New RIA 1911 45 but says 38 super???

[Shasta Frog]

I just got a new RIA 1911 for Christmas from my LGS. It absolutely will not load the first 2 rounds. They nosedive so hard that the bullets get pushed back into the case. If I load 5 rounds everything is fine and no problems.

So I emailed RIA and told them my problem. They said sounds like a mag issue and sent me out a new mag. Well they sent me a mag for a .38 super. Now here is where the confusion starts.

The case the gun came in says .38 super on the sticker with the serial number. The gun has the same serial number but has a .45 colt barrel and mag.

I went back to my LGS yesterday and asked them about that and they told me it was definitely a .38 super. I showed him that the barrel and mag both say .45 and that a .45 is what I wanted. He says if that's what I want then we can just leave it as is because the parts are all the same. So I'm wondering if I didn't get a .38 super that someone changed the barrel and mag in it. Can you just change barrel and mag or do you have to change slide and ejector too?

I've shot 300 rounds so far of .45, 3 types of fmj ball and 1 wwb jhp, and as long as I only load 5 rounds it chambers and ejects fine.

So does it sound like its just a mag issue or that maybe I got a .38 super with .45 barrel and mag? If that even matters idk

[JDay]

Yes you can change the barrel to convert to .45. The magazines are pretty much the same between the two, I've loaded .38 super in .45 magazines before without issue. Get yourself a Wilson Combat other Chip McCormick magazine and see if the problem goes away, factory magazines often suck.

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[LovingTheYear1911]

Im pretty sure you can't go from 38 super to 45acp due to slide differences. The ejector is different, breech face etc.

38 super to 9mm is fine. They are the same casing diameter.

[raven290]

The bolt face of a .38 Super is not big enough for a .45ACP case.

[redcliff]

The feed ramp area of the frame of a .45acp is technically different than a 9mm/38 super also. While a 38 super ejector would probably work on a .45acp the breach face difference of the slide would present issues, and the slide stop would be incorrect also.

Was this pistol represented as new? If so I would call RIA warranty repair for the feed issues and send it to them. If there is a discrepancy as to what caliber the pistol is set up to be have them put it in writing so you can confront the dealer and small claims them if necessary.

While unlikely, it's possible that your dealer swapped a .45 barrel into a 38 super pistol in order to "make a sale" not knowing there are significant differences.

[Shasta Frog]

Would my gun even function with .45 ammo if it had a .38 super slide and ejector?

[LovingTheYear1911]

I don't think it would. Different dimensions in slide.

[redcliff]

Assuming you had a .38 super slide the 38 super ejector would probably not be an issue since the Commanders in .45 acp use a 9mm ejector location and corresponding slide cut.

The breech face should cause a problem; typically a 38 Super breech face is .408 while a .45acp breech face is .480. But I have no idea what specs RIA uses. Many 9mm/38 Supers are built on .40 caliber breech faces despite the spec for 9mm being approximately .394.

The manufacturer should know what caliber the pistol was built as. Contact RIA since you're having malfunctions anyway imho and find out.

Edit: breech face dimensions provided by posts from Log Man and George Smith/EGW on the 1911forum.com.

[Shasta Frog]

Thanks all for the replies. I have contacted RIA but have not heard back as of yet. They did respond quickly the first time about sending me out a new mag so I will wait a day or so for their response to the caliber confusion.

When I took my gun back to my LGS yesterday they kept it and wrote up a repair ticket for it not feeding. So I'll see what their gunsmith has to say when I go to pick it up.

And like I said in my op the gun functioned fine with no other problems other than the first two rounds not loading. I'm thinking the caliber issue is not likely and more so a mag/feed ramp issue. But do want to make sure in any case.

First gun that I have ever owned that had any sort of problem. Still I have the so called "1911 itch"

[JDay]

If the stores gunsmith does anything to the gun your warranty will be void.

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[Shasta Frog]

If the stores gunsmith does anything to the gun your warranty will be void.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

Crap, I didn't know that. Hopefully they just change the mag out then.

I figured that since the gun was bought there that they would be able to do any warranty work.

[Gryff]

You either got screwed by the LGS, or they got screwed by the manufacturer/distributor. Take it back to the LGS And demand that they replace it with a correct model. Let them take it up with the manufacturer.

In the long run, there is nothing positive about keeping the gun as it is, and may cause worse warranty problems down the road.

[Shasta Frog]

Ok, for those that care, Here is what I found out.

The gun that was purchased was actually a RIA .38 Super with a .45 barrel, mag, and a tactical .45 slide. Obviously the feed ramp wasn't adjusted since I had nothing but problems feeding the first 2 rounds of every mag.

Apparently this is common practice for this gun shop, Jone's Fort, Redding Ca.

Jone's Fort fixed the feed ramp and the gun was now feeding properly. Except for Tulammo. Ya ya I know flame away lol.

The Tulammo has a different bullet profile than all the others I have tried and every single bullet hits the slide stop. Simple filing and problem fixed.

But after a couple days of constantly thinking about all this I went back to the gun shop and let them know how I felt about having a gun that was pieced together and not what I expected. No temper or harsh words, I was mainly looking for and explanation as to why this gun was sold this way.

They told me that sometimes they do this because someone might have bought a slide or some other part at one time and they use other parts to make a complete gun. Apparently this is common practice as they had other Rock Islands in the same configuration in their case.

I told them this was not what I expected and they offered me a new RIA Tactical .45 for no extra cost. About a $150 price difference. All I have to pay is dros. Needless to say that made my day, seeing as how it was my birthday too!

So all in all I came out on top and anxiously awaiting my new Tactical

[shafferds]

That's a bull crap policy for that gun store.

[Varg Vikernes]

Ya that is bull****.