A few months back I posted a question asking about RIA’s 1911A1 in 9mm, it interested me in several ways 1) being a 1911 2) caliber 3) brand and 4) a light gunsmithing project ( I ain‘t cutting on one of my Baers). After saving my pennies for months and months I finally purchased one.

*RIA Standard FS 1911A1*

First impression???? Holy Toledo!!! The build quality is quiet impressive, fit and finish is top notch…..the barrel fit is really good with no movement or play anywhere, the trigger has a slight bit of take up and a clean break, the ambidextrous safety is postive and smooth, the beavertail safety is fitted nicely, though it does have a slight edge exposed on the top right side but fitment to the frame ears is really good. The parkerized finish is smooth and even, looks more like a Teflon coating then a park finish. The slide to frame fit is snug, only a minor bit of side to side rock but very very smooth, better than most $600 to $1,000 1911’s that I have handled in the last few years. Sights are installed in dovetailed slots with a small gap under the rear sight and offers a clean square sight picture. Mainspring housing is not only checkered but made of steel, preferred over plastic MSH found on a lot of 1911’s nowadays.

One of the biggest surprises???? The barrel, from what I had read and info on RIA’s website I was under the impression the pistol came with a standard type barrel but mine has a ramped barrel installed. That was an issue that had me worried a little about buying this pistol, I have talked to shooters who had a standard barrel and had no reliability issues but some had feeding problems, nothing worse than a auto that doesn’t feed correctly!

OK so what didn’t I like????? The plastic/rubber grip panels, easy fix. The squared non-beveled mag well opening, well not an issue really, was one item I wanted to gunsmith for myself. While an issue for some shooters, the full length guide rod doesn’t bother me, I may keep it I might not. The cartridge ejection relief cut on the slide is a little on the square side, I would prefer a more rounded shape but we will see if that is an issue down the road. The front sight ramp has no serrations. The front strap serrations, only on a small area and are deeply cut into the frame, kinda wanted to do checkering on it, not now!!! The mainspring housing moves inward slightly at the top with heavy grip pressure.

Range report---
My main goal here was to function check the pistol and do basic accuracy testing, done at 12 yards standing with a two hand hold. I only had 115 grain FMJ ammo on hand…first up was the Winchester Forged ammo, steel cased, didn’t realize it when I bought it, wont do that again. The cases had a white oxidation on them and I had more than 15 failure to extracts in 50 rounds. Switched to Winchester, brass cased, white box target ammo, performed well, grouped good...

Then on to Magtech ammo, again performed well and shot good...

Though I wasn’t having a good day group shooting the pistol and ammo seemed to want to group better. Toward the end I did have three FTE’s, two at least I believe I caused, I tend to high grip with my left hand and the thumb drags on the slide at times, add to that the lighter recoil impulse of the 9mm ammo, easy to see I was at fault not the pistol. Total round count was 193. The pistol is supplied with one MecGar 10 round magazine and I bought two 9 round nickel coated MecGar mags, the three FTE’s happened when using the nickel mags.

Final say---Quiet happy over all with the pistol, it handled nicely, shot good, is well built and cost only $480. Looking forward to more range time and trying some heavier bullet ammo.

Gunner

--
https://www.instagram.com/41gunner/
41 Mags rule, Baers rock!