STI International

STI is best known for its "modular frame guns".

STI shares the patent on the modular frame with Strayer Voigt Inc.

In 1990, Virgil Tripp, a gunsmith and machinist, started building custom M1911s for competition use, especially the United States Practical Shooting Association/International Practical Shooting Confederation. After some time, Virgil began designing parts for 1911s, including electrical discharge machining (EDM) hammers and sears. Virgil's company was called Tripp Research, Inc. and most of his parts were sold and marketed by Chip McCormick, a champion pistol shooter, under his company's name, Chip McCormick Corporation (known as CMC).

Around 1993, an engineer and computer aided design (CAD) expert named Sandy Strayer joined Tripp Research, Inc. Tripp and Strayer revolutionized the 1911 market by designing a modular high-capacity 1911 frame for International Practical Shooting Confederation shooters. Whilst Para Ordnance already had a high-capacity 1911 frame on the market, it was made of steel. The modular frame made use of a fibre-reinforced plastic which combined the trigger guard, grip, and integral magazine well. It used a proprietary grip which attached to the upper portion of the frame (a metal part that comprised the dust cover and frame rails). The result was that the modular frame weighed less than half of what the steel frame weighed. Furthermore, while the Para frame feels notably larger than a standard 1911 in the hand, the STI feels similar to a regular 1911 since the grips are moulded into the plastic of the frame rather than screwed to the outside. Tripp and Strayer were listed as the co-patent holders on the modular frame. Soon after the modular frame was introduced, the company name changed to STI (Strayer-Tripp, Inc.) and Strayer was given an equity stake in the new company.

In June 1994, Sandy Strayer left STI to start a new company called Strayer Voigt Inc, which focuses on building completely custom pistols as opposed to the "semi-custom" models of STI.

In November 1994, Dave and Shirley Skinner, owners of an electronics company named Tessco, Inc., became involved in the operation of STI along with Virgil Tripp. In early 1997, the Skinners completed their purchase of STI from Virgil Tripp and renamed the company to STI International, Inc. Virgil went on to start a new company using the name Tripp Research, Inc., which produces various finishes for firearms and magazines for 1911s. During the Clinton era high-capacity ban, STI remained in business by focusing on exports and the growing concealed-carry market. As of 2007, STI was the third-largest exporter of pistols in America.

From 1994 to the late 1990s, STI had a custom shop which would build guns to customer's specifications.

In January 2005, Dave Skinner sold the company to the employees of STI, making it the first employee-owned company in the fire-arms industry.

In 2010, Tim Dillon was hired and made President and CEO, and later joined the Board of Directors. Dillon left the company in early 2014.

In 2014, Greg Mooney joined STI as the President/CEO and a Member of the Board of Directors and currently serves in all three functions. A private equity group, Westwind Investors, purchased STI and fired Mooney in September 2017.

In 2020, STI announced its name change to Staccato.[2]

Today, STI manufactures a full range of double-stack 1911 pistols based on its modular frame, in a variety of calibers such as 9mm Parabellum, .45 ACP, .40 S&W, and .38 Super. STI also manufactures a full line of parts for 1911 pistols, such as modular frame kits (which are used by gunsmiths to build complete guns), slides, barrels, compensators, triggers, hammers, thumb and grip safeties, slide stops, firing pins, guide rods, magazine wells, magazines, and scope mounts.