Printable View
Not to start a firestorm with purists, but here's a link to my post on the M1 carbine Forum here that I haunt. They are not junk, as some would have you believe.
Picked up a friend for my carbine - Military Surplus Collectors Forums
Here's a picture of mine with 1911A1 hammer, back strap and grips.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...RI1911A1-1.jpg
You bet they are pretty nice and for the price they are a homerun. I have two and love them. I have a bunch of Colts, but they stay in the safe. You cannot beat the Rocks for everyday use. I keep one by the front door and one by the back.
I have had a Glock 19 in a fanny pack as a carry gun since I retired from being a LEO. I now have a larger fanny pack, and the Rock Island is in it! As they say, a 9mm may expand, but a .45 NEVER shrinks!
Hell, I'll take that Rock over any Glock any day. I am a Glock hater and proud of it.
The Glock 20 10mm I carried for awhile was a great weapon, but dang big!
I have one and love it, I have not replaced the main spring housing yet, what type of mags do you use? I have some springfields and I have feed jams, but the wilson combats I have are awsome.
It came with an 8 rounder, a common brand name (not Mec-Gar) that feeds well. I ordered 3 supposedly GI with FSN new in wrap from Numrich. The are blued, though, and the wrappers look like the wrappers on the Korean M1 carbine mags. They work OK, but I wish they were pakerized. All I have fired so far is ball ammo, since NO ONE in the area has HPs, and I hate to order small ammounts of ammo from GB.
The RIA's come with a a very nice Novak mag and I use Triple K which works better than most. I use handloaded Hornady HP/XTP 230 grn bullets which have never had a failure to fire. I hated the smooth grips that came with the gun and replace them with WWII Colt 1911a1's. My pistol looks exactly like yours.
LOL! I have a RIA GI model that I did exactly the same to! Except mine has a Colt trigger and thumb safety (those just dropped in). I also have a Colt hammer and grip safety, but I can't make those work, I need to take it to a smith to have those fitted and installed.Quote:
Originally Posted by imarangemaster
It's the one on the bottom, still has the RIA thumb safety in this photo. Colt WWII repro on top.
https://www.milsurps.com/
Aside from my CMP Inland racker (which is a real peach with RMC Highwood I cut) the RIA 1911 is the best $400 I spent!
I have three. The one above, a Compact that's my daily CCW beater, and this one that I customized (yes, shameless showing off). It started out as a GI model too, I turned it into a "clone" of their Tactical model. Cost a lot of money and a bunch of work. Trust me, just buy a Tactical to begin with and have it refinished if you wish.
I installed the Tactical parts myself, including modifying the frame and fitting the beavertail, also smoothed the grooves off the trigger face, then I had it blued at a local gunsmith's. Novak's installed the sights. It's a great shooter.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...DSCN1370-1.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...DSCN1378-1.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...s/DSCN1394.jpg
Oh I forgot to mention the first time I took it the range the bushing broke and the recoil spring plug went down range. The gunsmith sold me a used bushing and 1000 rounds later no more issues.
This is weird. I replaced the factory RIA hammer with a GI 1911A1 wide spur hammer. Took it out and fired it...AND IT SUCKED! Very stiff and hard at the very end of pull. I put the factory hammer back on and it it a beautiful and crisp at about 2 pounds. Go figure? Someday I will stone the GI hammer, but for now, the RIA hammer is a winner.
I have been thinking about getting one of these myself, I see they come with a flat MSH, I like the looks of that, but I see it has no lanyard loop. Where could I find a flat GI MSH with the loop, and will it interchange if I did/could even find one?
Pick up an arched GI backstrap with lanyard off EBay or GB. It slides right in. I used the spring assembly from the RIA back strap in the GI one. The Post WW2 grips were $10 on Ebay.
Smith & Alexander makes MSH's with lanyard loops, I have an arched/checkered one on my RIA that I made into a Colt clone. I believe they have flat, smooth MSH's with lanyard loops too. And yes, it'll slide right in. A MSH w/loop from an original WWI Colt M1911 will too.
Here a flat with lanyard cheap...Quote:
Originally Posted by ww2farmer
1911 USGI Style Flat Mainspring Housing w/Loop - eBay (item 300413449852 end time Apr-08-10 16:57:40 PDT)