My "new" RIA 1911 Tactical .45 ACP

[JoeWilliams]

Cathy and I decided that it made a lot of sense for us to consolidate calibers, and go to common gun types to make it easier to keep, store and carry spare parts, so when I saw Rock Island Tactical for trade, I jumped on it. I've written before about how impressed I've been with Cathy's RIA GI model, and with my best friend's and step-father's RIAs, so I expected no less from this one.

Gun was described as being retty new, 200 rounds through it and some holster wear, which was shown by the pictures. In person, though, the holster wear wasn't nearly as evident, and when broken down for cleaning the internals showed very little wear to the parkerized finish on the slide rails and other moving parts, so the gun was as advertised, always a nice thing

Went to Bradi's, bought some ammo and a $9 magazine, came home and broke it down for a very quick cleaning, and went shooting. Starting out, the shooting didn't prove to be as trouble free as I've come to expect from Rocks The gun came with an 8 round ACT magazine, which stubbornly refused to lock the slide back after the last round. The brand new $9 magazine was a POS, which is what I get for buying a cheapy, I wasn't surprised. It provided multiple failures to feed, and actually got stuck in the gun. Had to basically rip it out. Oh well. Tossed that mag aside, and once we'd finished shooting the Blazer ammo the gun didn't have any more malfunctions. I took the gun down to show Rick (my best friend) the gun and noticed the notch the slide release sits in had some grunge (looked almost like Cosmoline, wonder if it was the grease the gun was shipped in?) in the notch. Cleaned it out, and the failures to lock the slide back with the ACT magazine stopped.

Speaking of Blazer ammo, I'm not going to feed any more of the aluminum cased ammo through our guns. I've used it before, and some guns like it, some don't. Ours don't. Had a couple failures to feed with my gun, and even Cathy's formerly flawless gun had a FTF. Phooey. Not all that cheap, anyway.

Like I said, once we'd burned up the 50 rounds of Blazer and moved on to other ammo, and dumped the bad bag, the gun performed flawlessly. That was more like it, and what I've come to expect from the Rocks. Fed it some Federal 230 grain JHPs and Hydrashoks, and it handled them beautifully. I'd bought another 20 rounds of the Federal Personal Defense 230 gr JHPs (Federal C45D), and this round provided me 4 beautiful 5 round groups from about 12 yards that went into about 2" shooting offhand, and was very well centered. Loaded up a couple mags of this ammo for my carry rounds, till I find out if some of the newer "premium" ammo is more accurate. If not, this ammo will do quite nicely. It's got a proven record, and it's accuracy from my new carry gun cannot be argued with I could hit the paper plates with the Blazer, but accuracy was nothing to write home about. The S&B we shot the most of I put into very consistent 2 1/2" to 3" groups.

The sights on the tactical model are MUCH improved over the GI model, and a boon for my aging eyes. They are easy to see, and provide a crisp picture. The trigger on my gun is really sweet, with some take up, then a very light and crisp release. The safety is positive, but light and easy to use. I've been doing lots of practice with Cathy's .45 to get used to actually having to use a safety, and it's second nature even with her GI model, but lots easier with mine. I love the way a 1911 rides in my hands when shooting: bang, watch the front sight ride up, then straight back down on target. Fun

I'm very pleased with my new carry gun Accurate, and should prove to be reliable though I'm never completely at ease with a semi-auto until I've put 500 rounds through it. Look forward to that "chore" LOL. I do need to get my hands on some .45 ACP dies and large pistol primers. We've just about got enough brass saved up, and factory ammo is a tad pricey!

I'm planning a more in-depth side by side review of my Tactical and Cathy's GI model Rock Island 1911s soon. I think that will be fun to put together. For now though, a couple pics, and a video that I hope doesn't get me in trouble because of my bitter wife

My first shots through my new gun. My support hand was sitting funny on the improvised rest, and I bumped the slide latch, which is what caused the slide to lock back early.



My new Rock Island Armory 1911 Tactical, both naked and in a Galco Fletch holster



Cathy shooting her plain ole, not Tacticool, gun:


Me shooting my better-than-Cathy's gun :

[randyc187]

I have been looking at one of these pistols for awhile now, not the tatical but the G.I.

I was kinda weary about getting it, because I can get it brand new at a local gun shop for around 400 out the door, but a 1911 is a 1911 right?

Im just scared that cheap price = cheap gun you know what I mean????

I already went through this once with a S&W Sigma 9ve, it shot 7-8 inches low at 7 yards, and me and 3 other people couldnt get a 5 shot group on a paper plate to save our life.

[338winmag]

nice peace ya got their.

[Shawn.L]

I thought the tactical had a rail ?

nice buy though, those RIA's are a real bargain

[Guns4Fun]

Nice buy - nice pics too.

But be careful - Cathy might be shooting your tacticool 1911 if you keep telling her how great your new gun is

[JoeWilliams]

I have been looking at one of these pistols for awhile now, not the tatical but the G.I.

I was kinda weary about getting it, because I can get it brand new at a local gun shop for around 400 out the door, but a 1911 is a 1911 right?

Im just scared that cheap price = cheap gun you know what I mean????

I already went through this once with a S&W Sigma 9ve, it shot 7-8 inches low at 7 yards, and me and 3 other people couldnt get a 5 shot group on a paper plate to save our life.

I did a lot of research before getting Cathy hers back in January, and found that people are very, very pleased with their RIAs, and they do not have a reputation for a lack of durability. There's a torture test out there on the interwebs somewhere where the Rock held it's own with MUCH more expensive guns. Since Cathy, and two other folks have gotten theres, everybody has been most pleased, and I've found their performance to be way better than I'd expected. What they aren't really, is pretty. For example, on my gun neither the dovetailed rear sight nor the dovetailed front sight are radiused in nice and smooth with the slides. Functionally, this is irrelevant, but can look a little blocky and less refined than the pricier more finely finished guns. I like the looks, though. I think they look very businesslike.

You can find reports of some few guns with issues, but not many, and they are always fixed well. The company has a very solid rep for customer service. I think, in terms of "bang for the buck" these are some of the best deals on the firearms market. There are surely nicer 1911s available, but these do seem to work very well indeed. Heck, as I noted Cathy now has 575 rounds through her gun, with one malfunction, and I think that is ammo related.

[he11zna]

Glad you like it.

My GI model was one of those guns that truly surprised me.

Like most, I wanted to get my hands on a 1911 without the high price tag and I opted for the Rock. I expected there to be a break in period, where for the first couple hundred rounds, I would have the occasional failure to extract, stovepipes etc. But with zero problems, I was blown away with the out of the box reliability of this thing.

At around 500-600 rounds, I (or should I say a friend of mine) did have some issues with the last round not feeding or not locking back.
I chalked it up to him either not loading the mags properly or limp wristing somehow. It was only when he shot it and never happened for me.

To play it safe, I bought 5 Chip McCormick and 3 Wilson 47D magazines.
I ran through all of them today without fault and have now reserved my 3 Novak/Mec Gar mags as "range only"


Again, glad you're liking your Rock Island.

[Steeltown]

That should be the last time that magazine gets used in your gun whether it's working now or not. Good ammo and good magazines seem to make all the difference in the world when it comes to 1911's. Sound like you made a good choice with the RIA.

[Xringshooter]

And don't let people tell you you can't do things with an RIA. This one started out as a Gov't Model:





This picture isn't so good but shows the fiber optic front and rear sights

[Dredly]

That should be the last time that magazine gets used in your gun whether it's working now or not. Good ammo and good magazines seem to make all the difference in the world when it comes to 1911's. Sound like you made a good choice with the RIA.

Why? the mags that ship with the RIA's are Novak... they are pretty good mags