A dealer over at 1919a4.com recently ordered a pair of 1919A4s from Ohio Rapid Fire. Seems he was extremely disappointed in the quality of ORF's product. Here's a link to his post.

1919a4.com/cgi-bin/noncgi/Forum1/HTML/005958.html

Some excerpts from his review:

On both models, the top cover latch operated very poorly. The one barely engages the top cover in the closed position. Both are a bear to push foward for disassembly and there is evidence in the finish that ORF struggled with them as well.

Worst of all, is the finish. It appears they parked over rust (I am assuming). It is especially bad where the right side plate meets the bottom plate. Actually both guns show quite a bit of rust through the park. The above is the honest truth. I know these guns are suposed to be a little rough and 98% of them are surplus parts. I don't care about dings and other blems on this type of weapon. I DO CARE about fit and a having a decent park job.

Just thought I'd post this as a warning to those (as I was at one time one of them) eyeballing buying an ORF 1919.

i love my orf. none of that is a problem on mine.

It is a gun assembled from a kit, the kit is a collection of parts from an often well used gun that has been chopped up and left for dead.  It would be unreasonable to think you are getting a minty brand new gun. That being said, I have owned an Ohio Rapid Fire 1919 since they first started making them, it had some glitches and Todd was great, he sent whatever I needed and responded quickly to emails with good information.  The gun runs flawless to this day, it does have some parked over pitting on the shroud but who really cares.  It is a USED gun with a new coat of park.

If you want a floor display go pay $1799 for the top of the line TNW or Valkyrie and buy an over priced tripod.  I wanted a gun I could shoot until the barrel glowed and not feel bad about wearing the finish off having fun with it.   The ORF gun was 700-800 dollars cheaper.  The UPS guy must have dropped mine 40 times from the look of the damage on the box and the cracks in the case, it had everything but tire marks on it.  

I do part time work for a dealer that buys ORF 1919's for resale.

This dealer test fires his guns because he stands behind his sales. He has related to me that most of their guns have not functioned well on the firing line, and have required work to run right.

Your mileage may vary, but I'm hesitant to invest on one knowing the odds.

I've seen 4 or 5 at the range, and haven't seen one yet that wasn't being tinkered with constantly to get running. Seems like they come from ORF pretty rough, or at least that's my lowly opinion of them.

ORF is a "production line" builder, NOT a custom shop by any means. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for.

Quoted: ORF is a "production line" builder, NOT a custom shop by any means. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for.

True, but you'd at least expect a product to at least work out of the box, not have to be tinkered with or in this case reworked and reparked.

i did both, bought an ORF and a parts kit

thus far i have been unsuccessfull finding out what the hell is involved with building up the parts kit

still haven't fired the ORF but it function checks fine

Quoted: Quoted: ORF is a "production line" builder, NOT a custom shop by any means. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. True, but you'd at least expect a product to at least work out of the box, not have to be tinkered with or in this case reworked and reparked.

Someone should tell that to Century.

My 1919 did initially require a little fiddling with a file to deburr some parts.  The top cover popping up can be fixed by tweeking the spring that holds it down.  It runs like a champ these days,,,I just do not have a lot of time to fire it.

I have shot several different 1919's, no matter how good they look, they all have glitches of some kind.  Running cheap ammo, mislinked ammo, not enough lube, incorrect head space all cause problems.  I get the impression most makers do not actually test fire them with live ammo, if they do they do not use more than 10 rounds.

Quoted: Quoted: ORF is a "production line" builder, NOT a custom shop by any means. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. True, but you'd at least expect a product to at least work out of the box, not have to be tinkered with or in this case reworked and reparked.

+1

I understand that these are built from parts kit and are 60+ years old but no matter how much it cost it should work out of the box.  

Now look at this photo of my ORF M1919.  Tell me what you see and what you do not see.  
I removed the belt hold pawl.

Having built my own 1919 I can say that it is not that hard of an operation if you take your time. The alignment issues are all thing that should be checked BEFORE the rivets are even set. To do so afterwards results in the problems mentioned above. The key is to mock up the entire gun with large C-clamps to ensure proper rivet placement.

I took several days to put my 1919 together and it worked flawlessly the first time. If I spent that kind of money I would return the guns.

finally test fired my ORF, didn't work for shit.................2 clicks out on headspace and it runs like a top

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: ORF is a "production line" builder, NOT a custom shop by any means. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. True, but you'd at least expect a product to at least work out of the box, not have to be tinkered with or in this case reworked and reparked. Someone should tell that to Century.

and Oly too right?

Quoted: Someone should tell that to Century.

They can't even build a Yo-Yo right.  SERIOUSLY, a buddy of mine gave me a Century Arms YO YO and the finger loop couldn't be used by a five year old midget!!!

Quoted: Quoted: Someone should tell that to Century. They can't even build a Yo-Yo right.  SERIOUSLY, a buddy of mine gave me a Century Arms YO YO and the finger loop couldn't be used by a five year old midget!!!

You gotta put the string through the loop man.. Like a noose.  Then replace all the Century internals with expensive stuff from RSA, but the string aint straight anyway so it won't matter much.

Quoted: Quoted: ORF is a "production line" builder, NOT a custom shop by any means. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. True, but you'd at least expect a product to at least work out of the box, not have to be tinkered with or in this case reworked and reparked.

Hmmm, kinda sounds like that company... what's the name.... special something....

I can't put my finger on it