Rock Island 1911 38 super?

[dk17hmr]

Anyone have one or have shot one?

I love my 1911 45acp and it is my primary carry gun. I would like a couple more rounds in my gun without the added weight for carry purposes.

How is the 38 Super in general? I have never shot one but I like the numbers I am seeing in my loading books.

[KCSO]

38 Super is a heavier barrel and slightly heavier magazine so te over all gun weight is more than the 45 with 2 extra rounds of less effective ammunition. The Super makes a nice trail gun and can be very accurate, I have a Taurus 1911 super and shot a lot of 146 gr rn bullets from it bt it is not a lighter packing gun than the 45 and is not my choice for any type of concealed carry.

[Walt]

I have no experience with the RIA Super but the 5" guns I currently have and my lady friends Combat Commander are a joy to load for and shoot. Lead bullets and the Supers go together very well. For full power loads 160 RN's are great.

[NickSS]

I have used a 1911 as a carry gun but as I got older and new guns came on the market I went with lighter and smaller guns. My current 45 ACP carry gun is a Taurus PT 145 milenitum pro. It holds 10 rounds in the mag and one up the spout is six inches long and five inches high and weighs 21 ounces empty. It shoots good and with over 500 rounds through it I have not had a single malfuction. To answer your question a 38 super is a fine caliber and accurate too. I had a colt 1911 in that caliber and liked it but it was heavier than the same gun in 45ACP Same story in 9mm. I have thought about buying one myself but settled on one in 9mm mostly because of cheaper brass (free in large quantities at my club).

[waksupi]

Doug, if you are interested in a .38 Super, contact Ken.

[bdbullets]

I have one of the High Standard 1911's in 38 super and it is a pleasure to shoot and is very accurate. It is made by amrscor, same as the Rock Island. One of the guys at the club has a comander size Rock Island in 45 and he is shooting pratical pistol with us and he loves it. It has never had a malfunction with it, and he is doing very well with it. I think they are a very good quality gun for the price.

[bowfin]

I was so impressed with my nephew's Rock Island in .45 ACP that I bought a NOE hollowpoint mold for it so I can "work up some loads for him." Of course, I wouldn't dream of letting anyone else pull the trigger on the first magazine full except myself, just to be safe and responsible, don't you know?

I own two .38 Supers, although they are Tanfoglios (EAA), not 1911s. I have had great groups out of both of them, so the cartridge is accurate in an accurate gun.

[03lover]

I have had my RIA 1911 in 38 Super for three years now.

Having been used to the 45 ACP, I found developement of accurate loads to be a bit more difficult with the 38 Super. I worked with several different cast bullets and jacketed bullets.

I fired several different brands of factory loaded ammo and had good results with most.

My RIA 38 Super tends to be fussy about the bullet I use and or the powder I put behind it. Accurate loads can be had, just not as easily as with the 45 ACP.

Big bang with much less recoil because of the lighter bullet. I ran from 115 grain to 147 grain with jacketed and 115 grain to 150 grain with cast.

I had leading problems with most cast bullets when using the faster powders. When I went to AA 7 I had little or no leading. Had the same problem in the 9mm.

I have the RIA 1911 in 45 ACP, 38 Super and 9mm. The 9mm is the Tactical model and the sights are much better than the standard 1911.

For the $$$, the RIA is a well fitted pistol. For whatever reason, my 45 ACP is still as tight as day one. That can not be said for my 9mm or 38 Super. Both of them after 1200 to 1500 rounds through them, the slide to frame fit has loosened up. Accuracy is still pretty good, but I am concerned about what the next 1000 rounds will do.

I have contacted Ivan at Armscore about the 9mm loosening up and accuracy starting to fade a little and he told me to return the pistol and they would make it right. Armscore is great on service and I really appreciate that. They replaced my first 38 Super because the accuracy started to go away and was very erratic. They never indicated what the problem was.

Bottom line in my experience is the RIA is a great gun for the money. I don't feel they are the gun to have if a lot of heavy shooting is the order of the day. I think the Die Cast frames and some of the other parts that are die cast to keep cost down tend to wear more rapidly and get out of specification.

I know there are others out there whose experiences are better than mine and some that were worse. The same can be said for many of the other manufacturers pistols that cost two to three times a much.

I will put my Dan Wesson 1911 style 45 ACP and 9mm well above my RIA's but they did cost three times a much and are not die cast. BUT, the 9mm was not without problems. New, the accuracy was erratic at best and continued to get worse all through the first 800 rounds. It went back to DW and the report indicated the barrel was improperly fitted. Continued shooting with several different brands of factory ammo indicated this 9mm was developing higher pressure than my other three 9mm's and cratered primers were the rule. It went back to the factory again and the chamber was found to be too tight. When at the factory, Keith took some extra time and he worked on the feed ramp to improve feeding, tweeked the ejector and extractor and polished everything possible. This DW 9mm runs like a Swiss watch and puts all the empties in a nice little pile 2 to 3 feet to my right.

Arnel the gun smith at Armscore did much of the same thing on the replacement RIA 38 Super that was returned to me and it runs great also. I just don't think it can do it for as long as the DW will.

Good luck. Your chances are better than average that you will be very happy with a new RIA in 38 Super.

[doubs43]

Years ago, noted pistol shooter and authority Major George Nonte wrote that the ideal pistol in his opinion was a S&W Model 39 chambered for the .38 Super. While the Colt 1911A1 .38 Super had been in production for some years, their reputation for mediocre - even poor - accuracy didn't endear them to many. OTOH, Nonte considered the .38 Super cartridge to be the cat's meow. He even had a Model 39 converted to .38 Super although he was limited to light bullets seated rather deeply in the case so that they fed in a gun designed for 9mm.

As I recall, Massad Ayoob has concluded, after much research, that the .357 Magnum is the best fight stopper there is. (Please, argue that point with Ayoob.... not me. I'm only reporting what he has said.) While the .38 Super won't quite match the ballistics of a .357, it comes close enough to make it a very good defensive round.

My 1927 Argentine .45 has been modified to take a Colt 1911 9mm slide. I can easily convert it to .38 Super with a slide/barrel change and the appropriate springs, muzzle bushing and magazine. It runs very nicely in that configuration and I don't feel under gunned by any means.

[MtGun44]

Shot a lot of .38 Super in competition, primarily for the extra gas pressure to make the
comp work more. About 70K rounds of 147 gr LSWC at 1230 fps. Yee- haw! Brass
lasts forever, but DO NOT use WW in any form with my comp load, any other brand of +P
brass was fine, not Winchester for some oddball reason. Load was max but within
spec - was in the Hodgdon manual eventually.

If you are planning on self defense you need to decide if a big slow projectile or a little
fast projectile meets your needs.

I have been able to get 1400 fps (chronoed) from my Wilson LE Comp gun with a 124 gr
Hornady JHP. Should be about what the well respected 125 gr .357 Mag load would
get from a 4" bbl. I have chronoed factory S&W 125 gr .357 Mag at 1500 fps from
a 6" bbl, too.

Personally, I carry a .45 ACP Commander, so you see where I come down when the rubber
meets the road.

Just one of many personal choices out there.

Bill

[dk17hmr]

Heavy and slow vs small and fast..... sounds like winter carry and summer carry. I currently carry either my 1911 or my kahr both are 45s. I just haven't carried or
shot the kahr in awhile and was thinking about trading it out for something new

[MtGun44]

Most modern .38 Supers have gone past the old problem of the semi-rimmed design. Colt
originally tried to headspace the cartridge on the tiny rim on the hood. Miserable failure,
poor accy was normal. At least 15 , maybe 20+, yrs ago the industry went to normal chamber
mouth headspacing, basically ignoring the silly little rim, accy became normally very good.

One or two extra rounds, too.

Bill

[casterofboolits]

IMHO a ramped barrel is required to get the best out of the 38 Super. I have two comped 1911's with ramped barrels. I use a a 158 grain SWCBB designed by Wilson for Saeco. #930. 1,180 FPS using BlueDot. PF=186. Like shooting a 32. The brass drops about two feet away in an 18" circle.

Also two EAA Witness in 38 Super. For these I use the Saeco 38S-145-SWCBB & BlueDot. Very accurate. But, they throw the brass a lot further.

[MtGun44]

You can push the pressure a bit more with the ramped bbl, but mine is not and works fine,
except for the WW brass anomoly.

Bill

[bruce drake]

I own a RIA 9mm 1911 that I added a 38 Super barrel to the pistol box for it. I kept the 9mm breechface on the slide but I use 38 Super Comp brass from Starline. Its the 38 Super case with a rimless case for easy feeding from the magazine. I load 130gr FMJ as well as LEE's 124gr RN and TC boolits for it.

Yes, its an awesome round if you want a 9mm Luger with a bit more punch and speed.

recoil is such that the wife likes it better than my 45 ACP or 9mm Luger pistols. the 38 Super is like a midpoint between the two. not snappy like the 9mm but not such a loud boom that she is scared of the 45. My 16year old prefers that barrel combo for every trip to the pistol range.

Bruce

[sandman228]

at 1 time I had 3 ria 1911's a 45 wide body a 38 super and a 9mm . they all functioned well no issues what so ever most standard 1911 after market parts fit them and ria has excellent customer service . that being said super accuracy out of the 45 the only issue with it was when new it didn't like swc bullets but after shot a while it eats up whatever I run through it . the 9mm not bad no issues ok accuracy . the 38 super was a fun gun like a 9mm on steroids accuracy though not as good as the other 2 i could put everything on paper at 25 yrds but the grouping just wasn't what i wanted i tried hornady xtp berrys plated and a couple different styles and weights of lead.if i remember right i had my best luck with a 158 lrn bullet resized to .356. i probably could have eventually got what i wanted if i played around with it a bit more . i did eventually change the barrel to a 9mm. i ordered a ria barrel it dropped right in no problems i changed nothing else on the gun it ended up being a better shooter than my other ria 9mm . i even ran 9mm's through the 38 super magazine without issues . i ended up selling off a few guns later on the only ria 1911 i have now is my 45 wide body. im not trying to discourage you from buying the 38 super im just saying it can be tricky to load for. 38 super in my opinion is a hotrod and likes to be loaded as such.

[seagiant]

Hi,
Rather have a BHP shooting +P 9mm than a RIA 38 Super! Just sayin!

[bruce drake]

I also own a FEG HP and I still like my 1911 in 38 Super. ;). The HP doesn't allow me to dry-fire unless I have a magazine installed (and yes, I know about the mod to fix that). The 1911s allow me to practice my trigger squeeze during Obama interviews...

[khmer6]

I have one on satin nickel. Out of the box with the first load I ever worked up accurate as all hell. Dropped my jaw