Rock Island 1911s? and 1911 in general

[seanc]

anybody have any experience with the RI 1911s? I am looking at one, and they seem to have great feedback. But i am a little confused. I get differing information that they are 100% 1911 compatible, but then I hear that they use proprietary mags??

Also, if I go for a 38 super, can i just swap out the bbl, bushing and mag and have a 9mm?

and finally, if I have a standard 1911 in 45, can i convert to 9mm just by buying an upper and swapping the mag? do I need to modify the frame at all?
Thanks in advance!!

 

[EddieCoyle]

I have two - one in .45 and one in .38 Super. IMHO, they can't be beat for the money. Both of mine have been 100% reliable. The sights are hard to see, but they're old-school GI-style and can be upgraded. The triggers aren't great, but that's what trigger jobs are for.

Other mags will fit, but they don't feed. The rest of the pistol seems to be 1911-compatible as I've swapped a few parts with no problems.

I can't speak on the conversions, but if you want to go from .38 Super to 9mm, you can probably use the same mag. You'll likely have to mess with the recoil spring weight though.

 

[Boston-Irish]

mine came with Novak mags....
I use wilson combat and Chip McCormaks in mine all the time. Can't say i have had alot of problems. I did crack the barrel link though... waiting to get it fixed.

 

[2000GM]

Even the "tactical" model is a very good deal, and IIRC it has better sights on it. I keep meaning to look into them myself, they (Armscor/RIA) being one of the few 1911s we can buy new. I had no idea their mags were different though. That may be a deal breaker.

 

[seanc]

mine came with Novak mags....
I use wilson combat and Chip McCormaks in mine all the time. Can't say i have had alot of problems. I did crack the barrel link though... waiting to get it fixed.

Just for reference, was this a 45 or 38 super?? Those sound like pretty standard mags. if they are then I will probably take the plunge.

The options I am looking at are the RIA for @ 425 and then one of the Colt's for @ 800. But, if "standard" parts (mags included) aew not going to fit, then long term the Colt probably is a better way to go..

 

[Finalygotabeltfed]

Unless they've changed something in their design, RIA .45s should take regular magazines. For the price I think they're a good gun and mine have functioned perfectly with all brands of ammo including Wolf.

 

[EddieCoyle]

I was referring to the .38 Super when I said that standard mags weren't compatible. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[seanc]

I did a bit more asking and calling around to a well respected gun as well as the RIA distributor.
As far as mags go, the distrinutor says that "all standard magazines will work in EITHER the 38spr or the 45, but we only support the use of Novak mags".. Hmmm curious.

The RKI/ delaer that I am in contact with has said that nothing BUT the Novak mags will work in either.

Talked to that well known gunsmith about this project, the idea here is to build up a gun into a 9mm btw. And he said that he was less than impressed with the RIA guns that he has worked on in the past. He said that while they were good guns, he thinks that the Colt (the other option for me) would be far superior for what I want to ultimately end up with.

The upside is that I much prefer blue to the parkerized.
The down side of course is the colt is just about 2x as much.

 

[Fsorrent]

Damn, with all these 1911 threads you'd think C-pher just started up a 1911 group buy...