It's here! RI .45

[Scoupe]

Picked up the Rock Island .45 at lunch today. Fit and Finish is pretty good for the price. Trigger is crisp, no too heavy. The only thing I don't like about it is the non-dove tailed front site. Going to go shoot it here in a couple hours. Now, if my Ballester shows up today, I'll be one happy puppy.

[SalBO]

congrats, I am still window shopping for one......

[Scoupe]

Okay, just got back from shooting it. Definitely a nice piece for the price. It's no Kimber. Shoots a little left, needs a beaver tail and the stock mag that came with it is crap. Went bang every time except for one FTF which I attribute to the mag. Trigger ain't bad either. I'd recommend one, but would point out that you can't put something like a Novak front site without some heavy work, the stock mags suck, and they need a beaver tail. (Yes I got ".45 web" right now).

One of my buddys at work was pretty interested and we got to wondering about how many Phillipine plants there are producing 1911s. The only one I found was S.A.M. who also makes the Blue Thunders that Century is selling for around $300. If I were to do it again, I'd want the dove tail front sight, but the Phillipino piece itself seems to be well made.

[SalBO]

so to ask a dumb question, do you think the Rock Island and Century's are the same pistols ? Did you get the Govt model ?

[Scoupe]

I think it's highly possible that they are the same manufacturer, built to slightly different specs. The S.A.M. website showed one that looked like my "Gov't Model" and another one actually called "Blue Thunder" that had a beavertail and a dovetail front sight. All pictured did not have the wooden grips of the RIs, but that's not a deal at all. My theory is that there is only one or two plants making 1911s in the Phillipines and that they just build to spec for large orders. That's the way so much of industry in general works.