I purchased a brand new Staccato HD P4 2011 last year for a really good price and was happy with it initially, but after spending some time with it I had quite a few disappointments and frustrations and decided to sell it to fund the purchase of several new budget 2011 clones. I had several issues with the gun, but my primary issue was that it didn't have a very consistent return to zero, and I just couldn't shoot it as well as any of my other 2011 style guns. However, I still really liked the overall aesthetics of the gun.
Staccato HD P4 marketing photos
When the HD P4 first came out in January 2025, I thought the "Premium Package" version looked really good in the marketing photos with it's X-Serrations and DLC barrel, as it looked similar to my Staccato P 4.15" Heritage but with it's own unique style. I had actually been toying around with the idea of acquiring a second Heritage P and having some inline ports done, but those guns typically sell for $3500 to $5000 or more these days if you can find them. While looking for used Heritage P pistols for sale, I came across multiple used HD P4 Premium Package pistols, and decided to give one a try again, BUT... this time with the addition of inline ports from DSC Gunworks to improve it's performance. I figured I could customize it with inline ports, an optic, and a light for less than the cost of another used Heritage P, and it would probably perform much better with the ports than my previous HD P4.
Photos from the Gunbroker auction
I found a used Premium Package in really good condition for a decent price that came with an auto-adjusting Trijicon RMR installed, which I swapped out for an RMR HD as the optic mounting system on the HD line of pistols looks like it was designed specifically for the RMR HD.
I installed a Streamlight TLR-1 HLX after trying out several different other lights on the gun. The longer trigger guard of the HD positions weapon lights farther forward on the frame than a traditional 2011 style gun, so a Surefire X300 looks obnoxiously long on the P4. The HLX doesn't protrude past the muzzle as much and I also used the "1913-2" rail key turned around backwards in the slot to position the light as close to the trigger guard as possible.
The fit and finish of the HD pistols is excellent and they don't really need anything other than some trigger tuning. The factory texture on the grip module is aggressive enough for most people (myself included), so it doesn't really need to be stippled. Besides the trigger tuning, I also modified the thumb safety lever to have a positive plunger detent when in the off position to keep it from being engaged accidentally with my high grip while shooting as I experienced with my previous HD P4. The HD safeties don't really have any sort of a detent for the off position at all, so it is very easy to accidentally engage the safety while shooting if you're not riding the safety lever with your strong hand thumb. My grip is so high that the palm of my support hand completely covers the safety lever on a traditional 2011 style gun, and my strong hand thumb just rests on top of my support hand, which is why I thin down the safety levers on all of my personal pistols. With an HD pistol, the palm of my support hand contacts the bottom of the safety lever rather than completely covering it, so the slightest pressure during recoil can inadvertently engage the safety. I realized from the experience with my previous HD P4 that having a positive plunger detent for the off position is much more important than thinning down the safety lever to mitigate the issue.
Before sending the slide and barrel to DSCG for inline porting, I took the P4 to the range with my Heritage P to compare them side by side. Their overall performance was very similar, with the most noticeable difference being the ergonomics of the grips. The feel of the P4's grip is not bad at all, I am just much more familiar with a traditional 2011 style grip. The P4's grip is also a little smaller in circumference, which is not ideal for my large gorilla hands.
After I received the slide and barrel back from DSCG, I just cold blued the machined area on the slide rather than have the slide completely refinished, as that area gets a lot of carbon build up from the ports anyway. I've done this cold blue treatment to a few CZ and Walther slides that I had inline porting done on, and it looks fine and there has never been any issues with corrosion.
I also installed a DPM Systems recoil reduction kit that comes with 8 different spring rates, so that I could better tune it to the ports and eliminate the free floating plastic buffer on the factory recoil assembly. The plastic buffer may have contributed to the inconsistent return to zero that I experienced on my previous HD P4, but who knows. At least the weird rattle and noises that the plastic buffer makes are now gone.
Once I got the pistol tuned to the ports with the DPM kit, I took the P4 back to the range along with my custom inline ported Prodigy 1911DS to compare them. Without the inline porting, the performance of the HD P4 was similar to any of my full-size non-ported STI and Staccato 2011 pistols... adequate and reliable, but kind of mediocre. The inline porting and the DPM recoil system dramatically improved the performance of this pistol. It is now very soft shooting even with factory off the shelf ammo. The return to zero is still not quite as consistent as the Prodigy, but it is substantially better now. I discovered that I have to reduce my grip pressure more than normal and really focus on my trigger press to have it return to zero consistently. I have to keep in mind that while the HD P4 is similar to a traditional 2011, it is different enough that I need to spend some time to get more familiar with it. I'll update this blog post with my final thoughts after I train with it for a bit and shoot some matches with it.
