First impressions as I picked it up yesterday. It is built by Armscor (RIA supplier as well) and PSA had them on sale for $399. When I bought it they had a $20 discount on checkout so well priced at $379. I have handled RIA's in the past and they seemed to be put together well and receive solid reviews. My piece is fitted extremely well with absolutely zero movement of slide to frame or barrel to slide/frame. It reminds of a Baer I owned that are fitted tight to be shot in. It utilizes a bushingless bull barrel, LPA sights, decent G10 grips and mag well with a pretty crisp 5# trigger pull. Just a pretty darn impressive piece. I am headed out of town tomorrow so will not get to shoot for a week or so. It appears promising. More later.

well Taylor and company as far as black powder replicas go are supposed to be the best of the best they take the other productions and improve them or finalize them if you would..

At five pounds, your trigger pull is right in the middle of the factory’s permitted range, which requires that the trigger hold a four pound weight, but drop the hammer with a six pound weight.

Your pistol’s trigger over-travel adjustment screw is an often under-appreciated feature. It is left unadjusted when it is installed at the factory, because it would consume too much of an assembler’s valuable time to adjust it properly. So, it should be one of the first things to get your attention. From your photos, it does not appear to have been adjusted for minimum over-travel, yet. What I do is turn it in until the sear won’t release the hammer, then back it out until it just barely does. With the trigger kept fully pulled, I slowly lower and raise the hammer repeatedly, while carefully checking by feel to be sure the sear does not even lighten bump the half-cock and full-cock notches. I then back the screw out another quarter turn and call it good. When adjusted in this way, the five pound trigger pull can be made to feel mighty nice.

Thanks a lot Ed! Those Taylor and Co 1911’s that PSA has been almost giving away have caught my eye. I don’t need or want any more guns to deal with. I’ve got to stop at PSA today for a flat of 12 gauge target loads….thanks a lot Ed!

He is being..........not nice!

Saw his first post and been thinking about it since..
Has been a struggle, but I don't shoot 10 or 40, so buying reloading
gear, bullets.....I've been staying away.


Then, he doubles down...

They’re selling that.45 A1 clone even cheaper… No matter…I’m a 10mm fan…just have to remind myself of that arthritis in the thumb joint and the pain that results from much 10mm or .45 shooting

Out of stock…..

Have experience with two RIA 10mm. Both needed extractor tuning but they run. One of them I’ve fired, it is very accurate. Trigger pull is five pounds and crisp. Pretty nice field pistol

There are other sources with different names on the guns, but they’re the same guns from the same maker.

My grips are a bit different than EdM’s. Happy with it, for $399. (The flash almost makes it look two-tone, it is not).

Ex, any chance of the screw working its way back in via vibration to the point that the trigger won't trip the sear?

If the gun is for defense, make sure you Locktite the overtravel adjustment screw in place.

Red or blue?

Not likely. More likely to work itself out, than in. But, I’d sure follow GunGeek’s advice:


Blue 242 medium strength or pink 222 low strength Loctite would do it. Red would foreclose much possibly of later adjustment.

I’m interested in your range report. I saw these when ordered the Springfield XDM Elite 10mm they had with 5 mags for $549.

Took mine out, yesterday. First two mags were flawless. Was shooting a couple inches high, a few clicks down, and it was right on. Second two mags, I had a FTF, each. Decided to try the other mag that was supplied. Had a FTF with it, as well. The last go-round (with the second mag) had no malfunctions.

That was one box of ammo. Blazer Brass 180gr FMJ. I had cleaned the excess oil off the exterior, but left the rails well-lubricated. It was extracting/ejecting just fine, about 8-10 feet to the right, and 1-2 feet back.

1) It’s a new 1911. I expect the possibility of a few hiccups the first 100-200 rounds, seeing as how it hasn’t been slicked up like a $2500 Brown or Wilson.

2) I’ve had good luck with Blazer Brass in the past, but this being a 10mm (40 cal), the ammo, though FMJ, had the “truncated cone” that lots of 40 cal FMJ seems to have (rather than the rounded profile of most 45 and 9mm FMJ). Not saying that def hurt feeding, but likely didn’t help.

3) While the feed ramp and chamber were not “rough”, the “transition” or breakover point, from feed ramp to chamber, was pretty sharp. I have now polished that area with some 400 grit sandpaper wrapped around a pencil, to smooth up that transition.

I think the polishing I did, along with another 50-100 rds, will most likely take care of things. I’m hoping, worst case, I’ll simply switch to ammo with a bullet profile slightly more conducive to good feeding. It wouldn’t be the first 1911 to be more “finicky” about ammo, than the average Glock.

I like the ergos/sights/grips/etc. My buddy bought one of the 9mm Taylors, that PSA had, that is almost identical. It WAS flawless. With that said, it’s rear sight had no dots or outline and was only windage adjustable (loosen a screw and drift it) and the front sight had no dot or serrations, and was MUCH more difficult to deal with than the fiberoptic of the 10mm.

EdM’s photos are more “representative” of the finish, than my (offered mainly to show the different grips I received) photo.

The trigger was “ok to good”. I’m guessing between 5 and 6 pounds. Nothing to brag about, but nothing to complain about, either. Perfectly acceptable for a sub-$1000 (and definitely in a sub $500) 1911.

If the polishing and/or ammo fixes the feeding, it will be a heckuva bargain. If not, well, it is still a nice gun, but will fit more in the realm of “range toy”, in which case, I’ll likely trade it off, seeing as how a 10mm occasionally finicky range toy is not something I need more of.....

Too bad you polished it. That may void warranty coverage for the barrel, depending on how much you did.

Armscor/Rock Island Armory made products all come with a limited lifetime warranty which covers the gun (whether with the original or a subsequent owner) till it just plain wears out (a very long time indeed).

If the problem you described continues after you’ve shot the gun a good deal more, contact Chief Gunsmith [email protected] to see what you can work out with him. Worst case = Armscor sells you a new barrel, if the barrel’s the problem. They’ll install the replacement barrel and function test the gun, fully reinstating the lifetime warranty.

Literally all I did was wrap 400 grit around a pencil, and polish the breakover point, slightly. Essentially, replicating what 2-300 rounds of ammo getting jammed up the feed ramp and into the chamber would do. No Dremel tools involved!!

If it’s still having issues, I’m more likely to just send it down the road, than play back and forth gun tag with Armscor, on a $399 gun.

We’ll see what happens. Definitely not sending to a gunsmith. At that point, the “bargain” aspect of the gun, is gone. Thanks for the heads up on the contact info for Armscor.

Honestly either will work. I'm a bit more cautious, so I just removed the screw altogether on my LW Commander. Even removed, overtravel just isn't an issue with that pistol. My only other 1911 has an A1 style trigger.

If it’s a warranty repair, shipping both ways is on them. How’d you be put out?

If you “just send it down the road,” maybe the next owner will take advantage of the limited lifetime warranty.

Time is money. Ammo is money. Frustration is stress. I could go on....

I think it’ll be alright, but honestly, I’m not gonna spend boxes and boxes of $30 ammo, multiple range trips, trips to the shipper, getting angry——-on a $399 gun, that could easily bring $350 plus in trade. It’ll either smooth out, or..

It’s like a relationship. You don’t toss it after the first hiccup, but if it looks like it’s going to be more time/frustration/stress, than love/fun, you move on. (This is dating, not marriage. It’s a Phillipines 1911, not great-grandad’s 1873 Winchester.)

Each person looks at things a bit differently, I suppose. A gun’s value to me is not determined by how much I paid for it, which probably explains why I still have so many guns I won’t/can’t sell because they’re worth more to me than I can get for them.

Do you handload? I wouldn’t own a 10mm if I didn’t.

Not for 10mm. My other 2 10mm’s are Glocks. Enough unsupported chamber, and stories about Glocks/reloads, that I’m not gonna mess with it. Not as long as Underwood is carrying some premium ammo that does what I need, at prices that are still fair.

Yeah, lots of guys do fine with reloads in Glocks, or I could get aftermarket barrels, but just not worth the fuss for something I use to shoot at the occasional hog.

How long does it take to fully trust a pistol that had a FF or a couple of FF? It could only be a matter of life and death.

Trigger pull was 5 and a half pounds and crisp. Changed the sear spring out to a Colt factory spring. Trigger pull is 3 and a half pounds!!!!! Factory spring must have come off a Russian tractor or tank. Too windy to go shoot it.....

It was between 4 and 6 pounds, so within factory specs. If it comes in at less than 4 or more than 6, the factory assembler is authorized to simply modify the sear spring till it makes spec. Normally no need to swap springs. The more experienced assemblers can set them at about 4-1/4 pounds, if they so choose, even when using only the 4 and 6 pound test weights.

RIA’s info available on the web says their 1911’s aren’t “broken in” until you hit 500 rds. Kimber says the same. For a 10mm, that’s about $300 worth of ammo. Only paid $399 for the gun, so the thought of running $300 of ammo through it to “work the bugs out”, doesn’t really appeal to me.

Not something I’d want to hear (“500 rd break-in”), on something I intended to carry for self-defense, being urged/expected to simply “ignore” feeding issues up to that point.

Others may have different goals for this gun. For me, it’s an occasional hog gun.

Any new reports?

As of last week another 100 through it and mine is fine. It is a very tightly built piece.

Glad to hear it. I contacted RIA, to see what service they’d offer on mine, before attempting to trade it off. To their credit, they sent me a paid Fedex label, to return it. That’s been over a month ago. We’ll see if it works, or doesn’t, upon its’ return...

Final update:

Took exactly 6 weeks to get the gun back from Armscor/RIA. RIA paid shipping both ways. The included note was vague to the point of annoyance.

“Customer concerns verified and repaired. New parts installed and fitted, tuned, lubed, and test fired.”

No clue WHAT parts were installed (nothing obvious). No clue WHAT was repaired. Called, and got nothing but automated hold, over and over. Email unanswered, after more than a week.

Only OBVIOUS thing, is they kept the KCI brand mag I sent it in with (the gun came with TWO of these, I tried both of them, gun had issues with both). They sent it back with what appears to be a Metalform brand 8-shot mag. The follower of the Metalform is much different from the KCI.

Took the gun out, and ran 3-4 mags through it. It seems to run fine, now. No issues to speak of..

Happy that it runs well. A bit unhappy that it appears it took them 6 weeks to simply test it with a different mag from the junk KCI mags they included with the gun. It appears that what they sell on their website are ALSO Metalform’s, and not KCI brand. Apparently they KNOW the KCI’s aren’t great.

Also of note, these KCI mags are sold as 45 mags. Their packages were marked as such, but RIA included a note with the owners manual that, despite this marking, they said WOULD function in a 10mm. These KCI are a $10 mag, online. The Metalform are a $25-$30 mag. Obviously, a cost-cutting measure.

So, I’ll be sure to let folks know IF they ever contact me regarding any other work that may have been done to the gun, but for NOW, it appears that it was a mag issue, “fixed” by using a better quality mag than the two that were included with the gun.....

I've read of RIA fans desiring a reason to return a gun.
Supposedly, they go over the gun and tune everything up.

Do you notice anything in the trigger, or just overall function?

The trigger was pretty decent to begin with. I didn’t gauge it before sending it off, so hard to say if or they did to the trigger. Perhaps a bit less creep.

After removing the slide, it looks as if the recoil spring MAY have been replaced. This one has a paint marking which I don’t think was on the original. I don’t notice any obvious work to the slide stop or feed ramp.

I’ll email again, to see if I can get any details. Wish I had other info to share, other than the obvious issue with the magazine.