Opinion on Remington R1 1911?

Cardoff · Jun 2, 2017

I have an R1 enhanced. I doubt very much that you will be disappointed. A fine weapon.

v0lcom13sn0w · Jun 3, 2017

took my r1 enhanced threaded out today.

literally picked it up from FFL at 7:30pm tonight and was shooting by 8:45

went home, wiped oil off, loaded a mag and manually loaded and unloaded some 230gr blazer brass FMJ. i found that when i have 8 rounds in mag, the first one hangs up on feed ramp by going straight into feed ramp and stopping.

removed slide and barrel (barrel bushing is super snug coming off AND going on BTW), polished feed ramp on frame until mirror finish and also the chamber/ramp of the barrel. no more hang ups. 110% g2g. cleaned gun thoroughly.

IMO this feed ramp polish (which i do on ALL my pistols) was going to happen one way or another. thats why i decided to do it right out of the box.

first impressions shooting:

shot 1 round unsuppressed. funtioned fine. it fed next round in. cleared chamber and attached suppressor. shot about 24rnds total without a hitch.

-awesome trigger
-TIGHT slide to frame fit
-sights are spot on even being suppressor height.
-grips are good but VZ or some other awesome grips are in my thoughts
-very smooth gun.

functions well with can attached though doesnt eject too far. no FTE though

overall a great shooter.

very very very happy.

heres a pic of it on the back of my car

Alexx1401 · Jun 3, 2017

DAMN fine looking pistol!!

Merle · Jun 3, 2017

MrMillspecer said:
They should be good to go. Remington Rand made 1911s for the Army as well as Colt. Like most already know.
I really like the plain look as well. Like some ARs.

View attachment 367298 View attachment 367297

Remington Rand was a typewriter manufacturing company, not to be confused with Remington the gun manufacturing company.

Mark W. · Jun 3, 2017

I have a plain jane R1 that has had a Wilson Trigger Hammer and Beavertail installed then a super good tuning job. And its one of my favorite and most accurate pistols out of the 3 drawers full I own. A seriously nice piece.

MrMillspecer · Jun 3, 2017

Merle said:
Remington Rand was a typewriter manufacturing company, not to be confused with Remington the gun manufacturing company.

Uh ok. But no.

I would type w this. Show me your keyboard.

Goosebrown · Jun 3, 2017

Ok someone buy my G43 or sportsman 48. !!!

I really want one now

Merle · Jun 3, 2017

MrMillspecer said:
Uh ok. But no.

I would type w this. Show me your keyboard.
View attachment 367567

Uh, yea. There were only a two actual gun companies that made 1911A1 pistols during WW2: Colt and Ithaca.

MrMillspecer · Jun 3, 2017

Interweb history.
The Remington Rand M1911A1

Remington Rand M1911A1 Pistol

When World War II broke out, Remington-Rand had been a typewriter company for 55 years, and they made a right decent typewriter (I owned one), but they were a long way out of the firearms business. Nevertheless, Uncle Sam needed war material and any number of manufacturers were pressed into service building things that they had never built before for the war effort. But why didn't Uncle get Remington Arms to build the pistols? The answer is really pretty simple. The War Department needed Remington Arms to do what it did best and that was to produce ammunition. Other folks could crank out the pistols.

Remington Rand was awarded its first order on March 16th, 1942, for a total of 125,000 1911A1 pistols. The company had no experience building pistols at the time it was awarded the contract. Remington Rand formed a new division to take charge of building the pistols. The division formed was designated Remington Rand "C" Division. After winning the contract, they converted a vacant plant once used for building typewriters to the production of M1911A1 pistols. The old plant was located on Dickerson street in Syracuse, N.Y.

The first 255 production pistols where accepted by ordnance inspectors in November of 1942. In the beginning, some manufacturing equipment was still unavailable and this caused Remington Rand to acquire parts from other sources to complete the early pistols. They purchased barrels from High Standard, Colt, and Springfield Armory; disconnectors from US&S; grips safeties from Colt; and slide stops from Colt and Springfield Armory (2,865 left over from WWI).

By March of 1945 they where building the lowest price pistol in the war effort and quality was considered second to none. It is important to note that in March 1943, James Rand, Jr. stopped production due to interchangeability test failures. The guns where not meeting the government requirements for parts interchangeability and had a very high rejection rate. After a change in management, production resumed in May of 1943 with the interchangeability and rejection rate problems solved. By the end of the war Remington Rand had produced over 875,000 pistols, almost twice as many as Colt and Ithaca combined.

The most amazing part of the story is in how many of the Remington Rand pistols are still in service today, 55+ years after they were built by the typewriter company in Syracuse that knew nothing about building guns. Their owners swear by them, and if they haven't been abused, they're still solid and dependable pistols. I wish I had a dozen of them.

Alexx1401 · Jun 3, 2017

MrMillspecer said:
Uh ok. But no.

I would type w this. Show me your keyboard.
View attachment 367567

During the war ramp up many companies that were not making firearms were pressed into service to make guns. RR was one. They had craftsmen already. Government needed far more guns faster than the existing firearms manufactures could possibly make them. So others bought tooling to start making stuff for the war effort. One of the more commanding models was made by a famous sewing machine company. This stuff is I'm sure easy to "google" still. Sadly they seem to have long stopped teaching about this in school. Being as most schools think any thing "gun" is evil it's no wonder.

Merle · Jun 3, 2017

I have a friend who hs been a military 1911 collector since the 80s. He recently sold a Singer 1911A1 for over 45k and it was in pretty rough shape. He also just sold a 3 digit 1911 for around 65k! I think he said he paid $1500 for it about 20 years ago. He has a few 2 digit pistols as well. I could only imagine what those will demand price wise.

Goosebrown · Jun 3, 2017

OK guys. Thank you. Responses been excellent. I'm sold. I need one. I want to stuff for sale, somebody go fund this 1911 for me. Just added a Ruger SR 22 to the classifieds.

Alexx1401 · Jun 3, 2017

Merle said:
I have a friend who hs been a military 1911 collector since the 80s. He recently sold a Singer 1911A1 for over 45k and it was in pretty rough shape. He also just sold a 3 digit 1911 for around 65k! I think he said he paid $1500 for it about 20 years ago. He has a few 2 digit pistols as well. I could only imagine what those will demand price wise.

Yep when it comes to something some see as "collectable" price can be crazy some times. I have had many Mil surplus 1911's. Back not that long ago they were common. Many times you could find one in excellent shape for less than a new Colt. Now days they all started commanding surprising prices. Last one I saw at a LGS was a RR. It was in very sad shape. Shop wanted as much for it as a at that time new kid on the block Springfield "Loaded". Week or so later when I was there it had sold. I remember people making fun of them saying "it's too old, something could break" when they would see them. No one's making fun of them any more. Wish I had set aside a handful of the really nice ones back in the day.

Goosebrown · Jun 4, 2017

OK. I am a proud new owner of a Remington R1. My first ever 1911.

Thanks for all the help and thought here. Got it for $399 (after rebate) which is only $14 more than when it was on special when it was released several years ago. VERY happy. Going to shoot it Tuesday.

Goosebrown · Jun 4, 2017

Don't know what that is. Double diamond checkered.

DirectDrive · Jun 4, 2017

Goosebrown said:
OK. I am a proud new owner of a Remington R1. My first ever 1911.

Thanks for all the help and thought here. Got it for $399 (after rebate) which is only $14 more than when it was on special when it was released several years ago. VERY happy. Going to shoot it Tuesday.

Nice.
Your Man Card just banked 10 merits.

WAYNO · Jun 4, 2017

Goosebrown said:
Don't know what that is. Double diamond checkered.

The original R1's were very close to the original GI issue 1911, including an exact copy of the US GI grips. I've seen photos of these guns with the Double Diamond grips, as well as the GI grips. I was just wondering which grips yours came with.

WAYNO · Jun 4, 2017

WAYNO said:
The original R1's were very close to the original GI issue 1911, including an exact copy of the US GI grips. I've seen photos of these guns with the Double Diamond grips, as well as the GI grips. I was just wondering which grips yours came with.

Woops. I just looked at a photo of mine. it had the Double Diamond grips. I must've been thinking of the Springfield with the US grips.

Either way, these I think the Remington's are the nicest looking of any of the modern 1911's.

DirectDrive · Jun 4, 2017

WAYNO said:
View attachment 367867

Woops. I just looked at a photo of mine. it had the Double Diamond grips. I must've been thinking of the Springfield with the US grips.

Either way, these I think are the nicest looking of any of the modern 1911's.

Yep, that's a nice looking 1911 !