As some of you may remember I used to have a Colt New Agent in 9mm which I still kick myself for selling. As a matter of fact, it still drives me up a wall when people claim the thing doesn't have sights. It's like saying bicycles don't have wheels, just because they don't have lug nuts. But I digress.
I recently picked up a RIA M1911-A1 CS ...
For those of us less numbers savvy, that's a Rock Island Officers Size Tactical.
Here's what I got from it, after I went out and did some plinking at my favorite rang- ... quarry.
The load I use right now, which is ~5.8 grains of Bullseye behind some plated 200gr JHPs actually proved very, very shootable and manageable. I'm neither as fast nor as accurate with it on my follow up shots with it yet, as I am with my Norinco 213, but that's purely practice. The load worked very nicely and proved to be a soft and consistent shooter.
Now, why am I not saying accurate? Simple: I can't hit anything with it! The way my load shoots and the way the sights are ... even at ~7 yards I shoot six inches high! This is clearly unacceptable, and seeing as my new shipment of bullets which is coming in soon is different I will hold off on my gunsmith adjusting my sights. Maybe 200gr LFN with a ~4.6gr charge shoot different. who knows? but in any case, these sights need to be adjusted.
The gun itself fed the hollow points very well. Once or twice with a little bit of hesitation on the first round, but it did feed them. Otherwise it worked very nicely mechanically.
Now for the magazines. The magazine it came with is not a flush fitting mag and holds seven rounds. It worked without a hitch and proved to have no problems. My other magazine, which I picked up at my local 'smith for fifteen bucks however, feeds rounds perfectly fine, but doesn't always lock the slide at the end. TskTsk. In its defense it is a Springfield Armory mag and only holds six rounds, so there may be some differences. Also, it is a flush fit. Maybe one day I will invest some money and buy myself some Mecgar(sp?) flush fitting mags and retire these two.
I made a point to "cure" the parkerized finish before I took it out. After a *lot* of CLP and a *lot* of Barricade, the gun is a dark grey with the frame being slightly lighter than the slide, but I figure eventually it'll even out. The gun looks very pretty and I really have no gripes.
It's a refreshing change from my Norinco 213 that I could find a nice leather holster off a shelf. And that magazines aren't 35 bucks from the *only* and cheapest source.
I did find myself reverting back to the mechanics of drawing my Norinco, mainly that I forgot the manual safety. My Norinco is carried as it "ought to" be with the hammer at half cock and it gets cocked during the draw. So that may take some getting used to.
As I said, overall I am happy, but it bugs the everliving hell out of me, that it shoots high. Maybe it's me, but I highly doubt that I would be such a schizophrenic shooter that I can group perfectly fine ... with six inches of height ... at seven yards. I don't usually do that.
More to come, I'm sure.
[edit]
Oh yeah! Grips.
The ones RIA sends with the gun are fat. Really fat. I've kinda come to like slim guns, so I'll eventually have to get myself some nice and thin ones. They're not bad, just not to my liking.
[/edit]
I recently picked up a RIA M1911-A1 CS ...
For those of us less numbers savvy, that's a Rock Island Officers Size Tactical.
Here's what I got from it, after I went out and did some plinking at my favorite rang- ... quarry.
The load I use right now, which is ~5.8 grains of Bullseye behind some plated 200gr JHPs actually proved very, very shootable and manageable. I'm neither as fast nor as accurate with it on my follow up shots with it yet, as I am with my Norinco 213, but that's purely practice. The load worked very nicely and proved to be a soft and consistent shooter.
Now, why am I not saying accurate? Simple: I can't hit anything with it! The way my load shoots and the way the sights are ... even at ~7 yards I shoot six inches high! This is clearly unacceptable, and seeing as my new shipment of bullets which is coming in soon is different I will hold off on my gunsmith adjusting my sights. Maybe 200gr LFN with a ~4.6gr charge shoot different. who knows? but in any case, these sights need to be adjusted.
The gun itself fed the hollow points very well. Once or twice with a little bit of hesitation on the first round, but it did feed them. Otherwise it worked very nicely mechanically.
Now for the magazines. The magazine it came with is not a flush fitting mag and holds seven rounds. It worked without a hitch and proved to have no problems. My other magazine, which I picked up at my local 'smith for fifteen bucks however, feeds rounds perfectly fine, but doesn't always lock the slide at the end. TskTsk. In its defense it is a Springfield Armory mag and only holds six rounds, so there may be some differences. Also, it is a flush fit. Maybe one day I will invest some money and buy myself some Mecgar(sp?) flush fitting mags and retire these two.
I made a point to "cure" the parkerized finish before I took it out. After a *lot* of CLP and a *lot* of Barricade, the gun is a dark grey with the frame being slightly lighter than the slide, but I figure eventually it'll even out. The gun looks very pretty and I really have no gripes.
It's a refreshing change from my Norinco 213 that I could find a nice leather holster off a shelf. And that magazines aren't 35 bucks from the *only* and cheapest source.
I did find myself reverting back to the mechanics of drawing my Norinco, mainly that I forgot the manual safety. My Norinco is carried as it "ought to" be with the hammer at half cock and it gets cocked during the draw. So that may take some getting used to.
As I said, overall I am happy, but it bugs the everliving hell out of me, that it shoots high. Maybe it's me, but I highly doubt that I would be such a schizophrenic shooter that I can group perfectly fine ... with six inches of height ... at seven yards. I don't usually do that.
More to come, I'm sure.
[edit]
Oh yeah! Grips.
The ones RIA sends with the gun are fat. Really fat. I've kinda come to like slim guns, so I'll eventually have to get myself some nice and thin ones. They're not bad, just not to my liking.
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