New RIA Commander

[daytonaredeye]

After several visits to "fondle" this one, I finally brought home the bundle of joy . . .




To clarify (as there had been some discussion on break in for these) the owner's manual said that 500 rounds was the usual break in count for this gun.

First thing I did was field strip it to clean it only to find it BONE DRY!!! Not an ounce of packing grease or other factory lubricant. Spent 20 minutes oiling then cycling the slide, firing snap caps, etc. and then took it down again to find the Rem Oil I had applied was nowhere to be seen so I repeated the entire process. Want this thing as lubed/loose as possible before taking it to the range for official break in. Lots of squared off edges and felt rough in a few spots - notably the feed ramp and rail edges/ends. I did note the feed ramp is a little more vertical (not as "diagonally smooth" as the other auto-pistols I own) and the first snap cap didn't jump into the chamber nor did the first live round I tried chambering - expect a few failure to feeds in the beginning but everything ejected nice and smoothly. Hope to be a good purchase and functional gun in the long run.

[LAZY EYED SNIPER]

Congrats on your purchase!

I brought the same model home just before Christmas...





Added a set of VZ Grips 'ECT' G10 panels for a little personal touch. I love the way this weapon handles and it shoots like a dream. VERY impressed with it so far. I'd be careful though, if you get around the die-hard 1911 crowd they'll eat you alive for calling a 4" barrel a "Commander". I've got a couple hundred rounds through it by now and it's been issue free so far...

[joecil]

I have the CS model and sent it to Arnel at Armscor Precision for his magic tune up and night sight job after about 100 rounds. Since I've had it back now I've put 3000+ rounds of everything through the gun without a single problem. It has become my daily carry gun.

[JimSheldon]

Arnel and Shawn are both super gunsmiths. Talked to Arnel about my Citadel (also Armscor/RIA) and they sold me the Ambi safety for mine. I'm a lefty so it was somewhat necessary. When I got it, it only took 10 minutes to install and functioned perfectly.

Not too many companies around where you can actually call them ant talk directly to the smith that's going to work on your gun! Dang near as good customer service as I've had with Taurus.

BTW Sniper, them are some very pretty grips on yours!

[daytonaredeye]

SNIPER: Those ARE nice grips!! Any other work in addition to a new pair of mitt handles? Also, I rarely hang out with 1911 purists. At the range I frequent, most handgun shooters are shooting the latest compact this or revolver that . . . .

joec: I think I remember your mentioning a refurbishing in another thread. You here state that after you got it back it has been a dream; any issues before the "magic tune up", etc?

I do like not having to remove a barrel bushing but the removal of the recoil spring guide is a little clunky - wish they had included a little tool for that (even if it was a sawed off or shortened allen wrench) instead of having to mangle a paper clip for this. Also, I can tell from just field stripping this thing a few times that the parkerized finish won't last long.

[MilProGuy]

Congrats, daytonaredeye, on your acquisition of one fine-lookin' 1911.

Here's hoping she shoots as good as she looks.

[Jake3501]

daytonaredeye, have you tried a fluff and buff on the feed ramp or applying gun grease/gun butter to the slide? Also, Miltec might be a good lube if the steel is soaking up that much oil. I've used a soft stone on a few rough finished edges in the past.

[daytonaredeye]

OK, quick range report.





1. To my surprise, only one failure to feed out of ~ 120 rounds. It was the last round in the mag and, per the statistics, was a mag problem. The OEM factory mag that came with the gun is kinda cheaply made; the follower is a flimsy piece of tin and I kept wondering if it would warp if the wind blew. Fortunately, the mags from my PT1911 fit and function perfectly in it. No problems with the Taurus mags.
2. All rounds - round nose FMJs, "wide mouth" hollow points and "ballistic" tipped hollow points (Hornady Critical Defense) - fed equally well.
3. Only complaints are (a)the narrow lipped grip safety really made me appreciate the beaver tail (wide lipped) grip safety of my PT1911. No hammer bite, per se, but got a little uncomfortable running mag after mag. The brief reload pauses in shooting was pleasant and (b) the mil spec sights are a little tough to see and line up initially but got better after about 10 minutes of shooting when I got used to them.
4. The 1 inch less barrel length seemed to make for a less heavy and more compact gun to hold during shooting but I thought I detected a little more felt recoil and barrel rise - fair trade off, though, overall.

Overall, I was very pleased and quite happy with my purchase; I believe this gun has potential to be a daily carry but want to wait till a couple hundred more rounds down range.

[Harrychl]

Looks like you got you a keeper!! Enjoy....

[Laker]

Nice pistol, and nice shooting!