Newbie with a brand-new 1911A2 FS WideNice to meet you all.
A couple weeks ago, my father passed away and left me his vintage WW2 Colt .45. He was an Army Air Force veteran, and smuggled it out with him when his tour in Europe ended. After some deliberation, I decided that the gun was too old and too valuable to risk actively using it. Since crime in my neighborhood has gone up lately (2 houses on my block have been broken into in the last week) I decided to pick myself up a new sidearm.
I'm no stranger to guns. I got my first one, a .410 bolt-action shotgun, for my seventh birthday. My father handed down to me his Remington semiauto .22 rifle when I was 16, and I bought a 20 guage pump action and a lever action Winchester .30-30 when I was 18. This was, however, my first ever handgun purchase.
I was looking for something purely for utilitarian use, so I wanted bottom-dollar. I settles on a .45 ACP because my father had taught me to shoot his 1911 when I was young, and I had a small surplus of .45 ammo. Plus I just LOVE the 45 round. Perfect mix of penetration, knockdown, accuracy, velocity, and weight.
Originally I looked into Hi-Point's .45 because of the price, but I really didn't like the idea of a blowback pistol. The constant barrage of "these are junk" reviews I read also soured me. Yet I couldn't find anything else in an acceptable price range. After several days of hunting I stumbled across a used "Firestorm" 1911 copy in a local pawnshop for $300 and very nearly bought it. But some research beforehand clued me in that it was made by Llama, wasn't an exact 1911 clone, and had a VERY dodgy reputation.
Then by pure luck I stumbled across a forum that mentioned Rock-Island Armory. It was the first I had ever heard of them, and from the topic I read they were decent guns and priced nicely. Then it dawned on me: I had seen a "Rock Island" pistol in the same gun store as the Firestorm. I went back Friday and checked it out. It was a hi-capacity 1911A2 fullsize with a parkerized frame, brand new, for $440. The price bugged me as I was trying to stay <$300, so I went home and did some exhaustive research.
I didn't find a TON of information, but something struck me: What I DID find was all positive! Dozens of times I saw mention of RIA's reliability, customer service, warranty, low price, and on at least 10 seperate occasions I saw quotes to the effect of "shoots like a $1200 match piece at a quarter the price." I didn't see a single negative review in a weekend's worth of searching.
But I couldn't find anything at all on the Hi-Cap .45, except for one little quote that mentioned they were extraordinarily rare. Tallying up the price to order a 1911A1 from the pawn shop, with taxes, transfer fees, and new grips it came out about the same as the 1911A2 sitting on the shelf. So I went back to the pawnshop Monday morning and had them take it out and hand it to me.
My hand orgasmed. I'm 6 foot 6 with giant gorilla hands, and the widebody grip felt like it was absolutely MADE for me. Plus I like a piece with some heft, and it sure delivered. I had never held a gun that was that comfortable in my life! I gave the gun a quick inspection. It was tight as a new boot, the feed ramp was polished without so much as a scuff, the slide was smooth as butter, trigger pull was easy with a crisp break, and there wasn't a hint of rattle with the bolt closed.
That sealed the deal right there. I did the paperwork and was out in 15 minutes with my brand-new 1911A2.I spent the better part of the afternoon teaching myself to field-strip and reassemble it, and getting that super-stiff magazine spring to cooperate.
I'm taking it to the range later this week to put a couple hundred through it and break it in a bit. Every time I pick it up, I get giddy as a schoolboy.
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And welcome to the Cheap Guns Snob Club.
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