Kentucky Armory Club

Okay I'm no professional by any means but today I took my new RIA m1911a1 .45acp to TG&G and ran some rounds thru it.

When I first got it home I cleaned and oiled it up. It set in my safe for a couple weeks and today I took her shooting.

For ammo I was using federal champion ( red and black box from Walmart for 17.47 ) and Hornady zombie max. All ammo fired just fine. No FTE or FTFire or FTF once I got the right ammo in the right mags.

The stock ACT MAG is 7rds and runs ball ammo great however it doesn't like the Hornady zombie max rounds. So just incase this happened I had stopped and bought a kimber 8rd mag for it. The kimber ran both ammo just fine. For some odd reason this gun runs full size mags. With the kimber it ran the Hornady zombie max just fine.

The only thing I didn't like is the GI sights. But with little adjustment on my end I got some goo shooting in.

Okay so to the mag issue. When I bought the pistol I bought a compact kimber 7rd mag to go with the gun as it only came with one mag. Got home and the kimber mag wouldn't lock into the gun. Well I took that mag back to sharp Mart where I bought the gun and extra mag and got a full size 8rd kimber mag. This mag locked in just fine and is the same size as the factory ACT MAG. Everyone says its weird and they would have thought the compact mag would have been the one I needed but that is not the case.

Anyway this is my write up hope you guys find it helpful or useful.

Any questions feel free to pm me on it.

Good write up.

There will be pic comments shortly.

Stick with good mags (47D, etc) and it will run like a top. Love my RIA.

Livewire wrote:Good write up.

There will be pic comments shortly.

Can we go ahead and request shot groups too?

pics will come shortly from my iphone so quality sucks

dont ask for a shot group cause god that was terrible. lol lets just say it was all me and not the gun. my first time ever shooting a .45acp and i dont care for the GI sights as stated above. im sure with a better shooter behind it it would be a good tight group.

Crappy cell pics are expected. There's only a few KAC'ers with camera skills.

You'll get used to the sights. They're not that bad.

Here is pic as requested

Thanks in advance for any comments

the gun is junk,give you $200 for it so you don't feel like you got took to bad on it

if its anything like my 5" RIA the shot groups should look something like this....this was the first 4 mags I put through the gun at 7 yards

Anybody can do that kind of group at 7yds SS, that's kinda like holding the muzzle to the target!

I like the Kimber mags, the basic 7 rounders work well in all my pistols and they are cheap. My RIA came with 8 rd ACT mags, no issues with them either. Don't know if its a batch thing or what, I like the ones I've got. That being said, I typically don't mess around with different types of ammo. Pretty much all I use is good ol 230g jacketed ball, just as the pistol design was intended for originally. I would like to play around with some basic cast lead, haven't gotten around to it.

As for grouping, most of my basic mil spec type pistols will perform adequately (minute of Hun jumping into the trench in front of you) but they aren't bullseye pistols.

Mexican Kerry wrote:Anybody can do that kind of group at 7yds SS, that's kinda like holding the muzzle to the target!

Who even wastes bullets at 7 yards? At that distance you can smack the target with the muzzle!

Mexican Kerry wrote:Anybody can do that kind of group at 7yds SS, that's kinda like holding the muzzle to the target!

the gun was brand new to me, that's my starter distance for testing...also the KY CC test distance...lol

i agree with SS. I dont like to take a new to me gun and shoot for distance. I like to get accustom to it first, then get a good group going then go for distance. thats just me tho. I will eventually get the grouping and distance.

not being a smart a$$ but if your using the gun for home defense or self defense why would you want to use FMJ ball ammo and risk the bullet going thru the attacker and striking someone else opening you up for a law suite or even killing a loved one? I always know where everyone is at in my house at all times but we all know once someone hears a gun shot they start moving and can put themselves in harms way on accident. I even take in the surroundings so i dont hit someone on the street also.

I have bought a RI 1911 like yours and ordered some mags for mine also from act and have not received them yet. I also was wondering how good did the kimber mag do? And that is strange that the kimber mag is the same size as the stock act mag. Keep us posted, I might just have to cancel my order of the act mags and go buy me some kimbers. THANKS FOR THE INFO, THIS WAS REALLY HELPFUL TO ME!

None of my act mags would feed HP. Sold them all and bought 47Ds

The kimber mag did really well. I bought the kimber tac-pro and also just a standard kimber 1911 mag and both work great with HP and fmj ammo. The standard 1911 kimber may was $17.99 and the tac-pro 1911was $23.99 at sharp mart on Preston hwy. take the gun with you to test the mags because they sold me compact mags and I had to take them back for the 8rnd full size mags. The compact 7rnd kimber mags wouldn't lock into my gun.

Can't speak about personal/home defence ammo, not my primary reason for owning a firearm. I use fmj because it works in all my pistols, and I honestly don't know a whole lot about the differences in performance between fmj, hp, etc. In the past I've used a bit of jhp in my primary-use pistol, but even that one doesn't like a change in diet.

If I were to find myself in a position where I had to use my pistol to defend my family (and I pray it never happens) I can only do so much to control the situation. I've never had any formal training, I don't have a military or law enforcement background. All I can do is the best with the equipment and situation available to me. If that means an ammo type that is proven to work and that I'm familiar with, I must go with that. In fact, because of my lack of training, maybe a firearm is the last thing I should be reaching for in such a situation, I don't know. I've got a fair bit of time behind a trigger, but we all know that doesn't necessarily count for shinola in a stressful situation.

Not trying to sound like I'm copping out, but one thing to consider is that I'm in a completely different situation than the average gun owning American. As a Canadian, I live in a society that has a completely different set of beliefs and values concerning firearms. Not only is it generally illegal to use a pistol in self defence (very few people who actually use a pistol in a defensive shooting walk away without legal complications), it is very taboo to even own one. Most people on the street don't even know that its legal, which is a misconception the government is happy to go along with and promote.

Thanks for the info, I guess I will have to buy some kimber 8 round mags. The ones i have for my fullsize RI 1911 don't work.

I had some SA mags and they never seemed to have an issue

don't forget to check out joes1911magmania.com

he has some good prices and i've never had an issue with the mags i've bought from him