Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns best "cheap" 1911?

"Cheap" or high value?

Consider a Springfield MILSPEC ( not the GI with tiny front sight). Mine shoots1 ragged hole groups at 50 feet with a flat base 200 grain home cast swc (SAECO 69 mold) on top of 4 grains Bullseye. All forged frame/slide with tight fit, for $500.

Yep , every time I shoot mine it's a positive experience.

If you’re looking for a “full feature” 1911 RIA’s are good as are the Taurus 1911’s.

Interesting thread. Going to research 1911’s with a street price of no more than $500 and pick one up to experiment with.

Paul Harrell did a comparison shooting review of the RIA & the Colt in 45acp that's worth watching if your considering the RIA.

I've had the basic stock model RIA for a couple of years that's shot well over 1,000 rounds, probably closer to 1500, from reloads to defense stuff with different magazines. I can't recall a failure to feed or eject and it always locks open after the last shot. IMO the trigger's pretty good and other people that have shot it agree. The GI sights are nothing great but they've worked well enough for me for the kind of shooting I do so far. I'd like to have a Colt but can't fault my RIA.

Whatever you decide on the big problem now will be finding what you want at a halfway decent price.

RIA 1911's have one of the best triggers I've felt. Damn near as good as my old Springfiels1911-A1 mil-spec. RIA's are good. Don't know anything about the TISAS. Where/who makes 'em?

They are made in Turkey.

I was wanting to buy a ruger when they first came out but ended up getting a used kimber eclipse for the same price as a ruger. This was back when you could hardly find a ruger or any other guns during the obama admin. I don't know what their availability now is and I know they are a little more than your $500 RIA. On the other hand my son really wanted a 1911 after I had one and when he was 15 or 16 he bought one with money he saved up. RIA was basically his budget but other than a few misfires or jams during the first box or so it has run great and been a good gun for him.

I once planned to do the same thing. A friend told me that I would end up spending more than $800 bringing a cheaper gun up to the level of a $800 gun. That was good advice and I never regretted taking that advice.

I have the Auto Ordnance Army model, black oxide finish. It cost me $580.

One thing that I HAD to do was to change the firing pin spring. The spring that comes on it is MASSIVE and is literally stronger than the mainspring. I suppose this is for some drop test BS. I didn't even try shooting with that ridiculous spring, and I'm not sure that it would even be able to set the primers off with it. I had a standard spring and put it in. That was the only thing necessary to make it work reliably.

Now, I did a lot of other things to it. Since I don't like having to dodge my own shots (brass flung right into my face), I fitted an extended ejector, filed it to shape, and I lowered the ejection port until the brass flung clear without smacking the slide. Now, un-dinged brass falls about two feet away to the 3 or 4 o'clock position. No brass in my face. I also ditched the series 80 firing pin block. I could have polished it all and got it working smoothly, but I just didn't feel like it. A plate fills in the gap in the frame. Simple polishing of the trigger/sear/disconnector interface areas and I have a pretty sweet trigger of about 5 pounds. No messing with anything else.

Thick faux stag grips and a long trigger are necessary for my big hands. Eventually, I'll get around to fitting an orange front sight (ALL front sights should be fluorescent orange, as far as I'm concerned. ), but it's not high priority at the moment.




I don't know why this website has such a limit on photos. They have to be tiny to download here.

Just “won” a RIA Ultra FS. Should be here in about a week. I have enough .45 ACP brass, bullets, and primers to last for years. Paid a few dollars more than I wanted to. But like they say, you never pay to much, you just buy to early.
Be interesting to find out how this pistol performs as I used to own some really nice 1911’s.

That is good advice if what you wanted was an $800 gun. If all one wants is a 1911 that works well, it doesn't hold true. Especially if you can do a simple thing like tune an extractor.

Picked up my RIA Ultra this weekend. Before I even seen it my dealer commented on what a nice 1911 it was. Fit and finish is really nice. Trigger breaks around 4.5 pounds by my estimation with no perceivable creep. Rear sight is screw adjustable for windage. Will have to shoot it soon to evaluate the accuracy and how it functions but it sure seems like a winner so far.

I picked up a used ATI Commander model 4-5 years ago just to have a "beater" 1911. They came as a basic 1911 but with a beavertail, commander hammer spur and basic but decent sights. Very useable as is.
It is much better than I expected, and made in the Philippines IIRC.

I hear good things about Rock Island (Philippines) and Tisas (Turkey).
I would avoid Taurus and Auto Ordnance. Not sure about Ruger, Remington & S&W.
Some of the Kimbers are excellent, some models sell on the Kimber name.
If you find a clean Norinco for $400 that would probably be a good purchase as well.

Getting my money? Turks? No. Filipinos? Yes. Especially the Rock folks, they're cool and they like us.

It's not all that cheap, but I'd avoid Ruger sr1911. Had one 5-6 yrs back. I could not get a decent group with it neither could anyone else that shot it. I generally like Ruger, but not that one.

Keep in mind the overall reputation of the maker. Yours is a sample of ONE.
The vast majority of Ruger's 1911's have been very good pistols. Ruger generally doesn't make crap. And truth be told, a lot of "other" 1911's out there are actually made inside the Ruger facility.

I had a SR1911 commander that was a pos out of the box.
Feeding issues, poor accuracy. Sent it down the road.

Seems believable Ruger makes components for others, but who is selling a 1911 clone out of Ruger's factory with a different name?

The best foreign 1911 I've had my hands on.

http://www.thesixgunjournal.net/the-metroarms-american-classic-ii-1911-pistol/

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Taurus might make most of their own parts, but the consumer probably knows more about the origin of what's in their hot dog than the source of the parts in their car or firearm.