What's the word on Remington R1's?

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Pops1085

New member
I have a love hate relationship with Remington it would seem. They just make guns that look right to me, but I've been burned a few times and gotten lemons from them right out of the box.

Now the R1 1911 is calling my name and I'm curious if any would recommend them or not.

I'm looking for a pretty basic, no frills 1911 that will be pretty reliable and shoot hollowpoints well. My Rock Island was super reliable with ball ammo, but HATED nearly any hollowpoint I tried to feed it.

I like that it has the short A1 trigger, a steel frame (I enjoy the extra heft when shooting), and a normal grip saftey (not a deal breaker by any means, I do enjoy 1911s with a nice beavertail) It just looks like a basic 1911 should in my opinion.
 
I love my R1's, have shot the beans out of the blue one until giving it to good buddy, my stainless has not had as many rounds but neither pistol has given me one lick of trouble. I have Colt's,GI Colt's, Kimber's, Auto Ordnance and a Star .45 and shoot all of them.
 
That's too bad the Rock Island didn't work out for you. Did you consider taking it to a gunsmith (a real smith, not a neighbor with a Dremel tool)?

I've had mixed results taking guns in for work. The rear sight blade on a gun with an adjustable rear sight came off and was lost...I left the gun with a smith for 6 weeks and he hadn't found time to get to it so I took it back and with some scrap metal and yes, a Dremel tool I fashioned my own rear sight blade. It is just a flat piece of metal with a couple notches in it after all.

The 1911 I almost always recommend is the Springfield Armory Range Officer. I like the target sights I think SA is a good company and the gun doesn't have 'extras' that I don't want or need. A slight problem is the price has gone up more than a little since I started recommending them. Still if you want to take a look:

http://www.springfield-armory.com/products/1911-range-officer-45-acp/
 
I had thought about having a smith look at the RIA, but honestly there weren't any smiths in my area that I thought were up to the job. The few smiths in the area aren't exactly the most competent of guys. I once brought a Mosin Nagant in to one because the interrupter was out of whack and asked him if he could replace it for me and he looked at me like my head was on backwards... So, I ended up trading it off for something else, but I really do miss having a basic 1911.

I've been looking at those Range Officers lately and they do seem pretty nice. I like the solid black target sights some of them have. Not that it really matters but does SA still import their frames for their 1911's?
 
I also was bitten by the Remington R1 Enhanced bug. I wish I had never seen that bug. The pistol jammed right out of the box. Failure rate was 25% or more. Ejector fell out on first range trip. They put an extractor for the wrong caliber in, etc. They can't repair their 1911s in house so they send them to third party gunsmith they retain. Customer Service is terrible. I won't be buying anything else from Remington. I would go with a reliable supplier with a better reputation. Springfield comes to mind.
 
Just got this Commander last week. Very nice fit & finish, just like the 5" R1 I bought in May.
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I haven't seen a new Ruger SR1911 for under $500. Otherwise, yes...... especially for Ruger's great customer service.

I've bought 5 Ruger revolvers and 5 semiautos over the years. All are great value guns and work fine.

Hope they come out with $100 cash rebates too.
 
I bought the R1 when they first came out and there was only the basic model. I liked it very much and was impressed by the fit and finish. I sold it and a Taurus 1911 to fund a Les Baer.
If I were to get another (and I'm frequently tempted), it would be one of the Carry models. The MSRP on those started out around $1200 and at one point, you could get them from CDNN for less than $700.
 
Augliia Blanca, Out of the thousands of trouble free rounds that have gone through my R1's am I supposed to have experienced failure? Perhaps you could expand your dislike.
 
My brother bought a R1, zero issues with many kinds of ammo. He likes it, fit and finish are good. Shoots as well as my Springfield.
 
At last count, I have about eighteen 1911's . I also have about fifteen Ruger rifles and revolvers but to date, I have been unable to come to grips with seeing the name "Ruger" on the slide of a 1911. "Remington" seems far less objectionable . :)
 
I'm not impressed by them.../ a young guy had one at my local range last week...and it had all kinds of problems ( jamming, not ejecting properly, trigger break had a lot of slack and creep ) - he claimed he had about 3,000 rds thru it trying to break it in and he keeps hoping it will get better ( but I doubt it ) and I felt bad for him.

I think its a poor choice ...especially compared to the new Colts or some of the Springfield options.
 
Lousy quality control, as evidenced by some people getting pistols that run out of the box, while others get pistols that don't run even after multiple returns to Remington's warranty shop for repair. They don't know how to machine the frame bridge and vertical impact surface. That's really hard to screw up, especially for a company that once made 1911s for the government, but they managed to muck it up.

IMHO they're like Taurus 1911s -- there are so many brands out there, in and around the same price point, with much better reputations, it just doesn't make sense (to me) to roll the dice and gamble on a Remington.
 
If I relied on internet anecdote opinions on self defense weapons of any brand, I'd be carrying a Louisville Slugger. ;)
 
I agree. Too many know it alls with no hands on experience, just third hand critique skills. I for one, do have a R1 enhanced that has gobbled up everything that I have thrown at it, including 255 grain handloads. Extremely accurate with a very good trigger.
Ralph
 
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