Five months and a thousand rounds later, I’m back with the 2000 round update on the Staccato C2 and the Holosun 507COMP.

As some of y’all know, the Staccato C2 dethroned my beloved VP9 as my EDC, or everyday carry, defensive pistol. While part of that decision started with the curious experiment of whether or not having a common manual of arms among the defensive and competition pistols would be beneficial, which was more likely just an excuse to buy another gun, I’ve grown to trust the C2 and have become quite fond of it. But that’s nothing new since that’s pretty much where the 1000 round review ended.

Truth is, I really don’t have much to report as the last 1000 rounds have been uneventful. It’s just been eating the ammo I’ve been feeding it without complaints and without malfunctions. And that’s exactly what I want and expect from a pistol that my life or the lives of my loved ones might depend on someday. That said, I can think of a few tidbits that y’all portable ballistic nerds might find interesting that I will share.

It should be quick. So let’s get started.

Holosun 507COMP

I’m going to start with the optic because I rarely have anything to say about them and I actually have a few notes to share this time.

First thing I have to say is that I wish the LED was a little brighter. While I usually shoot pistol mounted optics with occlusion, I don’t occlude optics when I carry them. As such, I haven’t occluded the 507COMP that’s mounted on the C2 and there have been times at matches and at classes where I’ve turned the brightness all the way up and I still want it a little brighter. Max brightness is usable, but on a clear Texas day there are times when the dot is just a little dimmer than I like. I suspect I can alleviate this by using one of the larger reticles, but I prefer the plain old dot.

And yes, I’m aware the pictures of the C2 on this post show an occluded optic. That’s because I’ve been actively competing with it lately and decided to run it with occlusion for those competitions. It just so happened that I left the cover on it when I took the pictures.

Next thing is that I experienced my first dead battery related optic failure. It was a little unexpected because the battery didn’t last a year. But I’m going to say that was on me because I didn’t change out the OEM provided battery with a fresh quality battery like I should have. That said, I can’t help but wonder if the reason it died was because it was a stale included battery or if it didn’t last a full year because I tend to keep the optic at maximum brightness almost all the time. I guess I’ll have to see if the replacement battery makes it a full year until its scheduled replacement or not.

With these two relatively minor things, I’m starting to eyeball the new Trijicon RMR HD optics which based on what I’ve read should be a durable, large window, non-competition optic. So there is a good chance an optic change might be in the future for the C2. Of course, if that happens, then 507COMP will replace the SRO on the Staccato P. That means I’ll need to find another home for the SRO, which gives me an excuse to buy another gun. And I like that logic as flawed as it may be.

Staccato C2

The gun itself is doing just fine. The only wear that’s starting to show is limited to some polished marks on the stainless steel barrel, a little tiny bit of finish wear under the slide by where the barrel lugs mate with the slide, and on the plug of the Dawson Precision recoil master. None of this gives me any pause or cause for concern. It all looks normal and is minimal.

I do sometimes question if spending the extra hundo to have the barrel DLC coated would have been worth it. The only reason that is an occasional query is because the polished wear marks are a good bit more noticeable than the wear marks on the Staccato P that has about the same round count through it. Again I’m not concerned one bit about the wear itself, I just find myself wondering if maybe I should have spent the extra cash that really isn’t significant considering the overall price tag on the pistol.

Another thing I find myself wondering about is if I should swap out the grip module for the full-size grip module, which Staccato is offering right now on a limited edition C2. Staccato does offer a grip swap service for the C2 that replaces the grip with the same full size grip that’s on the Staccato P and can even optionally include the magazine well. There are several reasons that I wonder about this. I prefer the grip texture on the P to that of the C2 and the magazine well makes reloads easier. The reasons I haven’t done this are because I don’t mind the grip texture on the C2 at all and I suspect the larger grip and magazine well would make concealing the C2 more difficult. Still, I can’t help but wonder.

Are Staccatos Worth the Hype?

The last thing I will add about the C2 at this point in time is an answer to a question posed on IG after I posted a recent picture of the C2. The question was, “Are Staccatos worth the hype?” This question has a really easy answer that isn’t really an answer and isn’t really helpful. That answer is, “It depends.” However, I won’t leave it at that. Instead I’ll dive a little deeper.

Let’s set the level. Compared to a lot of other production pistols on the market, Staccatos are expensive. At the same time, Staccatos are, in my opinion, entry level 2011s. They aren’t budget 2011s like the Springfield Prodigy, but they are entry level. The 2011 platform is a high performance platform and there are many semi-custom and custom 2011s that are much more refined and deliver more performance than a Staccato will. However, those higher end 2011s have price tags that are twice, three times, or even more than the price tag of a Staccato.

Why does that matter?

Well Staccatos, while they are entry level 2011s, work reliably which isn’t always the case with 2011s. Even with the higher end ones. So for the money, they are a great entry point into the 2011 platform in my opinion because you get a reliable 2011 backed by a company that has solid customer service. It’s going to work and if it doesn’t it’s going to get fixed. Which is what most of us would expect from a pistol with the price tag of a Staccato including me.

Now if we compare that to other production pistols like those offered by CZ, Glock, H&K, Walther, and so on. The reality is that the law of diminishing returns is going to apply. What I mean is that we are going to spend a lot more money for marginal or fractional mechanical performance gains.

Are those gains worth it?

That’s up to you to decide.

However, if you really want my opinion, then I will tell you that spending the extra money on ammunition and quality training will yield a much better investment to performance gain ratio for the average person.

Closing Thoughts

As much as I like the Holosun 507COMP, I think it’s likely to get replaced in the not too distant future by a durable non-competition optic. The most likely candidate is currently the Trijicon RMR HD as I’d like to keep a big window optic on the C2. I’m not sure when that change will occur, but that’s the direction the wind is currently blowing.

As far as the C2 goes, I’m very pleased with it. It’s performing well and I expect the next several thousand rounds to be relatively uneventful. I don’t currently have any plans to retire it from it’s current EDC role. Assuming it keeps on racking up the round count, there is a chance I might pick up another one so I have one dedicated to the EDC role that maintains a low round count while I put the wear and tear on the one dedicated to practice and training. Much like I did with the VP9.

I still hold the opinion that the C2 isn’t for everyone. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great gun. I just maintain that the 2011 platform for EDC is better suited for dedicated practitioners that are willing to do the extra maintenance on the pistol, needed to keep it running reliably, and themselves, in order to operate it safely. It’s not something I would recommend to somebody who is just starting out or has little interest in developing and maintaining their skills and equipment.