Picked up my RIA 10mm double stack today and thought I'd share first impressions. I think the model is 52009, and that's a whole lot easier than trying to figure out what they call it. It's this one, the 5" model without tac rail:
Naturally, I'll have to throw in some background.
A couple of years ago I picked up a Tanfoglio Witness Hunter in 10mm, and have seriously enjoyed that pistol. But, I've felt for years a more 1911-like 10mm would be great, if offered in a double stack version. While there have been a couple out there for a while I guess, the Dan Wesson at over $4,000 was out of the question, and I seldom if ever saw anything else.
Well, anyway, I started doing some research again recently and, while looking at 45 Auto doublestacks, accidentally bumped into the Rock Island offerrings. Searched gunbroker, found one, bought it. Sure glad I did, so far.
Choices
It was actually on YouTube that I saw a brief review of the Pro Match high capacity model--a 6", 16-round model. I would have bought the first one I found online, but saw that it has a big o' tactical rail--something that not only do I not care for much, but that also makes no sense to me at all on a 'match' pistol. So, the 5" with conventional GI-style dust cover it was.
At the Range
Oh boy. If you're not familiar with this one, it's an all-steel, no-goofing around, fairly plain-Jane 1911. Substantial in it's mass, and in my opinion, very nicely made. A no-rattle 1911 that will need to be broken in, the slide-to-frame fit is snug, and it sounds like a 1911 that would cost 3 times as much or more.
I'll express what I like about it, and what I think could be improved--all my opinions based strictly on 'what I like'.
First off, nothing engraved, laser-etched, stamped, painted or otherwise emblazoned on the slide--nothing. No swirley script lettering, no "please read instructions", no goofy "Black Ops" this or "covert" that. No snake hide serrations front or rear--just the standard, straight and vertical GI serrations at the rear. Nice. I like that.
The finish throughout is matte black--a charcoal gray if you will, with uniform color and texture overall. A nice job with no visible machining marks, no melted edges where some guy spent too much time in the buffing wheel and accidentally knocked off crisp edges. I like that too.
As far as the 'wide body' aspect of the grip area, it's perfectly comfortable for me and my average-sized hands with what I think are somewhat short fingers. Index finger is free to press the trigger comfortably anywhere from the tip of the finger to the first joint of the finger. No issues. The flat front of the grip feels different than what I'm used to--and it does give an initial sensation of '2x4', but I think I liked it almost immediately. Without question, my concerns about it feeling big and bulky vaporized immediately after taking it out of the box.
All that said, the very well-fitted metal magwell is machined with a somewhat odd notch at that back, exposing additional checkered backstrap:
Someone out there may know why the manuf did this--but I don't know. In any case, those corners are sharp. While I didn't notice it while shooting, after getting home and holding the gun again, I could definitely tell that the meaty part of the hand that touches the magwell there took a bit of a beating. I'll either remove the magwell and contour those corners, or fill that slot with a steel insert. When I say those corners are sharp--I really mean it.
Similarly with the area of the frame on each side of the grip just under the ambi safety:
This is very minor, but it's another less-than-smooth area of the grip that my hand notices after a while. I find when shooting 10mm even from a relatively heavy gun, there's a serious grip involved, and these little slots can be felt over time. So, my second beef.
Same with the safety itself--while an ambi safety has no attraction for me to begin with, the levers are huge to me, and the left one is right in the way of where I want my thumb--and there's almost no escaping it. For my tastes, I'd prefer a GI safety lever with smooth contours that stays out of my way. This is a change I can see making immediately.
Shooting.
Yikes...fell in love immediately--what a solid feeling, comfortable gun. I have to say this might be just about the perfect platform for 10mm--I believe anyone could shoot it all day long with full up loads and be quite happy.
The trigger is, I think, supposed to be 4-5 lb if I remember the ad copy. I would have guessed 5-6 lb, just guessing. It's a crisp 1911 trigger that I have no complaints with--but I'd like to back off that weight 2 lbs I think. I have not measured it, so it might very well be I'm just used to 3 lb triggers and it feels heavier than it is. Not a big problem--I'm not fussy in these matters.
I shot everything at 15 yds, and after a single rear sight adjust, brought the holes down to just right of point of aim. I'm no precision shooter, and wanted to get some rounds through 'er...but freehand I was able to put together a 3" group with 3 fliers over about 100 rds--a 3" jagged hole. All reds were handloads, most all of which was Hornady HAP 200 gr and XTP 180 gr. I did fire some cast, but unfortuantely, all my cast bullet loads will have to go back to the seating die to get shortened up a bit--I leave them just a bit long to prevent nose-dives in the Glock, but they won't even load in the magazines without being shortened by about 0.015" or so.
I did have several failure to feeds--not certain what's happening, but the rounds seem to get jammed up coming out of the steel magazine, maybe popping out with too much enthusiasm. While I did have a couple misfeeds where the live round stovepiped, most seemed to get cocked upward too high as they entered the chamber. These were neither the first rounds nor near the last of the magazine load. Seemed a bit random.
I had one single round prevent the slide from going into battery, but when I finally extracted that thing, it was simply a case that had been Glocked and apparently I hadn't squeezed thru my de-Glock die.
Folks seem to like FO front sights, but I'm not among them. I expect another early mod will be to pull out the fiber optic completely, or modify the aft end with a drop of black paint. I can see a replacement sight in the very near future if I'm not thrilled with the backwoods mod.
The rear sight is rock solid and was easy to adjust--no wiggle, no problems.
About the only other thing: it seems the recoil spring may be a bit light, I don't know. I haven't measured it, but it just seems a little bit too easy to retract that slide. I've got a couple of heavier springs on the way--we'll see it they solve a problem I don't have.
I am, overall,l thrilled with this thing -- there are some kinks to work through, but it's had 100 rds or so thru it, so no big surprise there. I'm confident it will turn out to be my favorite 10mm by far. I find very little about it to be anything less than first-rate. It is plain and rather ordinary in appearance--and that suits my taste perfectly. I'm also very confident it will shoot far better than I can shoot it, so I have no worries there. I'd definitely buy another one...if I had any remote reason to own two of them.
Naturally, I'll have to throw in some background.
A couple of years ago I picked up a Tanfoglio Witness Hunter in 10mm, and have seriously enjoyed that pistol. But, I've felt for years a more 1911-like 10mm would be great, if offered in a double stack version. While there have been a couple out there for a while I guess, the Dan Wesson at over $4,000 was out of the question, and I seldom if ever saw anything else.
Well, anyway, I started doing some research again recently and, while looking at 45 Auto doublestacks, accidentally bumped into the Rock Island offerrings. Searched gunbroker, found one, bought it. Sure glad I did, so far.
Choices
It was actually on YouTube that I saw a brief review of the Pro Match high capacity model--a 6", 16-round model. I would have bought the first one I found online, but saw that it has a big o' tactical rail--something that not only do I not care for much, but that also makes no sense to me at all on a 'match' pistol. So, the 5" with conventional GI-style dust cover it was.
At the Range
Oh boy. If you're not familiar with this one, it's an all-steel, no-goofing around, fairly plain-Jane 1911. Substantial in it's mass, and in my opinion, very nicely made. A no-rattle 1911 that will need to be broken in, the slide-to-frame fit is snug, and it sounds like a 1911 that would cost 3 times as much or more.
I'll express what I like about it, and what I think could be improved--all my opinions based strictly on 'what I like'.
First off, nothing engraved, laser-etched, stamped, painted or otherwise emblazoned on the slide--nothing. No swirley script lettering, no "please read instructions", no goofy "Black Ops" this or "covert" that. No snake hide serrations front or rear--just the standard, straight and vertical GI serrations at the rear. Nice. I like that.
The finish throughout is matte black--a charcoal gray if you will, with uniform color and texture overall. A nice job with no visible machining marks, no melted edges where some guy spent too much time in the buffing wheel and accidentally knocked off crisp edges. I like that too.
As far as the 'wide body' aspect of the grip area, it's perfectly comfortable for me and my average-sized hands with what I think are somewhat short fingers. Index finger is free to press the trigger comfortably anywhere from the tip of the finger to the first joint of the finger. No issues. The flat front of the grip feels different than what I'm used to--and it does give an initial sensation of '2x4', but I think I liked it almost immediately. Without question, my concerns about it feeling big and bulky vaporized immediately after taking it out of the box.
All that said, the very well-fitted metal magwell is machined with a somewhat odd notch at that back, exposing additional checkered backstrap:
Someone out there may know why the manuf did this--but I don't know. In any case, those corners are sharp. While I didn't notice it while shooting, after getting home and holding the gun again, I could definitely tell that the meaty part of the hand that touches the magwell there took a bit of a beating. I'll either remove the magwell and contour those corners, or fill that slot with a steel insert. When I say those corners are sharp--I really mean it.
Similarly with the area of the frame on each side of the grip just under the ambi safety:
This is very minor, but it's another less-than-smooth area of the grip that my hand notices after a while. I find when shooting 10mm even from a relatively heavy gun, there's a serious grip involved, and these little slots can be felt over time. So, my second beef.
Same with the safety itself--while an ambi safety has no attraction for me to begin with, the levers are huge to me, and the left one is right in the way of where I want my thumb--and there's almost no escaping it. For my tastes, I'd prefer a GI safety lever with smooth contours that stays out of my way. This is a change I can see making immediately.
Shooting.
Yikes...fell in love immediately--what a solid feeling, comfortable gun. I have to say this might be just about the perfect platform for 10mm--I believe anyone could shoot it all day long with full up loads and be quite happy.
The trigger is, I think, supposed to be 4-5 lb if I remember the ad copy. I would have guessed 5-6 lb, just guessing. It's a crisp 1911 trigger that I have no complaints with--but I'd like to back off that weight 2 lbs I think. I have not measured it, so it might very well be I'm just used to 3 lb triggers and it feels heavier than it is. Not a big problem--I'm not fussy in these matters.
I shot everything at 15 yds, and after a single rear sight adjust, brought the holes down to just right of point of aim. I'm no precision shooter, and wanted to get some rounds through 'er...but freehand I was able to put together a 3" group with 3 fliers over about 100 rds--a 3" jagged hole. All reds were handloads, most all of which was Hornady HAP 200 gr and XTP 180 gr. I did fire some cast, but unfortuantely, all my cast bullet loads will have to go back to the seating die to get shortened up a bit--I leave them just a bit long to prevent nose-dives in the Glock, but they won't even load in the magazines without being shortened by about 0.015" or so.
I did have several failure to feeds--not certain what's happening, but the rounds seem to get jammed up coming out of the steel magazine, maybe popping out with too much enthusiasm. While I did have a couple misfeeds where the live round stovepiped, most seemed to get cocked upward too high as they entered the chamber. These were neither the first rounds nor near the last of the magazine load. Seemed a bit random.
I had one single round prevent the slide from going into battery, but when I finally extracted that thing, it was simply a case that had been Glocked and apparently I hadn't squeezed thru my de-Glock die.
Folks seem to like FO front sights, but I'm not among them. I expect another early mod will be to pull out the fiber optic completely, or modify the aft end with a drop of black paint. I can see a replacement sight in the very near future if I'm not thrilled with the backwoods mod.
The rear sight is rock solid and was easy to adjust--no wiggle, no problems.
About the only other thing: it seems the recoil spring may be a bit light, I don't know. I haven't measured it, but it just seems a little bit too easy to retract that slide. I've got a couple of heavier springs on the way--we'll see it they solve a problem I don't have.
I am, overall,l thrilled with this thing -- there are some kinks to work through, but it's had 100 rds or so thru it, so no big surprise there. I'm confident it will turn out to be my favorite 10mm by far. I find very little about it to be anything less than first-rate. It is plain and rather ordinary in appearance--and that suits my taste perfectly. I'm also very confident it will shoot far better than I can shoot it, so I have no worries there. I'd definitely buy another one...if I had any remote reason to own two of them.
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