I finally got a chance to shoot the nickel Rock Island 1911 today, with the barrel that RIA reamed and throated for me. This was going to be a short session so I took the three mags, loaded with Tula 230 ball, which have been living in or near the gun. Two are CMC Powermags and the other is the factory ACT mag.

The first few shots were at random junk around the log pile, to confirm that a useful zero was present. At that point I stapled up ol’ Ragtop, moved back to 50 yards and fired seven aimed shots at his noggin. Shooting was done seated in a folding canvas chair, rested over one knee.

Not unhappy with that! Did a little more plinking and then hung a Coke can up and walked to the 25 yard stake. Five rounds, two-hand unsupported… the big hole in the middle is two rounds, though I did manage to miss it once.

This pistol is shooting pretty well and I haven’t even started accurizing it yet. It’ll get a set of sights, although the nickel OEM are usable against 3D targets and those with dark backgrounds. This is really no loss, as the OEM’s print a little low. It’ll also get a 0.200” stainless slide stop and most likely, a 0.581” stainless match bushing. Add a trigger with an over-travel stop and you have a very shootable 1911A1.

Rock Island’s barrel is obviously accurate enough for my purposes. Function was 100% today and while 3 magazines are no test, the gun sure cycles slick now. I am really pleased with this pistol.

I've been glad to read about it. I'm not sure that I'll be learned enough to accurize a firearm, but I sure have enjoyed reading about yours and all the other comments. Gives me one more thing to strive for.

The hardest part of working on some 1911's is sorting out their quirks and getting them purring. Once there, there are 3-4 simple tweaks that will usually get them poking holes within 4" of each other at 50 yards. The short route to all that is the same it has always been- start with a recent-production Colt.

Making them shoot under 2" at 50? Now that's pro gunsmith country, right there. I have done it but in my case, it was more like the blind hog finding the acorn ;)

you can enjoy working with it.