Tag Archives: RIA

1911

Why you need to clean, lube and break in Rock Island Armory Pistols

As some of you may know, we make custom magazines for the Armscor Rock Island Armory (RIA) A2 HC family of .40 and 10mm pistols. Once in a while I get to talk to a new owner before they go to the range and either they ask for advice or I give it regardlesss 🙂 I will tell anyone that will listen that they need to clean, lubricate and cycle their pistols 200 times before they go to the range. I’ve been sharing this advice for years but never really had evidence. Guess what? Now I do and I truly hope people will take this to heart and do it.

I recently purchased a RIA 52000 Big Rock – this is their 6″ barrelled 10mm match pistol. I had one years ago that I sold when I needed money and regretted it – especially after I started making the custom mags. What I am going to show you is true of all Rock Island 1911-style pistols – not just the A2 HC models – and for almost all semi-automatic factory-produced firearms. They are not ready to go out of the box and if you take them straight to the range they are going to fail a lot, you’re going to get frustrated, blame the gun/ammo/mag/dealer and it’s not their fault so please read the following and heed the advice.

Opening the Factory Box

For RIA 1911 pistols, they ship them in a bag absolutely coated in some kind of oil – just what I am not sure. Do not look at that and think it is all lubricated and ready to go. It absolutely is not and it is actually pretty dirty – you need to get rid of all of that including the junk in the bore.

STOP is right. What is in the bag is not ready to go.
First off, wipe it down. It will be drenched in oil to keep it from rusting. The 52000 Big Rock is definitely big.
This is what your white towel will look like. Note it is not just clean oil – there is debris in it and it’s not inteded to lubricate but to prevent rust. This stuff is everywhere in the pistol and we need to field strip the pistol, clean and oil it to ensure proper functioning.

Now you may be thinking your Glock was pristine compared to that and while it was cleaner it was also pretty dry and needed to be lubricated. The Rock Islands are decent but they need to be cleaned up.

How about the barrel?

The anti-corrosion “oil” and grime are everywhere in the pistol.

This is a real photo of an area of the bore before cleaning. It was captured with my Teslong borescope. The brass or copper color is probably from the test firing they did but the main thing for you to see is all of the preservative and grime in there, You do not want to shoot with this junk in there as it could adversely affect the pistol in any number of ways including affecting accuracy, By the way, the Teslong Rigid Rifle Borescope with 1080P resolution is pretty remarkable. I really like mine – it’s many times better than anything I have experimented with that I could afford.
I have used Ramrodz for years – the giant Q-tips on the right – to clean pistols. I just started trying the Clenzoil Bore Stix (on the left) and they seem to be decent with the advantage of having a cleaner/lubricant on them already. The Ramrodz being unprepared let me decide what I want to coat them with given the situation at hand so pros and cons with both. BTW- the sticks can snap easily so you hold them close up by the “bulb” when you insert them and then run the back and forth with the stick.
Here’s what the first Ramrodz looked like after I ran it up and down the bore a few times. It was coated with Kroil penetrating oil to help break things free. You can see the grime that came out.
I then decided to try a Bore Stix with just its normal coating.
The Clenzoil BoreStix seemed to remove even more grime than the Ramrodz but it is hard to say because the Kroil was in there working as I switched from the RamRodz to the Bore Stix.
This is after cleaning and lubricating. Again, the Teslong borescope is a game changer for me in terms of actually seeing the bore in considerable detail.

What I want you to take away from this section is to clean the bore – you can absolutely use your favorite method – patches, boresnake, whatever – but definitely clean it.

Field Stripping the Pistol

Armscor includes a half-way decent manual about how to field-strip your 1911 and I recommend you read it. Some of their models have barrel bushings and they have at least two models of full length guide rods that I know of. You just need to break the pistol down into its major groups – do not start taking apart the frame unless you seriously know what you are doing or you are going to get a hard lesson in how a 1911 goes together internally and it is not simple enough for the average shooter in my honest opinion. If you are a person that assembles 1911s from the bare frame – go ahead and do it. Have fun. If you have never disassembled and reassembled a 1911 – don’t. You don’t have to at this point is the bottom line.

One unique thing about the Big Rock you need to know is the unique full length guide rod (FLGR) they used and as far as I know, it is not in any other RIA pistol. If you have one of the 10mms, you are aware of the FLGR design which uses a pin to capture the two halves of the FLGR from separating, The Big Rock’s FLGR is threaded. To remove it, you turn counter-clockwise quite a few turns to unscrew the two halves and separate them. Now pay attention – that is a 20 pound spring in there and it will launch one half or the other so capture or retain the assembly by securing it with your other hand to prevent you from digging around for a launched part.

That slotted part is the FLGR and it is removed by turning it counter clockwise. I was taking pictures here – remove it with the slide closed so there is less tension on the spring. Notice the dent in the outer edge of the barrek at about the 5 o-clock position. The crown was fine and that’s what really matters. I’m not going to bother sending it back.

I’m not going to write a comprehensive guide to lubricating a 1911, read your pistol’s manual. I will tell you I now use ALG’s Go-Juice which is a thin grease on anything that slides. Before the ALG, I used Super Lube Synthetic Grease applied with an acid brush and before that I used wheel bearing grease. I would at least recommend doing this while the weapon breaks in. If you want to go to an oil later after it has worn in, then do it by all means. Right now though, you need the extra lubrication the grease brings. If surfaces slide together, use grease.

If they turn, use oil. I am all over the place trying oils. Right now, I am using ALG’s biosynthetic stuff. Don’t ask me what is in it. Before that I have used a ton of different oils – MGW, Super Lube, Mobil 1, etc., etc., etc.

Getting a jump on breaking in the pistol

You will hear guys call it “breaking in”, “wearing in”, “letting the parts get to know each other” – they all refer to any firearm needing to smooth out parts through their normal cycling. Expensive guns, such as customs and semi-customs, an experienced gunsmith used huning stones, rubberize abrasive bits or whatever was their preffered tool, to get rid of the tooling marks and sharp edges to give you a smooth weapon right out of the box.

Well, RIA is not expensive and they don’t spend a ton of time fitting and tuning their parts for a perfect fit. You know what? I’m fine with that – it’s easy to smooth things out but first I want to show you why you need to do this via some digital photos courtesy of an Andonstar AD246S-M digital microscope.

The following are example photos showing the tooling marks on various areas that need to slide freely. The tooling marks are everywhere and cause friction until the places where surfaces contact start to wear down the protruding areas:

Bottom of slide
Sample of tooling marks on slide rail area
Tooling marks on the receiver’s slide area.
Front of the left side of the receiver – the shiny areas are already making contact with the slide and wearing in.

Again, the above are all examples. Areas starting to shine are wearing in and starting to smooth out. I’d maybe cycled the slide a dozes or so times before the above photos were taken as I wanted to show before.

Now, there are tons of things you could do with honing storines, rubberized abrasive bits and even with lapping stones. If you want to do one or more of those, go for it. I have an even simpler solution – rack the slide open and closed a couple hundred times. Literally, don’t have a mag in it and work it back and forth over and over. It’s a workout with that 20# spring but it will accelerate wear-in dramatically. Think about it, a lot of firearms get more reliable just under a 100 rounds. You are really smoothing things out at 200, What you will notice is that if you do the above, you will not waste a lot of time and money dealing with jams.

How do I know this? I have owned a number of RIA pistols over the years. My test pistols that I use to test each mag before they leave have been handcycled thousands of times and the slide feels like that of a high-end pistol – like it is sliding on glass.

The following photos show contact areas after thousands of cycles:

Shiny areas neans the parts wore together and smoothed out.
In this area the tooling marks are all but gone.
Again, lots of wear – only the deepest tooling marks are still there.
The bottom of the slide is worn smooth.

Guys are always surprised how smooth these pistols are and then even more surprised when I tell them they are unmodified RIA pistols that have had their slides cycled thousands of times.

So, do you need thousands of times? No, just go for 200 and you can do more if you really want to.

Last comment on the FLGR and reassembling it

I seriously started hating on the unique Big Rock FLGR design when it came time to put it back together. You are fighting a 20# spring and I couldn’t remember how I did my last one years ago or find any tips or tricks about how to do it. The best thing I can tell you is that you need to secure the back half against the barrel link with the left hand. Insert the front section with the right and try to get front threaded insert into the hood of the back, try to hold them in approximate alignment as you try to screw the front half back in. Translation – it sucks and I have no tips.

I haven’t gotten this frustrated iin a while. The FLGR assembly is those three parts – the 20# spring and the two sliver rods. The one saving grace, the only saving grace for that matter, is the design of how they come together. The two shafts need to line up with the front long part with the slot sliding into the short stubby back part hat has a hooded opening.
This photo was mere seconds before I launched the back half six feet away where it luckily hit a wall and dropped in plain sight because I wasn’t keeping it secure enough with my left hand. Note, I still have a 1911 recoil spring plug somewhere that launched in my shop and was never found.
This is just to prove it is possible to get them back together. Note the purple ALG thin grease on the slide.

Summary

I hope this post helps impress on you the need to clean, lubricate and cycle your pistol, or whatever firearm, before you go to the range the first time. I do this myself and have shared it with many, many folks over the years and the feedback has always been positive.

By the way, the majority of guys who contact me hating on the RIA pistols did not break them in so I walk them through this. The second largest majority are really frustrated with the OEM magazine.

If you need mags for your 10mm or .40 RIA pistol (notably models 52009, 52682 or 52000 – also called the “A2” or “HC” series pistols (the big staggered 15-16 round models), please think of us. Our mags are far, far better than the OEM mags that come with the pistols – better springs, longer, antifriction coating and more.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

1911, Uncategorized

We are Labelling Our Custom 10mm Mags For Rock Island Armory A2 HC Pistols

We’ve made and sold hundreds of our custom magazines for the Rock Island Armory (RIA) A2 HC (High Cap) 10mm & .40 S&W pistols. These pistols are based on the Para design with a staggereed magazines that hold 15 rounds normally. Our mags hold 16 and are slightly longer.

The main reason I am writing this post is that our magazines use tubes originally made for the Para P14 pistol chambered in .45 ACP so they are stamped “P14-45” and there hasn’t been an elegant way to change that – the tubes are hardened and trying to stamp something else in would be messy. A laser engraver is an option but I don’t have one.

I was working on another project involving “permanent” labels – these are labels that have a really strong adhesive and last far better than regular labels. “Permanent” is a marketing term though – they can wear off, etc.

At any rate, it dawned on me that with the right size, I could have a clear thick vinyl label made with white ink that has “10mm & .40 S&W” written on it and that’s just what I did. You’ll find these on the baseplates going forward

So, yes, our tubes still have P14-.45 on them but now they have the correct chambering on the decal on the baseplate.

This is a normal baseplate with the label.
This is a baseplate that has been riveted closed because the tube has been blocked to 10 rounds. We also make 15 round limited mags. They are for folks who live in an area that has magazine limits.

By the way, if you ever want to confirm whether one of my mags is for 10mm or .40 S&W, the gap between the front feed lips will be between .370 and .390.

If you are interested in buying a magazine, please click here to go to our store. All of our magazines are converted, tuned and tested by hand one at a time.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

1911 / 2011

My Favorite Wood Grips Are Made By Browne Works

I sent out an email newsletter the other day with a photo of my RIA 51679 Tac Ultra in 9mm with wood grips. I also mentioned they are the only wood grips I have ever liked and was being honest. What surprised me was the number of people who emailed me asking if I had more photos and I do.

Mark Browne is the owner of Browne Works, Inc., located in Pasadena, MD, southeast of Baltimore. He has a wide variety of offerings for the Ultra and Tac Ultra both FS and MS models. He also has them for the A2 HC (like I needed) plus the BBR. The pricing is very reasonable also and he has a variety of materials you can choose from – click here for his website. If you want more info, I did a blog post about them a while back so click here for that to open in a new tab.

Otherwise, here are the new photos:

This is one of our new 10 round 9mm mags. The round count is limited by the dimples the Mec-Gar factory pressed in. The base plate is a Dawson +200 unit.

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

1911, 1911 / 2011

Improperly Adjusted Feed Lips in a Rock Island A2 HC Pistol Can Cause Failure to Eject

One of the things I enjoy about the firearm industry is meeting neat people. Dan Barnett contacted me a few weeks back. He is a certified “polymer” pistol armorer and had recently got into 1911s. As part of the journey, he purchased a used Rock Island Armory 51679 Tac Ultra FS HC 9mm and was trying to sort out why it was failing to eject way more than he cared for and he would have an empty case and a round trying to be fed in the slide at the same time. He and I hit it off because we both like the soft shooting Rocks.

Dan’s 51679 Tac Ultra

Because of my past experiences with RIA Tac Ultra 9mm extractors failing, I asked him how his looked and he told me that it looked nice and sharp – no broken parts. I send him my blog post on extractors and recommended he switch his to a Wilson Combat if he ever runs into a problem or wants to make the upgrade anyways.

There was a possibility the extractor tension was too light but I figured we’d assume it was okay for the moment. Note, if you open a slide slowly and watch the cartridge or casing being extracted, the extractor should maintain control all the way to the ejector. If it doesn’t and the extractor looks ok then it is most likely the tension and there are specialty gauges out there for testing and setting them.

With the extractor tentatively ruled out, what I told him was that not many people understand how critical the magazine feed lips are to proper feeding and ejection of a 1911 and that his Tac Ultra was just that – an oversize 1911.

What can happen is that the front feed lip gap can be set too wide allowing the front of the cartridge to tilt up in the air too far. Then, as the newly extracted case comes backwards, the riding too high bullet pushes the spent case up just enough to miss the ejector. Honestly, there is a really delicate brilliant dance going on inside a 1911 and all it takes is something to be off just enough and things go wrong.

Dan took his calipers to the four mags he had and the front of the feed lips that can be adjusted were all over 0.320″ and I recommend starting somewhere between 0.308 to 0.312″. There isn’t a magic number due to all of the variables one can encounter. Too wide and it can cause a failure to eject or stove piping. You can even have rounds falling out of the mag. Too narrow and you have the cartridge moving straight ahead, smashing nose first into the feedramp and stopping / jamming right then and there.

You can see the ejector is just above the rear rim of the dummy round and the round is angled up slightly. If that nose is up too much, it will nudge the extracting case high enough to miss or intermittently miss the extractor.
This is looking down at the face of the slide – what I want you to see is that there is nothing there to limit the round from working its way towards the top of the slide. The extractor has a firm grip on the rim of the case but that’s it.

Dan asked what he should do, I told him to disassemble the magazine and then carefully hold the magazine budy (the “tube”) on a table or better yet a piece of wood that lets the bottom lips dangle but supports the magazine all the upwards. Then lightly tap on each front side of the magazine to close the gap. Light tap left, light tap right, and measure. Repeat until it gets to the right gap – either via measurement or testing the mag with some dummy rounds.

This is a Steelworx machined stainless steel 9mm dummy round and what I prefer to use these days for testing. I no longer use the blue A-Zoom snap caps as they are not dimensionally identical to a true 115 9mm FMJ round. To adjust the lips, disassemble the mag and then tap on the front of the feed lips only – in the case you can see they are tapered in and are closest to the red. You do not need to hit on the other parts. By tapping on the front the steel lip will gracefully bend in the direction you are tapping it.
Dan adjusted his gap to be around around 0.3095 by looking at where the bullet would hit the ramp/enter the chamber and testing . Your gap could be different from his.

By the way, the back of the magazine is fixed due to the folded metal ears that form the back of the lips. You can’t adjust them much at all or they will buckle or break. I leave them alone.

This tapping doesn’t take a ton of effort so use a light hammer and light taps – this is not a “mongo smash” moment because if you crush the neck of the mag, it’s game over unless you have a mandrel to open it back up. These days I use a light body hammer to do the work.

If you go too far and need to open the lips, use malleable chain pliers also known as chandelier or lamp chain pliers to open the lips back up. External snap ring pliers can also work but are not my first choice. The chain pliers distribute the pressure along a larger area of the lips vs. the relative point pressure of the snap ring pliers’ pins.

Feed lip gaps will change with use – this is not a one time exercise and why it is a good idea to number your mags. This way you can write down the setting for each magazine or know that when you get back front the range which magazine you need to take a look at.

How did the adjustments work out for Dan? He finished a 1,000 round tactical range session with zero malfunctions. I told him to have fun because there is always something to adjust or tinker with on a 1911 and I mean that in a good way.

So, I hope this post helps you out!

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

1911 / 2011

Do you want replacement grip panels for your RIA A2 HC pistol? Check out Guuun Grips

In the first post, I told you about Stoner CNC for grips made from G10 composite, in the second I told you about a great option for wood – Browne Works and in this third post, we’ll cover a firm with a unique name and good grips.

The firm is called Guun Grips and they make custom G10 grips for bunch of pistol models and different styles of grips. You can find their offerings on their own website as well as tons of listings on eBay and Amazon. It’s my understanding that the grips are made in China and then sold in the US via Aurora, Colorado. So much is made in China these days that I’m not very surprised – it is interesting to note that when you search on them there are lots of satisfied 1911 and CZ.75 owners running their grip plates.

For the RIA A2 HC pistols, I could not find a listing on either Amazon or eBay but you can buy them directly off their store in either a black or grey color.

The grip plates are machined from G10 composite and available in either black or grey.
The back of the plates show good attention to detail. All edges are well formed and smooth.

Installation was very straight forward – unscrew the pair of grip screws and put on the new panel. I did need to do some light filing on the right side to get the G10 panels to sit flat and the holes to line up accordingly. Oddly enough, the left side went right on.

The plate does not want to sit flat or line up with the holes in the frame. These are indications that fitting is needed. It doesn’t take much filing to get them to fit.
The G10 files easily – use a dust mask as you really shouldn’t be breathing composite dust. Go slow and take your time – file, test fit and repeat until the plates sit flush.
The left two plates are the Guuun models and the right is the original RIA. You can see the slight differences in the number of divots and grooves as well as the depth of them. The Guuun grips actually feel quite good.
Once the plate is seated nicely flat on the frame the grip screws are reinstalled.
You know, I like the feel better than the original RIA plates. “Feel” is a subjective thing – but I do like the way the plate feels in my hand.
A closer view
And of the other side.

Summary

The Guuun grip plates are nicely made. To be honest, I didn’t expect them to be made very well but they are – the material, machining and finishing are all very good.

So, here’s another option for you whether you want to stick with black and have a different feel or opt for their grey color.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

1911 / 2011

Do you want wood replacement grip panels for your RIA A2 HC pistol? Check out Browne Works

In the last post, I told you about Stoner CNC for grips made from G10 composite and in this one, I want to tell you a great option for wood – Browne Works, Inc.

Mark Browne is the owner of Browne Works, Inc., located in Pasadena, MD, southeast of Baltimore. He is a true custom grip maker and sands and finishes them by hand with a very wide offering for pistol models including the 1911, Beretta 92, Hudson G9, Llama, SIg Sauer and, of course, the Rock Island single and double stack pistols.

For Rock Island pistols he has a wide variety of offerings for the Ultra and Tac Ultra both FS and MS models. He also has them for the A2 HC (like I needed) plus the BBR. The pricing is very reasonable also and he has a variety of materials you can choose from – click here for his website.

The wood is Brazilian Rosewood. Mark added hardener and did a double diamond pattern on it. There is a satin finish sealant on them as well. I think they look amazing – the photos don’t do them justice.
Mark can do laser engraving if you want. He does engrave his logo on the back of each panel plus it shows you the attention to detail in terms of the finishing he does.

Installation was very straight forward – unscrew the pair of grip screws and put on the new panel. I did need to do some light filing to get the wood panels to sit flat and the holes to line up accordingly.

I did need to remove some off the bottom. I used a smooth file and would take a tad off in a straight line along the bottom and test repeatedly until the panel fit nice and snug.

Now I need to insert something here that Mark did that really helped me out. The photos in this post are actually of my second set. On the rear of the grip is a tab that covers a slot. I don’t know what happened but it cracked on my original right side plate. I contacted Mark and he told me he would make a new one and add hardener and use the cool double diamond pattern and he didn’t charge me! He had no idea who I was or that I planned a blog post – I never said anything. He took care of me and that speaks a lot about him and his customer service right there.

The grips look great!
And the other plate is fitted – the screws were next on the to-do list.
These grips are really nice. I never thought I would go with wood but I am leaving these plates on my pistol.
Both in terms of looks and how they feel, these

Summary

I’m not always a wood fan but to be perfectly honest, I like these – a lot. The checkering really gives you a nice grip without biting into your hand. They are staying on the pistol!

When it comes to Browne Works for RIA A2 HC pistols – I definitely recommend them based on my experience.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

1911 / 2011

Do you want replacement grip panels for your RIA A2 HC pistol? Check out Stoner CNC

Because we sell customized magazines for the Rock Island A2 HC pistols – their staggered magazine pistols based on the Para design that hold 14-17 rounds depending on caliber – I am often asked if I make grip panels – the slabs that go on each side of the magazine housing. The short answer is no – I don’t make them. The next question is usually – do you know anyone who does and again, I’d answer no.

Well, if I get asked something enough eventually my curiosity perks up so I started digging. There are a couple of key things you need to know:

  • The Rock Island A2 HC pistols have very wide magazine wells so they use relative thin proprietary grip plates that are not compatible with regular 1911 pistols.
  • The bushings that are normally replaceable in a 1911 part of the A2 HC frame and can not be easily relaced. I don’t know for sure but I think they did this to keep the thickness down
  • They use unique screws – the screws are #10-32. Overall length is 0.205″ and the threaded shaft is about 0.145″. Advanced Tactical (the online retail business unit of Armscor) sells replacement screws and sometimes they pop up elsewhere. The key point is that they are not standard 1911 grip panel screws.
Here’s a good view if the integral bushings that are part of the frame. Probably to keep the overall thickness down, costs as well I bet, separate bushings were not used.

So who sells grip panels? Option 1: Stoner CNC

I found three vendors and ordered in panels for testing. I’m doing this first post on the first box I opened – no super secret selection crtieria. This first set came from Stoner CNC.

Matt Stoner is the owner of Stoner CNC located in Archbold, Ohio, and makes grip panels from G10 composite for just a ton of pistols – 1911, Kimber, Ruger, Springfield Armory, Beretta, RIA and more. I ran into one small snag – I couldn’t find any recent reviews, his Facebook page was last updated in 2019 and nobody answered emails from his website while I was searching. I kept digging and what I found out is that he also sells on eBay and on Amazon so I went ahead and ordered two sets of panels from eBay [Click here for the listing] and they arrived six days later — by the way, he also did reply to the email just before they arrived I think. My guess is that he’s like a lot of small businesses (including mine) – stretched thin trying to keep all the balls in the air – manufacturing, emails, Facebook, etc.

As of my writing this, he doesn’t have them listed on eBay or Amazon but does have the panels that you need on his website. He only offers one series of plates that he calls “Slash & Burn” under the 1911 doublestack listing on the main page. From there you can pick the color and specify what model frame the panels will go on. The RIA Short is for pistols with the factory mag well flare (the big bell bottom on the A2 HC pistols) installed and the Long model is if you have removed / don’t have the flare.

These are the “Slash & Burn” grips for double stack 1911s and they are for the RIA Short (Magwell) meaning the factory mag well flare is installed. He does offer a long cut if you do not have the magwell flare installed.
The machining of the G10 is nicely done. It seemed plenty strong from what I could tell.

Installation is very straight forward – unscrew the pair of screws and put on the new panel. I did not need to sand anything to fit. You’ll notice the holes are a little on the large side so you can move the panels a hair if you need to. If you must trim them to fit, look very carefully at the bottom at it may be hitting the flare and just need a bit of material removed. Again , mine went right on.

The far right plates are the Stoner Slash & Burn in Black. The middle plates are the originals from RIA and, of course, you can see the blue ones on the pistol.

Summary

They are well made, affordable and give you different color options. There is a little bit more of a positive feeling meaning I can feel the ridges and get more of a grip whereas the original RIA plates seem a tad smoother.

Bottom line, if you want something other than black then Stoner has you covered. If I had it to do over, I would have gotten another color for the second set other than black.

Would I recommend them – yes and I hope this helps you out.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

1911, 1911 / 2011

Are Rock Island Armory Double Stack 9mm 1911-Style A2 HC-series Pistols Any Good?

Rock Island Armory (RIA) is a brand name that is owned by Armscor Global Defense located in Marakina, Philippines. Armscor obtained a license from the Philippine government in 1952 to begin making firearms. In 1980 it became Arms Corporation of the Philippines (ArmsCor) and in the mid-80s they bought the US brand “Rock Island Armory” and began exporting firearms to the US. They have invested in quality improvement and automation to create their wide variety of firearms offered today. They also have opened plants in the US – one in Stevensville, MT, and the other in Pahrumo, NV.

In March 2022, a Philippine TV crew visited the Armscor factory in Marakina and produced this nice video that focuses mainly on their 1911 production area:

The reason I wanted to share this with you is that RIA pistols do have a long history and Armscor is not some fly by night company. This is my opinion – I would describe RIA 1911 pistols as being designed, built and sold to shooters who want an acceptable 1911 without spending a fortune. They are not claiming to turn out semi-custom pistols – instead, good enough pistols at an affordable price point.

In marketing, when you are trying to hit a certain price point to attract the buyers you are after, you have to figure out the features, the materials, and process combination to get you there. Now reliability and accuracy are features also so this needs to be factored in – the pistols need to be good enough but not necessarily over the top – even though we wish they were.

Ok, but are the 9mm HC 17 round pistols “good”?

So let’s go back to the question – are they good? For the price, yes. You can’t compare them to far higher end pistols such as Stacatto or Bul – it’s simply not fair. It would be like comparing a daily-driver economy model Ford or GM car to a BMW. Yes, they are all cars but the engineering and attention to detail during manufacturing in the BMW are going to be very different. They are for different markets comprised on people with different disposable income levels and tastes – and have different price points.

The two pistols I am discussing to be clear are the 9mm RIA A2 HC pistols – the 51679 Tac Ultra FS HC and the 56645 Pro Ultra Match HC – by the way, FS means “Full Size” and HC means “high capacity” because they hold 17 rounds in staggered magazines.

The frames and slides are made from 4140 alloy steel via CNC and they do have QA steps. The barrel seems to be pretty decent but then the price point issue begins to creap in.

I bought four of the A2 HC 80% frames back when I was doing R&D on magazines for the 10mm/..40 S&W calibers (they use the same magazine design) and also the 9mm magazines. What not everyone knows is that these pistols also share a common frame. I installed the RIA magazine catch and ejector but they milled all of the holes and applied, as you can see, a very decent parkerized finish.
Here are two 80% frames with the top one holding a 10mm magazine and dummy red A-Zoom round. The bottom one has a 9mm magazine. The blue round is an A-zoom snap cap and I don’t use or recommend them any longer as the bullet is shaped very differently than a 115gr or 124gr FMJ round so you may think feeding will work when it doesn’t. I sure found that out the hard way.ĵ

For example, to keep costs down, Armscor uses metal injection molded (MIM) parts. I know through first hand experience, the extractors are MIM and they will not have the longevity of a forged part made from tool steel such as one from Wilson Combat *but* the extractors can be replaced if you ever have a problem so it’s not like you suddenly have a boat anchor and that’s one of the beauties of 1911-style pistols – there is a huge aftermarket parts industry and tons of websites/forums out there to help you sort out what is going on not to mention 1911 gunsmiths and that Armscor has good warranty service – I’ve had to avail on it twice – one on a 6″ 10mm Big Rock and also on a 9mm Tac Ultra that had failure to extract issues … and on that one, there was something seriously wrong because just replacing the extractor didn’t work. [Click here for a post I wrote about my extractor journeys with RIA 9mms].

The top is the original Armscor extractor and the claw snapped off. The bottom is a forged tool steel Wilscon Combat. If you run into an issue, read the post I wrote and upgrade to a Wilson.

They also use a parkerized finish and its applied very nicely. There is a but coming – but parkerizing leaves a rough finish and means they need to wear in more compared to other brands that use a different finish and/or have careful polishing and tuning while parts are assembled.

Every parkerized RIA pistol that I have seen has a very nice consistent finish on it. The left pistol is the TAC and you can tell due to the bushing, normal barrel and no checkering on the grip. The right pistol is the Match. It has a bull barrel, full length guide rod and checkering on the front of the grip. The rear sights differ but you can’t see them in this photo.
That’s an 80% frame with no modifications right next to it’s finished cousin – a 51679 Tac Ultra. Under the pistol is one of our tuned Mec-Gar P18 magazines with a Dawon +200 base plate. Click here for our 9mm RIA magazine offerings.

Conclusion

This is my way of saying they are good enough. You are buying an entry level pistol that has been on the market for many years and word would get around quickly if they were utter junk. Does the gun need wear in? Yes. Might there be issues? Yes. Do they have warranty support? Yes and they do stand behind and repair their pistols.

Would I recommend these RIA Tac Ultra FS and Pro Match Ultra HC pistols to someone looking for an entry level 17 round 9mm 1911 style pistol? You may find it odd but yes I would and I’d explain the above.

I hope this helps you out.

1/6/2023 Update: I’ve had zero problems since writing this post. Both pistols have cycled thousands of times during magazine testing (meaning rounds are cycled by hand but not actually fired) and the slides are smooth as glass. I took both to the range recently and they functioned just fine with both 115 and 124gr bulk FMJ – I think the 115gr was CCI and the 124gr was S&B if I recall right.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

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