Rock Island 1911 - a good choice?

I've been told on other sites that they are good value for the money....

Got to try out both the .45 and 9mm flavors. Good price, no hiccups I could see, and it's USGI to boot. I say enjoy as is or customize to your hearts content.

I'd say spend a little more for the tactical model with the better sights then the rest of your $$$ on ammo.

Rock island's are excellent. I've had Colts and Sig 1911's and my Rock Island was more accurate than both of them. The use more MIM parts and there frames are cast but for the price there great. They seem to feed hollow points well.

Nothing wrong with RIA 1911 that changing to a Wilson barrel and bushing would help. Except cost you more money and increase his profit margin. Might as well buy a 800 dollar pistol at that point. My RIA tactical , no rail, is a reliable accurate low cost 1911 with nothing needed to make better. Also cost 460 bucks at our general store new.

Babarsac said:

Got to try out both the .45 and 9mm flavors. Good price, no hiccups I could see, and it's USGI to boot.

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A RIA 1911 is most certainly not "USGI".

Bad wording on my part. Most aftermarket 1911 parts will play nice with the RIA platform but some fitting my be required in some areas (IIRC sights are funky). As mentioned above it really depends on what you want to do with the pistol. If you want a real tack driver it may be worth it to spend a little more money up front on a different brand. If you're looking for a plinker then I say get the RIA and load up on ammo.

I love my RI 1911CS. Basically, it's their Officer's model. Compact, packs a punch, easy to shoot, very accurate, and didn't break the bank. The RIA customer service is absolutely fantastic.

After 300-400 rounds, the slide wouldn't lock back on the final shot. No biggie, really, but I shot an email off to them. They promptly sent at absolutely no cost to me a new slide release and magazine release as well as some bumper stickers (hey, the stickers were a neat touch. Everyone likes free swag).

After I replaced the parts, the slide would lock back on the last shot but the release made it IMPOSSIBLE to release the slide. It was crazy tight. I emailed RIA again. They promptly (within a couple of hours) sent me an email apologizing and gave me a link to print out a next day air shipping label as well as the RMA sheet to send with the gun.

Within 2 days of shipping the gun I had an email back that told me what parts they had replaced as well the UPS tracking number to know when the gun would be back in my possession. About 4 days later it showed up. The list of parts that they had replaced were notated. They also sent me some more complimentary stickers, one of those "coins" with their logo, and a nice RIA pin that's going on my motorcycle jacket. On top of that, they completely tuned and lubed the gun. The action is butter smooth and the feed ramp is polished to a gloss.

How does it shoot? Like a dream It might be my favorite handgun in my collection.

For the money (even if you have an issue or two like I had), the RIA 1911's are fantastic values.

How much are they running in your neck of the woods?

I have the Armscor/RIA 1911 CS model (3.5" barrel). I bought it new for $450 + 6% sales tax over a year ago. Do to not putting it back together properly the first time I chipped the Recoil Spring reverse plug. I called customer service which they promptly sent me a FedEx label to ship it back on their dime. They then connected me with their gunsmith Arnel who asked a couple of questions at which time I told him if I found it dependable it would become my carry gun. I also asked about putting in Novak Trijicon night sights. He ordered me the sights which is all I paid for at the same cost I would of paid from Brownells for them. Got the gun back 6 days from the day I shipped it with the gun tuned to handle every ammo I've ever tried, recoil spring, extractor and firing pin replaced as well as the sights installed, gun sighted perfectly and from sight matching the front of the gun perfectly. I've since put close to 3000 rounds through it with out a single hiccup. Total cost was the price of the sights which I was also informed are now covered under full warranty by Armscor Precision for the life of the gun. Love the gun and soon after sold my Springfield Arms Loaded model as this gun was every bit as accurate as it, and handles everything better including +P loads.

Oh and picture below is with old holster as it is now carried in a Cross Breed Super Tuck.

I paid 410.00$ for mine 3 or 4 years ago. RIA customer service is top notch and the only issue I have is that the parkerized finsh is somewhat prone to rust

I picked up a RIA GI last week, it came out of the box running like a top, and looks to be a well made pistol. Rock Island has a good reputation for customer service when there is a problem, so I think they are good choice for a bargain 1911. I don't think I would change the barrel and bushing, the ones the pistols come with are fine, my gun shoots to point of aim, and is probably more accurate than I can hold as it is.

I like mine a lot, it is a 9mm Tactical without a rail.

I wish they made a blued version, or hard chrome. Or even better, stainless.

I have a plain jane RIA 1911 that is very accurate and runs like a dream. no complaints at all. I bought mine ftf from a British ex-pat who wanted to part with it. Gave $130 and it had Houge rubber grips. Deal of a lifetime in 2009.

Joecil, that is one nice rig you have there. Good choices all the way.

a RI 1911 GI was my "do I like 1911's?" piece.
It was a decent shooter at $300, but I wouldn't pay any more than that for the GI model and only slightly more for one with better sights and trigger. I had enough issues with mine that I haven't had with my other 1911's that I personally would look elsewhere than RI if I were looking at a 1911 for sub $500. There are a lot of options in sub $500 1911 manufacturers these days that there weren't a short time ago, competition is good.

Mine shot way off POA by feet @ 20 yards, and had frequent FTF's not related to magazines. Others have had great experiences, however.

socalbeachbum said:

wow they have gone up!

just made a call the SoCal price is $689

our chain of stores, Turners would probably have them for 599 and on sale days, 549 probably

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If you ever find your self in the templeton area, I stopped by a store there that had a nice 5" with ambi safety and upgraded sights for $499

Wow, I paid $360 (included shipping) about 6 years ago... Things really go up.

I have three of 'em. No....wait, four of them! Forgot about the 9mm Tactical. They've been outstanding for me.

I can vouch for em being good reliable pieces. My 5" 38 super, 5" gi .45acp and my 3.5" officer's size have only given me issues when the recoil springs on em have gotten weak.

The RIA M1911s are still a good value for the money, even though like everything else they have gone up a bit in price over the last few years. Solid, well built guns which can use most aftermarket parts with little or no fitting required. I would wait and see how accurate and reliable the gun is before I would buy a new barrel set-up for it.

As a dealer, I'm seeing RIA's quality start to slip noticeably lately. Out of the last 5 that I've recently bought, 4 had to go back for warranty work.

If you get a good one, they are excellent guns for the money though.

tnelson31 said:

I like mine a lot, it is a 9mm Tactical without a rail.

I wish they made a blued version, or hard chrome. Or even better, stainless.

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SARCO shows a RIA chrome 1911 in 9mm in their multipage 6/20 Shotgun News ad - http://www.sarcoinc.com/6-20-13.pdf Look on page 7.