Rock Island / Armscor 1911: Opinions?

[general mills]

I have nothing bad to say about kimbers, I don't own any, but I've shot plenty and I think they are great guns. I find it interesting though that it's not hard to find a negative opinion about them, but it is about a citadel, RIA.

 

[lesgeaux]

I also checked out the Hot Deal link on this. I know very very little about the 1911. I do not understand the notation about it not having a firing pin safety. What does this mean to a guy like me that needs "The 1911 for Dummies" paperback?

 

[hdfinder47]

I also checked out the Hot Deal link on this. I know very very little about the 1911. I do not understand the notation about it not having a firing pin safety. What does this mean to a guy like me that needs "The 1911 for Dummies" paperback?

Not sure exactly - think it means the gun is more like the (more desirable) Colt Series 70 vs the new Series 80. Something to do with a better or more easily refined trigger, I think. It's supposedly a good thing but I own/shoot 1911's with both types and can't tell the difference. Ed.

 

[#1bambam]

A very nice 1911 for it's price point and many can attest to that. Oh yeah...... also made in my home country!

LOL I always thought you were a American Indian.

 

[Cajun Camper]

Not sure exactly - think it means the gun is more like the (more desirable) Colt Series 70 vs the new Series 80. Something to do with a better or more easily refined trigger, I think. It's supposedly a good thing but I own/shoot 1911's with both types and can't tell the difference. Ed.

I believe the series 80 had a bar between the hammer & firing pin & the series 70 did not. When the hammer is cocked the bar moves down on the series 80.

 

[general mills]

I believe the series 80 had a bar between the hammer & firing pin & the series 70 did not. When the hammer is cocked the bar moves down on the series 80.

Pretty much, the bar moves in a groove in the firing pin, blocking it from moving until the trigger is pulled. From my understanding, it was added as a drop safety, the concern being if the gun fell barrel down, it was possible for the inertia of the fall to overcome the firing pin spring tension and allow the firing pin to strike the primer. This bar prevents the firing pin from moving till the trigger is moved to the rear.

FWIW, I have never heard of this situation happening in a series 70 gun, but I guess there is a first time for everything.

 

[hdfinder47]

LOL I always thought you were a American Indian.

And I thought he was Hawaiian! He's GTG either way……...

 

[hdfinder47]

Pretty much, the bar moves in a groove in the firing pin, blocking it from moving until the trigger is pulled. From my understanding, it was added as a drop safety, the concern being if the gun fell barrel down, it was possible for the inertia of the fall to overcome the firing pin spring tension and allow the firing pin to strike the primer. This bar prevents the firing pin from moving till the trigger is moved to the rear.

FWIW, I have never heard of this situation happening in a series 70 gun, but I guess there is a first time for everything.

That makes sense - thanks for the education. So…. is the Series 70 really that much better? Should I be able to tell the difference by shooting them?

 

[general mills]

That makes sense - thanks for the education. So…. is the Series 70 really that much better? Should I be able to tell the difference by shooting them?

I personally can't tell, I'm sure there are those that can, perhaps they will chime in. My 1911 is a springfield mil-spec which is a series 70 type 1911, but I have shot series 80 colts. A series 80 may make it more difficult to refine a trigger to you personal preference, I have no experience here. My trigger is stock and I've found no reason to change it, same with the series 80. They felt the same.

 

[Cajun Camper]

When I had some work done on one of my Colts (series 80) the bar was removed so it functions as a series 70 now. It shot fine before but with a trigger job I really can't compare the two now.

 

[Fred_G]

I had a RIA Match gun. Great gun, had to adjust the sights a lot to one side, but it shot just fine. Great gun for the $.

As far as the series 80 vs 70, I have only owned one Series 80 1911. Trigger was great compared to a typical striker fired gun like a Glock or M&P. But, compared to a the RIA 1911, the series 80 was horrible to me. Mine was a Remington R1S. I removed the series 80 stuff, and converted it to series 70. MUCH better trigger.

A good detail strip and cleaning might have made the series 80 better, possibly Remington did not do a great job on it. Don't know. But in my personal opinion, the series 80 is useless and makes for a worse trigger. One advantage to the series 80 is that you can keep the extra safety feature, or do a minor mod adding a cheap part making it a series 70. I don't think it would be practical to add the firing pin block to a series 70.

 

[Sin-ster]

A Schwartz safety, or any other pattern of drop safety, is just more metal-on-metal to overcome during the trigger press-- and in most cases, more spring tension as well.

Does it make a huge difference in trigger pull? That's really relative-- to the shooter, the manufacturer, and each individual gun. Look at it like this-- it's just one more thing that could cause drag, give a gritty feel, etc. Out of the box, the difference will be the most notable; pick one up and see what you think.

I believe a lot of people are adverse to them in the 1911 because of reliability concerns. As in, it's basically a retrofit part and if it breaks... The gun may easily become inoperable. Bad juju.

 

[Dennis B.]

Nick, let me know when you get it back. I want to do my Colt 1911 22lr too!

 

[chipss36]

my take, have about 1200 rounds into a citadel 1911, granted mine was a demo at academy, so lord knows how it was handled before I got it, that said, it shoots great, and makes a wonderful range gun, however, out of the box I had failure to feed more times than I cared for, the cool thing its a 1911 and parts are cheep and everywhere, I found inside the recoil spring that was undersized, compared to a standard 1911 recoil spring, that replaced I have had only one issue and it was a failure to eject, thats over 600-700 rounds, there are some rather rough spots inside, the sear had no secondry cut, but worked ok, much better after sear was cut as per standard 1911 specs, the trigger bow area, mag well and disconnecter all needed buff polish and sometimes file to get things IMHO like they should be, the trigger is now fantastic, but was not that way out of the box,this finish will scratch if you look at it wrong and is very thin, another issue to consider is the sights are not true novaks so finding sights impossible, and will take some work with a file to get something to fit,
so over all I think better value is found in a lower end springfield than here, and thats just my take, I would never depend on this to defend life or loved ones, ill leave that to the hk, it goes bang every time.