New member here. RIA 1911 issues

[rpenmanparker]

OP, it is highly probable you overthought this issue into a real problem for you. You had a gun not working right and you let some doofus at the manufacturer bully you into not sending it back for proper resolution. Many guns require multiple trips back to the manufacturer to be finally tuned to reliability. By dicking with the gun yourself, you assumed responsibility for it. I would try heavy lubing just to see if that helps. If not, I would replace all OEM parts and send it to Armscor where it should have gone in the first place. Unless you want to invest in further making this cheapie a custom gun, the manufacturer’s service department is your best bet.

By the way compact 1911s are well known for reliability issues. The 1911 design wasn’t meant to be downsized to that degree. If you have only been shooting FMJ ammo in this gun up to now, you need to also check SD ammo in the gun to see whether it works at all.

 

[d'zaster]

Yeah, I'd suggest calling Amscor again and hopefully talk to a different support person. Ive had issue where my hand loads would not go fully into battery on my Hk USP45. I friend of mine suggested screwing the resize die all the way down to the shell plate (instead of backing it out a turn after it touches the shell plate on installation....).Never had a problem after that.

I have a Kimber Eclipse II 10mm that was super tight from the factory and had trouble cycling/breaking-in. Their service was absolutely excellent. It was an inconvenience to have to send it back and I wish they would have done it right from the start but it's super reliable now.

 

[popeye]

As mentioned 1911 style compact/officers pistols can be a real pain. I have had several Colt Officers purchased when they were the only 1911- 3.5" models made by anyone. Some ran like a champ, some I had to spend a lot of money on to make them work.
I see that the Wilson recoil spring is rated 24lbs. That's the max available for your gun from Wolff. You might want to try a calibration pack from Wolff and use a 22lb spring and see what happens. I'm assuming your using ball ammo and not HP's. Check the case of a round that fails to camber and see if there's any gouges or dings that could point to the problem.

 

[gc70]

A type of gun known to frequently have operating issues, a new reloader, random parts replacement, and inexperienced kitchen-table gunsmithing. It would not be surprising if a company was not interested in fixing a product after the warranty was voided in three different ways.

 

[HankC]

My experience with RIA customer service was excellent. YMMV

Same here. I used RIA warranty 3 times, all positive. 1 warranty claim just needed a slide stop, they responded within a few days and mailed the part within a week. it was for 9mm 1911, but later I found out it was really the mag follower, not the gun. The other 2 claims were on the same gun, a revolver, 1st time was excessive cylinder gap out of box, they replaced with a different gun, then I found the timing would be off occasionally if I pull the trigger very slowly in double action mode, sent it in and they said there is a burr, polished the trigger bar and fixed. Both cases, they sent me a shipper within a week and about 6 weeks turn around to receive the gun back. They have a sub-forum and a representative at 1911 forum, very responsive, I contacted them first at the forum using the forum contact email/IM. I did not need to post something at the 1911 forum to get their attention!
Couple things to keep in mind, they generally want you to run 500 rounds thru the gun to break in before you claim warranty repair. In my case, both guns had less than 500 rounds, but they took care of me. If you modified the gun, you void the warranty and on your own. They keep good records and know each gun's claim history, if they rejected your claim for some reason, they likely will not respond further.

 

[whatnickname]

Okay new guy. You have just learned a valuable lesson about the shooting sports: You get what you pay for...at least most of the time anyway. As for the compact RIA, I’m afraid what you are running in to is in part a tolerance problem. Even with the Colt Officers Model the 3.5” slide just doesn’t have enough weight behind it to provide the inertial force necessary to make the pistol 100% reliable. This is why manufacturers attempt to compensate for this problem by using extremely heavy slide springs...usually a double spring arrangement around 20 + pounds or so and even this does not fix the problems 100% of the time.

Magazines are a critical issue with compact 1911 format pistols. The best bet here is the magazines made by Wilson Combat. The pistols must also be kept extremely clean as they will be much more prone to reliability issues once powder fouling starts to build up. All in all, once tolerances are pushed to the limit the way they are with short format 1911 pistols everything has to be just right for the pistol to run reliably and those conditions are not always practical or possible.

Even Kimber has run into issues with their 3” 1911 format pistols. The instruction manual that came with the one I had said “Ball ammo only” and “don’t call us until you’ve run 500 rounds through your pistol”. After 500 rounds about all I could get to run was the first 12 to 15 rounds on a clean pistol with ball ammo, and Wilson Combat magazines, before failure to feed issues started occurring. The Springfield EMP gets quite a bit of press for being a short 1911 format pistol that they “got right”. Mine is a 9MM and while it’s more reliable than any of the other short format 1911s I’ve owned, I still encounter failure to feed issues after 25 to 30 rounds have been run through the pistol.

I’m afraid that if a 1911 format pistol could be made to run reliably with a barrel shorter than 4” John M. Browning would have invented it. Now let’s define “reliability”. Reliability to me means that the great majority of a class of pistols, from a single source, runs the majority of the time with a wide range of ammo. This post is going to light some folks up whom will be quick to point out that their short 1911 pistols made by “so-and-so” is the greatest thing since sliced bread and that it “will fire under water after a cup of concrete has been allowed to set up in it”. Some of these short pistols run all of the time, some run some of the time and some will never run. If you get a good one, count your blessings. If you get one of the others, your chances of getting the manufacturer to correct the problem is not much better than 50/50.

Now let’s talk about RIA. They are low end guns with a minimum of hand fitting necessary to get them to run. I’ve owned four of them. Only one out of the four was reliable when I got it. The other three required extensive work (barrel link, feed ramp, barrel bushing and slide latch) to get them to run reliably and then it was only with ball ammo. As a famous economist once said: “There are no free lunches”. Probably the best value for the money in a 1911 these days is the SR1911 made by Ruger. I own five of them, two 5” and three 4” Commander style, and all have been 100% reliable with what ever I shot in them. That said, Ruger has just come out with a short 1911 format pistol in 9MM. I will stay away from that one. My search for a short, reliable, 1911 has been extensive...Kimber, Smith & Wesson, Springfield, Colt and RIA. I will not bet my life on any of them. Want a short pistol in 45ACP? Try the Smith & Wesson Shield or the Glock 36. They go bang every time you pull the trigger with any ammo you care to use.

 

[BILLG]

Sell or trade it for a quality 1911.

 

[whatnickname]

Exactly!

 

[rpenmanparker]

Well I must be lucky. My ATI Phillippine import .45 ACP 1911 Commander is eating up everything I put into it. FMJ RN, FN, JHP. And three different magazines all run fine in it. $329 delivered to the FFL. The trigger is as sweet as can be. Any money I spend on this gun can be all for cosmetics.

 

[whatnickname]

Well I must be lucky. My ATI Phillippine import .45 ACP 1911 Commander is eating up everything I put into it. FMJ RN, FN, JHP. And three different magazines all run fine in it. $329 delivered to the FFL. The trigger is as sweet as can be. Any money I spend on this gun can be all for cosmetics.

You are lucky. I had one out of four that ran reliably.

 

[cw308]

I'm shooting a Colt New Agent in 45 ACP 3" barrel , EGW makes excellent after market parts , I installed their recoil assembly worked great. Have to ask only because your new in shooting 1911's , you have to have a firm grip when shooting a 1911 or bad things happen FTF . Compact autos can be finicky designed for FMJ . When you changed parts did you change one at a time . RIA uses good magazine's , if you change back to the original parts will the problems happen more often , things just may have to wear in , is the frame to slide tight . You keep it clean make sure it's oiled .