By Joe Ferronato
Good beer, good food, beautiful women, and fine firearms…Austria does it right. As I write this, I’m sitting at the Steyr shooting range in the crisp morning air in a beautiful small town outside of Vienna—if you haven’t been, you should put it on the list—for the launch of a new line of pistols.
Steyr, for years, has been known for quality guns—tools of the trade that do their job and are reliable. And the new AT line of pistols from the company is no exception to that storied history. The line consists of five different models.
You may ask why Steyr decided to launch a new line of pistols. Or you may be thinking that the world isn’t in need of another pistol offering—I’d agree with this if it was just another polymer-framed, striker-fired gun, but it’s not. The Austrian company embarked to make one of the finest pistols lines in the world and bring credibility back to European pistol manufacturing. As most of you know, their German neighbors used to produce some of the finest handguns there were. They were great, but Steyr is doing it better in league with their sister company Arex.
THE Steyr ATD
Let’s start with the dedicated duty gun, the ATd. This pistol is designed for defense but operates in the same ilk as a true competition gun. You can get the ATd in the standard format or in a comped version for flatter shooting and added hearing loss.
From the ground up, these pistols are their own thing. It’s far from your polymer-framed pistols that rule the market; it’s not a 2011; it’s not the Arex pistols; and it’s not a P226 even though it shares some similar qualities. It’s completely unique.
The ATd is an aluminum-framed, SA/DA hammer-fired gun with a four-inch barrel on a compact frame. I haven’t been this impressed by a pistol in a long time, especially a carry gun. Steyr stayed true to their legacy and put cold hammer-forged barrels into the AT line to ensure long-lasting durability as well.
Picking up the pistol without firing it, it is easy to understand the attention to detail that went into the manufacturing of this product. Ergonomically, I haven’t felt a pistol that fits this well and points this true. It is a bit heavier since they used metal instead of plastic, but that plays into the shootability of the platform.
Now let’s talk about the trigger. I’m not an engineer and I won’t pretend to be, so if you want the specifics, call Steyr. What I will tell you is that you can easily customize this trigger to your shooting style, and it is smooth and crisp. The DA pull is heavy out of the box, and that’s likely my only gripe with the platform. Though it’s a heavy pull, it pulls smooth and breaks clean. And as I noted earlier, you can adjust that trigger weight by switching out the springs that come with the gun. You can also swap out the SA/DA for an SAO trigger option as well.
On the range the ATd is fun to shoot and performs well. I cannot overstate how good the trigger is. And for being a compact gun, the recoil impulse is directly back into your palm rather than up. While the standard version was fun to shoot, the Compact Comp stood out. The internal comp keeps the pistol flat and on target even when running the trigger trying to be like John Wick. While I didn’t do any strict accuracy testing, both guns held tight groups on steel at 20 yards.
THE ATC
Now the fun one. The ATc is the competition shooter’s wet dream. Big, fast, accurate…and, dare I say, sexy as hell. There are three different models in the ATc line: The Base and The Rock 5 and 6. The base is self-explanatory. It’s a no-frills-added, steel-framed competition gun that has a 5-inch barrel with a standard curved trigger. It comes SA/DA out of the box but can be converted to SAO as well.
The Rock is the same design but only expands upon The Base’s racing demeanor. There are lightening cuts in both the 5-inch and 6-inch models to help reduce felt recoil, and they come with a flat-faced trigger. Both pistols are SAO only.
While it is easy to see the quality of manufacturing in the ATd, the ATc takes it to another level and is as much of a piece of art as it is a tool. The tolerances are extremely tight, and everything is hand-fitted to ensure quality and reliability. It shows. These pistols will run for 100,000 rounds at a minimum with no issues, and you won’t even have to change the barrel. That number comes directly from a torture-tested gun that is still running.
Everything about the ATc is amazing. But the triggers are exceptional. Just like on the ATd, they are customizable and tunable to your shooting style with the included springs. Steyr doesn’t advertise a specific weight to the springs and classify them simply as soft, medium, and hard. So, try them out and find the one that feels the best.
Saved Rounds
Shooting the ATc is akin to driving a Ferrari on a racetrack where you can let the machine operate like it’s supposed to. It’s a complete departure from the duty guns, though the functions are essentially the same. While the Base model is a joy to shoot, as it has an upgraded trigger and the steel frame holds well and mitigates recoil, the Rock models in both the 5- and 6-inch configurations are outstanding. The SAO triggers on them are phenomenal. I won’t try to describe it, because I couldn’t do it justice. The 6-inch model specifically holds flatter than any handgun that I have ever shot. It’s actually disturbing how little movement there is with the recoil.
I put just over a hundred rounds through the guns on my own. The public attendees put thousands more. The guns weren’t cleaned at all and had zero failures or malfunctions. My only complaint is that I didn’t get to spend more time on the trigger. But as soon as these pistols are available in the U.S. this fall, my safe will be getting some new guests in the form of the ATd Compact Comp and the ATc Rock 6.
Price: $900-$1100 (ATd); $2,000-$2,500 (ATc).
Pros: Excellent, quality pistols from the ground up; completely customizable to fit the shooter; great triggers in both the SA/DA and SAO options; not another polymer-framed gun; open source files for the grips, beavertail, and the magwell flare.
Cons: The frames and grips on both the ATc and ATd are rather large. They might be uncomfortable for shooters with smaller hands. But, the grip files are open source, so you can 3D print or machine grips that work better for your diminutive size.
