Springfield Range Officer Elite

[theorangecat]

Handled one today, I'm pretty impressed. The slide to frame fit was tighter than my CRG that was worked over by SACS and the trigger was pretty damn nice as well. For that price point, I'm having trouble justifying the thought of a DW Specialist. Only thing though, the slide was getting hung up when hand cycling. The LGS owner said that it was the disconnector and can happen on 9mm 1911s because of the recoil spring, but it wouldn't be an issue when the slide is actually cycling. It was fine when he dropped it closed without a mag in, but I didn't think you were supposed to do that on a 1911.

From what I have seen and been told, this does seem to be mostly a 9mm thing that goes away after a break-in period. My 9mm RO Operator would require a nudge into battery every now and again during its first firing session. When I cleaned it afterwards, I VERY lightly stoned the underside of the slide where SA had electro-penciled the assembly number as it seemed to be a bit rough when it was running over the disconnector. Since then, no problems with any ammunition from el cheapo bulk hardball to the good stuff.

A local LGS now has an Elite in the display, and while it has a few things I would prefer over my RO Operator, I am not a great fan of the ambi safety. Still, I might have gone with the Elite had it been in stock the day I had my wallet out. So far, the only modification I have made to my ROO is swapping out the grips for some RAASCO walnut "double-diamonds"... while this is partially an inexpensive cosmetic change - I hate "billboards - the finer checkering and other subtle differences are more in line with what I prefer in a 1911 grip.

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[gaijin]

IME the DW is more much gun for the money.

The 4, SA "Range Officers" I've worked on were pretty rough internally. The hammer (hooks), sear and disconnector are MIM and had "stagey"/creepy/heavy pulls.
I was able to get decent 3.5# pulls using the OEM parts and stoning/using sear jig/etc., but there was some effort invested.
Two of the guns had barrels that seemingly fit well, but on exam, the seemingly tight fit was accomplished by using a too long link. There was light and very uneven "slide stop to barrel lug" fit.
Therefore accuracy sucked. These barrels were replaced with Kart's.
Thumb safety fitment ranged from sloppy to too tight.
It seemed obvious the guns had seen little, if any- hand fitting.

The DW's I've seen and shot on the other-hand, were all acceptable- in terms of triggers/accuracy and fitment.
In addition they have 25 LPI FS checkering.

Simply my direct experience and observations.

[Wake27]

IME the DW is more much gun for the money.

The 4, SA "Range Officers" I've worked on were pretty rough internally. The hammer (hooks), sear and disconnector are MIM and had "stagey"/creepy/heavy pulls.
I was able to get decent 3.5# pulls using the OEM parts and stoning/using sear jig/etc., but there was some effort invested.
Two of the guns had barrels that seemingly fit well, but on exam, the seemingly tight fit was accomplished by using a too long link. There was light and very uneven "slide stop to barrel lug" fit.
Therefore accuracy sucked. These barrels were replaced with Kart's.
Thumb safety fitment ranged from sloppy to too tight.
It seemed obvious the guns had seen little, if any- hand fitting.

The DW's I've seen and shot on the other-hand, were all acceptable- in terms of triggers/accuracy and fitment.
In addition they have 25 LPI FS checkering.

Simply my direct experience and observations.

I'm sure the DW would be a much better gun, unfortunately its hard to convince myself to spend 50% more on something I've never even held. I wonder how much the ROs vary piece by piece. I wouldn't be surprised if the one I played with was a better example than many. I just wish there was something at or under $2k that had everything I want. The Specialist is close, but I really prefer FCS and am not a fan of the long trigger.

[gaijin]

Not sure what you can get the SA for, I see retail is $1150.00+-.
Buds Gunshop has the DW for $1450.00+-, cash price.

FWIW, it appears both the SA and DW have "long" triggers, although the SA has lightening cuts while the DW is solid.

[TacticalFun]

Not sure what you can get the SA for, I see retail is $1150.00+-.
Buds Gunshop has the DW for $1450.00+-, cash price.

FWIW, it appears both the SA and DW have "long" triggers, although the SA has lightening cuts while the DW is solid.

Most places are $899

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[thegreyman]

How would you compare SA Range Officer Elite to new Colt Cup and Colt Rail Gun?

[Wake27]

The cheapest I’ve found for the 5” duty treat is $1563 cash price. Paying cash to them would be a pain in the ass but even if I do, it’s still another $60 or so for shipping and transfer fee. That’s over $1600. The RO Elite is just under $1k at the LGS. Most of the difference there could be made up between the magwell and fronts strap checkering, but that’s still over 50% more. Another consideration is the warranty and CS reviews. SA is lifetime and known to be GTG. I’ve seen very little on DW because they seem to run very well, but that little that I have seen in the CS department wasn’t good. And that warranty is only five years. If I could find the DW in person it may well be a different story, but so far, that hasn’t happened. At the moment though, I’m holding out in case SA releases a 9mm version of the 10mm TRP Operator that they just announced. If that comes at Shot, for the normal street price of the TRPs and with a magwell, I’ll be all over it. And the DW trigger looks longer than the RO, at least to me.


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[duece71]

I like the 1911 platform but haven’t been very interested in 9mm in the 1911. I have so many 9mm platforms already. I am interested in the new 10mm TRP however, lol.

[gaijin]

How would you compare SA Range Officer Elite to new Colt Cup and Colt Rail Gun?

Comparing the two Colt "Competitions" and the SA's RO's I worked with last summer- the SA's would be my pick.

[tn1911]

How would you compare SA Range Officer Elite to new Colt Cup and Colt Rail Gun?

The last two Colts I’ve purchased were sad specimens to say the least.

First was a nice Series 70 Repro. This gun was just terrible, it wouldn’t even feed ball ammo. Many conversations with knowledgeable 1911 folks including one with a very nice Gunsmith at Mars Armament and it was determined the gun was miss machined and was probably unfixable.

Call to Colt Customer Service told me the wait for warranty work at that time was 9 to 12 months.

The next Colt was shortly after that, one of the new light weight commanders. The fit was questionable and the extractor was so terribly fitted it clocked badly in the extractor channel when dry fired.

I’m done with Colt. I was once a hardcore fan. I’ve owned many, many colts. But now I’m confident that SA makes a better offering for the money.

Plus if you do experience any issues with your SA a quick call to customer service has a call tag on its way to you and a promise of 2 to 4 weeks turnaround time at the mothership, unlike Colts 9 to 12 months...