Posted: 11/22/2011 3:14:06 PM EDT
| RIA 1911's are about 450 bucks at the local shop.... are they any good because I cant find any recent write ups about them |
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I like my Tactical, which I got a couple of years ago for $450. Check here for price comparisons, but keep in mind shipping and FFL transfer costs. Sometimes keeping the local guy in business is worth a small premium...
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Ive heard of them referred to over and over as "the best kept secret in the 1911 world".
My next pistol and first 1911 will be an RIA- im just not sure wheather I want a FS Tac or a MS and turn it into a TAC. Ive not seen any more complaints about them than any other MFG. |
| I like mine. I even like the smooth grips even though I know they don't give the best grip. Customer service is top notch. I sent their rep ivan an email about rounds nose diving against the feed ramp. He shipped me a new mag catch no questions ask. even though I haven't sent in the warranty card in yet. |
| I've had mine for about a year. It works. Something I can't say about some other 1911s I've owned. Going rate for the base model is upper 300's around here and they sell like mad. For the money they're just about impossible to beat. I swapped out the GI style sights on mine, added an arched mainspring housing and some WWII USGI grips. From a distance its really hard to tell apart from a real USGI. |
| Any maker can have a problem, but it's how they solve it that counts. Mine was shooting bad groups, and way, way to the left. I put an EGW bushing in it, fitted it pretty dang tight, which helped the group size, but it was still way left, like three inches at 10 or 15 yards, with the sights adjusted all the way over. I sent it in and Arnel took care of me. He went above and beyond. The slide was not machined correctly in two ways. One was the lugs, and the other was the hole for the barrel was off center, and not perfectly round. Arnel put on a new slide, a new barrel that was chosen so that he could hand fit it using my bushing, and it's the barrel from the "match" gun. He also tuned the new extractor, polished the ramp and throated the barrel, worked the trigger to a 4lb pull, very crisp. Installed a new mag catch etc. He did the custom job that he normally charges for for nothing. The gun fed well to begin with, no issues, and still does. Now however, this thing shoots dead on to poa and groups under two inches if I do my job at 25 yards with my handloads, and about 3 inches with cheap 230gr ball. I will probably be getting another from him in the next year for my son. |
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I got mine for $250 and can't complain. A previous owner filed the rear sight for some reason (which I'll replace) and  My son's RIA 45 Match model shoots high for me even with the sight as low as it would go. If it were mine I'de probably file the rear blade down a wee bit too. Might have been the issue the previous owner faced too. |
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I got mine for $250 and can't complain. A previous owner filed the rear sight for some reason (which I'll replace) and My son's RIA 45 Match model shoots high for me even with the sight as low as it would go. If it were mine I'de probably file the rear blade down a wee bit too. Might have been the issue the previous owner faced too. Mine doesn't have an adjustable sight and it was inside the sight that was filed so that it shoots to the right (for everyone). I'm not saying I don't like it or that it was messed up to begin with. Just pointing out that it was modified so I can't say for that part of the gun.
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| I've not gotten into 1911 pistols because of the pricing the mid/high end manufacturer models. But since I've been reading the 1911 forum, I'm really itching to buying a RIA 1911. I've only heard good things about them. I hope to jump in with a new 1911 in the near future. |
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RIA 1911's are about 450 bucks at the local shop.... are they any good because I cant find any recent write ups about them Looks like I am going to be the Eeyore here, but this was my experience. I bought a new RIA CS model (3.5" Colt Officer's clone) for $359 from centerfiresystems.com after reading all the positive reviews, but it would not function reliably for me despite being seemingly well made. I tried hard to break it in for several months. firm grip, rounds seated to the back of the mag, quality ammo, cleaned and lubed, no dice. I tried numerous types of ammo including WWB, Blazer, Remington ball ammo, Hornady and Speer JHP, +P and target load ammo, over 1000 rounds all told, tried the Novak style mags it came with, CMC mags, Colt and wilson combat mags. No luck. Cleaned, lubed it well, worked the slide by hand a hundred times while watching tv, all to no avail. It never would feed more than 3 rounds without a failure to feed no matter what I did. Lifetime warranty? Sure, but you have to pay shipping and wait. Ammo was quite expensive and hard to find at the time. For A $350 gun it was getting too expensive. I decided to cut my losses and I sold it on consignment for same as what I spent, and bought a new Colt Defender for $899 shipped on budsgunshop.com which has worked flawlessly out of the box for over 1200 rounds so far. I won't conceal carry an unreliable weapon. I am happy as a clam with the little 3" Colt. I am not knocking all RIA 1911s, but mine didn't run. Your results may vary. |
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RIA 1911's are about 450 bucks at the local shop.... are they any good because I cant find any recent write ups about them Looks like I am going to be the Eeyore here, but this was my experience. I bought a new RIA CS model (3.5" Colt Officer's clone) for $359 from centerfiresystems.com after reading all the positive reviews, but it would not function reliably for me despite being a pretty guns and seemingly well made. I tried numerous types of ammo like WWB, Blazer, Remington, Hornady and Speer, +P and target ammo, over 1000 rounds all told, tried the Novak mags it came with, CMC, Colt and wilson combat mags. Cleaned, lubed it well, worked the slide by hand, all to no avail. It never would feed more than 3 rounds without a failure to feed. Lifetime warranty? Sure, but you have to pay shipping and wait. Ammo was quite expensive and hard to find at the time. I decided to cut my losses and I sold it on consignment for same as what I spent, and bought a new Colt Defender for $899 shipped on budsgunshop.com which has worked flawlessly out of the box for over 1200 rounds so far. I won't conceal carry an unreliable weapon. I am happy as a clam with the little 3" Colt. Your results may vary. My results are the opposite. The Colt I bought new was the worst 1911 I ever owned. I sent my Colt back several times, and it would never work right no matter what I or Colt did. RIA didn't charge anything for me to send mine back, and did a ton of free work that wasn't covered. One thing to remember with the 3.5 inch barreled guns, the recoil springs wear quickly, and have to be replaced more frequently to run right. They also require a heavier spring, normally 22lbs, and it needs to be changed every 800 rounds for a standard type spring. Wolffe XP springs extend that to about 1200 rounds. |
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RIA 1911's are about 450 bucks at the local shop.... are they any good because I cant find any recent write ups about them Looks like I am going to be the Eeyore here, but this was my experience. I bought a new RIA CS model (3.5" Colt Officer's clone) for $359 from centerfiresystems.com after reading all the positive reviews, but it would not function reliably for me despite being a pretty guns and seemingly well made. I tried numerous types of ammo like WWB, Blazer, Remington, Hornady and Speer, +P and target ammo, over 1000 rounds all told, tried the Novak mags it came with, CMC, Colt and wilson combat mags. Cleaned, lubed it well, worked the slide by hand, all to no avail. It never would feed more than 3 rounds without a failure to feed. Lifetime warranty? Sure, but you have to pay shipping and wait. Ammo was quite expensive and hard to find at the time. I decided to cut my losses and I sold it on consignment for same as what I spent, and bought a new Colt Defender for $899 shipped on budsgunshop.com which has worked flawlessly out of the box for over 1200 rounds so far. I won't conceal carry an unreliable weapon. I am happy as a clam with the little 3" Colt. Your results may vary. My results are the opposite. The Colt I bought new was the worst 1911 I ever owned. I sent my Colt back several times, and it would never work right no matter what I or Colt did. RIA didn't charge anything for me to send mine back, and did a ton of free work that wasn't covered. One thing to remember with the 3.5 inch barreled guns, the recoil springs wear quickly, and have to be replaced more frequently to run right. They also require a heavier spring, normally 22lbs, and it needs to be changed every 800 rounds for a standard type spring. Wolffe XP springs extend that to about 1200 rounds. I guess that just shows not everyone has the same experience with any given brand. I'm glad your RIA worked out good. |
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RIA 1911's are about 450 bucks at the local shop.... are they any good because I cant find any recent write ups about them Looks like I am going to be the Eeyore here, but this was my experience. I bought a new RIA CS model (3.5" Colt Officer's clone) for $359 from centerfiresystems.com after reading all the positive reviews, but it would not function reliably for me despite being a pretty guns and seemingly well made. I tried numerous types of ammo like WWB, Blazer, Remington, Hornady and Speer, +P and target ammo, over 1000 rounds all told, tried the Novak mags it came with, CMC, Colt and wilson combat mags. Cleaned, lubed it well, worked the slide by hand, all to no avail. It never would feed more than 3 rounds without a failure to feed. Lifetime warranty? Sure, but you have to pay shipping and wait. Ammo was quite expensive and hard to find at the time. I decided to cut my losses and I sold it on consignment for same as what I spent, and bought a new Colt Defender for $899 shipped on budsgunshop.com which has worked flawlessly out of the box for over 1200 rounds so far. I won't conceal carry an unreliable weapon. I am happy as a clam with the little 3" Colt. Your results may vary. My results are the opposite. The Colt I bought new was the worst 1911 I ever owned. I sent my Colt back several times, and it would never work right no matter what I or Colt did. RIA didn't charge anything for me to send mine back, and did a ton of free work that wasn't covered. One thing to remember with the 3.5 inch barreled guns, the recoil springs wear quickly, and have to be replaced more frequently to run right. They also require a heavier spring, normally 22lbs, and it needs to be changed every 800 rounds for a standard type spring. Wolffe XP springs extend that to about 1200 rounds. I guess that just shows not everyone has the same experience with any given brand. I'm glad your RIA worked out good. Yep, anyone can, and will make a lemon. My Para 14-45 had almost 15,000 trouble free rounds before I sold it. I just wanted a single action trigger, and since it's 100 years, I figured a GI model even though not a Colt or Remington, would still be fun to have, so being fairly broke as of lately, I opted for the RIA. I had a Lightweight Commader that I bought around 2000-2002, and in short order, it wouldn't feed any HP whatsoever. The usual remedies, better mags heavier spring etc, didn't work. I sent it off and Colt sent it back, and it would feed some HP but not all. I figured it would work itself in. After about two weeks after it was back, the thumb safety stopped working, so I sent it back. They returned it with a working thumb safety. After another month, it started having problems with the slide stop. I got sick of it and traded it for a DW Pointman Major. I was leery of Colts for a while. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one now at all. I wouldn't buy another Lightweight, but a steel framed gun would be great. |
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I've got mine for $450 out the door. They are ok for the price, and I bought it to tinker with as my other 1911's are a little pricey to modify. Here it is before tinkering: http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae87/benelliwang/RIA%201911%20Compact/CIMG9943.jpg http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae87/benelliwang/RIA%201911%20Compact/CIMG9944.jpg Here it is half way through the messing around: http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae87/benelliwang/RIA%201911%20Compact/CIMG0050.jpg http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae87/benelliwang/RIA%201911%20Compact/CIMG0057.jpg http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae87/benelliwang/RIA%201911%20Compact/CIMG0048.jpg Well I just got the same model for my mother, I have one question though. THe only other 1911 I have is a GI issue from WWII what is with the barrel at the front??? |
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I've got mine for $450 out the door. They are ok for the price, and I bought it to tinker with as my other 1911's are a little pricey to modify. Here it is before tinkering: http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae87/benelliwang/RIA%201911%20Compact/CIMG9943.jpg http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae87/benelliwang/RIA%201911%20Compact/CIMG9944.jpg Here it is half way through the messing around: http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae87/benelliwang/RIA%201911%20Compact/CIMG0050.jpg http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae87/benelliwang/RIA%201911%20Compact/CIMG0057.jpg http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae87/benelliwang/RIA%201911%20Compact/CIMG0048.jpg Well I just got the same model for my mother, I have one question though. THe only other 1911 I have is a GI issue from WWII what is with the barrel at the front??? It's a bull barrel, if you mean why no bushing and it is thicker than a regular one. The recoil spring is held in by a reverse plug that installs "backwards" from the original too. The barrel has no bushing and is aligned when in battery by it's cone shape or taper thats thicker towards the front. It just "wedges" into the slide when the slide comes foward. I have a SA Officers model with one, very accurate. |
| My ex carried a Springfield Micro Compact 3" .45acp with the bushingless bull barrel. Real sweet gun. I've read a lot of places that it's the easiest way to get a 3.5 or less 1911 to run reliably. The 1911 was designed to be a 5" gun, and the system had a hard time operating with shorter barrels due to the pressure curve of the ammo and the timing of the locking and unlocking of the barrel. Also, the reduced weight of the slide results in a much shorter recoil stroke, making it harder for the gun to eject a case, and strip and load a new round properly. That is addressed with a much heavier spring normally. Just so many things have to operate perfectly together. Maybe 1911smith will correct anything I've gotten wrong. |