RIA 1911 issues

[Guest BCR#1]

8 hours ago, chances R said:

Just another example of why I am sold on the M&P full size 45.  Works every time and don't have to baby it.  Would have never bothered with the 1911s if I had shot this one first.

 

I wouldn't trade either one of my Springfield 1911's for any striker fired plastic out there.

Bill

[billyblazes]

10 hours ago, Garufa said:

Did the Mec-Gar magazine work?  They are some of the best aftermarket mags on the market and are in fact OEM for some big name companies.

1911’s are heavy, regardless of who makes them and 9mm versions are even heavier.

Function was indeed fine but fit was poor. 
I knew the RIA 1911 I was purchasing was heavier than offerings by other manufacturers. That was a trade off I was willing to make for the economical price. I don’t feel I’ve settled or sacrificed at all with regard to performance and reliability. 

Edited December 3, 2019 by billyblazes

[Patton]

I thought I mentioned this already. Most of the time if it is the last round in the mag it is an inertia feed and almost always because the slide is outrunning the mag.  Sometimes a stronger mag spring masks the problem if a stronger recoil spring doesn’t take care of it. This is not the sound of extractor tension being the culprit; we normally see that with rounds throughout the entire magazine.  A dirty or wet mag can also contribute to inertia feed.

[ken_mays]

This is an example of the issue that the dimpled magazine follower was created to fix.  Mec Gar makes a good magazine in general, but they aren't what I'd pick for 1911s. 

The Wilson mags have that plastic follower with no dimple, and the mag comes out of the box with the springs a bit on the soft side.  A moderate amount of use will weaken the springs to the point that odd things may start happening if a 1911 isn't set up quite right.

I also suspect that your recoil spring might be a little on the light side for the loads you're using, which can cause inertia feeds with the right (wrong) magazine design.    In your earlier posts, you said it happened with the Gold Dots; did it happen with the 400 rounds of ball ammo?

[lock n' load]

20 minutes ago, ken_mays said:

This is an example of the issue that the dimpled magazine follower was created to fix.  Mec Gar makes a good magazine in general, but they aren't what I'd pick for 1911s. 

The Wilson mags have that plastic follower with no dimple, and the mag comes out of the box with the springs a bit on the soft side.  A moderate amount of use will weaken the springs to the point that odd things may start happening if a 1911 isn't set up quite right.

I also suspect that your recoil spring might be a little on the light side for the loads you're using, which can cause inertia feeds with the right (wrong) magazine design.    In your earlier posts, you said it happened with the Gold Dots; did it happen with the 400 rounds of ball ammo?

Yes. I experienced the issue with various brands of fmj ammo also. The failure has occured with both the WC and the ACT mags. I'm not sure what poundage the recoil spring is however.

[Roman in Knoxville]

Does anyone know of a smith that will convert Romanian AIMS to 556/223?

[Grayfox54]

The standard recoils spring for a .45 acp 1911 is 16 lbs. I like to run the Wolff 18.5 lb springs in mine. The guns just seem to run better with them. I'd say try that next. 

[lock n' load]

Another update. After sending my gun back to RIA in December, I haven't heard anything until I contacted them today. They are sending me a new gun. They didn't say what was wrong with my old gun but would state the issue with it on the invoice when the new gun arrives. Since it will be a new gun, I assume I'll have to pick it up at the same FFL I bought it from and redo a background check. I'll send another update once I get it back and test it out. Hopefully it won't be too much longer.

[lock n' load]

Range update.

I got my gun back this past Thursday. It is indeed a new gun with a new serial number. I went to the range and fired 100 rounds just to see what happens and only had one fte. Other than that, everything went off without a hitch. I didn't even have adjust the sights as they were pretty much accurate out of the box. So far, so good. Still gotta put some more rounds through it before I am 100 % confident but today was a good start. Enclosed is a photo of my target I shot at...

 

 

 

[Patton]

One FTE out of the first 100 rounds is great odds.  Many of don’t consider 1911s broken in and suitable for carry until after 200-250 rounds and then we like too see 200 flawless rounds through it. 

[quedz]

35 minutes ago, lock n' load said:

So far, so good. Still gotta put some more rounds through it before I am 100 % confident but today was a good start.

[lock n' load]

Rock Island stands behind their products. They made things right with me since I was having issues with my old gun