1911's and Price question...

[earlthegoat2]

The only downside to the RIA that I know of so far is that they use cast frames and that many custom smiths won't work on them.

No they wont and for good reason. The cast frame is a known weak point. It is also not good to go hitting on cast metal when fitting. Add to the fact that RIA frames are of a metal that is suspect in construction and any major frame modifications may be ill advised indeed. I have not tried though and I have recently purchased a RIA guinea pig to try some things with.

It should be noted that I have yet to hear of any catostrophic failures regarding the RIA frame so maybe it is not such a big thing as is thought. I dont know how many people buy RIA 1911s with the intention of frame modifications as I think a Fusion frame would be the more economical route.

 

[rellascout]

No they wont and for good reason. The cast frame is a known weak point. It is also not good to go hitting on cast metal when fitting. Add to the fact that RIA frames are of a metal that is suspect in construction and any major frame modifications may be ill advised indeed. I have not tried though and I have recently purchased a RIA guinea pig to try some things with.

It should be noted that I have yet to hear of any catostrophic failures regarding the RIA frame so maybe it is not such a big thing as is thought. I dont know how many people buy RIA 1911s with the intention of frame modifications as I think a Fusion frame would be the more economical route.

I think that you are missing the point. For 75% of all shooters cast vs forged is not going to matter. IMHO. They are not going to shoot 10,000 rounds in the lifetime of the gun. Handfitting and heavily customizing an RIA is like putting rims on a toaster or lip stick on a pig. The frames are made 4140 cast steel. The cast vs forged arguement is not always valid. It is all about the quality of the casting vs the quality of the forging.

Look at the Browning Hi Power. The MKIII frames are all cast. They are stronger than the older forged ones. There are thousands of smiths many of them with big names that have no problem pounding on a cast BHP frame.

You seem to like Fusion. I have not bought anything directly from them but they have a spotty reputation at best at this point. Their parts have a better rep then their assembled guns. They are a tiny shop and IMHO if Bob did not put the gun together himself you cannot count on it working right out of the box. I have seen some sloppy fitting coming out of Fusion that I would not except from a production gun let alone a semi-custom build which demonstrates that price point does not always = great running gun.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I think that you are missing the point. For 75% of all shooters cast vs forged is not going to matter. IMHO. They are not going to shoot 10,000 rounds in the lifetime of the gun. Handfitting and heavily customizing an RIA is like putting rims on a toaster or lip stick on a pig. The frames are made 4140 cast steel. The cast vs forged arguement is not always valid. It is all about the quality of the casting vs the quality of the forging.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=7130507&postcount=20

Here is my post from earlier in the thread. I think I get the point just fine.

Im familiar with other pistols and their cast frames. There are varying qualities of cast metal from pot metal to investment casting with good materials and alloys.

Fusion was an arbitrary example in my first post and it was the first company that came to mind when I was referring to the frames ONLY that they sell in the second post above yours there. Was not referring to entire pistols. Im not posting here to say who is better and I am not hating on RIA because I have one and their is a reason I have it beyond wanting to whack on it a little.

And it looks like my usefulness here has ended.

 

[rellascout]

It seems like you are contracting your own point and your understanding of your own post. The RIA works for someone who wants a low end out of the box shooter but is not looking to fire 25K rounds through the pistol.

Why on earth would someone put $500 worth of parts and hand fitting into a $400 gun? There are a few exceptions to this rule. The Norinco comes to mind. They are a $500 gun which if you find someone who is willing to do the cuts for better sights is worth gutting and rebuilding but that is not the market or the niche of RIA.

You state the RIA is cast and that makes it suspect but you offer ZERO proof of issues with its strength. In fact you confirm what most people know which is that there have not been a many if any reports of these things blowing up. You know enough to know that there is good casting and bad casting. By all accounts I have read and in my personal experience RIAs frames are on the better side of that equation. They are not the best and I too prefer forged but honestly we are talking about a sub $400 gun at least its not made out of plastic. LOL

Maybe a higher end gun will make you feel better about yourself and make you a better shooter at the same time. This does happen. Go for it. If you are an a budget and want a fun/house gun then a Springfield Mil Spec or loaded will provide that to you or even a RIA.

I love comments like this. They are so THR. Why lash out at other members with backhanded comments? I do not think most rational people define themselves by their gun of choice. They choose them based on subjective criteria to meet their needs. For me self esteem is not one of those criteria. In the end to each their own but it seems like you are talking about and critizing people for things you admitly do not have experience with. You might try out a higher end gun you might find you like it more than you think or at least willing to admit.

 

[earlthegoat2]

This is frustrating so I am only going to state that it was not a backhanded comment.

It is not meant to be disparaging. It is the idea that you live up to the equipment that you use. You bought a nice engraved gun so you either shoot better with it for reason you cant explain or you practice more to justify your investment and in so doing become a better shooter.

 

[ttheel]

I think the sweet spot for 1911s in still in the mid-price range of $1500-$2000...even at their new price point I still think the Dan Wesson is a real value

I tend to agree with this. As a matter of fact my last purchase was a Dan Wesson VBOB. Very high quality stuff without getting into the Ed Brown kind of costs.

 

[9mmepiphany]

Due to my location I haven't had a chance to shoot or handle a VBOB, but if it is much of an upgrade from CBOB, you have a real gem

I got a chance awhile back to handle a CBOB that had had it's slide stop replaced with a tool steel one, the trigger cleaned up and the MSH replaced with a checkered one to match the front...and I would have easily compared it to an Ed Brown Kobra Carry, for workmanship and function