A Gunsmiths Perspective on the RIA 1911 Gi
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- Опубликовано: 6 фев 2025
- Overall, I find these to be quite well made firearms and punch well above their weight quality wise. While not the top of the line in the finish department, the fit, reliability, and mechanical accuracy all compare to the big name brands.
most 1911s do have some quirks, and these are no exception. they are all sensitive to magazine and extractor tension. fortunately out of the box the extractor tension on this gun was perfect.
Nice PCR, those are cool.
They are nice guns. The whole CZ lineup is quite good but they have made becoming a dealer quite the headache. You can only order them if you stock so many at any one time and have a bunch of other hoops to jump through. It's why we don't see them in as many stores.
@@moosesmachinery as much as I love CZ, their marketing/sales department for the US seems bound and determined to tank them.
No dealers, no effort at Shot Show, no one knows they exist because they don't TRY.
Unfortunately they seem more focused on Colt, while following the same steps that bankrupted Colt in the first place.
@@TheOfficialCaseMade it's quite sad. I was a die hard cz guy for a while, but I'm going back to just enjoying stock Glocks
Best advice I was given on reloading 45ACP for the M1911: "Don't try to make a magnum out of it. If you want a 44 Mag, get a 44 Mag."
I have one. Never had any problems. I use a pin punch to line up the link with the hole in the receiver.
I have a 9mm version that is almost 15 years old with 5000 plus rounds on it. The front sight tennon actually fell off and they fixed it right up and sent it right back. Starting to get a bit warn out, but all I did was change the recoil spring and it feels smoother than new. It does not like hollow points, but neither does my other .45.
@@briangomoll5965 They were not designed to function with hollow points.
Run magazines such as Wilson Combat and try running hollow points that have a more rounded ogive that'll be closer to the dimensions of the original ball ammo in which the 1911 was originally designed to shoot.
Polishing the feed ramp, if necessary, should help a well, assuming you want to carry the pistol.
@@JohnnyReb2000 I am a quasi fudd, I carry a model 60 SW in .357 with 38 +p. Still, I have multiple plastic guns that work very well.
I own a 1911 RIA since 2018. No issues. Leave a Rock a Rock and don’t try to make it a Colt or any other 1911 and leave it the way it is.
I have high end European 1911s, and mid range US 1911s. Both my Turkish Tisas, and Filipino Rock Island 1911s are as good or better for a third of the price. The Turkish 1911s, and the 1911s made in the Philippines have series 70 safeties, so the simpler design may be the reason for a cheaper pistol being just as good as their more expensive competitors, so I'm not sure that it is a fair comparison.
If you are on a budget, these guns are very dependable, reliable and worth every penny. When I am looking to buy a new gun, I always see what Rock Island, Tisas, and Sarsilmaz have to offer. I can aford the more expensive European pistols, but I appreciate value.
I forgot to add that Rock Island does make revolvers, but they just look like sloppy crude guns. How the same company can outdo themselves in one area and completely drop the ball elsewhere is beyond me?
Different factories most likely. Armscor is a huge conglomerate and just used the rock island branding for the US market.
@@moosesmachinery Thanks, I didn't know that. I always thought that it was just one factory in the Philippines. No wonder.
These are great guns. I love the " I would buy a RIA over Kimber everyday of the week and twice on Sunday. " comment.😆
Kimbers are one of the 1911s I don't like to work on. You get trash cannon QC and the owners pitch a fit when you have to do a pile of work to get them to run 100%
@moosesmachinery So Kimber is an expensive, pampered princess, while the RIA is a war horse. Thanks for the knowledge.
The RIAs have some issues with extractor fit and terrible sights. They are usually quite good but at half or a third the price of a Kimber I have a much easier time excusing their issues.
this is how it's done, first, cock the hammer put the thumb safety on. next, hook the middle finger in the trigger guard and then use the opposing thumb to depress the recoil spring after rotating the bushing. then take the thumb safety off. then pull back the slide to the small notch stopping dead center of the slide lock lever bit that interacts with the slide. then push out the lock pin. take the slide off the receiver. do the same in reverse to assemble. there's no need for any tools to field strip a 1911. when the slide is back to the small notch the link and pin will line up, just push it in.
I have a RIA M1911A1FS “Tactical II” that I bought new for about $700 out the door back in the spring of ‘22, that had been manufactured in October of ‘21. It’s in .45 ACP, of course. It’s one of their more upscale models with various bells and whistles.
I’ve got at least a thousand rounds through it so far. I’ve noticed that it is very reliable, but only if kept clean. Starting at about 150 rounds since it’s last cleaning, it will get “cranky” and start having failures to go into battery. But within those first 150 rounds it is not only reliable, it also isn’t picky; it will happily eat anything I’ve fed it so far, hollow point or not. I have gotten very good accuracy with Federal 230 grain HSTs.
Only thing that went wrong was that it came with a fully adjustable rear sight which recently fell apart. I probably could have got it replaced for free under warranty but I just put a set of TruGlo tritiums on it instead, which I had always wanted to get anyway, and the OEM sight breaking was just an excuse.
Otherwise it’s a fine pistol; no complaints.
I concur. I like my full size Rock Island so much I bought the compact. Great shooters. I never thought I'd buy a 1911 that didn't say COLT on the side, but the Rocks have been great guns and well worth the investment. My only issue on the full size were sharp edges on the grip safety tang and trigger. They were sharp enough to cut my hand during recoil. I sent it back and they rounded them off and got it back to me within three weeks. I've been very pleased and look forward to buying another.
@briandrake5464 I've found them to be excellent handguns as well, and we also are supporting an allied nation when we buy one. Armscor is one of my recommendations for budget friendly firearms. I've found them to be better than most of the later colt guns I've worked on when it comes to consistency and reliability.
RIA is a poorman’s Colt, but they are technically a Colt. This is because they are built on Colt machinery.
Those sharp edges on the tang are what lead me to swapping for the beavertail grip safety. But to do that, I had to swap to a shortened hammer. When I bought the hammer, I got the hammer/sear combo. It's like a snowball, see? 😂😂😂
RIA uses a modern CNC machine.@@CapoKabar
@@enriqueoliva6988 not when i visited
My RIA 1911 came with a throated barrel for hollow points, and SWCs. I also have a USGI barrel that I use if I'm just shooting ball ammo.
I had a RI 1911 commander and a Sig 1911.
My RI is just as functional as the Sig. Yes, the Sig has a little smoother trigger action, but with the RI Ive had no feed issues and it is just as accurate.
I put Crimson Trace laser grips on it a few years back and I can put rounds in the bullseye as quickly as I can pull the trigger.
@LSwick-ss6nm You are a better shot than I!
I am a 1911 collector, but am not a good shot.
I enjoy every shot, though.
@jamesorth1521 I started out with bad shot groups. Fortunately for me I had a friend ,who was a former Green Beret, who used to train people specifically to use the 1911.
He changed my stance, grip, etc and with some practice I learned to reacquire the target much better.
A lot of imaginary problems. The 1911 pistol design is more popular today than it it ever has been. There are solid reasons why.
It is NOT as popular Goober...there are solid reasons why.
I have a 10mm RIA and it's feed ramp is completely different than the 45 you are discussing. It's one piece like your CZ. The entire pistol is it's own design and I wager almost nothing will interchange with the .45.
The chamber on the 10mm design looks to me to be fully supported. It also feeds hollow points fine, but it tends to hate the flat nosed target ammunition that seems to be the normal with cheaper target 10mm.
I’ve had very good luck with TISAS! Wilson combat mags and I can run federal HST and Gold Dots! I have the newer 1911A1! I liked it so much I bought the all stainless 1911 from TISAS
Very nice thank you great video, I just picked up a M1911 A1-FS 45, have not shot it yet,Am not real familiar with the RIA firearms,but your video makes me feel pretty good about them! So thanks! I can't wait to shoot it...They tell me the break in is 500 rounds, so i'll be busy! thanks again!! very informative video thanks again
They have some issues with extractor fit, they tend to be too tight and terrible sights. It's a bit of a crap shoot to see if the run hollow points. I have run 95% cast lead in mine with acceptable reliability. Mostly due to failures to feed, I think from the charge being a bit low and lacking enough energy to strip the round.
The 1911 was designed to run ball ammo not hollow points, if you get ammo that has the same ogive as ball ammo it will feed just fine
This isn't always true. At the same OAL the ogive will be in a different location. There are so many feed ramp variations in the 1911s its hard to make any sweeping generalizations about them.
@@moosesmachinery ok, I could have put that better than did.
The H&G #68 SWC, it's leading edge matches the same point on ball ammo that hits feed ramp first but nowadays not all ball ammo is the same, but the 1911 was designed to run on ball ammo. When the ammo is released from the magazine and the extractor also play parts in how well ammo feeds.
Yes, it's a rabbit hole
@@ICRangerT noted, I'm not an expert in all the variations in 45 cal pistol bullets, but round nose cast lead bullets have been my favorite to duplicate the ball profile and still have something that expands. I don't recall the Lee mold but it has worked very well for me and was delightfully inexpensive
@@moosesmachinery Lee also has a mold for a wad cutter that is very close to the H&G #68, it's a 200 grain bullet.
I run hornity critical defense through mine .
I put off buying a RIA 1911 because I thought you had to spend $1000 or more for decent firearm . I was wrong and I bought one for under $400 after sale price and rewards discount. I can’t wait to take it to the range
Expect a break-in period.
A store in my area sells those RIA 1911 GI's for $299.95. I bought mine when it was on sale for $269.95. Great gun for the money. Yes RIA recommends 500 round break-in period. I'm about 300+ so far and no problems. I've only been using 230gr FMJ's.
@michaelmurphy6869 That's the best price I have seen on these.
You can buy 2 of those for the price of e Kimber. And the RIA will work. Good video.
Or put the recoil spring in before mounting the slide on to the frame.
What amazes is the reviewer criticize John Moses Browning design of the 1911. What pistols has he bought to the market.
Thank you for your thoughtful and insightful contribution to the comment section. I don't know what id do without viewers like you to spur deep, meaningful discussions on my channel.
I agree, but, no one is above criticism.
@@moosesmachinery listen, listen. John Moses ain't wrong
@@timd729 oh, Browning isn’t above thoughtful criticism. I didn’t hear this poster making unreasonable claims. Curious how some 2A folks talk a lot of freedom and then shit on someone who is willing to broach a sensitive subject no matter how thoughtfully they do so.
The gun is not cheap is a budget gun.
I have 2 RIA. 9mm GI and .45 acp FS 2 tone. They shoot straight and do what os needed. The 9 has loosened up and racks easier after the 500 round break in. My understanding was they had purchased old Colt machines. Dont know if thats true or not
Its true. We call them the green machines.
Very informative video, For someone that shoots 3000 - 5000 rds per year, do you see a cast frame being a problem in any way ? Thanx
I do not know. I don't shoot more than 500 rounds a year in my 1911, but I've seen a few in pistol competition circuits with high round counts. Keeping on recoil springs and shooting factory pressure ammunition and you can expect a decent service life.
It boils down to the company's expertise at casting, the metallurgy, and the heat treatment. Remember, Ruger is a master at casting and uses it throughout their firearms line, including for the frames of their 1911s. Everybody talks about how tough a Ruger is.
I own 3 RIA 1911A1-FS they all have plastic main spring housing.They are the older ones with the big writing on the slide about 10 yrs old.
Things have changed (for the better!) since then
@@enriqueoliva6988 One less part that can rust.
@@moosesmachinery I have 2 colt gold cups from the early 90's bought new with plastic mainspring housing.
I have 2 kimber Gold match,2 kimber Target match,2 Kimber compact custom and 1 Kimber custom from the custom shop all bought new in the mid 90's non firing pin block safety and all have plastic mainspring housing.Plastic mainspring housing after 30 years are still holding up fine and it will outlast me in this earth till I pass it on to my sons,grandkids and great grandkids.
I have the RIA-1911A, FS. Bought a curved Arch housing, with lanyard ring, and a wide target hammer used Colt parts. Replaced my factory stuff, parts dropped in, no fitting needed. Shoots great, love the arches mainspring housing as it fits my hand perfect. Wide knurled hammer is easy to work. Very happy with my Rock Island. 15 years owned now, no issues.
The development of what became the 1911 started around 1898 or so. The guns that lead up to this are very interesting.
@@jeffhudson2346 oh absolutely. I don't spend time with them or have access to much of the pre -1911 guns myself, especially as my shop mostly specializes in long arms.
The guns leading to the 1911 were also 9mm, iirc.
Most people don't know that RIA was a licensed producer of the Colt in WWII and are still making them from the same machines used in that era so they are like the Ithaca. Spot on
@@stevewehner9540 this rock island has absolutely nothing to do with the rock island of WW2. Rock island is a related brand to Armscor of the Philippines. They use the name recognition of rock island armory to make sales, just like Springfield Armory.
@moosesmachinery lol if you say so. Lololol
@@stevewehner9540 he says so Goober
I had a cimarron (similar to this I think) eyes closed, aside from the weight difference, the cimarron was actually the better feeling/firing gun. $300 in 2015 vs 1400 back in 2004. I wish I’d bought multiple cimarrons
Picked up a RIA in .38 Super a couple of rears ago, it came with the one piece feed ramp or supported chamber.
Needless to say it eats whatever I feed it, is accurate and has yet to have a blow out with hotter (Cor-Bon) .38 Super ammunition.
Never had a slide malfunction but mine was a colt. thanks for the info
Fort Scott TUI ammo are great for the RIA 1911s 👍🏻
Any experience with the RIA 200 or 206 revolvers? I've always been tempted by the 206 classic Colt Detective looks.
I have no hands on Experience with rock island revolvers, just their 1911s. They are likely decent but it's hard to say.
Never had issues with hollow points feeding in my rock island 45s if you use a rounded profile bullet like Remington and Winchester, mine even fed the hornady ones without the rounded profile
I agree with you on not having one built too tight. Ruger makes an excellent 1911 also. Just a little rattle. Kimbers are set up way too tight IMHO. I don't want to shoot 500 rounds to get them to work right! I stripped my kimber ultra carry2 and used very fine polishing stones to the rails before I ever fired it. With Wilson mags I've never had a failure to feed. And I've fired it enough that I'm comfortable to edc.
I truly love mine, but I paid almost 700 bucks for mine mine is the patriot brown with the Beavertail but I think the price was because I bought two boxes of shells with it as well, but it was still up over 600
And a very truly accurate pistol as well
I have a couple rocks 45s, one is an officers and a third is a 22tcm, great guns. I noticed the price crept up a bit and now the Turks are sending their 1911s (I do have one) with a real nice low price and they are supposed to be mil spec.
Would you say the same about the Glock 17 having an unsupported chamber?
@@billmoyer3254 yes. It seems to really be a non issue even with 9mm nato. That only seems to present itself with the hot 40 s&w and 10mm auto.
I am not a 1911 fan but it’s easy to critique a design over 125 years after John Moses Browning pioneered it. How many have to designed and pressed into production? I ain’t trying to tear you down but help you see for 1908 and 1909, and 1910 and 1911 it was cutting edge by a pioneer in gun designs who’s designs are still in production and use today. Try designing something from scratch without using anyone else’s patents. You will see the design itself is pretty ingenious. There are better semiauto pistols on the market for sure, I prefer the Beretta 92 over the 1911 personally but I still think it’s a great design that’s still popular after 125 years of production. That’s my entire point.
I do prefer the 1911A1, GI specs over "designer" examples. Learned on a GI issue in new condition (thanks Dad), shot allot of the older 9 autos, my favorite modern is the TZ75. I did get a RI 2011, after a year, prefer the original 7rd design. Now do High Power. ..
My RIA government model (45acp) is my every day carry. I chose Federal 230 grain HST's +P.
HAVE A R. I. A. 45acp, & I LOVE IT !!!!🤠👍👍👍👍👌🤟🤘🤙😎
If i bought a RIA 1911 how many of the parts can be replaced? Let's say for instance I buy a new slide, barrel, and springs from fusion firearms am I good or will I run into problems?
@@josegallegos6602 I have no idea. I used EGW trigger parts in mine and the fit as expected with minor tweaking. These should be comparable with standard 1911 parts but it's best to ask the manufacturer.
I own my grandfather's Remington Rand from WW2 and besides the nostalgia aspect of it I prefer the modern made 1911's. Tisas makes a really good pistol if a person doesn't want to spend a few mortgage payments on a nicer gun.
I had one of these, only difference is the parkerized finish and the wood Hogue grip and arched mainspring housing. They hate jhp ammo, or at least mine did. I had issues with both a MecGar and the original magazine of bullets either nose diving or skyrocketing when you go to chamber a round, but fmj wouldn't do that. I sold it because of that and the swinging link which I had problems with. Shouldn't have done that.
These will do the same job as a Kimber but for a whole lot cheaper ($).
Maybe not. I'm not sure that Kimber could keep up with the Rick Island guns, especially when it comes to customer service.
It is hard to criticize the 1911 design after over 100 years of successful service and all the variants that extend from it.
@@erniebiggs8343 It's an overly complex design that Browning simplified greatly in his next design. The link is a huge weak point and the barrel busing ads cost unnecessarily with today's manufacturing techniques.
Rock islands have really come a long way. 2011 internet and reddit loves to bash them
I've had the GI in 9mm for about 5 years now, first 1911 I've bought, I use to work at a thermalforming factory with the world's 2nd largest thermalformer so I've had the opportunity to buy pallets of ammo and shoot religiously, It's had about 12,000 rounds throughout it's life since this September but haven't picked it up in a minute, needless to say everything original is still on the gun itself except the black and white G10 grips, other than normal wear on the parts and some gouges and scratches on the finish I've never had any problem even in cold weather, to me, if you ask me, that's insane for a $550 1911, definitely not the best model but if you do normal maintenance these things will last forever, I'm pretty damn sure I'll be able to pass it down to my son
I 100% agree regarding Kimber.
Have a Charles Daily 1911a1. Figure same. Made in Philippines. Had for 25 years. Out shot a friend's Colt 70. Also have a Commodore compact. Also made in Philippines. Both are bullet proof. Chip McCormick magazine's with Daily, AMP Magazines on Commodore.
@@fredfunk4049 magazines seem to make a huge difference in reliability with these guns. I've had good luck with mec-gar and the factory ACT mags the rock islands ship with.
Good show!
Glad you enjoyed it
good video
I’m not entirely convinced that the 1911 is a design that’s going to last. I don’t trust these newfangled semiautos.
I’ll keep my 1873 SAA revolver and leave it to others to experiment with this new technology. :D
Thanks Brother!
@@robertditaranto7568 thanks for watching!
What's the little button inside the lower, my slide hits it when it's retracted and holds up my slide just a bit.
The disconnector? Thats normal if that's what you are referring to
What does the FS, stand for. 1911 AI FS ? Full size?
@@derekhightower1903 in this context yes, but in others, flaccid shooter. A whole range of possibilities really.
Tisas vs RI. Who's better?
@@SB-mw1bg I own both and prefer the Tisas.
@jamesorth1521 I have both as well. Build quality is better on the Tisa. My RI has a better trigger.
Tisas is made in turkey and my experience has taught me not to trust Turkish direarms. Without really seeing a large sample size it's hard to make any generalizations though.
Nice video man.
Thanks, it's always great to have an audience when doing these!
My neighbors rock island is better fit than my colt. Its a competition series blued. The barrel is fit right on the colt and the trigger is right and has nice sights. I want a rock island just to get one. TISAS is another foreign one i want as well. KImber is next on my list i just want the base gun. Ill upgrade the small parts make a play toy. Ive had one before and yeah its the MIM parts that cause the problems in them. But they do usually a very nice job of fitting the slide and barrel.
>throws shade on 1911
>shoots cz75s
Many such millennial cases. You youngsters just donnt get it. Two world wars!
Cz actually makes a hammer fired handgun that doesn't need work to run hollow points reliably.
If a 1911 don't sound like a old screen door opening and closing it ANT right 😅
The worst 1911 has a better trigger than any plastic striker fired queen. I always fit high rise magazine catches to any 1911 I own, that always alliviates feeding issues with hollow points. Fit the high rise mag catch to a good quality magazine and 99 percent of malfunctions go away.
I’ve never seen a plastic mainspring housing on any brand of 1911 but series 80 colts
kimber...over rated. I got a tisas off PSA and it's been perfect, forged frame/slide and no MIM parts..$400.
🇺🇸🤟🏼👍🏼👏🏼🤠
It's a grip safety, not a "beavertail".
It's a grip safety with a beaver tail. It's not a 1:1 copy of the original and shields the shooter from hammer bite more so than the original 1911 and 1911a1
gunsmith. lolololol knocking a 100 yr old design. im a gunsmith too lololo
@@notlisted-cl5ls No child left behind apparently was not a success in your case.