Rock Island M1911 GI Standard Pistol

thunderbyrd said:

in my way of doing things, guns are cheaper than guitars, because i was a guitar snob. guns not so much.

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That's what you think NOW ...

<---- Spent several thousand dollars on over 10 electric guitars (Hamer, Jackson, Kramer, Fender, etc.) and over 10 acoustc/electric guitars (Yamaha, Fender, Alvarez, etc.) along with several amps ... But spent over $180,000 on guns and ammunition with $160,000 spent on ammo.

thunderbyrd said:

but they are the bottom dollar 1911 i've seen and that makes me skittish.

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There are others right at the price point, but, the RIA/Armscor are, like the Turkish Tisas, built of real steel and have decent fir and finish.
Now, I'll guess you mean this one:

Which is really a 1911A1, and is straight-up GI other than not having a lanyard loop.
Sights are military, fit is military, finish is military.
What you see is pretty much what you get.

Note, per the web site: https://www.armscor.com/firearms/ria/gi-series/gi-standard-fs/
At four and change you are getting about a c-note discount on MSRP--so, that's pretty much a hard "yes" on should you buy (after sorting out domestic details, naturally).

The AO/Kahr is currently closer to five hundred, if you can find one. A person can debate whether the Series 70 fitment of the RIA FS is better/wprse than the AO Series 80. To each their own.

If you don't like the beast, it will sell for what you have in it, even if you wind up around $500, in the current market. The RIA can be customized how you want to, too.

RI 1911's like the one posted by ontarget seem much like a issue pistol I may have drawn from the unit arms room "back in the day". They also look similar. I have fired one, and it was reliable with cheap Russian ammo. These pistols are a route for someone who wants the experience of owning and firing this class of pistols without such a steep price tag- especially significant for someone who isn't even sure if he/she even WANTS to be a "1911 person". A friend of mine is absolutely in love with the 1911. He has a large collection of them- several military versions and both civilian "vintage" examples as well as high end custom types. He also has a RIA he shoots the heck out of with the cheapest and dirtiest ammo he can find, in order to get his 1911 "range fix"- rarely giving that rock a good cleaning.
Things I personally don't like about the RIA 1911's:
1- The ugly smooth grips- of course, this is easily remedied with whatever grips you may prefer and a screwdriver if YOU don't like them
2- the very prominent company logo
3- The fact that they are made in Asia. This shouldn't bother me, since Asia is where this computer came from, along with my phone, and probably everything else I own that came from wal mart. But there is something about a 1911 being made in Asia I find unseemly. Of course, this is MY problem and MY hangup.

FL-NC said:

The fact that they are made in Asia. This shouldn't bother me, since Asia is where this computer came from, along with my phone, and probably everything else I own that came from wal mart. But there is something about a 1911 being made in Asia I find unseemly. Of course, this is MY problem and MY hangup.

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My Glocks were made in Austria and GSG 1911 22LR in Germany and it doesn't bother me that my Sig 1911 was made in the USA.

As long as firearms are reliable and shoot to point of aim, holes on target is what matters to me.

I am looking at Colt/Walther 1911 22LR and it won't bother me that it is made in Germany.

I am glad though that most of my AR/PCC parts are made in USA along with Magpul AR/Glock magazines I use and components I reload ammunition for them.

I have 2 of the Colt/Walther models. I love them.

Jim Watson said:

Sounds like a lot of trouble to me, but then I have a real Colt to fondle. Not much fun to shoot with microscopic sights; although the trigger pull is good and I am not subject to hammer bite.
...

I know a guy with a Tisas and a RIA who learned about the shortcomings of 1945 configuration for shooting by presbyopic retirees. He wants better sights but doesn't want to pay much and he doesn't want to disfigure his slides with cross dovetail front sights and he doesn't even like the way a local shop installs stake-on.

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Rock Island will install better sights as an option if you want, and it preserves their warranty.

ontarget said:

I picked up a RIA at the beginning of summer. So far so good. No malfunctions of any kind. The sights are small but work well for me even with glasses. I do recommend a good cleaning before your first range trip if you get it . And in today's market $4**.00 isn't a bad price. I gave 500 plus tax for mine and was happy.View attachment 1021786 I hated the orange tint of the grip panels so I darkened them.

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I didn't like those grips either. I'll do something to them, but in the meantime, I had these laying around and slapped them on my RIA

I like the RIA for what it is. I can't see the GI sights well enough to drive nails, but a paper plate doesn't stand a chance.

I picked up one back in 2011 for $399. I couldn’t get it to run reliably, even with ball ammo. I finally decided to send it in to RIA to get fixed. They had it back to me in about a week and said that the magazine catch was out of spec so they replaced it.

After getting fixed, it was extremely reliable, and had no problem with jhp, cheapie steel case, or anything else I ran through it. Boringly reliable and shot dead to the sights. I prettied it up a little with cocobolo stocks and stainless, allen head grip screws.

I got it just how I wanted it with regard to function and looks, and just put it away in the safe because I got on a revolver kick. I don’t think I’ve fired it in 9 years. I’m glad I stumbled across this thread because I’ll dig it out of the safe and take it to the range.

I carried a Kimber Custom II for many years. I still have it and it is the best handgun I have ever owned. But several years ago I decided to switch to 9mm and double-stack, so I got a RIA 9mm. At the time, they were not selling 9mms, they were selling .22 TCMs that also came with a 9mm barrel. I had problems with it, and it went back to RIA for service, they tweaked the extractor. Better, but not great. I bought a Wilson Combat Bulletproof Extractor and had a local smith install it, and now it runs flawlessly with 9mm, and the TCM is pretty good as long as I don't load more than 10 in the magazine. That's fine for me, the TCM is strictly for fun. (I never would have bought one it it wasn't forced.)

So, with some tweaking and tuning (which is to be expected with a 1911 anyway,) it works fine. But yes, like the others are saying, pony up a little bit more for thw one with a couple of upgrades on it.

Congrats on the Rock. Give her a good clean and lube now. And next outing should go better.

CapnMac said:

Which is really a 1911A1, and is straight-up GI other than not having a lanyard loop.
Sights are military, fit is military, finish is military.

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Look closely at the picture. The slide is not military (notice the beveled ejection port). The grips are not military. The grip safety is the wrong shape. The trigger is somewhere intermediate between a 1911 and 1911A1. The magazine well is beveled and of course the magazine itself is a complete loss. The mainspring housing is wrong. If you want to make a GI clone out of this it's going to require extensive parts swapping.

The Kahr / Thompson is actually a better starting point for a GI clone. At least the slide is usable. (If you ignore the Series 80 adaptation.)

Here is a picture of my GI clones. The top gun is an actual WW2 Remington-Rand M1911A1 in exc+ condition. The middle one is a clone built on an RIA frame with a Remington-Rand slide. And the bottom one is a clone based on a Kahr / Thompson / Auto Ordnance gun (using the Kahr slide). (You can't see anything external regarding the Series 80 safety mechanism, which has been removed.)

Give it a good clean and lube. Get a new magazine. If that doesn't fix it, Armscor will.