shopping for a 45

Shopped around for a 45acp and found 2 that I was interested in... a Rock Island Armory 1911 A1 Tactical and a p345/p90 Ruger. Mainly buying just for target shooting and home defense, so I dont need anything too outrageous in price.....

They're both around the $500 price, and I'm leaning more towards the RIA. A buddy of mine says dont get the Ruger because they feel hella loose and the tolerance on the gun is very low.

Anybody else have any thoughts or suggestions on which to choose or why one is better than the other?

 

My BIL has the Ruger...nothing impressive about it and very poor resale, poor accuracy.
RIA 1911 has a decent reputation, nice features.
I prefer 1911 anyway.
Buy it.

 

ya i want the RIA. only thing is that you cant put any sights on it...

 

Ive got my eye on a Stoger Cougar .45. Double action. at $440 it looks good (gonna trade in a moss field 500 w/2 barrels for $150)

Looking for a carry weapon. Any suggestions.

 

a glock is that kinda money. i am about a month in with my new Glock 21-SF. it was a hoot to shoot. i was pretty accurate, considering i hadnt shot a handgun in years!! it felt like a cannon compared to my Sig226 (9mm).

i put a lighter trigger connector on the thing. hope to get to the range this weekend.

 

so far im goin with the RIA

 

RIA is a lower end 1911.
I have never had one to say what is good or bad.
But with many things you get what you pay for.
That said the Ruger will work and they have a long and high pull trigger.
I do not do well with long hard triggers myself.
I love my 1911s, Colt, Springfield, Randall a bunch and I shoot them better than any other handguns I have.

They are all double the price range you are looking at after having work done on them to make them more accurate and reliable.

All that said I carry a Glock 30SF. A $500.00 pistol that works every time I pull the trigger and with any ammo I have run through it ( only factory no reloads ).

For your price range if you intend to use it for self protection get a Glock.

 

Rugers are one of those "Damn, I gotta have a gun but can't afford what I really want" guns... you'll find yourself trading in a short while for something better. A gunsmith can cut dovetails in the slide for new sights but it won't be cheap, and it may not clean up all the problems with the accuracy of the gun.
Glocks are fine, and a lot of people swear by them, but personally I can't stand their triggers. Same thing with Sigs.
If I were going to go through my pistol buying thing again, knowing what I do now, I'd spend $600-700 on a lightly used Kimber Custom and be done with it.

 

I'd also give S&W a look, their M&P series is freaking awesome.

 

stay away from any s&w sigma models you see. I had one and loved the day I sold it. very heavy trigger pull, not to accurate

 

Save a little more money and get the Para GI Expert. It's tight, accruate, the barrel is stainless, it has dovetailed sights and can be found for about $550. Much better than the Rock Island product.

 

I got the s&w m&p .45 it's kinda modeled after the glock but it was a little cheaper I got it for home defense also it's easy to clean and reliable as hell so far haven't had a jam once.

 

I have a Colt, (2) Taruas, and S&W M&P 45.
I actually like the Taurus the best. It has been my most accurate.
The S&W is a good gun as well.
I paid a little over $600 for the Taurus and high $500 for the S&W.
Depending on how much target practice you are going to do, keep in mind it can get expensive to shoot a .45 (.39 cents a round). You need to shoot what you are going to use.
My 2 cents

 

Go with the Rock Island. I have a High Standard compact crusader, which is a Rock Island with different labeling. I can't say anything particularly bad about it. They're the typical garden variety 1911. They do need broken in, but in my experience that seems to be common. My Colt 1911 was even worse during the first few hundred rounds.

I'd guess that I have about 3,500 or so rounds thru mine, no issues after the first couple of boxes. Mine had issues feeding some hollowpoints at first (they werent designed to feed them) mainly the ones with a huge cavity, but after a little bit of breaking in its rock solid reliable.
Look in the Rock Island section at m1911.org you will find they have a loyal following. As a plus, one of the lead engineers(?) for RIA is a regularly posting member there. I haven't used it, but their customer service is supposed to be really good.
IF your experience is like mine, you'll love it and find it to be a good solid pistol.
As for the one saying you can't put sights on it, thats not quite true. You might have to take it to a gunsmith to get it done and possibly have the slide machined. But that's really common on 1911's.

 

These are the things most 1911 folk run into which to make it 100% reliable will end up taking it to a gunsmith to work on the problems.
This will raise the price up to custom gun or higher end Kimbers.
If it is olny going to the range then a feed problem is just a quirk. If it happens in a defence situation you get the idea.
So the big question is what will it be used for?