Rock Island Armory

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4x4HEMIrig

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Hello everyone,

I enjoy using guns however, I don't know that much about them. I've been looking at a few magazines and asking questions in the stores. Recently, I've been practicing at the indoor Marine range at Camp Allen in Norfolk, VA. About two weeks ago, I rented a 1911 made by Rock Island Armory. It felt like a pretty decent gun for only $350. Since then, I've been trying to find a place that sells them or a company web site. Do any of you know where I can turn for one of these? I know which brands I should buy, however, my budget is very limitted and I'm trying to find a good rifle as well.
 
There is no company. "Rock Island Armory" is just a made-up brand name for a line of 1911's manufactured in the Philippines and imported into the US. I'm not sure who the importer is.

Reviews have been mixed. Most are decent shooters but some are lemons. I'd go with a Springfield GI or Mil Spec over the RIA.
 
EXPERIENCE or RUMOR

" RNB65 ",
sir, just curious, how many Rock Island Armory pistols have you owned, or at least shot ; and I wondered when Rock Island Armory quit importing their own pistols, for as of yesterday they were still in business and showing a tremendous display at the 2008 SHOT show ?
.
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." 4X4KHEMIrig ", the RIA pistols are fine guns, great performers, and you can search several other forums that shout their success, and are backed by one of the finest and most complete warrantees, right in Las Vegas, and the people in charge of customer service will PERSONALLY speak with you and get ANY problem taken care of for ANY of their weapons, no questions asked ! very few other companies will do that....that assurance alone is a great accessory, not including their costs, which are about half of what some will call a "better" weapon, and a fout=rth of others that have VERY POOR customer service.
look around the forums , especially 1911 forums, and see for yourself, then call Ivan at the company itself, he will love to explain their pistols and their position.
best of luck
dit
 
My wife gave me a RIA tactical for Christmas. It had some "issues during the first 100 rounds, but now it's running smooth. I've been shooting it from a simple home made rest and the accuracy at 30 ft has been getting better and better (perhaps it's me), now it's just several ragged holes connected together. Get the tactical it's worth the little bit of extra $. Great trigger for an out of the box handgun.

How to get one. We don't have a dedicated gun shop in the town nearest us. It's a nice sporting goods store, but the gun counter is a bit limited. The clerks had never heard of this pistol. They looked in the catalog from their distributer but there was no Rock Island Armory listed. Then I mentioned to them that the importer is ARMSCOR. It was listed there. Took about two weeks to arrived and cost about $400.00 (plus tax and transfer and blah blah).

The RIA 1911 tactical rivals my CZ 75b for most gun for the money.
 
Patrick Sweeney reviewed the RIA 1911 in The Gun Digest Book of the 1911. Take a look.

I believe his comment was that it's not a gun that you'd shoot 100,000 rounds through, but would be just fine for the average shooter.
 
I have a Rock Island Armory 1911 Tactical.

From the factory, the gun had an extractor that was too tight.
There are a few little things, mostly cosmetic, that bug me, but the gun works fine.
I had problems with 3 point jams and fixed it myself (Throating the barrel more, fixing a problematic breech face).

YOU CAN BUY ONE WITHOUT WORRIES because they have great customer service.
I called them about the jams and they wanted me to send the gun back. I decided to fix it myself.
Sure, many have minor problems, but all the problems will be fixed, just call the company.

Now, if you plan on modifying it then I'd start with a Springfield instead. The RIAs aren't machined perfectly and little things will bug you when you try to modify it.

If you don't plan on modifying it then buy the Tactical so it has the extra features.

RIA makes nice 1911s that work well, just don't expect them to be as perfect as a 1911 that costs twice as much.

If you cannot find one in a shop, then have the shop order one.
I had a local shop order my 1911 Tactical for $420, dealer cost is $380-390.
 
+1 all around. Also, RIA (as aforementioned) is Armscor, and is located out of Pahrump, NV. Decent starter 1911. Like Fumbler said, have your local shop order one for you.
 
I paid 400$ for mine, good gun low price. I like my 75B just a shade more, But that's about as close as I could get to saying something "bad" about RIA & as others have said customer service is excellent. think of it like this if Kimber is Snap-on™ then RIA is Craftsman™
 
Have never owned one, RNB65 is the first neg thing I have read on them. All other post's I have read are poss, even guys who own high end 1911.
 
Go to bobs guns in downtown Norfolk on Granby street See TJ they have them in stock all the time I saw 4 there just last week but I do not recall a price on them also look at gunbroker.com you can get them for cheaper than what bobs will sell them for then pay bobs $20 for the transfer fee and still come out ahead most likely.

There is no company. "Rock Island Armory" is just a made-up brand name for a line of 1911's manufactured in the Philippines and imported into the US. I'm not sure who the importer is.

Reviews have been mixed. Most are decent shooters but some are lemons. I'd go with a Springfield GI or Mil Spec over the RIA.
Click to expand...
I sugest going to m1911.org and reading what the RIA-Armscor folks have to say yes you will find an ocasional problem with their guns much like you will with any other guns in the world. However if you do they are fixed and fast with out question in most cases. Their Customer service guy lives right here in USA and will call you back I have spoken with Ivan myself very friendly person.
 
I love my RIA, I carry it out on the farm so I don't scratch my Kimber. I put a stronger recoil spring in it and it is 100% reliable. Mike
 
I have 2 RIA's, one in .45, one in .38 Super. Both are solid, reliable weapons that shoot better than I can. I'll second what Eric said, the people over at the 1911 forum really like them, and they rave about the customer service.
 
RIA is now importing their own pistols. A friend of mine was their original importer, and there were some issues with RIA. Needless to say, he's no longer handling their products.
 
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