what parts to change on a ria 1911 gi

I look a high-priced tool to work well; that's certainly true for handguns. But what I really dearest to meet: an inexpensive gun perform well. That'due south probably why I've bought a couple dozen Mosin Nagants over the years. Anyway, afterwards our visit to STI, TTAG James69 asked when nosotros were going to encounter a review of the decidedly lower-priced Rock Island Armory 1911. I've been itching to try one myself for a while, so I emailed a request to TTAG control for a base of operations model in .45ACP most riki-tik . . .

I've heard good things about Rock Island 1911s, but I've never shot one. Dan was kind plenty to send me his personal Stone Island Arsenal GI Standard FS .45ACP, a iii-yr-onetime gun with nigh 500 rounds through it. At first await, well, I was underwhelmed. In general advent, the RIA 1911 looks more or less like the original Globe War Two GI 1911s. The stop isn't blued, but Parkerized. The handles are smooth and unadorned inexpensive wood grips. Information technology is missing more than a few wish-list items like ambidextrous pollex safeties, and extended beaver tails.

Dan's gun had obvious tool marks throughout, including a pretty deep one on the trigger guard. Most of the edges are sharp and rough. But come on, this is a $470 1911 made in the Philippines. It's not supposed to be pretty. The Rock Island Armory GI Standard FS isn't a beauty contest winner by any means, but that doesn't mean it won't shoot. Does it?

And so, a little RemOil and…to the range Batman!

My plan: Shoot about 500 intermission-in rounds through the pistol, and invite two other shooters to put rounds down range. I had a lot of Winchester White Box, Remington UMC, American Eagle and Blazer Contumely 230-grain FMJs forth with some Remington Gold Saber hollowpoints. For magazines we deployed the cheap and cheerful 8-round magazine (Mec-Gar) supplied by RIA besides as upmarket STI as Wilson Combat mags.

First upwardly: Shoot information technology to get a feel for the gun. We expected the iv- to six-pound single-activeness-only trigger pull to be solid and information technology was.

But the feel is painful. Three magazines in and I was getting cutting upward. Like the rest of the gun, the grip safety is roughly cut and unpolished. The Rock Island GI Standard's recoil drove those sharp edges right into the web of my mitt. Fortunately, I just picked up a pair of Kryptek Gunslinger gloves on the recommendation of a professional shooter. The gloves afforded a good grip from the mainspring housing forrad, ideal trigger feel and saved my hands from the ballistic abattoir of hammer bite.

Okay. So this RIA GI 1911 has such bad ergonomics it literally hurts to shoot it. But let's see how it shoots anyhow. Well, it doesn't, not reliably anyway. The GI made it to round 43 before the commencement failure to feed. The next failure to feed arrived at round 44. It didn't get much meliorate after that. Failures happened with every magazine. Equally far every bit I could tell, no mag was more than or less probable to fail than the others. Changing reloading styles with the magazines didn't seem to matter.

It wasn't an ammo issue either. I had consistent beginning-round failure to feed malfunctions with every blazon of ammunition I fed the Rock Island GI, and several failures to return to battery as well. At about 200 rounds, I regrouped. A heavy round of RemOil helped a lot. But I still had to push the slide with my thumb to feed the first round with just about every blazon of ammo, JHP or brawl, with the notable exception of the Blazer Brass.

For some reason, the GI model liked Blazer. After the second lube from the bushing backward along the slide to the firing pin, the budget-priced 1911 failed to return to battery one time, but just once. The Winchester ammo still had occasional issues. Feeding Remington ammo resulted a kickoff round failure to feed every time.

So appearance, shootability, and reliability are all no-gos. What about accuracy?

The Action Target dueling tree was driving me crazy. I couldn't reliably hitting the 6-inch target continuing at 10 yards. Neither could the other two shooters, both competent with a pistol. Shooting off a front end bag, the Stone Island GI shot 5-inch groups with Winchester ammo. From my snubby J frame 38SPL+P redundancy gun, that'due south a proficient group. From a full-size 1911, it's unacceptable.

Bottom line: Is this a adept gun? This WWII-way gun is no fun to shoot at all and I certainly wouldn't bet my life on it. The same crude treatment constitute on the gun's exterior carries through to the internals. From the bolt face to breach, this gun seems unfinished. It's pretty articulate that Stone Isle stopped working on the gun when they were done, not when it was ready for your holster.

At that place is cheap, and then at that place is just cheap. This is gun is the latter. Oh, and before anyone asks, RIA is free to pull a Cabot: Fly me to the Philippines to ready this gun, take me on a Armscor International factory bout and have me shoot it again. Merely sayin' . . .

Rock Island Arsenal 1911 GI Specifications:

Length: 8.56 inches

Meridian: 5.5 inches

Barrel Length : 5 inches

Weight: 2.47 lbs. (unloaded)

Forepart Sight : Fixed, low-profile

Rear Sight : Fixed

Capacity: eight+ane

Price: GI Serial is nigh $475 retail (most $419 via Brownells)

Ratings (out of v stars):

Appearance * *

So this gets 2 stars because it'south a standard GI 1911. Merely the tool marks, the rough edges, and the cheap handles make the gun look ugly. No Parkerized end looks peachy, but this one looks like some of the first finishes I did in my garage. And that'due south not good.

Accuracy *

At contact range this gun is a tack driver. Beyond that, things go iffy.

Reliability 0

It's not.

Overall 0

I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed. A Regime Model 1911 tin can be cute, reliable, and accurate. That's why I conduct one for self defence. Only all that comes at a cost. Plainly that price is higher than $470. And if you lot want a GI 1911, buy ane, maybe that says Colt on the side of information technology. You might be happier with an RIA TAC-level model.

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Source: https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/gun-review-rock-island-armory-gi-standard-fs-1911/

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