Ruger SR-1911 vs Armscor/RIA/Citadel 1911

wait, what? they discontinued them? what a bummer. they were a great deal for the money.

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I think that new 1911 buyers want a beauty pageant contestant and not a solid out of the case shooter at a great price. The Spartan line is not on the STI website anymore, one LGS has limited availability from a distributor. I'd like to get one for myself while I still can.

Fishbed77, as per the OP...

That leaves me looking at either a SR-1911, or the Armscor equivalent with similar features.

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Forged vs Cast is also a moot point. I've got 35k+ through a cast frame 1911. It has very little wear. I've seen Open guns that have 100k+ through them, very little wear as well. People who are knowledgeable about 1911s, and aren't trying to sell a certain product, don't spend much time discussing Forged vs Cast.

JDR said:

I think that new 1911 buyers want a beauty pageant contestant and not a solid out of the case shooter at a great price. The Spartan line is not on the STI website anymore, one LGS has limited availability from a distributor. I'd like to get one for myself while I still can.

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I can testify to them being good shooters. Have a spartan V in 9mm. very accurate. about 3k down the pipe and has been very reliable.

Keep looking on Slickguns.com, all of the guns mentioned are for sale there ,"depending on the day", you can sometimes save a hundred or more I look at it a few times a day. I have seen the Ruger there for $600 and perhaps a few dollars less. The Tactical RI for $399, and the Citadel for a few bucks more than the RI. Just keep looking and take the best deal you can.
If you can save $200 from one over the other, and don't fall in love with a particular gun, then you can save yourself some money and be just as happy a month from now for having done so.

Of the 3, the Ruger Sr-1911 without hesitation.

HOWEVER, bear in mind that the Colt O1991A1 is currently running just about $40-$45 higher than the SR-1911. Yes, the Ruger is stainless and the Colt blued (add $100 for Colt Stainless). Yes, the Ruger has a lot of value added features over the "plain Jane" 1991. But ... Colt is really on their game right now, the pistols coming out of their shop are really nice, and the pricing is really competitive at the moment. If you shop around, you may be able to find a 1911 just under $700. Impact has them for $705 right now.

Just food for thought - a fully loaded SR-1911 (which is very nice) vs. a Colt (if that's floats your boat), within 50 bucks of eachother.

I've been in the market for my first 1911 for almost a year now. I've researched everything I could find on the net. I've handled a lot of different new and used guns at a half dozen shows. I went to my LGS and had them lay out all the 1911s and I "played" with all of them. I even borrowed a couple to shoot from a friend who actually told me, "make up your own mind" and wouldn't recommend anything. I just recently bought a Desert Eagle 1911G.....based on the trigger. It had the best trigger compared to anything else I handled, including a couple very expensive guns.

Fishbed77, as per the OP...

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I can read, thank you.

I also can read that the OP has not made a purchase decision yet so we are on topic by discussingother options that may interest him/her. That's the whole point of having an open internet forum - to share ideas freely (and preferably in a respectful manner).

Forged vs Cast is also a moot point. I've got 35k+ through a cast frame 1911. It has very little wear. I've seen Open guns that have 100k+ through them, very little wear as well. People who are knowledgeable about 1911s, and aren't trying to sell a certain product, don't spend much time discussing Forged vs Cast.

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It's not a moot point.

Forged frames are typically stronger and more consistent in manufacture and quality than cast frames (plenty of threads can be found across the internet showing casting flaws on SR1911 frame).

That said, Ruger does castings better than most.

I really like my Citadel 1911. It shoots well, slide to frame is tight. No exact count but about 3000 rounds no problems.
It shoots as well as I can offhand.

Feeds SWcs no problem.
I would say to give one a close look. I only know about the one I have and I am very happy with it.

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=204277&d=1414020859



Citadel 1911 Offhand 25 rounds, unsupported, RMR 230, was shooting left corrected and got them in the center.
B29 X ring is 3/4" by 1" Left 9 edge to right X edge is 2"
THe pistol and ammo can do better, just can't find the pic.

Ruger

http://www.dayattherange.com/?p=1612

http://www.dayattherange.com/?p=1660

http://www.dayattherange.com/?p=3416

Ruger reviews and Ransom Rest test.

Another contender would be Brazilian PT1911. While I just bought my first 1911 and know nothing about them my acquaintance said it represents very good value for asking price.

I have owned approximately 25 1911's over the years and currently own an SR1911, (2) Taurus 1911's, Colt 1991, Springfield, and a Trojan 5.0. The SR1911 is a sweet piece for the money and could easily sale for more than what they ask for them IMHO. Is it worth $200 more compared to the RIA?.....yes, I think I so.

Of the choices offered, I'd choose the Ruger. A friend of mine had an RIA, and some Springfield mags I gave him wouldn't lock in. They worked fine in my Springers, Kimbers and Nighthawk.

But back to the original choices, I wouldn't buy any of them. At that price point I'd also look at the Remington R1, and they have a rebate right now.

Fishbed77 said:

Forged frames are typically stronger.

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I imagine if a cast frame is strong enough for a Desert Eagle shooting .50 AE, then it is probably strong enough for a 1911 shooting .45 ACP.

I can't say much in the way of cast vs forged as I'm not a metallurgist but I can attest to the fact that my ruger has over 10,000 down the barrel and it has no sign of battering or weakness at this point in time. My particular example may be better than average though. the trigger has settled in to 3.5# and there's no evidence of anything being out of spec. she's been flawless other than initial errors while I learned reloading.

I would vote for Ruger in this.

Hex head, i have been waiting for the R1 to emerge...both the frame and slide are forged (yes early examples used a cast frame..current production is forged) and the price is right ..extra good with a rebate. All pistols mentioned are nice representations but the op should make his own inspections and purchase.

wojownik said:

......HOWEVER, bear in mind that the Colt O1991A1 is currently running just about $40-$45 higher than the SR-1911. Yes, the Ruger is stainless and the Colt blued (add $100 for Colt Stainless). Yes, the Ruger has a lot of value added features over the "plain Jane" 1991. But ... Colt is really on their game right now, the pistols coming out of their shop are really nice, and the pricing is really competitive at the moment. If you shop around, you may be able to find a 1911 just under $700. Impact has them for $705 right now.

Just food for thought - a fully loaded SR-1911 (which is very nice) vs. a Colt (if that's floats your boat), within 50 bucks of each other.

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This is an excellent point that's worth repeating. If a Colt can be had this close to the price of the Ruger, I'd say it's a no-brainer, if only for future re-sale/trade value.
I actually had one of these 1991 Colts ( commander sized) a few years ago, but let it go in a trade I just couldn't resist, and it's still one of the very few trades or sales I really regret.
But again, I still recommend scouring the local Armslist (and similar) sites for a nice,used Springfield over any of these others the OP is considering.

Well, got the chance to shoot a colt 1911a1 side by side with my sr1911 as well as a Para. All three of us came to the same conclusion, the sr by far. Dude with the colt tried to offer a swap even. Told him no. Ruger had better, cleaner trigger, lighter, smoother slide action, better novak sights and zero stoppages with the cheap white box we all bought on the way out. Both the colt and the para choked. the sr was also the only one to run all six plates on the rack.

As for resale, used sr1911 already sell for more than I paid a few years back. $549 when they first came out. I only see them going up.

Over the weekend, I took out my Colt, Springfield, Colt Commander and Buddy took out his SR-1911, Auto-Ordnance and RIA.

I was going to type out a more detail, but the bottom line is that 5 of the 6 pistols performed very nicely. The standouts of the group were the Colt and SR-1911.

They pack a lot of options into the SR-1911 - its a undeniably a good value, and appears to be a good performer.

The Colt is probably the best 1911 I've owned out of the box in a long time. The short trigger is very crisp, and everything on that pistol just shone - no issues at all.

Conclusion - my buddy with the SR-1911 fell hard for my Colt - not in instead of the Ruger, but in addition to. I told him to get one now, due to what's going on with with Colt. I dug the SR-1911 and it could be my next acquisition, if I get back into the buying mode again, since the XSE is now extinct.

The RIA is a nice basic pistol. Buddy decided he really needs to upgrade the factory grips though. FWIW, I much, much preferred the Springfield over the RIA.

The Auto-Ordnance was the problem child of the group - several FTF's, several FTEs. Generally a rougher pistol, that didn't perform as well as the others.

PabloJ said:

The SR-1911 is stainless and made in USA, therefore, it should be worth $200 extra.

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Ruger sells their stainless pistols and revolvers for the same price as their blued models so clearly they don't think stainless is a reason to pay an extra $200.

I recently got rid of my RIA 1911 to help fund a Springfield RO and I've had a Ruger 5" for about a year now. Hands down I like the Ruger the best. The Springfield is pretty good too but between these 2 examples Ruger beats out Springfield in the fit, finish, accuracy and trigger department. I'm also not a fan of the so called American Springfields being 49% made in Brazil. The Ruger has never failed to do anything where I have issues with the Springfield not locking open all of the time on an empty mag (slide stop is waaay too tight). I also love the look of the matte stainless with blued hardware. Just a personal preference.

Both Armscor pistols I've owned (RIA 5" and an ATI Fatboy LW) had issues. They stand behind their products well enough but I won't be buying from them in the future. I don't buy guns so I can immediately mail them back to the manufacturer.

Buy American! Buy Ruger!

I have a Colt, an SA, an STI, and an RIA. The SA was my single stack competition gun in IPSC and functioned flawlessly for over 20,000 rounds. I like the RIA which I purchased about 10 years ago for $350. As others have noted, the finish is thin but the internals on mine are okay.

A guy in the NRA Basic Pistol class a few weeks ago had a brand new Ruger government size. It had one of the best out-of-the box trigger pulls I've experienced on any 1911. I later tried three at the local Sportsman's Warehouse and none were as good. I'm not hungering for a new 1911, but if I were, I'd get the Ruger.

I have no experience with the Ruger SR1911. I do have an STI Spartan that is built by Armscor for STI.

It's not been terrible, but it has been slightly temperamental. The stock mag release wouldn't properly engage on Wilson Combat magazines. Ended up replacing it.

The stock extractor also had a FTE about once every 75-100 rounds. Ended up replacing that too.

Overall, if I had it to do over again, I'd probably give the Ruger a try.

Between these two, I'd probably go for the Ruger SR-1911, though I've heard good things about the RIA too.

In the end, I'm a sucker for polished blue finishes, so I ended up with a Colt Series 70 reproduction . Granted, the extractor need a little tuning and the trigger needed to be smoothed up, but it was well worth it. Very sweet shooter.