Question about Armscor 1911s ("Rocks," Charles Dalys, High Standards)

[The Lone Haranguer]

These all seem to be manufactured by the same company, Armscor of the Philippines. Are the trade names all different distributors, or offshoots of the same company? Who would have the best customer service and support?

 

[ultra magnus]

Rock Island. If you go to http://forums.1911forum.com/ and go to the proper section all you have to do is make a post saying you have a problem and they have one or two customer service reps eying the boards and usually you get a PM within 24 hours looking to make things right. I once made a post saying my recoil spring seemed weak and I had a PM the next day asking for my address. A couple days later I had a new one. There lifetime warranty seems ro pretty much be no questions asked. I know they have still serviced guns that have been modified or guns that people bought used. Absoulutley fantastic. They make wonderfull guns.

 

[Cowboy2]

+1. Rock Island makes good 1911's, and they seem to go way out of thier way to make the customer happy.

 

[JERRY]

i have a standard GI model RIA, and i say they have the best customer servise thus far because i havent had to use them for anything......great gun!

 

[HM2PAC]

I had problems with my 1st RIA GI. The customer service was fantastic. They replaced the weapon with one that has been flawless.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

Armscor Precision and Rock Island are both directly associated with Armscor and are imported by Advanced Tactical in Nevada -- which is a division of Armscor. I believe at this point the Armscor brand is no longer being imported, and Advanced Tactical is bringing in only the Rock Island brand.

Armscor used to build 1911s for Charles Daly. That relationship ended earlier this year. I don't know who makes Charles Daly 1911s now (or even if CD even offers 1911s now). High Standard buys SOME of their pistols from Armscor, but some (they claim) and manufactured in Texas. The current High Standard company seems to have a few ethics problems, so I would not be likely to put much faith in anything they say, now would I be likely to buy one of their products.

If you find something marked Twin Pines, that's also an Armscor.

Buy a Rock Island. Customer support from Advanced Tactical is superb. There is a large and very happy Rock Island owners contingent on the forums at M1911.ORG http://forum.m1911.org/forumdisplay.php?f=17

 

[Charles Daly]

Charles Daly 1911's have always been manufactured by Armscorp (Arms Corporation of the Philippines) since the late 90's. There was a lull this past year in delivieries from Armscorp to Daly as the factory focused on supplying guns to Rock Island instead of Daly. (Understandable, as Rock Island is run by the son of the owner of Armscorp.) However, Armscorp has a new shipment of EFS guns on the way to Daly as I type this, and a shipoment of ECS guns should be about two weeks behind these.

Armscorp makes guns for Charles Daly, Rock Island, High Standard, and STI (Spartan frame, slide and barrel I think), and lord knows who else.

 

[JWarren]

My only experience with RIA has been that my GI has been flawless. I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

-- John

 

[Desert 45 Rat]

Do you still carry 1911's? I have been to all the local gunstores and most of them carry CD shotguns but when I ask about the 1911's they said their supplier (Davidson's in Prescott) doesn't even have any. What's up. I really like the EFS model and want to look at one in person? Do you know anyone that might carry one in the Phoenix, AZ area? Thanks.

 

[Ed4032]

They will call you on the phone and ask how can we fix it. Rock Island are great people. I have two and am looking to get a third.

 

[Charles Daly]

Desert 45 Rat, As I mentioned above, Armscorp has resumed shipping to us and we have a good load of EFS (government sized) pistols coming in another week to 10 days. Davidson's will be receiving guns from that shipment. However, since they are in Arizona, it takes another week for our shipments to get to them from Harrisburg, PA. So Davidson's should have stock by the end of this month.

 

[Desert 45 Rat]

Thanks for the reply, I will definitely give it a try.

 

[MJZZZ]

I have owned my RIA for about 14 months and I am very satisfied. I was trying to buy a 5 year old Charles Daly off the M1991 forum and I asked the owner if it needed any work. He responded that he had the occasional FTF. I got a PM the next day from Ivan Wolcott, RIA customer service rep stating he would stand behind that pistol if I bought it. That is primo service. Mike

 

[railroader]

As for Armscor guns. I had a the version with the novak style sights and a beavertail. Out of the box the gun was kind of rough internally but the gun was reliable and accurate with a decent trigger. As for parts interchanging with other 1911's I put a used kimber hammer, sear, trigger and beavertail in it and they dropped right in. My stepson still has the gun. Mark

 

[mikec]

Michael/Charles Daly, do you know if your 1911's are on the MD approved list and do you include a spent casing with your 1911's?

 

[Charles Daly]

mikec: The Charles Dlay 1911's are on the Maryland and California approved lists. All Charles Daly pistols come with fired cases.

 

[MAKster]

I believe the Rock Islands have cast frames and slides. Is this a long term durability concern?

 

[oklahoma caveman]

I believe the Rock Islands have cast frames and slides. Is this a long term durability concern?

not according to the people at forum.1911forum.org. il soon be finding out personally as i just ordered a tactical model from sarco today

 

[AndyC]

The frame is cast - the slide is machined. No concern to me - I have the RIA tactical.

 

[wally]

I believe the Rock Islands have cast frames and slides. Is this a long term durability concern?

The ~12000 rounds of mostly Wolf fired thru my oldest RIA, and ~8500 rounds thru my Daly EMS suggests nothing to worry about.

The extractor on my EMS broke at about 7500 rounds which means nothing as the extractor on my circa 1982 Colt GM broke at about the same round count. I had a spare on hand from when I replaced the Colt extractor circa 1995 so I didn't mess with the warranty.

At present, Charles Daly may be the only way to get the Armscor stainless guns in the US, maybe member Charles Daly can verify. The Daly E series guns are very similar in features to the RIA "Tactical" except they are in stainless.

--wally.

 

[Charles Daly]

wally: Armscor discontinued production of all 1911's in stainless, about a year ago.

The "E" model designation denotes our "Enhanced" model that was first introduced about 4 years ago. They were "Enhanced" with features as compared to our first generation guns. Things like hi-rise beavertails, extended slide release on the FS, ambi-safety on the FS, etc

 

[PCRCCW]

I played with an STI Spartan which is mostly Armscorp and it was a very very nice gun! Cast doesnt mean anything to me...Custom Caspians were built on cast frames for years........

Id rather have a great cast frame than a crappy forged frame...make sense?

Shoot well and god bless.