Jenrick
Member
As a present to myself for a transfer to a new division at work, I picked up a RIA Tactical in 9mm. Why a 9mm 1911? No idea, it just seemed like a good idea. I picked it up on Friday, and took it to the range yesterday.
First off the pistol itself comes with one 9 round Checkmate mag. The pistol itself is finished in gray parkerization which is well done and even. The stocks are smooth wood, the front strap is smooth, and the main spring housing is arched checkered plastic. The sights are the same gray as the pistol and smooth, with no serrations, so they have a problem with glare. The sights are both dovetailed, and appeared to be standard dovetails. The pistol features an ambi-safety, and a memory bump on the grip safety.
Fit and finish the pistol is tighter then expected, and there is no rattle to it. The movement of the slide on the rails is very smooth with no noticeable hitches. The only thing that I noticed is that the frame on the left side of the grip safety is just a hair proud to the safety and could be knocked down. This would likely take maybe 5 strokes of a file if that.
The trigger isn't as smooth as a custom tuned match trigger, but it is certainly shootable. The reset is short and positive.
Testing was 50 rounds of S&B 115 gr 9mm, and about 25 rounds of Speer Gold Dot in both 125 and 147gr weights. There were to failure to extract on the 4th round fired, and 13th round fired (both the #4 round in the magazine). Both cases remained in the chamber, and the following round attempted to chamber behind it. Both cleared by allowing the slide forward and manually cycling it. No other malfunctions occurred. The two casings that failed to extract where not retrieved for examination.
The gun prefers the 147 grs bullets, but shoot just fine with the other weights. The weight of the pistol means negligible recoil, and fast followups. The gray sights however pickup a lot of glare and make holding a consistent sight picture difficult.
I'm planning on replacing the sights (probably Novaks or 10-8's), and replacing the plastic main spring housing with a metal one just for peace of mind. No plan to get the front strap checkered or stippled, even with the smooth stocks there's no problem holding onto the gun. I might get a different thumb safety that's slightly longer, but I'm not sure on that. I haven't had a chance to run the gun hard, so I can't say whether it needs it or not.
Overall the gun is accurate, shootable, and for a 1911, cheap.
-Jenrick
First off the pistol itself comes with one 9 round Checkmate mag. The pistol itself is finished in gray parkerization which is well done and even. The stocks are smooth wood, the front strap is smooth, and the main spring housing is arched checkered plastic. The sights are the same gray as the pistol and smooth, with no serrations, so they have a problem with glare. The sights are both dovetailed, and appeared to be standard dovetails. The pistol features an ambi-safety, and a memory bump on the grip safety.
Fit and finish the pistol is tighter then expected, and there is no rattle to it. The movement of the slide on the rails is very smooth with no noticeable hitches. The only thing that I noticed is that the frame on the left side of the grip safety is just a hair proud to the safety and could be knocked down. This would likely take maybe 5 strokes of a file if that.
The trigger isn't as smooth as a custom tuned match trigger, but it is certainly shootable. The reset is short and positive.
Testing was 50 rounds of S&B 115 gr 9mm, and about 25 rounds of Speer Gold Dot in both 125 and 147gr weights. There were to failure to extract on the 4th round fired, and 13th round fired (both the #4 round in the magazine). Both cases remained in the chamber, and the following round attempted to chamber behind it. Both cleared by allowing the slide forward and manually cycling it. No other malfunctions occurred. The two casings that failed to extract where not retrieved for examination.
The gun prefers the 147 grs bullets, but shoot just fine with the other weights. The weight of the pistol means negligible recoil, and fast followups. The gray sights however pickup a lot of glare and make holding a consistent sight picture difficult.
I'm planning on replacing the sights (probably Novaks or 10-8's), and replacing the plastic main spring housing with a metal one just for peace of mind. No plan to get the front strap checkered or stippled, even with the smooth stocks there's no problem holding onto the gun. I might get a different thumb safety that's slightly longer, but I'm not sure on that. I haven't had a chance to run the gun hard, so I can't say whether it needs it or not.
Overall the gun is accurate, shootable, and for a 1911, cheap.
-Jenrick