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I have been looking for a Budget 1911 so a awhile so I decided to give the Rock Island Armory Tactical Series full-size 1911 in .45 ACP, in Nickel a try. I sourced my unit from Gun broker and at approximately US$500 shipped and transferred. I felt it was a good deal.
The Rock Island Armory Tactical comes in a hard black plastic case with egg crate-foam padding.

Bundled with the pistol were one 8-round ACT magazine, an instruction manual, and an AFAD gun-safety pamphlet. 1 year warranty form. No bushing wrench provided (or needed: field stripping was easy). The pistol sports a skeletonized 'combat' hammer, skeleton trigger, upswept beavertail, ambidextrous extended thumb safety, and Novak-style no-snag rear sights. Both rear and front sights are dovetailed into the slide. The cheep plastic grips where tossed in favor of a set of Larry Davidsons horny Lizard grips The Nickel Finish is excellent and appears to be of high quality. With the black accented small parts, It was handsome at first and second glances.
The gun came in a bag covered in what seemed to be about a quart of oil and grease It took some time to get this all cleaned up and ready for use. I have to admit it was well preserved for its over sea crossing. During initial inspection of the gun I found no issues with any of the small parts, everything fit nice and snug. Barrel lock up is solid and the gun is tight, Slide to frame fit is excellent considering the price point of the pistol.

I do not have a efective way to measure trigger pull but I would estimate the trigger pull to be in the 5.5lb range with no noticeable creep and should lighten up to a nice 5lbs after 500 rounds or so. Stripped, cleaned, lubed and checked, with better-looking and better-feeling grips on... it was off to the range.The first 100 rounds where some reloads I made using 200 grain round nose lead and/or 200 grain Semi wad cutters both with 7 grains of Pistol Power powder. For break in purposes I did not track accuracy but out of the first 100 I had 6 failure to feeds. I tried these in a Kimber that my Father brought along and they would not feed in in this gun either so I assume it was a manufacturing (ME) issue. The The Magazine used for the test was the factory ACT and some Kimber KimPro-Tac mags I had laying around.

The next 50 where factory new Speer 230 grain training rounds. As a note there where zero FTF issues using this ammo. Using the factory ACT mag, 5 shoot groups accuracy @ 10 yards as you can see is very good, I failed the pistol here and given more time these will improve. Sights are a little off so I will tweak them on the next trip.

Free Hand @ 10 yards

Bench rest @ 10 yards

I think the performance of this Rock Island rivals guns that easily cost twice as much. I am happy with my purchase and think it will make an excellent range gun.
 
Thanks for sharing all that info. Am glad to see we have another satisfied member of the RIA family. I honestly do not think anything can touch them for the money. I had both a Colt Officer's ACP and a RIA tactical compact, and could not tell haedly any difference as to which was the better gun. And the RIA cost me half as much. In many ways i preferred the RIA because it was bushingless and tighter amongst other things.
 
Good to hear.

FYI, semi-wad cutter bullets typically do not do well in most 1911 style guns, especially ones without a ramped barrel. The "ledge" is what catches. A standard FMJ or flat point profile would likely do better.
 

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