Upgrading a barebones 1911 compact

[jbos6]

I bought a Rock Island Compact 1911 (3.5" barrel) a bunch of years ago. It's bone stock right now, and shoots fine. I take it out to the range once in a while (when any sane person can afford ammo). Thinking about upgrades. What would you do to it to improve?

 

[Twigg]

Ambi safety, extended slide release & grips, moar magazines.

 

[whalerman69]

I bought a Rock Island Compact 1911 (3.5" barrel) a bunch of years ago. It's bone stock right now, and shoots fine. I take it out to the range once in a while (when any sane person can afford ammo). Thinking about upgrades. What would you do to it to improve?

 

[Mudflap621]

The rock island is upgrade sights first if it’s anything like the ones I’ve seen. From there I’d get some upgrades tool steel internals. I want my guns to run don’t care as much about how they look.

 

[jbos6]

The rock island is upgrade sights first if it’s anything like the ones I’ve seen. From there I’d get some upgrades tool steel internals. I want my guns to run don’t care as much about how they look.

I'm with you, I primarily care how it runs. Would love to improve the trigger. My SW910 and P226 Legion have pushbutton triggers ... would be nice to improve that!

 

[m_n_x]

If it's the basic GI compact I have the same pistol. With a little polishing I found the trigger to be acceptable. The GI sights sucked though. Replacement sight choices are limited. Front sight is a narrow tenon as I recall and there isn't much meat on the slide to cut for other options. I did find some white dots that fit which is better than the blade sight at least for cheap money. It's not a gun you want to spend a lot on but mine runs great.

 

[mac1911]

I bought a Rock Island Compact 1911 (3.5" barrel) a bunch of years ago. It's bone stock right now, and shoots fine. I take it out to the range once in a while (when any sane person can afford ammo). Thinking about upgrades. What would you do to it to improve?

start with what you dont like about the pistol.

 

[drgrant]

I bought a Rock Island Compact 1911 (3.5" barrel) a bunch of years ago. It's bone stock right now, and shoots fine. I take it out to the range once in a while (when any sane person can afford ammo). Thinking about upgrades. What would you do to it to improve?

Sell it and buy a G30 Gen4 or a G30S.

ETA: I kid I kid, well, almost...... if I ever went back to carrying a 1911 It 'd have to be a commander or larger. Commanders are much easier to deal with. Even a "commanding officers' would be way better than a regular officers mod. I used to carry two colt officers mods, while they worked well, there are lots of shortcomings with 1911s that small.

 

[snax]

Since this is the first 1911 thread that popped up.. this is interesting...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhwMkoWH2hU

100 years on the battlefield.
It actually fired.

 

[45collector]

Definitely get rid of the milspec sights if that’s what it has. Other than that if it runs nice, leave it as is until you start having problems. Eventually MIM parts will break (or at least sooner than forged ones) and then you can start looking for nice quality upgrade parts. If you don’t shoot the gun often it will probably outlast you. RI makes decent inexpensive 1911’s.

 

[mac1911]

I bought a Rock Island Compact 1911 (3.5" barrel) a bunch of years ago. It's bone stock right now, and shoots fine. I take it out to the range once in a while (when any sane person can afford ammo). Thinking about upgrades. What would you do to it to improve?

You could always call greg derr and ask what he would do to it knowing its a range blaster