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The compact .45 from RIA came in today.
Overall, quite impressive! Only field stripping so far, but, all the inside and outside surfaces are smooth and tool mark free. I placed a straight edge (machinists straight edge) down the length of the slide and there is a bit of light coming thru under the edge, but... not much. The surface of the side of the slide are dead smooth and I'd almost say they were ground, then fine grit blasted. The frame is beefy at the trigger guard. Everything is "series 70", aka no firing pin block.
The fit of the barrel is perfect. Perhaps too good for a defensive pistol. The fore-aft play is nearly undetectable, a good thing for 1911s. No up down play could be felt. I mean... scarey. The slide feels like it is riding on Acc-u-rail setup. Dead smooth, no wobble, no shake. This pistol is the best fit of any of the six other 1911's I've got. That is sayin something! That includes Colt, Springfield, Viking, and several Caspian framed pistols.
The trigger is clean, crisp, and probably about 4.5lbs. Again, not much to complain about.
Now the bad.
The trigger itself is mid length and has a really sharp grooved surface that is sort of stair stepped to an apex that runs the middle of the trigger's finger bearing surface. Its not comfy.
The grip safety whale tail is terribly fit. The gap at the frame is fine, but the edges that should have been smoothed down are not, and they're sharp. Dry firing is painful.
Neither of those is the end of the world. I can fix both. And for $425 how much can you really expect? I don't know how they can fit the slide and barrel so well, and totally lose it on the grip safety.
And, as things are, there is a very slight ding in the top of the rear sight. I don't like the sight but its pretty much GI, with a deep U notch rear and nub up front. It will do and I can hide the ding. Something happened along the way from the far east to the west it seems.
The magazine is blued, and longer than an OACP mag, but.. it also sticks out the bottom of the grip a bit, and has an extended base pad that is hard plastic. I don't like it, but it functions as I hand cycled ammo through things.
Ok, the plan - rather than rework the grip safety, which I don't like anyway (don't like whale tail safeties), I'll replace it with a stainless one from Colt, and whittle it with the Foredom a bit to clear the Commander-esque hammer. I'll fix the sight (a very tiny file swipe... very very tiny). And I'll comfy up the trigger. Put some matt grey gunKote on it, stick a fork in it and call it done.
Pictures Saturday!
Overall, quite impressive! Only field stripping so far, but, all the inside and outside surfaces are smooth and tool mark free. I placed a straight edge (machinists straight edge) down the length of the slide and there is a bit of light coming thru under the edge, but... not much. The surface of the side of the slide are dead smooth and I'd almost say they were ground, then fine grit blasted. The frame is beefy at the trigger guard. Everything is "series 70", aka no firing pin block.
The fit of the barrel is perfect. Perhaps too good for a defensive pistol. The fore-aft play is nearly undetectable, a good thing for 1911s. No up down play could be felt. I mean... scarey. The slide feels like it is riding on Acc-u-rail setup. Dead smooth, no wobble, no shake. This pistol is the best fit of any of the six other 1911's I've got. That is sayin something! That includes Colt, Springfield, Viking, and several Caspian framed pistols.
The trigger is clean, crisp, and probably about 4.5lbs. Again, not much to complain about.
Now the bad.
The trigger itself is mid length and has a really sharp grooved surface that is sort of stair stepped to an apex that runs the middle of the trigger's finger bearing surface. Its not comfy.
The grip safety whale tail is terribly fit. The gap at the frame is fine, but the edges that should have been smoothed down are not, and they're sharp. Dry firing is painful.
Neither of those is the end of the world. I can fix both. And for $425 how much can you really expect? I don't know how they can fit the slide and barrel so well, and totally lose it on the grip safety.
And, as things are, there is a very slight ding in the top of the rear sight. I don't like the sight but its pretty much GI, with a deep U notch rear and nub up front. It will do and I can hide the ding. Something happened along the way from the far east to the west it seems.
The magazine is blued, and longer than an OACP mag, but.. it also sticks out the bottom of the grip a bit, and has an extended base pad that is hard plastic. I don't like it, but it functions as I hand cycled ammo through things.
Ok, the plan - rather than rework the grip safety, which I don't like anyway (don't like whale tail safeties), I'll replace it with a stainless one from Colt, and whittle it with the Foredom a bit to clear the Commander-esque hammer. I'll fix the sight (a very tiny file swipe... very very tiny). And I'll comfy up the trigger. Put some matt grey gunKote on it, stick a fork in it and call it done.
Pictures Saturday!
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