Yep, as you see my location, I happily live on the NC coast --->

Two weeks ago Hurricane Florence rocked our world, and is still continuing to do so. Wife and I were very fortunate and only suffered minor property damage at home and a bit of fence work will be needed at some property I have my range on a few miles away.

Finally getting caught up on clean-up chores and helping a few neighbors, got out yesterday for errands.
I do follow on FB a LGS in a neighboring town and saw that they were advertising a 'flood sale' with deep discounts as, unfortunately they were indeed flooded. NO FLOOD INSURANCE..

Got to the LGS and they were still in salvage mode. Had been furiously cleaning, scrubbing, de-humidifying and doing what they could to hopefully save the business.
The location had never flooded before, not even two years before in Hurricane Matthew.

Talked to a clerk, he said they did remove most stock from the concrete floor, but again, due to history expected that to be sufficient.

He showed me the high water mark on a handgun display case - 35" in height. Nearly submerged all the glass gun cases. At least a couple hundred handguns.
The area was flooded and stock immersed for three (3) days.

The shop had some additional guys there and they'd been really busy doing their best to make the affected guns marketable at cost or below.
All guns were given a freshwater bath, dried, and then soaked in motor oil, sans grips.

I'd not really planned on buying much. Ammo was 75% off, but not many folks interested in ammo immersed for three days.

Looking at handguns laid atop one of the cases, I saw a RIA M1911-A1.
It had just come out of 'treatment' and still running a little oil. Finish looked good. It's a RIA - it's never gonna be pretty.
Then, I saw it was a .38 Super.
Darn.
It was marked down to $375.

Have assorted 1911's in .22, 9mm, 10mm and all the commonly seen barrel lengths in .45.
Don't have a Super.

It's a good shop. Very friendly and absent the attitudes so often seen in some LGS's. The owner is a retired LEO from that town and always down-to-earth and helpful.

So, bought the RIA.
Detail stripped it today, gave it a solvent soak (gas actually, it's all I had in quantity) and then a good clean and lube. Again, surprised the finish held up so well.

Looking forward to shooting it. Have not really owned an RIA, but sold many when working at a couple of LGS's over the years.
Do have a Charles Daly M1911 in .45 which is really just a deluxe finished Philippine pistol. It's performed well.
Hope this does as well.

The OE grips are off while waiting on some VZ Cherry Double-Diamonds.
Might have to do something with the GI sights at some point, but want to keep it plane-Jane mostly.

Any RIA .38 Super stories amongst all?

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Ret'd LEO
SWCA #2275

I live in Charlotte, thankfully we managed to avoid the kind of devastation you guys faced to the east. Happy to hear things are slowly coming back to normal. I've honestly always wondered what happens to the stock that stores in general have during these freak storms/floods/hurricanes. I feel for the owners especially the mom and pop shops as they don't have the support and insurances that other big box stores have. Glad to hear you were able to support them in a way that worked for all parties.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

Was it the shop on the Morehead side of Havelock?

I saw an extensive collection of period lugers and other WW II pistols that had been salvaged in New Orleans after Katrina. They had been immersed in salt water for several days and the outcome was depressing and devastating. I don't know how the salvage effort finally turned out but for sure these pistols will never be the same again.
Jim

$375 1911 in a caliber I don't shoot or really need? Yeah, I would have probably caved too.

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Release the Kraken

Guys, so glad that you folks came through the storm in good shape. Nice to hear about the .38 super purchase. Great price as well. I have a Coly Commander in that caliber, and it is a great shooting gun.

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

In Newport, shop is 'P-KAT Arms'. (A combination of owner and wife's name).
Years ago it was a LGS named 'Ed's Guns East' under different ownership.

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Ret'd LEO
SWCA #2275

Had one of those about ten years ago. Lots of fun to shoot.

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

I have an RIA in 9mm and can't say enough good things about it. After Katrina, Charlie Sherrill picked up a ton of ammo and if I remember correctly, it was all fine. Modern ammo can take a lot of water.

I own a RIA 1911 in .38 Super. Picked it up a few years ago from an individual at a gun show at a very reasonable price.
Poor thing was a jam-o-matic. At least one, two or occasionally three failures to feed in every magazine. After studying on the problem, I came to the conclusion that RIA was building .38 Supers using 9mm slides. The 9mm is a rimless cartridge where the .38 Super has a small semi-rim. This rim was jamming up in the breach face which wasn't quite wide enough. A couple of minutes with a small file to open up the breach face just a tad and its run like a top ever since.

I think you will get much enjoyment from that RIA 1911-A1. As for undersized breech face, it can happen. My Colt Delta Elite Stainless that I bought for a fraction of what the original owner likely paid was in a similar state. Although it would function, ejection was less than perfect with cases getting crunched against the barrel hood. I found that the breech face had not been completely machined and was just a tad undersized for the 10mm Auto case rim. A few minutes with a small file to finish the machining and that 10mm became 100% reliable.

I bet you will enjoy the RIA. I have the tactical model and it shoots just fine. Not as pretty to look at as the Colt, Smith or Ruger but goes bang everytime and I can toss it in the center console for a trip and not worry about scuffing it up. Enjoy.

Sounds to me like the gun shop owners are getting ahead of the curve on their insurance claim. Their insurance company is likely to view their salvage efforts and sales at reduced prices very favorably because they have greatly reduced the insurance carrier's loss exposure.

The method of cleaning (bathing in clean fresh water and soaking in oil) is likely to be pretty effective. In the Army years ago we used boiling water to immerse heavily fouled weapons prior to normal cleaning with solvents and oil. Immersing in boiling water for several minutes raises the metal temperature to the temperature of the boiling water, so when removed and exposed to air the water instantly evaporates completely. As long as the piece was completely disassembled this cleaning method should be good to go; however any recessed areas or small enclosed areas might retain water vapor that will condense upon cooling and be retained. Particular areas of concern for me would be springs and small fitted parts such as pins, screws, etc.

While WD40 is not usually recommended for firearms (because of its penetrating qualities and effect on cartridge primers), this might be a good application for WD40 because of its ability to displace water. Thorough soaking in WD40 followed by complete cleaning (to remove traces of WD40) could be a prudent choice.

NOTE TO SELF: Be very careful about purchasing bargain ammo from addresses on the Carolina coast over the next year or two.

Years ago, my father's basement flooded for a couple of days. The water was really high. He had some factory match ammo in a filing cabinet above the water line. He thought the ammo was still good. When he tried to shoot it, the bullets just got out of the barrel and nothing more. I'd be very leery of buying ammo that had been in a wet environment for 3 days. Also, ammo won't be accepted for return, even under normal circumstances.

If the RIA is anywhere as nice as my RIA Compact 9mm you will love it.


Holster by Lobogunleather.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

I am not suggesting that we should store our guns underwater but only that if I'd be offered guns at dealer cost because of a 3 days underwater exposition of any gun,I'd probably start looking at my bank account to see how much I can''invest''.
I think you made a good move.Have fun with that Super!

RIA is a great gun, enjoy

In instances like this, I think most guys would be buying the ammo for the components only.

Robert

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

We must see pics! Before and after would be nice.