P.I. pistol

[ranger37000]

ran accross a Rock Island Armory 1911 45 today made in the Philipines today. What in the world is that all about? Anyone?

[jdboy]

From what I understand and have been told, RIA, SAM and Charles Daly are more or less the same gun. Not really sure how true this is. Just going by what I was told by a local dealer. All of which are made in the Philippines. I own a Century Arms and it has the Century Stamp on the slide but the right hand side of the frame is stamped SAM Philippines. This also leads me to believe what the local guy said. That they make several firearms for various importers.

[Kerwin]

Charles Daly, Armscor and Rock Island are all made by Armscor. SAM on the other hand is made by Shooters Arms Manufacturing Inc.
Armscor is in Parang, Marikina while SAM Inc. is located in Mandaue, Cebu CITY.

There are at least four gun manufaturers in the Philippines but i guess only Armscor and SAM made it to the U.S. market. :)

The other two are:
FLORO international Corp., they make upgrades for the 105 howitzers, claymore mines and the FEDERAL 1911; and

DAMANCOR (Danao Arms Manufacturing Corp.)

[gsis shooter]

RIA 1911s are assembled by Twin Pines Inc. a big gun store and dealer in the Philippines. The early production run of RIAs have their frame came from Imbel of Brazil, slides and other components from Armscor. Today, however, RIA 1911s are 100% armscor including the small parts. Probably this is due to rising dollar exchange rate. The RIAs here are more refined and commands higher price than Armscor pistols. RIAs logo for one is very attractive to local buyers as if it is made from the U.S. OF A. You know, here in the Philippines, anything made from the US is regarded as superior as compared to other products made from other countries especially from China.

Mine however, is SAM Falcon, a locally made high capacity 1911 in .45acp. I like this gun due to the contour of its grip. Its grip is slimmer as compared to armscor high-cap or para-ordnance. It accepts mecgar mags 14.45, but it now contains 15 ammo per mags bcoz of the +1 basepad. Excellent shooter, no malfunction whatsoever, around 1500 rounds fired already. Someday i want to own RIA in .38 super which i considered a classic cartridge. Seldom now in the Philippines uses that caliber especially in the shooting world. :p