ATI 1911 (philipines)

J

joe sixgun

New member
I'm sure its been asked before but does anyone who has OWNED one of these have any opinions they will share? I came across one at a very good price and got excited but haven't fired a 1911 since my days in the Marine Corps. That was a looking time ago. Thanks in advance.
 
I have both ATI guns and RIA (Armscor) guns from the Philippines. Both are excellent, utilitarian guns, but, of the two, I think the ATIs, made by Shooters Arms in Cebu City, Cebu have a slight edge over the Armscors in both fit and finish.

On my trips to the PI, I had ample opportunities to examine ATIs in Shooters Arms outlet stores which are located all over in almost every province. In addition, spare parts were available for sale in the store, which I examined and found to be of superior quality, at least in appearance and finish. I almost bought a Commander hammer while there , but, after converting from pesos to $$, I changed my mind. LOL!!:D (Kind of pricey.)

Here in the U.S. I have a couple ATIs, the latest of which was the 1911 Wild Bunch shooters model and I have been very pleased with it. I did a couple of tweaks to it to make it look more like an original 1911 (Colt 1911 slide, 1911 short hammer, etc.), and all parts were total drop ins. Neither of the ATIs has given me an ounce of trouble for general shooting and plinking.

My Armscors (RIA) have also been trouble free as is, and I have also purchased about a dozen or so RIA frames from Sarco which I made up into utility shooters using surplus parts, Brazilian slides, etc. They, too, were 98% drop in, and turned out to be excellent shooters.

IMHO, I think they are excellent values for the money, and certainly light years ahead of the junk that is coming out of Turkey.
 
Yes, that's a decent buy. I think dealer cost is more than that. Cheapest ATI I found on Bud's was a Commander at $366.00, and the rest were out of stock.
 
ATI is just the importer. As gyvel already commented, they are made by Shooters Arms Manufacturing (a.k.a. S.A.M.) in the Philippines. S.A.M. is a long-established firearms manufacturer in the Philippines, almost as old as Armscor. They've been making 1911s for a long time and they do it well.
 
I have found the 1911 guns made in the Philippines are very functional firearms. They are not a gold cup, but I have yet to come across one that's junk.

Fit and finish are quite utilitarian, but my guns are tools, and are treated as such, so having a $1K Colt because it's shinier serves me no purpose. I have a RIA that I have several thousands of rounds through (and abused by some, which were 1000fps 200gr loads) and it still functions fine.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy another if I were in the 1911 market.
 
The 1911s mentioned probably have cast frames instead of the forged ones of the more expensive brands.
But that's never hurt Rugers or the much abused internals of vehicle engines.
 
I think if I can get back there I will pick one up. It's about a 2.5 hour drive so may have to wait until I get back that way for work. That's regular price at that shop so not a big rush.
 
I bought the ATI Commander and couldn't believe it was just $369. The slide/frame fit was actually superb and the pistol is an excellent shooter that eats everything I've fed it. I did swapped out the grips with some better wood grips. Don't really care for the standard GI sights, and I would recommend dumping the mags and use some Wilson or Chip McCormick mags instead. But these ATI's are surprisingly well built and offer excellent value.
 
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