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I just bought myself a Rock Island Armory, Officer 1911 the other day, but the day I got it, I was only able to put 50 rounds through it, so I had to leave a shooting review for another day.
I should have taken more close up pictures of both to show a better comparison but obviously the two 1911's are in the middle, i also shot a ruger 22, 38 special, and a .357mag super blackhawk today
Today I went shootin with my Pops, who, luckily for me, brought his Colt 1911 Officer model! I was pretty stoked because this gave me the amazing opportunity to shoot both guns, side by side, and compare them for anybody interested in knowing how the two compared.
Firstly, How do they look?: Almost Identical, besides the finish.The Colt was stainless steel, and about 25 years old. The RIA is parkerized, and basically brand new out of the box this week. The Colt still looked nicer, original grips were nicer, and so on. This can kind of be a personal opinion but the parkerized finish of the RIA is definitely not going to last 25 years, and I plan on duracoating mine soon to take care of this problem.
Secondly, Sights: Colt has novak style sights, with the normal 3-dot configuration, my favorite type of iron sight. The RIA uses novak style sights but without any contrast, which personally I dislike. I plan on getting new sights for my RIA as well to fix this.
Thirdly, Accuracy: The two guns aimed identically, but I noticed that I definitely preferred the trigger pull of my RIA compared to the Colt. Im not sure if the RIA has a lighter trigger or possibly a shorter travel, but I continually noticed myself pulling down with the Colt, while being more accurate with the RIA. When I would get a good trigger pull on the Colt, it shot amazing, but so does the RIA. I would say from about 600 rounds through both, that they are equally accurate, just have small differences that can easily be worked out with repetition.
Lastly Reliability: I shot two different types of ammo through both guns, first was a 230grain federal fmj, which went flawlessly through both guns. Second was a 185grain hollow point (not sure what brand as it wasn't my ammo, it was my Dad's). The hollow point had issues feeding on the last round of my RIA, AND the Colt. out of roughly 800 rounds total (of both Colt and RIA) of the hollow point, i had 6 fail to feeds, three from each gun, and it was always the last round. I am going to credit this to possibly the low grain? I have heard that using such a low grain round can cause it to jam, and since both guns did it, only with the hollow point round, and only on the last round of the magazine, that it most likely was an issue with the ammo choice and not the gun itself.
I would have to say that if you want a beautiful gun, that you will never EVER want to get rid of, the Colt is the way to go. Comparing them side by side you can just tell which one costs more, but if you weren't worried about looks, they shot the same to me personally. They shot so similar that they even had the exact same malfunctions with the hollow point ammo!
If you want a gun that you can beat up every day, and pick up for under $500 bucks? RIA all the way. This will replace my sig as my carry weapon easily and I plan on keeping this gun for a long long time. I am surprised more gun companies don't try and follow RIA's footsteps with making an affordable 1911.
I should have taken more close up pictures of both to show a better comparison but obviously the two 1911's are in the middle, i also shot a ruger 22, 38 special, and a .357mag super blackhawk today
Today I went shootin with my Pops, who, luckily for me, brought his Colt 1911 Officer model! I was pretty stoked because this gave me the amazing opportunity to shoot both guns, side by side, and compare them for anybody interested in knowing how the two compared.
Firstly, How do they look?: Almost Identical, besides the finish.The Colt was stainless steel, and about 25 years old. The RIA is parkerized, and basically brand new out of the box this week. The Colt still looked nicer, original grips were nicer, and so on. This can kind of be a personal opinion but the parkerized finish of the RIA is definitely not going to last 25 years, and I plan on duracoating mine soon to take care of this problem.
Secondly, Sights: Colt has novak style sights, with the normal 3-dot configuration, my favorite type of iron sight. The RIA uses novak style sights but without any contrast, which personally I dislike. I plan on getting new sights for my RIA as well to fix this.
Thirdly, Accuracy: The two guns aimed identically, but I noticed that I definitely preferred the trigger pull of my RIA compared to the Colt. Im not sure if the RIA has a lighter trigger or possibly a shorter travel, but I continually noticed myself pulling down with the Colt, while being more accurate with the RIA. When I would get a good trigger pull on the Colt, it shot amazing, but so does the RIA. I would say from about 600 rounds through both, that they are equally accurate, just have small differences that can easily be worked out with repetition.
Lastly Reliability: I shot two different types of ammo through both guns, first was a 230grain federal fmj, which went flawlessly through both guns. Second was a 185grain hollow point (not sure what brand as it wasn't my ammo, it was my Dad's). The hollow point had issues feeding on the last round of my RIA, AND the Colt. out of roughly 800 rounds total (of both Colt and RIA) of the hollow point, i had 6 fail to feeds, three from each gun, and it was always the last round. I am going to credit this to possibly the low grain? I have heard that using such a low grain round can cause it to jam, and since both guns did it, only with the hollow point round, and only on the last round of the magazine, that it most likely was an issue with the ammo choice and not the gun itself.
I would have to say that if you want a beautiful gun, that you will never EVER want to get rid of, the Colt is the way to go. Comparing them side by side you can just tell which one costs more, but if you weren't worried about looks, they shot the same to me personally. They shot so similar that they even had the exact same malfunctions with the hollow point ammo!
If you want a gun that you can beat up every day, and pick up for under $500 bucks? RIA all the way. This will replace my sig as my carry weapon easily and I plan on keeping this gun for a long long time. I am surprised more gun companies don't try and follow RIA's footsteps with making an affordable 1911.
