Joe Williams
Shooter
- Jun 26, 2008
- 10,431
- 38
Cathy and I decided that it made a lot of sense for us to consolidate calibers, and go to common gun types to make it easier to keep, store and carry spare parts, so when I saw Rock Island Tactical for trade, I jumped on it. I've written before about how impressed I've been with Cathy's RIA GI model, and with my best friend's and step-father's RIAs, so I expected no less from this one.
Gun was described as being retty new, 200 rounds through it and some holster wear, which was shown by the pictures. In person, though, the holster wear wasn't nearly as evident, and when broken down for cleaning the internals showed very little wear to the parkerized finish on the slide rails and other moving parts, so the gun was as advertised, always a nice thing
Went to Bradi's, bought some ammo and a $9 magazine, came home and broke it down for a very quick cleaning, and went shooting. Starting out, the shooting didn't prove to be as trouble free as I've come to expect from Rocks
The gun came with an 8 round ACT magazine, which stubbornly refused to lock the slide back after the last round. The brand new $9 magazine was a POS, which is what I get for buying a cheapy, I wasn't surprised. It provided multiple failures to feed, and actually got stuck in the gun. Had to basically rip it out. Oh well. Tossed that mag aside, and once we'd finished shooting the Blazer ammo the gun didn't have any more malfunctions. I took the gun down to show Rick (my best friend) the gun and noticed the notch the slide release sits in had some grunge (looked almost like Cosmoline, wonder if it was the grease the gun was shipped in?) in the notch. Cleaned it out, and the failures to lock the slide back with the ACT magazine stopped.
Speaking of Blazer ammo, I'm not going to feed any more of the aluminum cased ammo through our guns. I've used it before, and some guns like it, some don't. Ours don't. Had a couple failures to feed with my gun, and even Cathy's formerly flawless gun had a FTF. Phooey. Not all that cheap, anyway.
Like I said, once we'd burned up the 50 rounds of Blazer and moved on to other ammo, and dumped the bad mag, the gun performed flawlessly. That was more like it, and what I've come to expect from the Rocks. Fed it some Federal 230 grain JHPs and Hydrashoks, and it handled them beautifully. I'd bought another 20 rounds of the Federal Personal Defense 230 gr JHPs (Federal C45D), and this round provided me 4 beautiful 5 round groups from about 12 yards that went into about 2" shooting offhand, and was very well centered. Loaded up a couple mags of this ammo for my carry rounds, till I find out if some of the newer "premium" ammo is more accurate. If not, this ammo will do quite nicely. It's got a proven record, and it's accuracy from my new carry gun cannot be argued with I could hit the paper plates with the Blazer, but accuracy was nothing to write home about. The S&B we shot the most of I put into very consistent 2 1/2" to 3" groups.
The sights on the tactical model are MUCH improved over the GI model, and a boon for my aging eyes. They are easy to see, and provide a crisp picture. The trigger on my gun is really sweet, with some take up, then a very light and crisp release. The safety is positive, but light and easy to use. I've been doing lots of practice with Cathy's .45 to get used to actually having to use a safety, and it's second nature even with her GI model, but lots easier with mine. I love the way a 1911 rides in my hands when shooting: bang, watch the front sight ride up, then straight back down on target. Fun
I'm very pleased with my new carry gun Accurate, and should prove to be reliable though I'm never completely at ease with a semi-auto until I've put 500 rounds through it. Look forward to that "chore" LOL. I do need to get my hands on some .45 ACP dies and large pistol primers. We've just about got enough brass saved up, and factory ammo is a tad pricey!
I'm planning a more in-depth side by side review of my Tactical and Cathy's GI model Rock Island 1911s soon. I think that will be fun to put together. For now though, a couple pics, and a video that I hope doesn't get me in trouble because of my bitter wife
My first shots through my new gun. My support hand was sitting funny on the improvised rest, and I bumped the slide latch, which is what caused the slide to lock back early. I don't think it's too naughty, but not necessarily safe for work or kids at the end since Cathy gave me the finger for making fun of her gun LOL. Reckon I'll be notified if it's out of line.
YouTube - Shooting my new Rock Island Armory 1911A1 Tactical model.
My new Rock Island Armory 1911 Tactical, both naked and in a Galco Fletch holster
Cathy shooting her plain ole, not Tacticool, gun:
Me shooting my better-than-Cathy's gun :
Gun was described as being retty new, 200 rounds through it and some holster wear, which was shown by the pictures. In person, though, the holster wear wasn't nearly as evident, and when broken down for cleaning the internals showed very little wear to the parkerized finish on the slide rails and other moving parts, so the gun was as advertised, always a nice thing
Went to Bradi's, bought some ammo and a $9 magazine, came home and broke it down for a very quick cleaning, and went shooting. Starting out, the shooting didn't prove to be as trouble free as I've come to expect from Rocks
The gun came with an 8 round ACT magazine, which stubbornly refused to lock the slide back after the last round. The brand new $9 magazine was a POS, which is what I get for buying a cheapy, I wasn't surprised. It provided multiple failures to feed, and actually got stuck in the gun. Had to basically rip it out. Oh well. Tossed that mag aside, and once we'd finished shooting the Blazer ammo the gun didn't have any more malfunctions. I took the gun down to show Rick (my best friend) the gun and noticed the notch the slide release sits in had some grunge (looked almost like Cosmoline, wonder if it was the grease the gun was shipped in?) in the notch. Cleaned it out, and the failures to lock the slide back with the ACT magazine stopped. Speaking of Blazer ammo, I'm not going to feed any more of the aluminum cased ammo through our guns. I've used it before, and some guns like it, some don't. Ours don't. Had a couple failures to feed with my gun, and even Cathy's formerly flawless gun had a FTF. Phooey. Not all that cheap, anyway.
Like I said, once we'd burned up the 50 rounds of Blazer and moved on to other ammo, and dumped the bad mag, the gun performed flawlessly. That was more like it, and what I've come to expect from the Rocks. Fed it some Federal 230 grain JHPs and Hydrashoks, and it handled them beautifully. I'd bought another 20 rounds of the Federal Personal Defense 230 gr JHPs (Federal C45D), and this round provided me 4 beautiful 5 round groups from about 12 yards that went into about 2" shooting offhand, and was very well centered. Loaded up a couple mags of this ammo for my carry rounds, till I find out if some of the newer "premium" ammo is more accurate. If not, this ammo will do quite nicely. It's got a proven record, and it's accuracy from my new carry gun cannot be argued with
I could hit the paper plates with the Blazer, but accuracy was nothing to write home about. The S&B we shot the most of I put into very consistent 2 1/2" to 3" groups.The sights on the tactical model are MUCH improved over the GI model, and a boon for my aging eyes. They are easy to see, and provide a crisp picture. The trigger on my gun is really sweet, with some take up, then a very light and crisp release. The safety is positive, but light and easy to use. I've been doing lots of practice with Cathy's .45 to get used to actually having to use a safety, and it's second nature even with her GI model, but lots easier with mine. I love the way a 1911 rides in my hands when shooting: bang, watch the front sight ride up, then straight back down on target. Fun
I'm very pleased with my new carry gun
Accurate, and should prove to be reliable though I'm never completely at ease with a semi-auto until I've put 500 rounds through it. Look forward to that "chore" LOL. I do need to get my hands on some .45 ACP dies and large pistol primers. We've just about got enough brass saved up, and factory ammo is a tad pricey!I'm planning a more in-depth side by side review of my Tactical and Cathy's GI model Rock Island 1911s soon. I think that will be fun to put together. For now though, a couple pics, and a video that I hope doesn't get me in trouble because of my bitter wife
My first shots through my new gun. My support hand was sitting funny on the improvised rest, and I bumped the slide latch, which is what caused the slide to lock back early. I don't think it's too naughty, but not necessarily safe for work or kids at the end since Cathy gave me the finger for making fun of her gun LOL. Reckon I'll be notified if it's out of line.
YouTube - Shooting my new Rock Island Armory 1911A1 Tactical model.
My new Rock Island Armory 1911 Tactical, both naked and in a Galco Fletch holster
Cathy shooting her plain ole, not Tacticool, gun:
Me shooting my better-than-Cathy's gun
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. In the video , I see she has given your tacticool pistol her own review . 
for your wife's non-verbal :fawk: communication skills 
