Rock Island: Good or Bad?

[tnek]

I had one. Loose as a you would expect but not in a bad way. Better trigger than the equivalent Springfield. Shot well I kept it for nightstand duty till I went all XD. Thumbs up from me.

 

[88E30M50]

I've had my RIA Compact for a couple of years and have always liked it. It's been accurate and reliable until recently. I normally run Wilson Combat mags, but have had good luck with the ACT mag it came with. I swapped the 18# recoil spring for a Wolff 22#. The Wolff spring has a change cycle of 400 rounds and I'm probably pushing over 500 since doing the spring swap, so I was not too surprised to have feed issues when using the ACT mag last range trip. I'm guessing that with a new spring ($8), it will be good to go again.

 

[JB75]

I just got a rock island 2 weeks ago and had problems with the factory mag that were fixed when I bought a new mec-gar mag. I called rock island and told them no questions asked they sent a new mag direct to me. Thumbs up on customer sevice!

 

[acarnahan]

I've got the 4" version and I love it. No problems, all the various mags I've tried work. I could polish the trigger but haven't.

 

[Bushcookie]

I've got that in the mid-size. It's been back to Armscor twice.
Lots of people have had excellent luck, but that hasn't been my experience.
I'd like to love it, but I don't yet.

Just wondering, what kind of issues do you have with your RIA? I have a compact Rock that will not feed hollow point ammo. I just gave in and shoot 230gr ball ammo. I'm starting to think I should send mine back to be checked out.

 

[JB75]

try glaser power ball!

 

[ka.kurat9mm]

i bought mine last year and shoot several hundred rounds ...no problem,very nice and even shoot tighter grouping,RIA was made from old colt macheniry during the US pacific compaign which now making RIA 1911.

 

[gunnermike]

good

 

[Nightwalker65]

This was before I added the Ed Brown oversize barrel bushing, $20 and the groups are half this size now(This was 7yds,both eyes open,front sight only)...the Wilson Extended slide stop and Tactical extended thumb safety,as well as the bushing were drop-in parts,fit perfectly!

this is the rig I carry it in....a Tagua holster,less than $40 but extremely well made!

 

[Nightwalker65]

Just wondering, what kind of issues do you have with your RIA? I have a compact Rock that will not feed hollow point ammo. I just gave in and shoot 230gr ball ammo. I'm starting to think I should send mine back to be checked out.

Find a good 'smith and have him buff the feed ramp a bit,and it should be fine...mine feeds anything I put in it,no matter the weight,FMJ or HP

 

[msd]

Just bought me a compact, 2 weeks ago. Having issues with it going into full battery.
I think I got this issue taken care of. It seems to prefer .467-.468 on the crimp.
Will find out more today. With work, I haven't had much time to play with it.

One thing I did notice is the tightness in the slide to frame fit. It is nearly as good as my Kimbers.

 

[Ram-jac]

I bought a CS model from INGO member just to plink around with. I've had good luck with it. No problems of any kind that weren't operator incduced.....haha! Good luck

 

[JetGirl]

Find a good 'smith and have him buff the feed ramp a bit,and it should be fine...mine feeds anything I put in it,no matter the weight,FMJ or HP

Check first to make sure you're not gonna void their warranty or something.

Just wondering, what kind of issues do you have with your RIA? I have a compact Rock that will not feed hollow point ammo. I just gave in and shoot 230gr ball ammo. I'm starting to think I should send mine back to be checked out.

The first thing was that it wasn't going into full battery all the time. After pulling out the micrometer, turns out they were feeding my .451 diameter bullets, but not my .452.
.451 using the barrel as a gauge just for the photos:

.452:

They said they were gonna rechamber it, because there was no reason for it to be that finicky & tight. Turns out they sent me a new barrel instead. Problem was, they sent me a 3" barrel ...

So I had to get back with them to get the right one, which took a little bit of hassle, but not an un-doable thing (and in fact the only thing that didn't go smooth as silk when dealing with them).

The second problem was that the C-shaped bushing (in front of the spring) chipped and the spring got boogered up between the slide and the barrel. Stuck.

They fixed that and then told me they were unhappy about how it was feeding other ammo (HP)...so they kept it a few extra days until they polished the ramp and changed the angle on it quite a bit.
When they sent it back, they sent me another mag and a bunch of SWAG (bumperstickers, pens, cards, etc.)...probably because of the 3" barrel thing...

 

[04DarkShadowGT]

So aparently you have some experience with their CS. How is it? Are they pretty easy to deal with?

Imo their customer service is mediocre. Anytime you have to pay to ship a gun back two weeks after you buy it because it fails to return to battery that is not good service. I understand that they probably get so many guns sent back that they cant afford to pay for shipping both ways, but imo make a gun that functions out of the box and you don't have to worry about that. I have had a smith, taurus, and springfield 1911s that were all 100% out of the box.

Once it was there they did several things to help the reliability and it seemed to work. I sold the gun, but the new owner loves it and I have not heard any bad since he had it. Never failed on me after getting it back and hasn't for him.

 

[Caleb]

Thought about getting myself one, if not a kimber

 

[illmaniac123]

RIA are amazing guns for the price. Ive held a few and they are toleranced very well. I would but one way before I bought a taurus or regent 1911. They also make some nice upgraded models. Armscor also makes citadels that are loaded 1911s. Overall Id say go for it!

 

[IncendiaryGunner]

I have not had any issues with my RIA GI 1911...

For the money, I think they are hard to beat...

My RIA 1911 actually gets carried more than my Springfield or Kimber... They are both great guns, but with my RIA I do not fret about wear as much, since it was not as big of an investment...