I have an itch for a 1911.

[Mike1957]

A co-worker has one. Not too bad of a gun for the price.
It seems to run flawless with ball ammo. Will fail to feed occasionally with hollow points. Not uncommon on the cheaper 1911s. Could probably be cleared up with a little polishing.
Is fairly accurate. Nothing to brag about, but good enough for most uses. A better fitted barrel bushing would probably improve it. Frame to slide fit isn`t bad. Doesn`t rattle like an old military .45.
The fit/finish is kind of crude and the trigger is heavy (about 6lb) and a little sloppy.
For the money they are decent shooters. Kind of ugly, but you can`t expect it to be a Kimber or a Colt for that low of a price tag. Might also be a good starting point for a project gun. I would bet that a little polishing and some better springs would improve it a lot.
The barrel bushing on this one needs to be replaced. Might not be the case with others.

 

[GJH77]

What is the good price you speak of?

Well I missed it. It popped up two days ago on Gunbroker from a new seller. He only had a buy now price, and had no shipping costs listed. Being a little cautious I was emailing the seller and helped him on how to ship, how to find cost of shipping, etc. and overnight someone else hit the buy now button for $350. That price had seemed ok for the gun, not much less than a new one, but what made it a really good deal was it came with 225 rounds of HP factory ammo and 3 holsters.

Shoo, Neon8, H Richard, Papajohn- Nice looking guns.

Thanks to all for the comments, and I will keep looking, there will be another.

 

[JcMack]

If it's your 1st 1911 style gun. I would suggest getting a 5" full size.

 

[H Richard]

They are fairly easily available. A small local shop usually has 2 or 3 RIA's in stock at most times. If you would want the name and contact info for him, send me a PM. His prices are always reasonable.

 

[JayBird686]

Does anyone have an opinion about a Rock Island 1911, commander size? I may have the opportunity to get one at a good price, and wondered how they are perceived. They are one of the lower priced 1911's to begin with, and made overseas it appears. I know you get what you pay for, but for a shooter, is it a decent gun?
Thanks for any input, it is always good.

Love my Rock Island GI. Frame and slide fit is great, finish seems durable enough, its as accurate as I can be with it. It is a good base to build up overtime.

I did ditch the factory grips, too slick. I also tossed the factory mag, went with a Wilson and a Chip McCormick. I will be buying only Wilsons from now on.

I changed out the GI blade sights too. Nothing wrong with the factory, I just wanted a dot sight.

My philosophy on buying the Rock comes down to this; I could hold out, save my nickels and dimes and drop 1000 dollars on a knarly Operator, Kimber series 1, older Colt, or, I could pay 385 dollars for my Rock, and get trigger time on the platform.

As far as ammo, I have shot federal 230 grain ball, 230 grain round nose reloads, 185 grain semi wadcutters, all function great. I may have had 2 or 3 ftfs. I think it's the chip McCormick mag. I now have more than 500 rounds so I want to start looking for a self defense round.

It is a gateway drug though. Now I want a commander length and a rail gun!