CJB
04-26-2016, 04:50 PM
For those who had any interest.....
Got the RIA M200 .38 revolver today.
Pleasantly surprised at the quality, better than I expected.
Size is 4", six shot .38 special, fixed sights, da/sa revolver.
Ok here's all the good:
Barrel is screwed into the frame, and pinned like older Smiths. The barrel has a nice even very slightly dished crown. The barrel gap would pass a .004 gauge and reject a .005 gauge. Looks even. The rifling is clean, but there's a little bit of chatter in the bore. Not much, and it wont effect anything on a 4 inch revolver. For a $200 revolver, I'm not complaining. If it was $800, I'd still not complain. I'm just saying its got a very little bit of chatter.
The barrel has a shroud which as the front sight connected. The shroud is steel, as is everything else. By making the barrel and shroud two pieces, they can get the front sight dead nuts straight, and it is. I have no idea how they connected the shroud to the barrel, but, I'd imagine its soldered.
The M200 is a left hand wheeler, like a Colt, not like a Smith. It uses the same exact "big button" in the star to lock up at the back of the cylinder, like a D frame Colt. Thats all the lock you got, just like the Colt. The chambers are clean, well polished too. And they're not wavy inside.
The cylinder latch is in the style of Colt. The grip size will accept Colt D frame (Diamondback, Detective Special, Police Positive, Agent....) grips.
The timing is perfect, better than perfect, as the bolt locks the cylinder well before hammer drop in double action, or full cock in single action.
The trigger is almost 180 rounded on the front surface, and a pleasure to use. I mean a delight! Think... old school trigger feel and none of this almost flat trigger surfaces you see. Its very comfy. Trigger pull... I don't have a gauge. DA feels like a stock K frame Smith to me. SA is about 4lbs, crisp, no creep.
The hammer has a weird spur. Its set at a funny angle, but workable, not uncomfortable... just weird. The spur is a bit higher in the back than most, but... I'm finding this is better when DE-cocking the revolver from single action. I don't have a problem doing that, but I'm thinking, it may be better for ladies. The spur is a wide one, well rounded on its rear edge to avoid snags. Good sharp striations on it too.
From the drawings and from online video, the innards appear to be a mix of Smith and Charter with some unique stuff too. Firing pin is actuated by a transfer bar. The pin itself protrudes ok, not too far, and seems well fit to its hole. The DA is completely smooth too. The outside is free of any obvious tool marks, with a fine matte texture (very fine) and Parkerized finish.
The engravings are well done, sharp and the long serial number (ten digits!) is on the right side of top strap.
Now the bad:
The grips look like Pachmayr but are not. No rubber at all, instead being hard plastic. And the shape isn't so comfy. Hell, just get the Pach's for it, either compact or gripper.
And the one foible I had out of the box was the cylinder latch was a bit sticky, not wanting to get back into the "locked" position on its own. Cleaned it, and the latch button, and the star. Lubed with TW25b and worked it a bit. Much better now. Its not rough, just tightly fit. I'm not sweating this as I'm certain that before one box of 38's is consumed, it will have corrected it self from firing. Yes, things are fit rather tightly, not a bad circumstance. Cylinder opens and closes fine, just a sticky tight latch, that appears corrected at this point.
And thats it. No range report, no time to shoot till the weekend.
And, thats about it. So far so good. Got about 100 sa/da actuations on the trigger, and there's been a little smoothing but really, there's not much to smooth out.
Let me add this....
I got a feeling this is going to be a fun gun to shoot. For $200 shipped, I wasn't expecting much, but it really offers a lot. The overall look and feel... its like you're handing one of the revolvers the bad guys threw at Superman in the old B&W television show. Or like the revolver the cops used in that same show, or Car 54 (where are you?). There is a very old school, old feel, sort of throwback vibe to this revolver, and that really sets the fun status a bit higher. I sort of feel like it ought to have wood grips and be carried in a basket weave holster on a duty belt. Hey, the Colt speed loaders work with this one too. Its just about a Colt clone on the outside, more modern inside.
Got the RIA M200 .38 revolver today.
Pleasantly surprised at the quality, better than I expected.
Size is 4", six shot .38 special, fixed sights, da/sa revolver.
Ok here's all the good:
Barrel is screwed into the frame, and pinned like older Smiths. The barrel has a nice even very slightly dished crown. The barrel gap would pass a .004 gauge and reject a .005 gauge. Looks even. The rifling is clean, but there's a little bit of chatter in the bore. Not much, and it wont effect anything on a 4 inch revolver. For a $200 revolver, I'm not complaining. If it was $800, I'd still not complain. I'm just saying its got a very little bit of chatter.
The barrel has a shroud which as the front sight connected. The shroud is steel, as is everything else. By making the barrel and shroud two pieces, they can get the front sight dead nuts straight, and it is. I have no idea how they connected the shroud to the barrel, but, I'd imagine its soldered.
The M200 is a left hand wheeler, like a Colt, not like a Smith. It uses the same exact "big button" in the star to lock up at the back of the cylinder, like a D frame Colt. Thats all the lock you got, just like the Colt. The chambers are clean, well polished too. And they're not wavy inside.
The cylinder latch is in the style of Colt. The grip size will accept Colt D frame (Diamondback, Detective Special, Police Positive, Agent....) grips.
The timing is perfect, better than perfect, as the bolt locks the cylinder well before hammer drop in double action, or full cock in single action.
The trigger is almost 180 rounded on the front surface, and a pleasure to use. I mean a delight! Think... old school trigger feel and none of this almost flat trigger surfaces you see. Its very comfy. Trigger pull... I don't have a gauge. DA feels like a stock K frame Smith to me. SA is about 4lbs, crisp, no creep.
The hammer has a weird spur. Its set at a funny angle, but workable, not uncomfortable... just weird. The spur is a bit higher in the back than most, but... I'm finding this is better when DE-cocking the revolver from single action. I don't have a problem doing that, but I'm thinking, it may be better for ladies. The spur is a wide one, well rounded on its rear edge to avoid snags. Good sharp striations on it too.
From the drawings and from online video, the innards appear to be a mix of Smith and Charter with some unique stuff too. Firing pin is actuated by a transfer bar. The pin itself protrudes ok, not too far, and seems well fit to its hole. The DA is completely smooth too. The outside is free of any obvious tool marks, with a fine matte texture (very fine) and Parkerized finish.
The engravings are well done, sharp and the long serial number (ten digits!) is on the right side of top strap.
Now the bad:
The grips look like Pachmayr but are not. No rubber at all, instead being hard plastic. And the shape isn't so comfy. Hell, just get the Pach's for it, either compact or gripper.
And the one foible I had out of the box was the cylinder latch was a bit sticky, not wanting to get back into the "locked" position on its own. Cleaned it, and the latch button, and the star. Lubed with TW25b and worked it a bit. Much better now. Its not rough, just tightly fit. I'm not sweating this as I'm certain that before one box of 38's is consumed, it will have corrected it self from firing. Yes, things are fit rather tightly, not a bad circumstance. Cylinder opens and closes fine, just a sticky tight latch, that appears corrected at this point.
And thats it. No range report, no time to shoot till the weekend.
And, thats about it. So far so good. Got about 100 sa/da actuations on the trigger, and there's been a little smoothing but really, there's not much to smooth out.
Let me add this....
I got a feeling this is going to be a fun gun to shoot. For $200 shipped, I wasn't expecting much, but it really offers a lot. The overall look and feel... its like you're handing one of the revolvers the bad guys threw at Superman in the old B&W television show. Or like the revolver the cops used in that same show, or Car 54 (where are you?). There is a very old school, old feel, sort of throwback vibe to this revolver, and that really sets the fun status a bit higher. I sort of feel like it ought to have wood grips and be carried in a basket weave holster on a duty belt. Hey, the Colt speed loaders work with this one too. Its just about a Colt clone on the outside, more modern inside.