I traded away my old Colt LW Commander so I was looking for a shooter in .38 Super. The asking prices on the Colts struck me as ridiculous so after asking around a bit I snagged a Rock Island Armory (RIA) in 38 Super for $349 (+$12.90 shipping).
An exact copy of the military 1911A1, it is parkerized and comes with mahogony stocks. I swapped on an old set of ivories I had on hand and it looks OK.
Gave the gun a good once over, looking for flaws. Didn't find any. Finsh was even with no tool marks even on the inside. Trigger is tad heavy, guessing 6 pounds, but breaks clean with no travel or grit. This is a service pistol, afterall, so no major complaint about this.
Tried several mags and different loads at the range. There were no failures to feed, even with the short hollow point loads, but I did experience one "stovepipe" failure to eject. The slide also failed to lock after the last round on two occasions, both with the RIA factory mag. Not perfect, but this is a brand new gun and I always think it takes 500 rounds to let a semi-auto settle in before getting too critical.
For the price I am fairly impressed, so far. Need to work it some more and see if any more malfunctions occur. It shot slightly low and to the left but in all fairness I shoot all fixed-sight guns low and to the left.
Talkling to folks it seems many shooters don't know the RIAs can be had in 38 Super, so now you know. At this point I can make a qualified recommendation for it. I would like to hear from anyone else who has experience with these guns.
Shalom.
An exact copy of the military 1911A1, it is parkerized and comes with mahogony stocks. I swapped on an old set of ivories I had on hand and it looks OK.
Gave the gun a good once over, looking for flaws. Didn't find any. Finsh was even with no tool marks even on the inside. Trigger is tad heavy, guessing 6 pounds, but breaks clean with no travel or grit. This is a service pistol, afterall, so no major complaint about this.
Tried several mags and different loads at the range. There were no failures to feed, even with the short hollow point loads, but I did experience one "stovepipe" failure to eject. The slide also failed to lock after the last round on two occasions, both with the RIA factory mag. Not perfect, but this is a brand new gun and I always think it takes 500 rounds to let a semi-auto settle in before getting too critical.
For the price I am fairly impressed, so far. Need to work it some more and see if any more malfunctions occur. It shot slightly low and to the left but in all fairness I shoot all fixed-sight guns low and to the left.
Talkling to folks it seems many shooters don't know the RIAs can be had in 38 Super, so now you know. At this point I can make a qualified recommendation for it. I would like to hear from anyone else who has experience with these guns.
Shalom.
