adroitus
25th February 2005, 11:45
My RIA story starts about three weeks ago when I decided I wanted a M1911 pattern gun for my carry piece. (I'm a pretty big guy, so I think a big gun won't be too hard for me to conceal. Time will tell.) I was signed up for the class I needed in order to get my concealed carry permit, which is this weekend. This class is one day of orientation to use of force, decision making and legal ramifications and one day of tactical training with live fire. I wanted to have my gun for the class, but needed to take it out and shoot it to make sure it was reliable enough to make it through a 500-round day at the range.
After researching this forum and others, the RIA looked like a good value and a solid performer. I called my local gun shop and they had one on the shelf for $329. It was a basic G.I. model-looking gun with Parkerized finish, but had the nice touches like a beveled mag well, lowered and flared ejection port, and 8-rd Novak magazine. It went home with me that same day. After looking at the sights I realized that I would need something better than the G.I. spec sights that were on it, and I wanted a beavertail on it too. I took it to a local gunsmith and we picked out some Millet low-profile three-dot sights (front post and rear dovetail,) a Wilson Combat "drop-in" beavertail and Commander-style hammer. I kept the gun because I wanted to shoot it before doing any work on it.
I didn't get to shoot it that weekend because the gravel pit where I usually shoot was getting saturated by rain mixed with snow, but my class was getting closer and my gunsmith had jury duty looming ahead of him, so I chickened out and asked him to go ahead with the work. I know I should have shot the gun first, but after the glowing reviews I read here and other places, I decided to risk it and let him get started.
My gunsmith was able to install the sights with minimal work, but the drop-in beavertail wouldn't fit without machining the frame and the hammer had a different shape than the stock hammer and wouldn't fit without modification. I decided to forget about the beavertail and hoped that the A1 frame would protect me. I also bought 2 more Novak magazines identical to the OEM mags that came with the gun.
The next weekend I took the gun to an indoor range with 250 rounds of Remington UMC 230gr ball ammo and 50 more rounds of the same from Independence. I immediately started having failure-to-feed problems. I had picked out sights that were the same height as the factory sights, but the gun shot about 3" low at 10 yards. The FTF problems were making shooting the gun tedious. (My FTF rate for the whole day would end up being somewhere between 7 and 10%.)
I got through about 125 rounds and my front sight shot loose. What the hell? I packed everything up and took the gun back to my gunsmith. He ran the front sight through his swaging tool again, but the sight would not tighten down. He measured the thickness of the metal of the top of the slide and found that it was a bit thicker than a Colt and was not allowing the sight swaging tool to work properly. He did it "the old-fashioned way" and swaged the post with a punch, which left the sight firmly mounted again. He also adjusted the rear sight a bit to correct the point of impact. While he had it on the bench he gave the chamber a throat job and smoothed the feed ramp. I took the gun back to the range and continued shooting.
Point-of-impact was higher, and FTFs were fewer and farther between, but not completely gone. After another 75 rounds or so, the front sight shot off completely. I finished my ammo, hoping to break the gun in a bit more, and managed to hit the paper even without sights.
I think I will keep this gun and continue working with it to see if I can make it a reliable weapon. I guess I am one of the unlucky ones who got a diamond in the rough that will need some TLC to make work instead of a cut and polished gem. I think I will get a dovetail cut for the front sight, and continue to work on the feed ramp and chamber.
I will use a rented Glock 17 for my class this weekend. :mad: Maybe by the time I get my permit, my RIA will be ready to carry.
Adroitus
"An armed society is a polite society."
R.A. Heinlein
After researching this forum and others, the RIA looked like a good value and a solid performer. I called my local gun shop and they had one on the shelf for $329. It was a basic G.I. model-looking gun with Parkerized finish, but had the nice touches like a beveled mag well, lowered and flared ejection port, and 8-rd Novak magazine. It went home with me that same day. After looking at the sights I realized that I would need something better than the G.I. spec sights that were on it, and I wanted a beavertail on it too. I took it to a local gunsmith and we picked out some Millet low-profile three-dot sights (front post and rear dovetail,) a Wilson Combat "drop-in" beavertail and Commander-style hammer. I kept the gun because I wanted to shoot it before doing any work on it.
I didn't get to shoot it that weekend because the gravel pit where I usually shoot was getting saturated by rain mixed with snow, but my class was getting closer and my gunsmith had jury duty looming ahead of him, so I chickened out and asked him to go ahead with the work. I know I should have shot the gun first, but after the glowing reviews I read here and other places, I decided to risk it and let him get started.
My gunsmith was able to install the sights with minimal work, but the drop-in beavertail wouldn't fit without machining the frame and the hammer had a different shape than the stock hammer and wouldn't fit without modification. I decided to forget about the beavertail and hoped that the A1 frame would protect me. I also bought 2 more Novak magazines identical to the OEM mags that came with the gun.
The next weekend I took the gun to an indoor range with 250 rounds of Remington UMC 230gr ball ammo and 50 more rounds of the same from Independence. I immediately started having failure-to-feed problems. I had picked out sights that were the same height as the factory sights, but the gun shot about 3" low at 10 yards. The FTF problems were making shooting the gun tedious. (My FTF rate for the whole day would end up being somewhere between 7 and 10%.)
I got through about 125 rounds and my front sight shot loose. What the hell? I packed everything up and took the gun back to my gunsmith. He ran the front sight through his swaging tool again, but the sight would not tighten down. He measured the thickness of the metal of the top of the slide and found that it was a bit thicker than a Colt and was not allowing the sight swaging tool to work properly. He did it "the old-fashioned way" and swaged the post with a punch, which left the sight firmly mounted again. He also adjusted the rear sight a bit to correct the point of impact. While he had it on the bench he gave the chamber a throat job and smoothed the feed ramp. I took the gun back to the range and continued shooting.
Point-of-impact was higher, and FTFs were fewer and farther between, but not completely gone. After another 75 rounds or so, the front sight shot off completely. I finished my ammo, hoping to break the gun in a bit more, and managed to hit the paper even without sights.
I think I will keep this gun and continue working with it to see if I can make it a reliable weapon. I guess I am one of the unlucky ones who got a diamond in the rough that will need some TLC to make work instead of a cut and polished gem. I think I will get a dovetail cut for the front sight, and continue to work on the feed ramp and chamber.
I will use a rented Glock 17 for my class this weekend. :mad: Maybe by the time I get my permit, my RIA will be ready to carry.
Adroitus
"An armed society is a polite society."
R.A. Heinlein