RIA 1911 or Desert Eagle 1911 ?

[ramathorn]

RIA 1911 or DE 1911?

[GunNut666]

I have no experience with either one. Save your money and buy a kimber. I've had mine for almost 10 years and it has never failed me. I paid $750 for my kimber custom2 brand new.

[Ripon83]

I've owned an RIA for a few years now. It's my outdoor ranch carry and I love it.

I'd certainly get the tactical and not the GI. Price diff is like $50 and well worth it.

[ramathorn]

RIA tac over GI for sure. I like the looks better.

[warbird]

i have both and they both perform well for me. if you want good basic protection either will do the job. But remember the finest handgun in the hands of a lousy shooter is still a lousy gun. Which one feels the best to you? Which one are you most comnfortable shooting and most accurate with? My jericho is on my permit but I like shooting my Rock Island Armory on the range as much.

[FX-05 Xiuhcoatl]

RIA, if you want to beat it feed it steel case ammo and not worry about breakin it plus if it's your 1st 1911 is a good start up since you can up grade it with parts and what not that way when you have enoughy money to upgrade you know the ins and outs of a 1911.

[SilverTauron]

Buy your RIA, and spend the difference on practice ammo. Your neighbors and bystanders will thank you in the event you need to drop a scumbag with the piece.

[Steve_In_29]

I have no experience with either one. Save your money and buy a kimber. I've had mine for almost 10 years and it has never failed me. I paid $750 for my kimber custom2 brand new.

Yes get a Kimber... so you can enjoy things like them giving you crap while it goes back to the factory twice (on my dime) for warranty work and they never replace the defective frame. Frame rails were not parallel right out of the box...and still aren't.

I have both a Kimber Pro CDPII and a RIA Tactical. The Rock will do 90+% what the Kimber will for less then half the price. I have never once regretted buying my Rock but the same can not be said for the Kimber. Look around on the web and you will find plenty of reports similar to mine about Kimbers.

I thought I was stepping up in quality but I should have paid a little more then the $1300 I spent on my Kimber (hi end of the low end 1911s) and bought the $1700 LesBaer (low end of the hi end 1911s) instead.


As to the OP's question, you will not regret buying the Rock Island and you definitely want the Tactical.

[Gutz]

Screw Kimber!!!

Get the RIA.

[Steve_In_29]

The CA DOJ Safety List doesn't show the MR 1911.

[09rubicon]

Come on down to the Tracy area and I will let you shoot my RIA 1911-A1 and then you can make your decision.

[ramathorn]

I think a RIA or Citadel 1911 is the smart choice since it has a lifetime warranty. That alone is huge IMO. The DE has a two year warranty (i think) and with the price of ammo as high as it is i might need more than a couple years to really shoot it a ton. My gut instinct is to always get the "other" item, which doesn't always work out well, so this time i'll go the other way and go with an Armscor product since they have a solid reputation and they'll stick behind their product indefinitely.

Thanks for the input my friends, much appreciated-

[350skylark]

definitely a RIA over the DE, if you really want to spend a little bit more for a nicer 1911 get a Springfield mil spec, or possibly a loaded and you wont be disappointed. That being said i agree that the RIA is best value for the money.

ooh and antoher recomendation for going for the tactical model, i got the gi as my first 1911 (and first handgun) but soon figured out i wanted the upgrades

[ramathorn]

I'll snag a RIA tac or Citadel.

[gil671]

RIA all the way buddy