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So, Here's the story. Whenever I go to a gun show by myself I never buy any big ticket items. I'll get ammunition or some little doodad. The only time I've ever bought a firearm was when my wife went along with me to the shows. Well, she went with me to the Mesquite gun show today. When she asked what I was looking for I told her "nothing special" that it was like going to the stated fair where you just go to look around. Well, as we " I really mean I" were perusing the tables I started looking at the 1911s. I carry a Colt 1911 but, can one really own too many 1911s? I gave my other backup 1911 to one of my sons when he moved to Ohio last month so I'm down to one again. I started looking at the compacts and found a RIA 1911-A1 CS. So the long and short of it is my Colt has adopted a compact 1911. Hopefully my wife will never learn to stop going to the gun shows with me.

If I thought bringing my wife resulted in a new gun, I'd invite her along to every gun show in Texas!

can one really own too many 1911s

I'll ask my retired LEO shooting buddy next week, I've only seen about 70 or 80 or so of his so far ... (really)

I need to remind him when my birthday is anyway ...

Congrats on the 'new toy'. I'm sure we'd all appreciate a range review once you get to 'play'
I've been looking for a compact 1911 also and would appreciate if you could share some of the reasoning for your choice. On paper the only one that checks ALL my boxes is the Springfield Micro with light rail (PC9802LP), but I'm not convinced its a $1200 gun. The Filipino manufacturers seem to have some very good products, and I figure for half the price of the SA, I could get the ATI Titan or MAC Amigo AND add night sights and ambi safety myself. Happy Shootin!

I bought it because of price, fit and finish (Parkerized) and from reviews it meets USGI specs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Islan ... 911_series

I'm going to the range this Friday and will report back.

SC1903A3 wrote:I bought it because of price, fit and finish (Parkerized) and from reviews it meets USGI specs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Islan ... 911_series

I'm going to the range this Friday and will report back.

I have both the compact like you purchased and a full size Rock Island.

Love em both. Great value for the money. Mine have been dead reliable.

I have a RIA compact very similar to what you have and it is possibly the most reliable pistol I own. I have yet to find any ammo that it will not gladly eat and ask for more of. It is plenty accurate and the only reason I don't carry it as my primary is I have a Kimber Pro Covert II that weighs significantly less.

**Edit to note that mine was a RIA as well.

RIAs have been on the market for many years now, with overwhelmingly positive reviews.

Congratulations.

Range Report:

Went to Elm Fork Gun range today and ran 100 rounds through the new gun. At 10 yards I was shooting 3 inch groups. The only problem I had was FTE on last round for almost every magazine. I used the one that came with the gun in addition to 2 Colt magazines I also brought to the range. The paperwork that came with the gun says there is a 500 round break in period. If the problem continues after that then I'll have a look at the extractor.

Thanks for the update.
Hopefully just a break in issue.
I'm getting itchy for a compact, but the Sig Scorpion has my attention now too. Decisions, decisions. Too many fine choices, I guess I'll take one of each.
Would like to hear an update when you hit 500. Happy Shootin'

Congrats..

Went to Elm Fork today and ran another 250 rounds through the RIA 1911 cs. I also ran 250 rounds thru it about 3 weeks ago. I had FTEs with just about every magazine. I broke it down and inspected the extractor to see if it was the problem but everything looked good. One of the range officers came over and asked what the problem was. After telling him the problem he asked if he could shoot it to see if he could replicate the problem. He had 3 FTEs out of one magazine also. Came home and called API and spoke with their gunsmith (Sean). He said that there was a strong possibility there was either a nick of rough spot in the chamber causing the cases to stick after being fired. He said to box up the slide, barrel, recoil spring, reverse plug and guide rod and ship it to them to correct the problem. After speaking to him I did a detail clean and found a rough pitted area at the rear of the chamber from the 6 to 7 o’clock position. So I boxed up the upper and sent it out today. So now it’s a waiting game for it to come back. Except for this problem I love the gun as it shoots tight groups and has a natural point and shoot without using the sights just like they show in the old US army 1911 training video.
I’ll give a follow up report after they fix the problem and I can run it at the range again.

SC1903A3 wrote:He said to box up the slide, barrel, recoil spring, reverse plug and guide rod and ship it to them to correct the problem.. . . So I boxed up the upper and sent it out today.

So was the shipping on your dime or theirs?

Shipping was on my dime.

Update:
Got my upper back on January 6th but, wasn't able to go to the range until the 12th. RIA polished the chamber and squared the extractor. Fired 100 rounds and had no FTEs however I had 4 FTFs where the round nose dived and rim was not taken up by the extractor. I'll head back to Elm Fork this Thursday and send more rounds down range to see if it will self correct. If the FTF's don't go away I'll see about retensioning the extractor as I'm thinking they may have over tensioned it when it was being worked on.