My buddy Big Taco at Steyrclub.com has been making stainless-steel black-oxide guiderods with and without captured springs for the Steyr M and MA1 series pistols for quite some time. If you don't know what a Steyr pistol is, I'm not surprised. It's the best kept secret in the industry, that other pistol manufacturer in Austria. When Glock was still a yet-uninvented word in the 14th century, Steyr, Austria already had a worldwide reputation for forging the finest weapons of the day. The company now called Steyr-Mannlicher began making fine firearms in Steyr, Austria in 1864.

But enough history. Back to BT and his guide rods. In addition to Steyr guide rods, now he's expanded his fine work to include guide rods for Glock and S&W M&P and has plans to add other makes as time allows. I just got back from a trip to Pittsburgh and picked up a G20 captured-spring guide-rod assembly from Big Taco. It's his new Sta-Tite 2-Piece assembly and it's prettier than a speckled pup.



The stock G20 plastic rod and spring is at left in the photos and BT's Sta-Tite rod-spring assembly is at right in the first photo, then installed in the second in my G20 slide. Third photo is the rod installed with the slide jacked back.

Shortly after installing BT's rod, I took it out for a function test and his Sta-Tite stayed tight as expected. I've got my G20 loaded up with 17 rds. of Winchester JHPs ready to go to work at the gun shop with my G29 as backup. If I need more firepower than that at the gun shop, it'll be time to call in the Marines.

If you want more info about BT's Guiderods, go to his site. He's even got a video explaining how the Sta-Tite series works. Works for me.

I wonder why more manufacturers don't give you a stainless-steel guide rod instead of plastic? They aren't that expensive and it's one of the best as well as cheapest upgrades you can make for your pistol to improve its reliability and function.

I just bought a .38 Super slide for my EAA Witness-Polymer and the Wonder-finish slide came with a stainless-steel barrel and stainless-steel guide rod. I've heard some bad raps about EAA being cheap, but if they can afford to offer stainless rods, why can't every pistol maker?

I got a new Sig P229 SAS Generation 2 just recently with all the bells and whistles: Night Sights, Short Reset Trigger, Sig-Anti-Snag melt treatment on the slide and frame, stainless-steel slide with two-tone frame. But for my nearly $1K pistol, I got a plastic guide rod! What's up widdat?

I'm hoping Big Taco will find the time to add Sig guide rods to his line-up of offerings soon. And I need one for my CZ 75 P-07 too. At least my two M&Ps came with stainless rods, but not captured springs, so I'll be upgrading with BT's Sta-Tite assemblies for those two as well.

BTW, Big Taco's a friend of mine and a shooting buddy, but I paid for my Sta-Tite rod and this is my unpaid endorsement of his fine products. Give his fine work a try and you'll be glad you did.

That looks like a quality product. I did not see what weight springs were offered. Maybe I did not search enough on his site.

I like the improvement over the typical SS rods:

The B~T Sta-Tite Series Guide Rod is made from Stainless Steel alloy, 17-4 PH-H1150, chosen for the high corrosion resistance typical of high grade 300 series Stainless Steel but with the desired hardenability unobtainable in the 300 series alloys. The hardness affords extremely high cycle life while resisting the scoring that typically occurs from the sliding spring. Your STA-TITE rod is precisely machined to dimensions that minimize spring snaking then highly polished yielding incredibly smooth slide cycling. Finally, the rod is black oxide treated, chosen for cosmetics as well as its oil film retention quality. This provides a measure of permanent lubricity and further enhances the already smooth operation while remaining relatively dry to the touch, not attracting dirt or powder residue.


With the power levels the G20 is capable of attaining I am thinking this product is something to consider.

Very nice looking product, it should serve the situation well!

Thanks for the review, I hope he does well. I bookmarked his site, when I get into my reloading and start on the heavier loads I imagine I'll be placing an order.