How's the Rock Island 1911's?

[Spot77]

You're complaining about an 8 day waiting period, Spot?

My sympathies go out to you, but even a one day waiting period is wrong (especially since I already own more than a dozen guns.....is THIS going to be the magic gun that I use in a murdering rampage? *)

None of my bordering states have this (except DE perhaps?)


But hey, you're right, a little bit of oppression and government people control is certainly more acceptable than a lot of it


Interesting though, that we still pay the same price for the gun even though it gets shipped half way around the world so I can buy it.









* Analogy stolen from another poster somewhere

 

[horge]

...even a one day waiting period is wrong (especially since I already own more than a dozen guns.....is THIS going to be the magic gun that I use in a murdering rampage? *)

Some feel that our waiting periods come close to inducing a 'murdering rampage'.
Hah.

Interesting though, that we still pay the same price for the gun even though it gets shipped half way around the world so I can buy it.

What's really interesting is that Armscor ammo costs nearly twice as much over here as it does there: "gun control" via gun-specific taxes.
Once in awhile Armscor does gunshow super-sales, and then you can pick up,
say, a 1911 in 9mm for only about US$150, so I guess things arent all bad.

 

[Spot77]

Hmmm..... I don't ever recall seeing Armscor ammo here, but I'll keep an eye out for it.

One would think that their ammo would work well in the RIA 1911's.

 

[Onmilo]

I'm going to throw my two pennies in the pot here,,,,
RIA, Armscor, Auto Ordinance, the 1911s Kahr was putting out, all these guns are Phillipine versions of the 1911.

I have worked on a heck of a lot of .45 pistols in over twenty years and this is my observation on these guns.

All are investment cast frame and slide, all are quite good castings.
All of them come with suprisingly good barrels.
ALL of them leave a lot to be desired in internal part quality, it varies from fairly good to atrocious with no real rhyme or reason to the pattern.

All of these guns are good starter points for someone interested in .45 automatics and all can be made into fairly spectacular guns.

All of the frames and slides blue and plate well.
If your solution is clean you won't get a suprise purple or copper colored pistol.
All sight dovetails have been well cut and the slides are easy to machine and they do not work harden or become soft after a pass or two of the cutting tool so sight changes are an option to consider.

These aren't bad pistols, we here in the states have just become accustomed to really excellent .45 caliber 1911 pistols right from the American made boxes.

 

[1911Tuner]

The Onmilo Report

Onmilo,

Thanks for the input. I haven't seen many of'em, and can't make a call on how good or bad they are based on the few that I've seen. The two that I had here Sunday were the only ones I've looked at closely, and only one was opened up.

Also note that they have the blocky frontstrap instead of the standard radius cut. May be an issue for some...not for others. I prefer the standard cut, but can live with the squarish ones if the gun is reliable.

 

[mpthole]

If you haven't already, run a search on Rock Island Armory in this forum and the gunsmithing forum. If you're going to shoot many 1k's of rounds, plan on replacing certain items: extractor, ejector, recoil spring plug, barrel bushing and (maybe) the front site. All of those items were replaced on my RIA due to breakage.

After having similar problems with more expensive 1911's, I'd still buy a RIA and just plan on upgrading some of the parts.

 

[Arch]

check out the "gun tests magazine" web page. They did a report on the Rock Island 1911s a while back, that is available on their web page.

In synopsis, they said it was a cheap gun, with sloppy tollerances.

 

[BluesBear]

The Thompson 45s are Phillipine guns?

 

[MrAcheson]

check out the "gun tests magazine" web page. They did a report on the Rock Island 1911s a while back, that is available on their web page.

In synopsis, they said it was a cheap gun, with sloppy tollerances.

The problem with Gun Tests is that they do all their testing on a statistical sample of one. They buy a single firearm, assume it is representative, and then say whether that whole model line is good or not. If you have a lick of sense, you can tell something is wrong with that.

If you want to pay good money for Gun Tests, then fine. I wouldn't pay money for it, but I know people who do. But their results really shouldn't carry a lot of weight. They are hardly definitive. Especially after you read the letters to the editor in the back of the magazine which says how much they screw up every month. A good thread on this board, where many knowledgeable owners of a firearm make comments, is worth far more than any issue of gun tests.

 

[wally]

Wally...on that broken link...that might be bad news at some point down the road. Since the link unlocks the barrel and gets it out of the slide's way...
and yours probably didn't do that, the barrel and slide probably crashed pretty hard when the slide cycled. Keep an eye on the junction of the lower lug and the barrel at the rear corner. It may crack soon. Also watch the
locking lugs for signs of impending failure at the front junctions. When a gun crashes like that, it generally shears off a lug (or lugs) within about 2500-3000 rounds. Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings...

Was over 3500 rounds thru it when it broke. I was worried exactly for the reasons you mention as its been so reliable I'd not cleaned it in over 2000 rounds. But I could find no evidence of any peening or finish wear on the frame. Got ~500 rounds on the replacement link so far and I still see no peening or signs of abnormal wear or impact on either the barrel or frame. If anything crashed hard, sure left no evidence of it.

It was interesting slide didn't cycle. Got the full recoil, and nothing when I pulled the trigger again. Noticed the hammer was down and when I went to tap-rack-bang I couldn't pull back the slide! Dropped the mag, thumb cocked the hammer and slowly cycled the slide and out popped an empty. Curious, so I put in the mag and chambered a round and fired again. Same result. So I unloaded the gun and put it away until I got home. Broken link was obvious. I'm guessing improper heat treatment so the link was brittle and just broke. Time will tell, I'll be watching it carefully the next few thousand rounds.

What impresses me most about the Armscor made guns I have is the great crisp trigger pull -- compares very favorably to my much more expensive Kimbers out of the box.

--wally.

 

[BluesBear]

I also noticed the nice trigger pulls with the few Armscor guns I have fired.
The first one I ever fired was right out of the box and the trigger was very nice.

I guess they decided to spend more time on the trivial stuff like getting the sear/hammer/safety arrangement right and less time on the more important stuff like polishing the inside of the dust cover.

 

[1911Tuner]

Link

Wally,

The link probably broke because it was stopping the barrel instead of the vertical impact surface, and was being stretched, and reached the point of no return. Do a quick test. Recoil system removed, and the slidestop inserted through the frame and link with the arm hanging vertically...Pull the slide back and hold it while you push the barrel down and back firmly. Will the slidestp swing freely, or is it in a bind? If it gets into a bind, you may have a problem with the location of the vertical impact surface. If the barrel is hitting the frame bed before the impact surface, the stop will probably swing, but the link will still be stretched, just not as bad as it will if the impact surface is too far rearward. This condition sometimes results in the stop getting into a very light bind. It will move with a light flick of your fingertip and stop. That won't really hurt anything. If it's being stretched so badly that the arm is hard to move, it can not only stretch the link and break
it...it can actually pull the lower lug off the barrel or even crack the chamber floor. I had a Colt NRM on the bench yesterday that did just that. Owner noticed strange U-shaped bulges in the middle of his brass and brought it straight from the range. I'd guess that another 200 rounds would have
finished the job. Bad JuJu for sure. Keep an eye on the lower lug/barrel junction and the chamber. The crack may be hard to see...so you'll have
to get it clean and look hard.

 

[wally]

Replacement Wilson Link seems to pass this test. IF I really lean on the barrel the lever won't move by its own weight, but it sure isn't binding taking only a light touch to rotate it. With the barrel out of the slide but linked to the frame, while pressing the barrel against the impact surface I can easily pull out the slide lock lever.

I'll be cleaning it and inspecting it after every time out for next few thousand rounds.

--wally.

 

[Spot77]

Time to revive this thread from the dead for a minute.

I picked up my new RIA 1911 last week and finally got to try it out today.

Loaded the factory mag with 8 rounds and fired the first 7 with no problem. Accuracy sucked, but I've always stunk with 1911's and figured I needed to warm up a bit anyway.

The 8th round didn't feed

I was a bit disappointed, but then I remembered a lot of people saying that the factory mags were not as reliable as the high quality mags. So I loaded up again and...........all 8 fired and fed properly. After a while, it became difficult to chamber the first round though.

On about the 4th mag, accuracy was improving pretty decently, getting 4" groups at 25 feet with an oddball flyer every once in a while. The ammo was Georgia Arms 230 grain reloads, which all fired and fed perfectly in my Ruger P97 and eventually in my new 1911.

The sights on the gun seem pretty decent, and I love the way it feels in my hand. I can definitely see myself falling in love with 1911's once I have a lot more range time under my belt.

The finish is about like what previous posters have stated: marginal, and it seems like it will burnish pretty easily. But I knew that ahead of time, and it is only a $329 pistol. It should work fine for its intended purpose (for me at least): a low cost 1911 that will go bang every time and be upgradable if I figure out what I want to do to it. I'm not too concerned about the finish.

Oh, the trigger was pretty decent. Short pull with little slack in it. I would say the trigger is above average for a gun in this price range.

Hope this helps to all who are considering buying one of these guns.

 

[Kramer Krazy]

Since I last posted on this thread, I've added a Wilson Combat "drop-in" beavertail grip safety and a Wilson Combat lightweight combat-style hammer. The hammer required some work and a helpful phone call to 1911Tuner. I really like shooting the gun and have 400-500 rounds through it without any problems. The painted sights make shooting it a lot better.

Missashot's FTF with her gun was cured with a "look-see" from 1911Tuner and a little work on it to cure a stem-bind that was causing the FTF's. I guess the wife liked the gun so much, that she went out and bought a stainless S&W 1911 that already had everything done to it that she was talking about doing to the RIA (beavertail, hammer, trigger, extended safety). She's tickled with both of them and will use the RIA as a plinker/tinker/carry gun. The S&W will be a range toy. Now, I just need to remind myself to quit outshooting her with her own guns.

I also need to buy a reloading set-up to be able to afford shooting these as much as we have been.

 

[Longbow]

I also need to buy a reloading set-up to be able to afford shooting these as much as we have been.

Go DILLON! 550B to be exact.

 

[1911Tuner]

Missashot

I always do extra-special tunin' on pistols for pretty ladies.