This gun store owner is making me buy a .45

My gun store owner made me buy a .45 too, and a couple of 9mms, and a .22 mag, and some shotguns... darn gun store owner!
 
Don't care what you use,
if you don't practice regularly with it,
it's about as useful as a pointy stick.

Most dangerous thing in the world is an old guy,
with an old gun...that he's practiced with a LOT!
Just ask Jerry Miculek ;)
 
If the short barrel 45 doesn't end up working for you, there's the option of going back to a revolver and upsizing to a 44 Special.
 
Your idea of doing a Fluff&Buff is sound. The fact that your gun is so tightly fitted should mean it will be accurate once you get it broke in. Nice tight parts fit is a first step toward accuracy in a 1911. My BIL has a Colt Officers Model and it has been shot enough that it is dead reliable. He bought it used from another Fireman he works with and it had been shot. But who knows how much.
 
I shot my gun again after polishing the barrel and ramp also relieving the extractor tension just a tad.

First few magazines still had to be pushed into battery, but then I had better luck after that.

I think this cheap gun is going to turn me into a gunsmith.

I took a closer look at the guide rod and it was starting to come apart. Apparently RIA uses a two piece design. The red loctite was giving way just enough that the head would move around but it was still a bear to get all the way off.

After fiddling with it for a while I was able to re-loctite it, but this time with blue because it was all I had.

Next thing I noticed was the barrel knees were hitting the slide stop pin.:( This may be adding to the malfunctions. So now I need to try and remove the barrel link so I can file down the radius on the knees and legs.

Last thing I noticed was some peening on the side of the guide rod that faces out toward the barrel. I suspect the recoil spring isn't doing enough so I ordered a Wollf 22 and 24# springs to try out.

I hope eventually this gun works, if not I may have to go back to carrying my "Widow Maker" .38spl.:(
 
Wow. That's a lot going wrong on that gun. I'd always heard good things about Rock Island. I'll have to reconsider that opinion


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I have actually read a lot of good reports on the RIA guns. Maybe calling them cheap is wrong. Inexpensive may be a better word. But other than minor polishing you have to do anything to it. The problems you are describing would have me consider returning it to RIA for a tune up.
 
I'm all for working on your own guns, but it sure sounds like yours came with some problems from the factory. I'm not saying all Rock Islands should be perfect, or any manufacturer for that matter, but I'd say you have enough issues that a call to the factory for a warranty repair wouldn't be out of line. If you want to keep working it yourself more power to you, but to a certain extent you're letting the manufacturer get away with letting a subpar product out the door. Doing that doesn't really motivate a company to improve, or really give them the option to do so.
 
TunnelRat I'm all for working on your own guns, but it sure sounds like yours came with some problems from the factory. I'm not saying all Rock Islands should be perfect, or any manufacturer for that matter, but I'd say you have enough issues that a call to the factory for a warranty repair wouldn't be out of line. If you want to keep working it yourself more power to you, but to a certain extent you're letting the manufacturer get away with letting a subpar product out the door. Doing that doesn't really motivate a company to improve, or really give them the option to do so.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure the OP has voided any possible warranty since he admits he'd messed with it.

The best solution when you get a gun that won't run out of the box is to immediately return it as is to the manufacturer.

Funny that the OP's reason for buying this gun was it being a .45 caliber. Maybe his first criteria should have been reliability.
 
dogtown tom said:
I'm pretty sure the OP has voided any possible warranty since he admits he'd messed with it.



The best solution when you get a gun that won't run out of the box is to immediately return it as is to the manufacturer.



Funny that the OP's reason for buying this gun was it being a .45 caliber. Maybe his first criteria should have been reliability.
Click to expand...



There are 45s that are reliable. There are 1911s that are reliable. But problem pistols do happen.


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SAM_0864.jpg

Here you can see I added slim grips and bushings. The old bushings spun in the frame and were junk from the factory. I don't know if reinstalling another bushing would void the warranty but they always look for a way out.

SAM_0865.jpg

Here you can start to see the impact of the slide stop pin on the barrel.

SAM_0868.jpg


And another angle. The pin should ride on the link only with about .010 to .030 of clearance.

SAM_0871.jpg


And the corresponding marks on the pin.
 
There are 45s that are reliable. There are 1911s that are reliable. But problem pistols do happen.
Click to expand...

Looking back, 3 out of 4 of the .45s that have gone through my hands had some problem out of the box. But, none were too difficult to deal with.
 
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