Posted: 10/18/2004 2:58:22 PM EDT
| Which should i chose, a Charlse Daley or a Rock Island. I am wanting a fairly cheap 1911!!! |
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I'm a confirmed Colt and Kimber man but for the price you're talking about--I have to second the Springfield mil-spec suggestion for a new gun. This would be an inexpensive starter gun that you could put as much or as little as you wanted to into it--and never be ashamed even if turning it into a several thousand dollar custom. Plus, I'm also a forged/barstock snob--can't stand the idea of a cast 1911 frame or slide. If you look in the used market again SA milspecs, older Colt 1991's can be found in the $400 range, and you might want to look around for a Norinco which might be had for closer to the price of the CD (again Norinco has forged slide/frame while the phillippine pistols do not) As a newbie--you might find the different features of modern "custom" style gun appealling, if you can save up more--a carbon steel series I Kimber or a Loaded Springfield might show up used in the $500-600 range and be a great way to learn old slabsides. Good luck, Chad |
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By my experience, Rock Islands are fairly solid pistols, but are bested in reliability by Springfield Milspecs. I believe the non-polished feedramp on the RIA has something to do with this. My only concern about the GI Model Springfields is that the ejection port is not lowered and flared, though I have heard no comments about FTE's with these guns. From the sound of it, they perform just as well as the Milspecs. For my money, Springfield Armory Milspec 1911A1 is the way to go. A recurring problem I hear about this gun (and one I have experienced firsthand) is that the front sight tends to develop some wiggle after a few hundred shots. I simply soldered mine on and it has since held, but perhaps SA has fixed this error. Other than that, the gun drives tacks, forget what those guys at Guns and Ammo say. As a joke, I took aim at a golf ball I had suspended at 50 yds for my AR, and obliterated it on the first try! YMMV, but for the price I paid, it is MORE than worth every penny. ETA: Don't make the all-too-common mistake of skimping on magazines. Get Wilson-Rogers, CMC PowerMag, or if you really want to stretch your dollars, MetalForm magazines. I think the Springfield pistols come with a coupon for magazines, which I believe are MetalForm mags, someone correct me if I'm wrong. |
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I got an excellent condition Auto Ordnance 1911A1 last week for $325 out the door, wanted a boat/camping .45 that I wouldn't go into mourning over if something happened to it, have run about 250 rounds through it, is flawless in operation and accuracy is also good, used six different magazines and three types of ammo (Wolf, 230g lrn reloads, milsurp hardball) including Winchester silvertips, was mostly shooting five round fast fire drill at 10m on 12" target. Its a parkerized finish and is close to but not an exact copy of my Remington 1911A1. It is however all steel US made. rk |