Anyone hear about the RIA 2011?
RIA 5.0
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- 2011 rock island armory
WellnessCoach
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Allright, been a busy week but time for my "first impressions." Mine hit my FFL last Friday and I was able to snag it Saturday. On Monday I had it out to the range for it's first shots.
First thing I see when I go to pick up this pistol is an obvious scratch on the frame. In the grand scheme of things, this just shouldn't be a big deal. This isn't a custom gun and it's price point is right around a grand before you add my funding of dirty politicians and shipping. And I plan to run the pistol a bunch, and it will get it's marks. I almost hardly -EVER- buy new guns so scratches on guns are a part of life but still, C'MON, it's brand-ass new and that's obnoxious. The manual says the finish is cerakote, that makes this the first gun I've ever owned with this finish, I know squat about it, so I probably won't do anything about it, either. If anyone at RIA or Advanced Tactical reads this and feels shame, send me a free magazine and we'll call it good. (But no, I haven't griped at either of them.)
The pistol feels big, long and heavy in the hands. I like stuff like this. I have zero intention to carry this gun for defense. If I had time for IDPA or drop-in weekend shoots, I would certainly consider using this, I'd have to find a holster.
The slide to frame fit is really very nice for a gun in this price range and the system in place here feels different simply jacking the slide -- it slows at the forward end of it's range as it locks up, it's different even at home without ammo and you will notice it. Nothing loose or rattling on this pistol and the trigger, however it may look, it made of some form of steel and attracts a magnet. The magazine catch and button are steel also, as is the ejector, hammer and the trigger linkage running inside the frame. The bottom half of the frame is polymer and for anyone who notices details, you can spot the mold lines in the middle of it lengthwise.
The top half of the frame is alloy and the rails are full-length, so that slide is gliding in the frame there entire distance of the slide except for the magazine well. The inside muzzle end bottom has a steel insert as this is the part that interacts with the "ram valve" which controls the unlocking of this system. I am impressed with the build quality and smoothness of the entire package.
The manual has a pretty good description of the field strip procedure and also includes a full schematic. The whole pistol came in a zippered soft case that seems like it would be a fine utility range bag for anyone taking a single gun to the range for a short trip but I'll never use it. The pistol came inside a bubble-wrap ziplock combo bag with the serial number written on it and there is also a tiny baggie with a single fired case. I had to laugh here, maybe someone else finds this funny. The zippered soft case has two large embroidered logos on it, one of RIA and one of Armscor. Armsor, as we know, makes many metric tons of ammo for the world market... but this fired case has a Winchester head stamp. Two magazines and a trigger lock in the bag also, but it's possible that my FFL dropped that in there. It's cheap Chineeze junk.
So first impressions: feels very well built, slide glides beautifully on the frame, no rattles of any sort, nice package and the soft case is decent also. The sights are both centered in their dovetails and the rear sight windage seems adjusted right to the middle.
First thing I see when I go to pick up this pistol is an obvious scratch on the frame. In the grand scheme of things, this just shouldn't be a big deal. This isn't a custom gun and it's price point is right around a grand before you add my funding of dirty politicians and shipping. And I plan to run the pistol a bunch, and it will get it's marks. I almost hardly -EVER- buy new guns so scratches on guns are a part of life but still, C'MON, it's brand-ass new and that's obnoxious. The manual says the finish is cerakote, that makes this the first gun I've ever owned with this finish, I know squat about it, so I probably won't do anything about it, either. If anyone at RIA or Advanced Tactical reads this and feels shame, send me a free magazine and we'll call it good. (But no, I haven't griped at either of them.)
The pistol feels big, long and heavy in the hands. I like stuff like this. I have zero intention to carry this gun for defense. If I had time for IDPA or drop-in weekend shoots, I would certainly consider using this, I'd have to find a holster.
The slide to frame fit is really very nice for a gun in this price range and the system in place here feels different simply jacking the slide -- it slows at the forward end of it's range as it locks up, it's different even at home without ammo and you will notice it. Nothing loose or rattling on this pistol and the trigger, however it may look, it made of some form of steel and attracts a magnet. The magazine catch and button are steel also, as is the ejector, hammer and the trigger linkage running inside the frame. The bottom half of the frame is polymer and for anyone who notices details, you can spot the mold lines in the middle of it lengthwise.
The top half of the frame is alloy and the rails are full-length, so that slide is gliding in the frame there entire distance of the slide except for the magazine well. The inside muzzle end bottom has a steel insert as this is the part that interacts with the "ram valve" which controls the unlocking of this system. I am impressed with the build quality and smoothness of the entire package.
The manual has a pretty good description of the field strip procedure and also includes a full schematic. The whole pistol came in a zippered soft case that seems like it would be a fine utility range bag for anyone taking a single gun to the range for a short trip but I'll never use it. The pistol came inside a bubble-wrap ziplock combo bag with the serial number written on it and there is also a tiny baggie with a single fired case. I had to laugh here, maybe someone else finds this funny. The zippered soft case has two large embroidered logos on it, one of RIA and one of Armscor. Armsor, as we know, makes many metric tons of ammo for the world market... but this fired case has a Winchester head stamp. Two magazines and a trigger lock in the bag also, but it's possible that my FFL dropped that in there. It's cheap Chineeze junk.
So first impressions: feels very well built, slide glides beautifully on the frame, no rattles of any sort, nice package and the soft case is decent also. The sights are both centered in their dovetails and the rear sight windage seems adjusted right to the middle.
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On to the range! I was shooting mostly steel plates and did a little on paper with a poorly improvised rest. Steel was 12 to 30 yards out of varying sizes and shapes. The paper was at 16 yards and my rest left a lot to be desired and my plan is to properly sand bag rest this as soon as I can. I used two different kinds of ammo on this first trip -- Brazo's powder coated 125's over 4.4gr W231 (chrono's 1,098 fps in a different 5-inch barrel) and my long time ball load of Xtreme 124gr Pl-RN over 4.5gr Universal which I have not chrono'd in many years but I believe runs nearly the same speed. I have a third load that I use for accuracy testing from a rest and challenging myself on paper and that load did NOT come with me on this trip but it's absolutely scheduled for the next trip.
I sent 208 shots through the RIO 5.0 in this session. Zero malfunctions and zero bobbles, nothing even approaching a failure of any manner, not even a hesitation. No little blips, no half-questions, no curiosities, no "hmm that was odd..." and nothing. Now 208 rounds isn't a lot, if I get to 1,000 with the same report then we have something, but it's a decent start. Of the 208, 150 were the powder coated 125's and the other 58 were the Xtreme 124's.
In one guy's video review of the pistol, he pointed out three specific issues he had so I was on the lookout for those myself. First is that there is a plate at the rear of the grip that allows access to the sear and internals, and his plate moves or shifts during live fire. Mine did not. He also experienced a false reset and you could hear it in his video, he captured it well. Mine does not suffer from that issue either and I searched and searched for it. Finally, he had some struggles with his magazine catch sticking and acting up, I had no trouble with it at all.
If I were absolutely forced to find one comment to make with regards to something "not right", this is the very best I can muster:
This is one of those pistols where if you smack the magazine home with authority while the pistol is at slide lock, that slide flies forward on it's own. I have heard that some folks like this, I don't like this because it happens so fast and in my pea brain, I'm always left wondering if that slide picked up the top round or no? Now on the range -- it grabbed that round each time I did it, and I did it a half dozen times. But I don't care for it, so riding my thumb under the slide stop when smacking a magazine home is my method of side stepping this.
On to the part everyone is curious about... the shooting, the "felt recoil" and the muzzle flip. And here I have to say that I expected to be -WOWED- and I honestly did not get my doors blown off. Yes, it definitely feels softer in recoil than my other 9mm guns, and it probably exhibits less muzzle flip. I think what they have designed here is fantastic, but as I am not an accomplished fast shooter, what I felt did not give me a magic epiphany. What I seemed to feel was a large, long, (4.9 inch barrel) heavy handgun chambered in 9mm. I believe that this pistol and this new system in the hands of a competition shooter or anyone that is extremely well practiced in FAST accurate shooting would be a larger instant advantage than I seemed to perceive on this session. I also believe that if RIA continues development of this system to larger and heavier chamberings (Tuason hinted at a 10mm!) then this might be even more noticeable. My #1 Gunbro was not with me on this trip and he is a better fast shooter than I am and I very much look forward to his take on it.
Next up is the accuracy and I am happy to report that it seems pretty darn solid at first look. My rear sight appeared adjusted quite high and my shooting confirmed that, I brought it down a good bit to hit POA with it but my windage was good enough for this trip. As I mentioned earlier, my accuracy testing of this pistol has not yet formally happened, and when it does I will have a proper rest and I will also feed it ammo that I think (hope!) will offer some advantage in that area. As it happens, I chase high end accuracy in handguns so I'm well versed to the wide range between "good enough" and "GILT EDGED" and first look on this trip says that this pistol is going to be better than your out of the box service pistol. I'm not expecting it to do what my Walther GSP or S&W 52 will do, and part of that is because it's a 9mm and 9's are notoriously difficult compared to some others (.38 Special and .45 Auto are far easier to find top accuracy quickly) but if I can get this $1,000 Rock Island to run with the Sig P210-A or my Tanfoglio or S&W PC Limited 9's then I will be ecstatic. That level of accuracy is beyond what I expect, but if I can get within spitting distance, I will be extremely happy.
Now to the -BAD- and it had to come eventually. The good news is that the bad is more me than the pistol. For me, the negative is in this trigger. I'm happy to say that the trigger dingus did not bother me or my trigger finger. I loathe it on a Glock, it just doesn't play well with my finger. On this one, the dingus was not noticeable for me. But the inside shape of the trigger guard at the bottom and the space between the bottom of the trigger and the guard did not "fit" well for me and is abrasive. This is all about me I suspect, and I have had this before with some other guns. This is an issue that won't be noticed for most others I will guess.
I also didn't like the spongy, springy trigger feel of this setup. Though this is a hammer fired pistol for sure, the trigger pull feels like a striker gun and while I do fine with all kinds of triggers from junk to the truly elite, I very, VERY much appreciate a fine trigger and this trigger is NOT that. Martin Tuason said in his video that they might make the parts available for the first iteration of the trigger that potential liability made them change/update, so there is hope that I can make this trigger better. As it sits now, it's gushy and long and I'm not a fan.
Still, this was only my first trip and only a couple hundred rounds. My own personal experience seems to be that I hyped this up a lot in my head and I was kind of let down because the lock-up system, muzzle flip and recoil did not change my life instantly and the trigger was something I kind of fought with rather than embraced. So I left the range day a little let down but I hope I was able to write a review where folks will see that the pistol itself, all on it's own (without all of my own quirks and demands) really delivered exceptionally well.
Seems to me when you take a brand new gun out of it's box, you want all the parts functional, you want it run with no failures and you want it to be accurate enough for you to make hits you can count on. This pistol delivered on all of these extremely well. Maybe I'll update in a couple months when I've better adapted myself and my trigger finger to it?
Pictures in my next post.
I sent 208 shots through the RIO 5.0 in this session. Zero malfunctions and zero bobbles, nothing even approaching a failure of any manner, not even a hesitation. No little blips, no half-questions, no curiosities, no "hmm that was odd..." and nothing. Now 208 rounds isn't a lot, if I get to 1,000 with the same report then we have something, but it's a decent start. Of the 208, 150 were the powder coated 125's and the other 58 were the Xtreme 124's.
In one guy's video review of the pistol, he pointed out three specific issues he had so I was on the lookout for those myself. First is that there is a plate at the rear of the grip that allows access to the sear and internals, and his plate moves or shifts during live fire. Mine did not. He also experienced a false reset and you could hear it in his video, he captured it well. Mine does not suffer from that issue either and I searched and searched for it. Finally, he had some struggles with his magazine catch sticking and acting up, I had no trouble with it at all.
If I were absolutely forced to find one comment to make with regards to something "not right", this is the very best I can muster:
This is one of those pistols where if you smack the magazine home with authority while the pistol is at slide lock, that slide flies forward on it's own. I have heard that some folks like this, I don't like this because it happens so fast and in my pea brain, I'm always left wondering if that slide picked up the top round or no? Now on the range -- it grabbed that round each time I did it, and I did it a half dozen times. But I don't care for it, so riding my thumb under the slide stop when smacking a magazine home is my method of side stepping this.
On to the part everyone is curious about... the shooting, the "felt recoil" and the muzzle flip. And here I have to say that I expected to be -WOWED- and I honestly did not get my doors blown off. Yes, it definitely feels softer in recoil than my other 9mm guns, and it probably exhibits less muzzle flip. I think what they have designed here is fantastic, but as I am not an accomplished fast shooter, what I felt did not give me a magic epiphany. What I seemed to feel was a large, long, (4.9 inch barrel) heavy handgun chambered in 9mm. I believe that this pistol and this new system in the hands of a competition shooter or anyone that is extremely well practiced in FAST accurate shooting would be a larger instant advantage than I seemed to perceive on this session. I also believe that if RIA continues development of this system to larger and heavier chamberings (Tuason hinted at a 10mm!) then this might be even more noticeable. My #1 Gunbro was not with me on this trip and he is a better fast shooter than I am and I very much look forward to his take on it.
Next up is the accuracy and I am happy to report that it seems pretty darn solid at first look. My rear sight appeared adjusted quite high and my shooting confirmed that, I brought it down a good bit to hit POA with it but my windage was good enough for this trip. As I mentioned earlier, my accuracy testing of this pistol has not yet formally happened, and when it does I will have a proper rest and I will also feed it ammo that I think (hope!) will offer some advantage in that area. As it happens, I chase high end accuracy in handguns so I'm well versed to the wide range between "good enough" and "GILT EDGED" and first look on this trip says that this pistol is going to be better than your out of the box service pistol. I'm not expecting it to do what my Walther GSP or S&W 52 will do, and part of that is because it's a 9mm and 9's are notoriously difficult compared to some others (.38 Special and .45 Auto are far easier to find top accuracy quickly) but if I can get this $1,000 Rock Island to run with the Sig P210-A or my Tanfoglio or S&W PC Limited 9's then I will be ecstatic. That level of accuracy is beyond what I expect, but if I can get within spitting distance, I will be extremely happy.
Now to the -BAD- and it had to come eventually. The good news is that the bad is more me than the pistol. For me, the negative is in this trigger. I'm happy to say that the trigger dingus did not bother me or my trigger finger. I loathe it on a Glock, it just doesn't play well with my finger. On this one, the dingus was not noticeable for me. But the inside shape of the trigger guard at the bottom and the space between the bottom of the trigger and the guard did not "fit" well for me and is abrasive. This is all about me I suspect, and I have had this before with some other guns. This is an issue that won't be noticed for most others I will guess.
I also didn't like the spongy, springy trigger feel of this setup. Though this is a hammer fired pistol for sure, the trigger pull feels like a striker gun and while I do fine with all kinds of triggers from junk to the truly elite, I very, VERY much appreciate a fine trigger and this trigger is NOT that. Martin Tuason said in his video that they might make the parts available for the first iteration of the trigger that potential liability made them change/update, so there is hope that I can make this trigger better. As it sits now, it's gushy and long and I'm not a fan.
Still, this was only my first trip and only a couple hundred rounds. My own personal experience seems to be that I hyped this up a lot in my head and I was kind of let down because the lock-up system, muzzle flip and recoil did not change my life instantly and the trigger was something I kind of fought with rather than embraced. So I left the range day a little let down but I hope I was able to write a review where folks will see that the pistol itself, all on it's own (without all of my own quirks and demands) really delivered exceptionally well.
Seems to me when you take a brand new gun out of it's box, you want all the parts functional, you want it run with no failures and you want it to be accurate enough for you to make hits you can count on. This pistol delivered on all of these extremely well. Maybe I'll update in a couple months when I've better adapted myself and my trigger finger to it?
Pictures in my next post.
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A close-up of the scratch that they were nice enough to do for me, saving the time and hassle of scratching my own gun all by myself.
Here you see the fancy embroidered bag and why I chuckled at the Winchester head stamp fired cartridge case.
You might also spot the best dog ever, though a little out of focus while napping.
Joined
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1,907 Posts
Last pictures:
![Image]()
^^The muzzle end is not like others!
![Image]()
^^partly cloudy range day, bright sun is better for glamour shots.
![Image]()
^^I am slightly hesitant to show this target picture because this group doesn't scream "Nationals at Camp Perry!" but so many things to keep in mind:
-- 16 yards
-- ball ammo, plated 124gr at 1095fps
-- improvised rest
-- first trip ever
I really, really am setting the goal of shooting, snapping a pic and uploading of a more impressive group on paper.
But this is a solid first look.
^^The muzzle end is not like others!
^^partly cloudy range day, bright sun is better for glamour shots.
^^I am slightly hesitant to show this target picture because this group doesn't scream "Nationals at Camp Perry!" but so many things to keep in mind:
-- 16 yards
-- ball ammo, plated 124gr at 1095fps
-- improvised rest
-- first trip ever
I really, really am setting the goal of shooting, snapping a pic and uploading of a more impressive group on paper.
But this is a solid first look.
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2,395 Posts
The Humble Marksman's take.
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4 Posts
Wanted to let you know, that calender is showcasing the 2020 model of a firearm, not the year. Also, I have since received another 5.0 and it’s quite nice. Indeed, not a 1911, but I always support new ideas and new technology as it finds its feet. These are essentially hand-assembled guns and the triggers on three I’ve had have all been delightful. I know Martin well and he and his team are trying hard to get the 5.0 to market and to do it right. Roy Huntington
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