 2011 on the market by pushing the envelope on what is possible.

The question is, how did Staccato pull it off?

The History of the HD

The first thing you need to know about the HD is that it’s a duty gun. A tool—purpose-built by shooters for shooters—its story starts way back in 2019.

The way Buck tells it, he was visiting a military range where the cadre had been shooting the Staccato P for three years. During a break, one of the cadre asked when/if Staccato was going to create a 2011 with ambidextrous controls and a Glock-fed grip. The cadre also added they also wanted it drop safe, “like the Series 80, but with a better trigger.”

Quick Note: Colt’s Series 80 1911 offered an active firing pin block that kept it from firing when the pistol was dropped nose down. That a 1911 would fire when dropped nose down on concrete isn’t exactly breaking news. However, apparently, it was to YouTubers who made a rush of videos about it back in 2023.

The Staccato HD Frame

Intrigued, Buck took the request back to Staccato’s R&D department. The following year, they began working on a mockup grip with SIG P320 magazine.

I asked Buck why they began with the P320 magazine instead of Glock. He said it’s because SIG mags have a transition zone (the place where the double stack magazine transitions to single stack before being fed into the chamber) similar to Staccato. Glock mags, on the other hand, would require an entirely different frame. This is what happened when Staccato abandoned Sig P320 mags in 2020.

Besides building a new frame, staccato had the problem of creating a drop-safe 2011 that was actually fun to shoot. The first attempts were to use a titanium firing pin and heavy spring like Springfield did with the Prodigy. However, they immediately ran into recoil and reliability issues.

A look at the high-speed footage showed the slide was bottoming out on the frame. Add to that, the trigger felt like crap.

While working on this issue in 2021, Law Enforcement and Military end users requested Staccato move the slide stop so it could be manipulated with one hand.

For a solution to the recoil issue and moving the slide stop, Buck and his team looked to H&K. Buck considers H&K “the most innovative handgun manufacturer from the 80s through early 2000s.”

Utilizing the USP’s flat wire recoil spring and the slide stop spring of the P2000, the team eventually created controls that worked. Not to mention an aluminum frame that is 6x stronger than steel.

Adding Optics

For optics, Staccato chose to move away from the plate.

As Buck said, “When it comes to optics, the first point of failure is usually the optic itself, followed by the plate. And if both the optic and the rear sight on the plate fail at the same time, well, you’re screwed.”

To fix this, Staccato moved the rear sight forward on the slide and moved the mounting holes for the Trijicon RMR HD and SRO back to reduce chamber overhang. Additionally, the HD offers three direct mounting points for three different footprints. The Delta Point, RMR 2, RMR/RMR HD, and the SRO can be mounted without a load-bearing plate. (ACRO users will need a plate—sorry, guys.)

Another factor of Staccato listening to the end user is the addition of a universal dovetail front sight. This allows shooters to utilize any front sight on the market they want to use.

The Result

Looking at Reddit will make you believe that the HD design is a stolen mélange of the Oracle Defense’s OA2311 and the Stealth Arms Platypus. I’m not seeing it.

What I see is a hard-use, high-round count gun. In fact, while I was at the Staccato range, we easily put 8k rounds through the display pistols in a few hours. Besides getting hot as hell, the new HD didn’t miss a beat. I also got to shoot it alongside the beloved P, and accuracy-wise, the HD more than held its own.

In the end, the Staccato HD offers the improved reliability, safety, and shootability that customers expect. And it comes at the same price point as the Staccato P.

Determined to get the HD into the hands of the LEO and Military end users that inspired the pistol, Staccato will more than double its current discount. Buying the pistol is only half the battle for most departments. So, Staccato has also teamed up with Safariland to ensure a new 6000 series holster for the HD will be ready to drop at SHOT Show.

Speaking on that partnership, Buck said, “Safariland has been bending over backward to help LEO’s, and we couldn’t be more excited to be working with them.”

Besides running any Glock OEM magazine on the market, the HD will ship with a Mec-Gar 18-round flush fit magazine (black instead of the usual silver per shooter request). There are also plans for a plus-two extender by the end of the quarter.

Final Thoughts

As impressive as the HD is, according to Buck, the best is yet to come.

“The current executive team considers the HD our foundation, not our peak. This is the gun STI wished they’d made back in the day, and we are going to use it to keep pushing the limit,” said Buck.

So, stay tuned.

For more information, please visit Staccato2011.com.

Staccato HD Specs