Blackhawker,
A little background: I shot my first 1911 at the age of eight. I've been hooked on them for over sixty years now. I have owned dozens over the years, and built a half dozen or so from parts. I currently own eight from various manufacturers, no brand fixation here! The "inexpensive" 1911s in my safe include, the subject RIA, Taurus, and Charles Daly. The RIA, came to me in a trade. No gripes about the small investment I have in it, when it leaves my hands, it'll run like any 1911 should.
I first met the pistol when a local officer brought it to me to see if I could make it feed properly. Everytime he chambered a round, it hit the feed ramp low and set back the bullet in the case. Once a round was chambered, it fed ok-------------sometimes. I tuned the extractor and polished the breach face. One of the roughest I've seen. It turned out to be an easy polish as the breach face was also the softest I've seen. When I reassembled the slide, I found the firing pin was bent and had to be properly indexed to work properly in the channel. The barrel was not properly fitted, and the link was too long. Didn't do anything about the above as my work was "Pro Bono", and once assembled the pistol did work-----sorta. It came with one magazine, looks like a Novak. When the magazine is inserted smartly, as in a slide lock reload, the mag catch allows the magazine, any magazine I've tried, (McCormic/Taurus/Megar/Novak/Wilson/Nighthawk) to jump the mag slot and tie up the slide. The mag catch is showing a lot of wear for the few rounds through the gun, (Soft) So, I decide to replace the mag catch. Problem!! The mag catch opening is too small to accept the three mag catches I have on hand. EBrown/Springfield, and another from an old Brazilian Colt. I'll have to mic the RIA mag catch and locate one that will fit the RIA frame, or have one turned down to fit.
On the plus side: the pistol looks good, has decent sights, and shoots to point of aim. I shot it in an IDPA match last week, were it not for the magazine problem I would have done pretty well. The RIA looks better internally than the Charles Daly I own. Big difference is: The Daly (Officer's size stainless) has always worked. Comparing the three inexpensive 1911s I own, fit/function/internal finish/features, the Taurus is the clear winner. This is only my experiences. I read lots of posts praising the RIA, so I must assume the majority of them work. When the Taurus was under $500 otd, it was the best buy out there, IMO. Now with them up around the $600 mark the Springfield "Loaded" looks like a good choice as well. Maybe even an entry level Kimber at not much more.
Hope I have answered your questions, and not just muddied the waters!
Savage
