RIA 1911 Questions..

[trio]

After doing enough reading i decided to break down and buy one...for 300 bucks its hard to argue with the deal...couple things...


I get hammer bit very badly...I, unfortunately, also like the original look better...anyone know a method or a place I can find info about bobbing the hammer and grip safety?

Also, I would like different sights...does this require milling of the slide?

thanks

[Deacon Aegis]

Trio,
Unfortunately I don't have any info on bobbing the hammer, hopefully one of our other RIA owners may be able to help you there. I do know that you don't want to remove too much mass from the hammer, but just enough to keep it from hammer biting you.

As for the sights, there are many, many good sights out there that you will find to fit your RIA. The thing to know is that the RIA's front sight (at least on the government clone models) is a "Narrow Tenon" staked sight. Any narrow tenon front sight should make an adequate replacement pending your preferences. The rear sight is a standard "Series 70 GI" dovetail. There are several sights designed to fit right in. Here's a link to King's Gun Works, where they have great sights:

http://www.kingsgunworks.com/newcatalog/page02.html

You can also dig through Brownell's for a wide selection of sights:

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/ns/store/catsearch.aspx?c=2067&p=3946

I made the mistake of ordering a Novak sight, having looked at the picture and having not been educated on the different style of sight cuts. I found that Caspian's web site (supplier of custom 1911 frames, slides, and other parts) has a section showing the different sight cut options for their slides and this really helped me get an understanding of the differences visually. Here's a link to their sight cut options page just in case it may help you:

http://www.caspianarms.com/html/slides/sightcuts.html

[trio]

thanks man...good to know...have any experience with true drop in beavertails on these babies?

I have zero to none gunsmithing ability, so the installation of such would have to be very simple

[Deacon Aegis]

Ah beavertails. Hehe, funny you should mention that.... I researched and researched. Read posts by others who were looking for drop in beaver tails, read through Al Rosales' posts since he recently did a beaver tail mod on his RIA and crawled all the way through the archives here. I then went and talked with the smith at the gunshop I frequent and a few other shooters I ran across with some familiarity with RIA and beaver tails. Ultimately I settled on buying a beavertail from Brownells that was supposed to be a true drop-in beaver tail and waited patiently for the mail to deliver my hand-saving prize....

The result was less than satisfactory. The gaps and angles around the frame flange were wrong, the look was sloppy and within minutes I decided to give up on that one and get one that required cutting the frame. I settled on the King's 605C beaver tail simply because I wanted a beavertail that did not have the deep recessed groove (an extra place difficult to clean where dirt, grit, and debri can hide). I spent 10 hours yesterday fitting the beavertail to my frame and still have some polishing to do. Unfortunately There are gaps on the inside of the handle where the old safety was maybe a few thousandths of an inch wider.

A Smith at King's recommended the #204 grip safety for the closest fitting beavertail to the RIA frame. I unfortunately was following another direction already by the time I heard that information and I don't know how well the fit is, but in all my searching, that may be the last, best option for a drop in beavertail with near close fitting acceptability. Check out Kings beaver tails here:

http://www.kingsgunworks.com/newcatalog/page03.html

No promises though as I'm not familiar with the smith there nor do I know his familiarty with the RIA, but if I were to try and find a drop in that would be closest, I'd say that is probably your best bet. This was a long and arduous ordeal trying to find and I ended up cutting. Don't get your hopes to much up, but good luck. If you do buy that one, I'd love to know how well the fit is. I think a confirmed drop in for RIA would make lots of folks happy. Good luck ;)

[trio]

so will .055 narrow tang for the front sight work?

[TxStorm]

at Blindhogg's site.. lots of basic info on various gunsmithing areas for 1911's:

http://www.blindhogg.com/gunsmithing.html

Been looking there myself and he covers sights, BT's etc.

[Mick_In_Texas]

TxStorm...

Good site. Bookmarked that one, myself.

You and yours take care and be safe.
Mick

[.22shorty]

King's #204 works great for mil spec guns. Have used them on a colt and springfield. Go for it. You will have to trim back the hammer a bit,but its easy just use a file , keep it squared up and file some then check file then check file then check.......take little bites you can always take more off but can't put back. Have fun it's easy..