Rock Island Armory

[sviking]

Looking to pick up a Rock Island GI 1911 as a "shooter". Nothing fancy. Any thoughts for those who might own one? Worth the very low price for a 1911?

[Pokefun]

I have a Citadel, which is also an Armscor product, and it is quite possibly the best shooting 1911 I own. Nice weapons for the price IMHO.

[gb6491]

Speaking of pawn shops, that's where I found the RIA I had.
Here's my post in regards to it from an earlier thread:

I had a mid size (Commander like) RIA. I bought it in a pawn shop and later found the serrations on the slide to be out of spec. I called RIA's customer service and explained the situation. They asked for the pistol and returned it with another slide; cost to me was only my shipping costs to them. That warrants a big thumbs up in my book. As it was a used gun, the following is not a knock against Rock Island, but the magazine that came with it needed a new spring (nose dives). The pistol ran fine thereafter and I can't remember having any kind of failure with it. I sold it to fund something else, but if it had been my only 1911 at the time that would not have happened; it was a good gun for me.
http://i30.tinypic.com/2s0eo14.jpg
Regards,
Greg
GB

[mr surveyor]

a few short years ago the RI's could be had for under $300 OTD... I wish I had picked up a couple. You can get into the 1911 platform in a pretty inexpensive way, have the frame custom finished and replace just about all the parts with custom parts as money allows. I've heard that a lot of really fine looking custom built 1911's started out their life as off the shelf RIA's.


surv

[Pender1]

I paid $530 for my RIA and it was worth that and more. It's got less wiggle in the slide than my cousin's Springfield. The bluing is cheaply done, but the gun overall is very nice.

[rjmcw9]

I have a Compact mil spec Rock Island that I bought just a couple of weeks ago. And as was already said other than the so so finish, the pistol is very accurate and had no failures of any kind in 200 rounds of mixed ammo. I saw on Gun Broker, ads for a tactical compact that solves the mil spec sight problem with Novak look a likes and a skeleton trigger. Actually for less than what I gave for mine at a local shop. For the invesment put in, I can't see going wrong with RIA.

[sviking]

Thanks for all the input. I picked up the Rock 1911A1-MS today. It's the parkerized GI style with a Commander (4 inch barrel) length slide. Looks to be very well made and hand functions smoothly. I hand racked it a bunch of times with snap caps and lubed it back up. Can't wait to get it out in the desert and see how she shoots. Price was $429.

[PigButtons]

I picked up my full size GI model just before Christmas last. After a few after market parts it is IMHO good looking, shoots much better than I, and runs flawlessly.

[mr surveyor]

that look nice, PigButtons....... that's what I was talking about. I wish I had picked up an RIA several years ago for a "Project gun"

surv

[kahr360]

I’m not a fan of the MIM and cast parts.

[gb6491]

I’m not a fan of the MIM and cast parts.
For better or worse, that technology (and polymer) is here to stay. At least for the time being (and if you so desire) most MIM parts can be replaced with forged in the 1911 platform.
Regards,
Greg

[johnh]

One of our mods has one in .38 Super and it has been fine. Even runs well with 9x23, although he does not feed it that regularly.

John