Rock Island 1911 any good?

[saz]

After FOOLISHLY selling my springfield years ago, I have been looking for another 1911. I have read some pretty good things about the Rock Island and $385 is too low to ignore. I want an A1 style so i can make it what i want on my own. The Remington R1, Para GI and Springfield A1 are all tempting also, but teh price tag is really tempting. Any thoughts?

[wellfedirishman]

All the information you need, right here:
http://forums.1911forum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=64

I have 3 of them:
A 45 Tactical Govt size
A 45 Compact (Officer's size)
A 38 Super GI (which I have since converted to 9mm)

All are good, well-made 1911s that you can customize to your heart's content. I put match bushings, new sights, beavertail, etc. on mine and have been pleased with the results.

The 45 Tactical is a nice gun with a bunch of cool options included.

[mroliver77]

I have experience with two separate RI 1911. Both were accurate and dependable. I was surprised how they would dependably digest any reasonable 45acp round. I would not feel handicapped with one.
Jay

[trickyasafox]

I'm pretty sure citadel is a rebranded RIA with a different roll mark. I have a citadel officers sized that I love. assuming my above is correct, I'd recommend them heartily. I am saving up for the tac 9mm 1911 from RIA currently.

[Bloodman14]

Bought mine some time back; LOVE it! So accessorizable (?) it ain't funny.

[jmsj]

saz,
A young friend of mine just bought a used one, I believe a local police officer traded it in at the gunstore.
He brought it over to see if I thought he did alright. We went it shot it at the range behind the house. It had finish wear from carrying, trigger was decent and needed a cleaning badly(lint and grime in the pistol and copper fouling in the bore). The gun fed and fired 100%, hardball loads down to my target loads(3.6 BE & 200gr SWC).
It outshoots my Taurus 1911 but not the one I built years ago.
Good luck, jmsj

[Blammer]

RIA's are the best kept secret so far...

I like them.

[Thin Man]

The shop where I work has seen many more Springfield Armory pistols come in for repair and adjustment than Rock Islands. However, we realize that SA has sold many more toys than RI. Perhaps the problems associated with mass production at SA (keeping up with orders) have diminished their quality control. Don't get me wrong, this is not a huge number of repair requests, but still it is too many for the reputation that SA carries. So long as RI is the un-discovered secret on the block, and their techs have the time and supervision to correctly assemble the finished product, they are a viable choice in the 1911 platform.

Thin Man

[warf73]

RIA's are the best kept secret so far...

They are nice handguns and if I remember correctly everything that can be add to a Springfield can be add to it. My next 45acp will be a RI which will be later this year.

[pbraceguns]

Bought 2 standard GI versions on a deal for $575. Did up one with low melted Bomar sights and a dovetail front, Beavertail, 4# clean breaking trigger job and reliability tune. It's digested over 2000 rounds of 200 gr. Tumble lubed SWC from a Lee mold without a single hickup. Did a low melt Novak sight job on the second one, 5# trigger and beavertail with the "memory pad". About 500 or so through it sofar including the same 200 gr. TL bullets, and "gasp" several 185GR. JHP again with no failures. The 2nd one is my daily carry piece. Offhand groups run around 2-3" at 25 yds. on both done as fast as I can work the trigger.
I will tell all that they are indeed made tough. Milling the slides took solid carbide cutters flooded with coolant mist spray to do the low melt jobs on both guns.
I am considering another one in the hi-cap version for a new comp gun.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone.