Philippine-manufactured 1911's

[misfit47]

Common issues with Philippines 1911s: pin holes improperly aligned, msh pin wrong location,horrible trigger track, visually flawed casting.
Never seen a cast slide from there or a forged frame.

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[bamashooter]

Common issues with Philippines 1911s: pin holes improperly aligned, msh pin wrong location,horrible trigger track, visually flawed casting.
Never seen a cast slide from there or a forged frame.

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I don't know how common. Had 5-6 and now 2-3 (Armscor) without those "issues".

[williejc]

A question was asked that if they are so bad, then why does the company sell so many. Many people buying these pistols may be casual shooters who will fire only 2-400 rounds per year, and some of these might indeed use the warranty option for free repair. Those who wish to tinker may enjoy working on them. A friend bought one at a lgs because of its low price. He also has a Colt 1911, Sig 1911, and a Kimber 1911. My buddy is a backyard shooter with a lot of disposable income. He is convinced that his Philippine .45 auto is as good as his others. Actually he does not know the difference between one or the other, and I won't tell him. Many other buyers fit this category.

I would like to pay $300 for a used but like new Phil. 1911 to tinker with but I would not fool myself about what I had. These gun have a niche just as did Star and Llama .45s so common in the U.S. during the late 1940s to about 1980. I never heard of a cop carrying a Star or Llama. Some new shooters and young shooters messed around with them, and many worked well enough to use as a car or truck gun. A country gunsmith could make either shoot reliably but would probably tell you that the parts were soft and add that the Star does not have an inertia firing pin and warn you not to carry it with the hammer down on a live round. He might even reshape the tip to make it a tad more safe.

My conclusion is that the Philippine 1911s are a couple notches above the POS category that includes KelTecs, Taurus products, and HiPoints. My intuition tells me that the manufacturer is trying to make a good pistol and will maintain an honest effort to do so. Gunsmiths who work on Colt and other 1911s will charge the same fee to work on one of these so you see where this line of thought is going. It would be like sending a Mossburg 500 to a shotgun specialist. You would get back a Mossberg with a nice recoil pad and a slightly smoother action. In both cases you would have spent a lot of money which added almost no value to your firearm.

[Slater]

Does anyone know if the Philippine guns will take standard USGI grip panels?

[curtmini14]

yes they do everything else that fits a usgi fits the ria.

[misfit47]

yes they do everything else that fits a usgi fits the ria.

Except for magwells. You will end up with an unsightly gap between grips. Mainspring housings will sit proud of bottom of frame.

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[ww2farmer]

Does anyone know if the Philippine guns will take standard USGI grip panels?

NOS USGI checkered brown plastic grip panels fit mine like they were made for it, and look good too. Well, at least better than the smooth mystery wood ones that came on my RIA GI fullsize.

[bamashooter]

Does anyone know if the Philippine guns will take standard USGI grip panels?

My Cimarron with Colt grips.


One of my Rocks w/ flat bottom grips.

[colesteele]

I owned a Charles Daly Empire 1911A1 for a while. I think I paid around $400 for it. From what information I could find stated that they were imported from ARMSCOR. This example turned me off from anything coming out of the PI. It came with an 8 round MecGar mag(nicest thing about the pistol). When loaded full, the first round would nose dive on the feed ramp and get stuck between the feed ramp and barrel. After owning it for about two years and it sitting in the gunsafe, I went back to address the issue after I had moved into a house with a garage. So there I was with a garage and a Dremmel tool and I set to work. Now I know it's not the preferred method, but after my Garage gunsmithing throat job, it ran like a top. Now it's been considerably a few years since then, but I also seem to remember that the slide would not fit on my NORINCO frame and vice-versa. I transferred it to my son in 2013 so that he could meet the requirement before the Maryland HQL went into effect and haven't looked back. After that experience, I swore an oath that I would never buy another pistol from the PI, but for years I have not heard one disparaging word about the RI guns. It has been very difficult to to resist the urge to get one. I had my hands on an RI 1911recently and it appeared that they used 1911 parts on a 1911A1 frame.

[misfit47]

Well a deal came along on a rock 9mm that I couldn't pass up yesterday. Has the bomar style adjustable rear sight, for less than 4 bills. Figure it's hard to go wrong for that. Plan to shoot it until it breaks, send back in for warranty. Put 99rds of ball ammo through it and not a bobble. Soft recoil, shot well when I didn't yank the trigger. Why 99rds? Because my tec 9 broke it's firing pin on the first shot!

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