Rock Island Armory - Rock Series FS Ultra 9mm 1911 - first impressions

CZfool68 said:
I can’t wait to see who buys this from you when it fails.
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I have first right of refusal on all @fieldgrade 's guns. But he sails them to me with a call option allowing him to get them back. I need to add a put option to make him take them back if I don't like them.

We both know what we are. We are just haggling over price!
 
Ok let’s get a pool going as to how long he keeps it, the person closest gets dibs! :)

6 weeks!
 
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dmarbell said:
I have first right of refusal on all @fieldgrade 's guns. But he sails them to me with a call option allowing him to get them back. I need to add a put option to make him take them back if I don't like them.

We both know what we are. We are just haggling over price!
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We have both owned at least three of the same guns. Two of them you owned twice, and two of them I owned twice. Maybe more.
 
Daleo8803 said:
I have the same 1911. I changed the grips, magwell, and added a extended magazine release. Around 800 rounds through her with no issues. Shoots great.
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Which magwell did you go with? I have S&As on my other 1911s

Also, which extended magazine release? I've got an EGW, but it won't lock in place as it should. Not sure yet where the fit issue is.
 
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fieldgrade said:
Which magwell did you go with? I have S&As on my other 1911s

Also, which extended magazine release? I've got an EGW, but it won't lock in place as it should. Not sure yet where the fit issue is.
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The magwell is from dawson precision and the mag release is from Wilson combat.

https://dawsonprecision.com/magwell-1911-ipsc-classic-division-by-dawson-precision/

https://www.brownells.com/handgun-p...911-oversized-magazine-release-prod24676.aspx

The mag release needed some fitting.
 
I went with the Armscore Citadel. same gun but with larger slide cuts. I put the VZ grips on along with a mag well and an arched main spring housing. Like the supplied Mec gar mags so much, I bought 4 more. 1500 rounds later, still love this gun.
There are some things that I don't like,,
The big butt ambi safety has GOT to go, call Wilson.
There are no extended slide releases out there yet that Im happy with. So I had to relearn how to release the slide with my left thumb during a mag change, but other then that? Love this gun..
 
Just back from the first range trip. This gun ran as well or better than the four other 1911's in 9mm I own, or have owned. That's two Colts, a Dan Wesson, and a Fusion, which I still own. The Fusion has been my primary match blaster to date, when not shooting CDP with the Springfield Range Officer in 45acp. Turns out the Fusion is much more ammo picky than the Rock Island. Maybe it's the ramped barrel on the RIA. I don't know.

I had a sack of Blazer 115 gr FMJ round nose, a sack of Butter's 147 gr Librarians (blue round nose bullets)((which are the softest shooting 9mm ever)), and a new box of Blazer 147 gr FMJ flat nose, conical, conjugal, prison visits, whatever. These 147s didn't shoot nearly as soft as Butter's 147s.

The RIA ran all of them without a hiccup. I mean smooth as silk, and it has the first time it's been shot outside the factory. The Fusion occasionally won't go fully into battery on the blue bullets ( and I mean it will run fine one day, and then at a match I gotta gently bump it into battery on a couple of reloads from slidelock, and the Fusion really didn't like the Blazer flat nosed conical/conjugal bullets. At all.

The one thing the RIA did that I've never had happen before...

After 150 rounds or so it failed to lock back on empty. Could have been the mags, who knows, but I've had that happen before with others. What I haven't had happen before is it didn't want to drop the empty mag. Press the mag release, nothing. Rack the slide back, nothing in the chamber, still won't drop the mag. The mags were all Dawson's. (( which are MetalForm, same as Dan Wesson ships with theirs)). I futzed with it a minute and it decided to let go of the mag. Head scratcher.

I was all ready to see if I can swap my Wilson Low Lever thumb safety, S&A magwell, and VZ Operator II grips off the Fusion, and put them on the RIA, but that one hiccup not releasing the empty mag has me a little spooked for matches. I shot about another 20-30 rounds through it and I could not replicate the issue. I'll take the RIA back out later this week to see if it happens again before the Fusion gets bumped to the back of the line as back-up to the RIA as primary match blaster.

If I had good sense I'd quit screwing with 1911's in 9MM altogether, and stick with .45acp. I've not had one not run in 45 between a Colt, an SA, and a Wilson.

115 Blazer, 147 Librarians, 147 gr Blazer
fullsizeoutput_bc9.jpeg
 
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You should put a Stan Chen magwell on it.

https://store.chencustom.com/product_p/si-mag.htm

SI-Mag-2.jpg
 
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fieldgrade said:
After 150 rounds or so it failed to lock back on empty. Could have been the mags, who knows, but I've had that happen before with others. What I haven't had happen before is it didn't want to drop the empty mag. Press the mag release, nothing. Rack the slide back, nothing in the chamber, still won't drop the mag. The mags were all Dawson's. (( which are MetalForm, same as Dan Wesson ships with theirs)). I futzed with it a minute and it decided to let go of the mag. Head scratcher
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Get one of the act mags and try it, one of the original suppliers of the ria mags for some reason these seem to work the best in the ria pistol s, Wilson and chip McCormick will function for a while then you'll start to have failure of the slide locking back or the mysterious binding of the mag in frame,( had a McCormick mag in when it happened in my forty five).
Just from my experience with them, I ran the act mags in idpa and never had a complaint.
 
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It shipped with one Meggar.
Hmmm

Wonder why they don't ship with their own mags?
 
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fieldgrade said:
The one thing the RIA did that I've never had happen before...

After 150 rounds or so it failed to lock back on empty. Could have been the mags, who knows, but I've had that happen before with others. What I haven't had happen before is it didn't want to drop the empty mag. Press the mag release, nothing. Rack the slide back, nothing in the chamber, still won't drop the mag. The mags were all Dawson's. (( which are MetalForm, same as Dan Wesson ships with theirs)). I futzed with it a minute and it decided to let go of the mag. Head scratcher.
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Sounds like the follower jumped the slide lock...it happens on .45s also. The hybrid follower in the .45 Tripp Cobramag (one example) will almost certainly prevent that from happening. For some reason they have a different follower in their 9mm mags...haven't used that one yet.
 
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fieldgrade said:
It shipped with one Meggar.
Hmmm

Wonder why they don't ship with their own mags?
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Megar took over production of rias mag, act was the the second maker of their mags, the first ria ultra's that I bought came with a novak marked mag Why theirpartnership with act ended I don't know. I'm guessing cost
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjACegQIBhAC&usg=AOvVaw0ORZYTMEuMtuipT_6iHCO9

Edited my post leaves holes, so I'll try to fill them in here .the Novak mags that came in the first ria were manufactured by act for novak, to reduce cost ria ended their affiliation with novak, an went directly to act to manufacture their mags
And now they have moved on to megar.
I haven't looked at any of the new mags to see if they're any noticeable differences.
I've got enough of the act mags stored up to last a lifetime,
 
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SC380 said:
Sounds like the follower jumped the slide lock...it happens on .45s also. The hybrid follower in the .45 Tripp Cobramag (one example) will almost certainly prevent that from happening. For some reason they have a different follower in their 9mm mags...haven't used that one yet.
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This sounds like exactly what must have happened.

I used to run Trips mags, but found that the Dawson/Metalforms seemed to behave in a manner that suits me better for 9mm 1911s, in the Dan Wesson, and Fusion at least.

If this problem repeats, I think I'll keep my one spare slide stop in the range bag. It *seems* to fit and operate fine in the RIA, although I haven't run it in the gun yet, rather than go down the rabbit hole of experimenting with mags again. I sold a half dozen Wilsons, and as many Tripp's last year before I settled on Dawson based Metalforms.
 
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dmarbell said:
Well, darn. No new RIA 1911 in 9mm for me this week. :D:mad:
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They've got a Springfield Range Officer in 9MM up at FG&G. If I was going to buy anything else in 1911 9mm, I would want to try one of these. Plus, the parts I've installed on my stainless RO in 45 have all darn near dropped in and required nearly no fitting, be they Wilson Bulletproof (thumb safety), Smith and Alexander (magwell), or EGW (mag catch/release).
 
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fieldgrade said:
They've got a Springfield Range Officer in 9MM up at FG&G. If I was going to buy anything else in 1911 9mm, I would want to try one of these. Plus, the parts I've installed on my stainless RO in 45 have all darn near dropped in and required nearly no fitting, be they Wilson Bulletproof (thumb safety), Smith and Alexander (magwell), or EGW (mag catch/release).
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Plus if you didn't like it, but it runs, there's a 50/50 chance I might take it off your hands.
I need to go up there and see if it has a ramped barrel.
 
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Fieldgrade, RIA has a secondary company, Citadel. I have a 9 MM and a 3.5" 45. Never had a problem with either gun and I think the triggers are better than what is in the RIA. When at Billy's, I come to find out that the parts in the Citadel are not interchangeable with the RIA. BTW, Billy shot the 45 and said that her really like the trigger.
 
fieldgrade said:
They've got a Springfield Range Officer in 9MM up at FG&G. If I was going to buy anything else in 1911 9mm, I would want to try one of these. Plus, the parts I've installed on my stainless RO in 45 have all darn near dropped in and required nearly no fitting, be they Wilson Bulletproof (thumb safety), Smith and Alexander (magwell), or EGW (mag catch/release).
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If you are up at H2O Friday you are more than welcome to shoot my Range Officer in 9mm
 
mred20 said:
If you are up at H2O Friday you are more than welcome to shoot my Range Officer in 9mm
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Thanks for that offer!

Does yours have a ramped barrel?

That has not been a criteria in the past since so many others don't, but this RIA does, and it seems to run ammo that others won't, Colt included.
 
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fieldgrade said:
Thanks for that offer!

Does yours have a ramped barrel?

That has not been a criteria in the past since so many others don't, but this RIA does, and it seems to run ammo that others won't, Colt included.
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Yes...it has the ramped barrel
 
After having what appeared to be the follower jump the slidelock (thanks to @SC380 for IDing that) with Dawson/Metalform mags, and after just reading the Ed Brown magazine thread just posted here about the factory’s comment about 1911s being built to specific mag maker specs, I set out to purchase some Mecgar mags as shipped with this Rock Island.

I looked first at the RIA website which redirects to Advanced Tactical if you shop for parts. The 10 round 9mm 1911 mag they list is stainless steel and does not look like the same black finished Mecgar mag that RIA shipped with their gun. Mecgar does list what appears to be identical to the OEM mag that came with the gun, and cheaper on their own website.

So before shopping for the best price, I decided to load the factory mag for the first time, since I largely ignored it when I got the gun, in favor of my Dawson(Metalform) 9mm mags.

When fully loaded, the Mecgar mag will. not. seat. in. the. gun. Period. If you lock the slide back, load the mag, and drop the slide chambering a round, then drop the mag to top it off, you can’t load into the gun either.

I guess I’ll load up this Mecgar and let it sit a few days to see if this relieves some spring tension and alleviate the problem, but I can’t run Mecgar mags in matches if I can’t load a full mag for 10+1.

Bummer.
 
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On a whim I decided to load the Mecgar mag full of Blue bullet reloads that are a smidge shorter than my factory FMJ, (and the Librarians with Blue bullets are what I like running in comps now). I was able to “persude” the fully loaded mag to finally seat, and chamber a round, but when I dropped the mag to top it off it stripped an additional round off the top of the mag and dropped it .

smh

I’ll load the Mecgar mag, let it sit a couple of days.... and see what fresh hell awaits me then. lol
 
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All that said, the pistol runs great with the Dawson/Metalform mags. I had the one hiccup on the maiden voyage out of six mags running 150-200 rounds. I’ll still run it in a match next weekend.
 
Gun ran great today. No hiccups running ammo that won’t run in a Colt at all. Not *quite* as accurate shooting steel at 100 yards as my other 9mm, but what idiot shoots steel at 100 yards with a pistol? :D

Fit an EGW mag catch (1/16th” longer) this afternoon. Same length as what comes on a Wilson CQB standard. Makes it easier/quicker to drop the empty mag on the clock.
Ordered a Wilson mag well that hangs on the bottom two grip panel screws, just like the one that comes on this RIA Ultra, but hopefully works a little better. Only $30.
 
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fieldgrade said:
All that said, the pistol runs great with the Dawson/Metalform mags. I had the one hiccup on the maiden voyage out of six mags running 150-200 rounds. I’ll still run it in a match next weekend.
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I'm jealous. I wanted to use my 1911 9mm in a match next Saturday! Dang it.....but I got the G19 that's going well......hmmmmm.....
 
fieldgrade said:
Gun ran great today. No hiccups running ammo that won’t run in a Colt at all. Not *quite* as accurate shooting steel at 100 yards as my other 9mm, but what idiot shoots steel at 100 yards with a pistol? :D

Fit an EGW mag catch (1/16th” longer) this afternoon. Same length as what comes on a Wilson CQB standard. Makes it easier/quicker to drop the empty mag on the clock.
Ordered a Wilson mag well that hangs on the bottom two grip panel screws, just like the one that comes on this RIA Ultra, but hopefully works a little better. Only $30.
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Can I ask what ammo you have that won't run in a Colt and does your Colt have the newer double recoil spring?
 
JedPool said:
Can I ask what ammo you have that won't run in a Colt and does your Colt have the newer double recoil spring?
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round nosed Blue bullet reloads. Locks the gun up. It also doesn’t like flat nosed conical factory FMJ.
 
JedPool said:
I use my Glock 19 for USPSA and like it pretty well. :)
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Is USPSA really as much running around as it looks like on videos? I want to do one this winter, but I'm old, slow and fat....I can't move like the young men I see in those clips! LOL. I still want to try one, though, just because I can!
 
Millie said:
Is USPSA really as much running around as it looks like on videos? I want to do one this winter, but I'm old, slow and fat....I can't move like the young men I see in those clips! LOL. I still want to try one, though, just because I can!
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The people that finish near the top scoot pretty fast...my friends and I kind of shuffle through. There usually isn't enough distance for me to get up to a full run.

I can't speak for all matches as I have limited experience in several local(ish) level 1 matches only.
 
I got a RIA ULTRA FS this week and gave it a workout today. Mine is the HC model. I agree with you about the ambi safety - that’s gotta go. It digs into my right hand when I’m shooting. Mine fed, fired, extracted and ejected perfectly. My only issues were four times it locked back with one round left in the mag. You have anything like this happen with yours? Probably operator error but every time at the same point? I dunno.
 
Catfish said:
I got a RIA ULTRA FS this week and gave it a workout today. Mine is the HC model. I agree with you about the ambi safety - that’s gotta go. It digs into my right hand when I’m shooting. Mine fed, fired, extracted and ejected perfectly. My only issues were four times it locked back with one round left in the mag. You have anything like this happen with yours? Probably operator error but every time at the same point? I dunno.
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Never heard of that before. Factory Mecgar mag? I don't like them.

Edit: Just read Beef’s post below. I didn’t realize it’s a double stack.
 
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Catfish said:
I got a RIA ULTRA FS this week and gave it a workout today. Mine is the HC model. I agree with you about the ambi safety - that’s gotta go. It digs into my right hand when I’m shooting. Mine fed, fired, extracted and ejected perfectly. My only issues were four times it locked back with one round left in the mag. You have anything like this happen with yours? Probably operator error but every time at the same point? I dunno.
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That's a double stack right?
I believe they are kinda known for that. Probably find some info searching. Many competition shooters disable the lock/stop.
 
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