Armscor Rock Island Arsenal 1911 copy

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I held a new Armscor 1911 Rock Island Arsenal pistol today, and was impressed with it. No fancy bells and whistles, just a plain 1911 copy. Do any of you have experience shooting one of these? For the money, $360 at the gun shop, is it a good buy as a shooter? Any input, pro or con, will be much appreciated. I do not want to spend my limited money on something I will later regret. Thanks in advance.
 
I've had one for a while and put over 2000 rounds through it. It feeds practically anything and has reasonable accuracy. I'd buy mine again with no hesitation.
 
Thanks for the report! I don't think I have ever fired 2000 rds through any firearm except my 1st gun which is a Winchester 9422. I appreciate the feedback Nelson 133.
 
They are well liked by most people. Since they are 1911 compatiable lots of add one. Good warrenty service if you need. In other words worth the money
 
I just picked one up yesterday afternoon,$399 at my local shop. I brought it home and loaded the mag with my handloaded 200gr LSWC. Just cycling the slide, it chambered every round in the mag with no problem. I hope to take it to the range this weekend.

I actually wasn't really looking for another 1911 when I went in the store but it was calling my name........and it was less than $400!
 
I sell lots and lots of these pistols. Every new batch I get in seems to be a little better than the one before it. STI recently contracted with the Phillipines-based company to build most of their new Spartan pistol, and, according to the Armscorp rep I spoke with at SHOT, tweaks made to the production process to satisfy STI's requiremesnt have "trickled down" into the entire product line. I had a Springfield GI in the shop a month or so back, for about 150 bucks more money. The Springfield had way prettier grips, but that was about it. Trigger, fit & finish, slide-to-frame fit... the RIA ate the Springfield's lunch. With the Norincos and Argentine Sistemas gone, the RIA is "it" for a base mi-spec 1911.

DanO
 
I'm probably nearing on the 12-13k mark on mine. I really don't keep track anymore. I figure each season I shoot it, its another 5k or so. Frame, slide, barrel, slide stop, and mainspring housing are the only original parts left on it. I'm a C shooter (USPSA) at the moment, but will be B (maybe A?) by the end of the summer. I shot a smokin' match - speed wise - with it last weekend... just need to work on my long-shot accuracy a bit. ;)

I'm kind of surprised at how much the price has gone up over the last couple years. Used to be able to get them for ~$279 from Sarco.
 
I bought a RIA a few weeks back. I think it is pretty good out of the box. I'm using it for a project gun. Kinda' self teaching tool for building a 1911. I'm having a blast canging triggers & sears & beavertails & stuff. It's pretty much like working on my hotrod, only different!:confused:
 
I just picked up a RIA 1911 the other day. I am truly amazed at how good it looks and feels, especially for the price. No tooling marks inside, clean as a pin... had to look really close to even see the extractor, the fit is so perfect... smooth slide cycling, excellent trigger... the shortness of the rails seems a bit different... looks like a keeper to me, though. If it shoots as well as it seems it should with the quality of manufacturing... it will be.
 
I've had one for a few months now, fed it a couple thousand rounds and it's great. Had a few reliability issues at first which worked out to be magazine related.. bought some better magazines and upgraded to a 16# Wolff recoil spring as well and the problems vanished. I wish they could get the production of the compacts back up to speed so I can find one locally.
 
Range update on mine

I got to the range over the weekend. 50 rounds of mild reloads with very little problem. A couple of times I needed to nudge the slide the last 1/8" closed. By the end of the box, there was no need for even that. And the trigger seemed a lot more crisp than others I have fired. It almost seemed too short and light. I think it fits my hand better than my other 1911 which has an arched mainspring housing and a beaver tail grip safety.
 
I'm kind of surprised at how much the price has gone up over the last couple years. Used to be able to get them for ~$279 from Sarco.
Click to expand...

I'm not, like with the Springfield XD, once the word gets out about how good they really are, demand and hence price goes up.

Look for the new RIA "Tactical" better sights (Novaks), beavertail grip safety, and ambi safety for under $400! It does seem that while the quality was very good initially the fit has improved recently so the price increase is probably well worth it.

--wally.
 
I think Classic Arms has had them, I got mine from one of the large Dallas gun dealers at a Houston gun show, paid $380+tax.

--wally.
 
We are talking about the Rock Island 1911s made in the Phillipines, right?

I've heard mixed reviews on them. Some say they're made as well as any Ameircan 1911 and at a fraction of the price, others say that quality varies from gun to gun because of loose tolerance standards with the company and poor cast steel quality.

The general consensus from what I've heard, though, is that for the money they make a good entry-level 1911, for those who can't afford a Springfield or Kimber.

Not really the kind of quality thing you'd be shooting at sporting events like professionals, but for the average amount of practice that you or I would do, and for concealed carry, it supposedly works just fine.

I don't have anything to back this up with though, I'm just reporting what I've heard on them.
 
We are talking about the Rock Island 1911s made in the Phillipines, right?
Click to expand...

Yes, use the search. Most reports from actual owners are very good, feedback about customer support on some less than perfect out of the box has been very favorable.

My Kimbers and Colts look better, but the RIA/Armscor shoot right up there with them for a lot less money. I've got two RIA/Armsor guns up over 10000 rounds and no issues any worse than with my Colt that has a similar round count (this Colt has been my worst out of the box experience ever, purchased circa 1984, but its been fine once the initial problems were solved and I learned a lot about the 1911 in the process of fixing it).

I rarely shoot the Colts or Kimbers anymore, why beat up the expensive guns when the cheap RIA are every bit as much fun!

Go over to www.1911forum.com where they have a manufacturers->other board and you find mostly happy RIA campers and the Armscor US rep hangs out there.

--wally.
 
How interchangable are Rock Island parts with other 1911 parts? I was thinking maybe a person could use the Rock Island as a base and replace it piece by piece with American parts as they can afford it.
 
See my post #8 above. I've replaced virtually everything, with very little fitting required for most of them. A base gun is exactly what it became. :) And as many rounds as I've got through it (see #8) its still a very accurate gun.
 
Now I feel like kicking myself for not picking up that one for $375 at that last gun show in January. Especially since since little town has NO gun store, and we only get one show per year...
 
Last year I bought a RIA m1911A1 for something like $335 OTD. I've carried the thing every day since then. It's not a "show & tell" gun, but it'll feed nearly anything (although it's only guaranteed with 230gr. ball ammo) and it hasn't malfunctioned since its first 250 rounds (which I believe was due to the cheap magazine I was using).

Replace the sights, maybe bob the hammer or install a commander version if it bites, and you've got a great carry gun.
 
I've got one, shoots great, the only thing I've done to mine is put a set of pacmayer (SP) rosewood wrap around grips on it.:neener: , I like the feel of it a little better.
 
A few Armscor roll marked stainless guns are around, but as far as I know, at present the Charles Daly labeled stainless Armscor guns are the only source.

Use the search, I got the Daly 4" EMS stainless model as my first "off brand" 1911 and on balance have been very happy with it although it had a few minor (to me) issues out of the box.

--wally.
 
Both of mine, one GI, one Tactical model had problems out of the box. Replacing with a Wolf 17.5lb spring, and all is good, zero problems since then, I don't have round counts in front of me, but it's approaching 1000 in each.

Ultimately I want to slap an advantage arms kit on the GI model, so we'll see how that goes.
 
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