Rock Island Arms 1911

**tangodown59871** · 10-28-13, 14:58

A few months ago I purchased a Rock Island Arms 1911 Tactial. All I can say is this is one fine weapon. Out of the box it chambers anything from FMJ to Corbons with no feed problems. Not everyone can afford a Wilson Combat 1911, wish I could. For the guy who doesn't have an endless stack of cash this is a good choice for just shooting or carry. I carry mine every day with full confidence in it to perform. Just curious as to anyone else who has bought one and their feelings on it. Charlie Mike

**number1olddog** · 10-28-13, 15:44

I know a few people that swear by them. I can't pull myself to buy one just yet but every time I see their tactical model with the full length frame railed model I want to snag one up and work off of it. Colt is pretty much the standard here and I understand why but they are a little pricey for me as well as I have more hobbies than just 1911s.

**Army Chief** · 10-28-13, 16:23

Need to slow you down a bit, brother. Pleased that you have gotten good initial results from this pistol, but problems with these guns are widely-reported, and I'm not sure that we can infer much from a sample size of one and an unknown round count.

I'd readily-agree that not every 1911 shooter needs a Wilson Combat pistol, and a lot of Wilson owners these days really aren't much into shooting (a separate rant), but there are admittedly much better options to be had in a production-grade 1911. We're past that point here, so for purposes of this discussion, I'll just focus on RIA/ARMSCOR.

At this price point, you need to be watchful for two things in a 1911: proper initial set-up and component quality. Many RIAs are compromised on the former, but not all, and it sounds like you may have gotten one of the better ones. All RIAs fall victim to the latter to at least some degree (springs, mags, extractors), but again, this may not take on any special relevance to you, depending upon how much you shoot the gun. Don't feel too singled-out, though: SIG, Ruger, Kimber ... they are all dealing with most these same concerns, and some are even worse. If you're not already experiencing failures-to-fire, you're probably well ahead of the power curve.

Fortunately, most of these issues can be addressed/corrected to at least some degree should they ultimately become an issue for you, but it can take some of the shine off of the apple if it means spending more money that could have gotten you a service grade (versus hobby grade) 1911 to start with. That's why we point folks to Colt or Springfield in a production-grade gun -- better setup, better parts, and generally much less to address later.

The RIA board at 1911Forum may be a good place for you to stay on top of the good and bad associated with your particular gun. We aren't averse to having these discussions here, of course, but you have to keep in mind that we don't really devote a lot of time to talking about Bushmasters and DMPS rifles, either, and a RIA 1911 is basically an equivalent product in terms of what it represents on the market. Low cost of entry. Relatively low quality. Often significantly-higher cost of ownership if you intend to actually use it, because there are likely things that will need to be corrected/upgraded to get the gun up to true service standards over time. All depends upon what you do/intend to do with the gun.

Not whizzing in your Wheaties by any stretch of the imagination, but you'll be far better-served by knowing and understanding what you've actually got than by believing that it might be something that it just isn't.

AC

**HackerF15E** · 10-28-13, 19:03

Do you mean "Rock Island Armory", or a different company named "Rock Island Arms"?

Never can tell, all kinds of variants out there in play.

I've owned a RIA 5" 1911 GI since 2006 and I have had fantastic luck with it. I've owned numerous different 1911s at all ends of the quality spectrum, and IMHO my base-level RIA has performed just as well as any other I own regardless of price point. No parts failures, no issues, works great straight-out-of-the-box -- I haven't even had to tweak the extractor. I haven't felt guilty about thrashing it (picked it up for sub-$300), and it has put up with every bit of work I've sent its way. I highly recommend it.

It is important to remember, though, that as great as most RIAs do and as great as Armscor's customer service is, they're still budget guns. Lots of folks on the 1911 forums get a little overzealous about the RIA's reliability and that they don't break much in the way of parts and frequently start comparing them to Colts and Baers and the like. Just in the same way that "budget" ARs can look and perform a lot like their more expensive counterparts at the high end of the spectrum, there are notable differences in fit/finish and possibly long-term durability.

I'm pretty much a plinker and sport shooter. My idea of "hard use" is a day of 400 or 500 rounds of WWB and cast lead reloads at steel plates for fun. My type of use doesn't really require the reliability and precision of a higher-end pistol, so YMMV depending on what your expectations and needs are.

**WillBrink** · 10-28-13, 19:15

Originally Posted by tangodown59871

A few months ago I purchased a Rock Island Arms 1911 Tactial. All I can say is this is one fine weapon. Out of the box it chambers anything from FMJ to Corbons with no feed problems. Not everyone can afford a Wilson Combat 1911, wish I could. For the guy who doesn't have an endless stack of cash this is a good choice for just shooting or carry. I carry mine every day with full confidence in it to perform. Just curious as to anyone else who has bought one and their feelings on it. Charlie Mike

My thought is, if you're first post here is to defend another el cheapo 1911, you pretty much kill your credibility not even spelling the company name correctly or the word "tactical." The Chief - per usual - covered the essential issues here.

You will find many threads here discussing the potential pros/cons of 1911s of different costs to give you an idea of where those who really know the 1911 fall on that topic. Search option is your friend.

Me, I feel the 1911 is not a gun that suffers cutting corners well, and if one can't afford the good stuff, then don't buy a 1911, when there's so many solid choices in handguns costing less than that RIA, much less a Wilson 1911.

And I say that as an ex dedicated 1911 shooter who now carries an M&P

**RIGPIG** · 10-29-13, 08:16

I got a Rock Island ARMORY Officers 1911 from my wife for my birthday 4 years ago. When I opened up the box, I feigned interest to please my wife. I took it out and shot a couple hundred rounds through it with no problems the first time. Mine has the GI sights, and I hate them. I started having problems with it not going back into battery, so I changed out the recoil spring with a Wilson Combat 24lb IIRC, and that fixed it. The ACT mag that comes with them are junk, throw it away and buy WCs, mine also likes Kimber mags. I've run mine in IDPA BUG matches, with excellent results.
Would I buy another? No. I wouldn't own this one had my wife not bought it for me.
Would I carry it? Not until I get some trijicons installed. It is reliable enough that I know it will work when I need it to.
Is it my only 1911? No. My 5" is a SA RO.
I will not be buying anymore RIA 1911s, simply because I'm interested in higher end 1911s.

**polymorpheous** · 10-29-13, 08:45

My 1st handgun was a RIA 1911 Tactical.
Junk.

Sold it and bought a Glock.

**Striker** · 10-29-13, 13:11

Originally Posted by tangodown59871

A few months ago I purchased a Rock Island Arms 1911 Tactial. All I can say is this is one fine weapon. Out of the box it chambers anything from FMJ to Corbons with no feed problems. Not everyone can afford a Wilson Combat 1911, wish I could. For the guy who doesn't have an endless stack of cash this is a good choice for just shooting or carry. I carry mine every day with full confidence in it to perform. Just curious as to anyone else who has bought one and their feelings on it. Charlie Mike

Happy you like your pistol. If I may ask, when you say that it has no feeding problems, does that mean that you've run over 1000 trouble free rounds through it? Trouble free being the key, which is why I ask the question. Also, something that was brought up in another thread is that reliability and durability are not necessarily synonymous with each other, which of course is worth consideration as well.

If it's passed the reliability test and you're comfortable with it as an SD gun; cool. I will say that your comfort level and mine aren't quite the same. My $500 comfortable gun is a Glock. But that's just me and everyone has a different threshold. If it works for you, enjoy.