Rock Island M1911-A1 GI 45 ACP, 5" Barrel, Black, Smooth Wood Grip, 8rd

I bought this on a whim as I never owned a .45 ACP and the only thing it needed was some new sights. However, here is the story that made up my mind to buy this gun. Think of this gun as the AK47 of auto hand guns. I never owned a .45 and was interested in the platform. A friend of mine took me to the lake to shoot his. I was aghast when he put a foam ear plug in the barrel and threw the pistol in the mud and stepped on it. He then proceeded to take the gun out of the mud, remove foam ear plug and fire an entire magazine with no issue. Then while laughing, he field stripped it rinsed it off in the lake, put a good coat of Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil on it and reassemble. He then put the foam ear plug back in the barrel and threw the pistol in the gravely sand and covered it up. He pulled it out of the gravel, removed the foam ear plug from the barrel and fired the entire magazine with no issue. Lastly, like the ex-marine he is he cleaned (w/lake water), oiled, reloaded and jumped into the lake, then completely submerged came up and again fired a complete magazine with no issue. So I bought one, thinking of the pistol more as a combat pistol than a tactical pistol.

Bought this new around September of 2013 haven't hit the range that often, but a great gun. Only problem I had was a sticky trigger, tore her down, cleaned her up and it was fine, excellent gun for the price

This is not a beginners gun this 1911 is way MORE than beginner. This 1911 is right up there with the more expensive 1911s. Has yet to malfunction. Easy field striping. I would trust this gun with my life. It just needs its sights painted or replaced with night sights. Can't go wrong with this 1911. Don't let 1911 snobs tell you they suck.

my friend has one he says' it is jus' like the g.i. one.we carried ours a round the world.

I am former Marine Corps and broke my teeth on a .45 so when I went to buy a firearm my main concern was that it be something I was familiar and comfortable with. I did a lot of research before plunking down my hard earned money and found an interesting story about Rock Island Armory (not 100% sure if it's true!). According to what I researched, Colt had a large pistol manufacturing plant in the Phillipines before WWII broke out. When the Japanese took the Phillipines, Colt evacuated their factory there and left all the tooling machinery & dies and never returned for it. Years later, Rock Island Armory was created using the exact same equipment as Colt uses during their machining process. I have now put real close to 1,000 rounds downrange with this firearm. I did have 2 jams that occurred within the first 300 rounds, since then, absolutely trouble free. As for cleaning, I purposely did not clean this firearm just to see how it would perform "dirty". No problems at all. Eventually I gave her a good cleaning just because the smoke was making it hard to see downrange lol! I had heard a couple people mention tooling marks on their firearm and as for myself, absolutely none. This thing came in perfect condition and ready to roll. I had to laugh because when my armorer went through the safety check at his shop during delivery, he mentioned that he was suprised I even knew about Rock Island Armory. In his words, this firearm is the, "Best kept secret in the industry." since for the money, you won't find a better .45 pistol. Based off my experience, you are going to be extremely hard pressed to find this great of a firearm at this price! Heck, for that matter you might find it impossible, my armorer sure thinks so.

Ive had my rock island arms 1911 for a few years and still has yet to jam or misfeed. I love it. Cant beat the price. When i got mine i didnt pay but $350 for it new. Just a great solid, well shooting 1911.

Great price (around $500), not overly tweeked/tuned(Kimber), lots of aftermarket parts choices, gunsmith's seemingly like the RIA, I've fired around 500 rounds and hasn't failed once. Looks great. 1st Parkerized finish I've owned, still on the fence about it, think I like the Blued finish, but I'll check back in in a year after I've sent about 10,000 rounds down range with this bad boy with a difinitive answer. Unless your shooting in bright lights/have great vision, my eyes go blurry after a few clips trying to differentiated the front sight from the rear sights (about 2 hours, 3 drilled dots, white out & some clear fingernail polish fixed that) I had to file a step into the front sight to put a dot on the front corner, now I can see/shoot great, was actually getting shots on target at 50' today at the range (I could barely see it..). Oh yeah, the wood grips are awesome, others have cheap plastic grips. Great gun, great price.

Great pistol, great price, very solid gun, best of all it takes all 1911 accessories . Get some new grips and a 10rnd mag. Can be a little difficult to break down, but just takes some practice.

I love my Rock Island 1911. Fit is solid, function is perfect. I cant complain even the price was right for me. Semper Fi