RIA's offer a very reliable weapon at a ridiculously low price. Some people will complain they have "MIM" parts - but whatever. I have a 5" and a 4" and will eventually get another one. Trigger is comparable to Springfield. Everybody who has shot mine said "wow" and got themselves one.
Bellshire on Gunbroker has the best prices - $385 shipped for 5" & $435 for 4" Tactical.
Customer Service is also excellent. I would carry either of my RIA's in place of my EDC Springfield EMP without worrying.
A fantastic way to introduce your self to the world of 1911's
I have a RIA Compact have never regretted the purchase. It is accurate and reliable and I did not have to sell one of my kids to buy it. I also have a Springfield and a pair of Kimbers and the RIA compares very well to, and in some areas exceeds, all of them. Definitely the best band for the buck in the 1911 world.
Another RIA thread.....I own one and have had some updates made to it. I did end up sending to Arnel for some work, and it's now flawless. My take would be that it's an excellent piece for the money - BUT the odds of having something wrong out of the box are somewhat higher than would be the case with a higher priced 1911/clone. That being said, you likely won't have any problems, and if you do, RIA customer service is, in my not very humble opinion, head and shoulders above, say, Ruger's. If you really want in depth info, reviews, etc, take a look at the RIA forum on m1911.org.
FYI - the Arnel that folks keep referring to is Arnel Bernardo, gunsmith at Armscor. He's an excellent smith, and his custom pieces are works of art.
Responses like listed above is pretty much all I ever hear about RIA's
Although yesterday I just had my second stove pipe with mine in 350 rounds. I had not cleaned it since the previous trip and was using WWB which is becoming popular for causing some problems in some guns sometimes.
I have an RIA compact. Love the authenticity of the weapon. Takes me back to my Army days and my issue 1911. It does have an FTE problem, though. It goes in for warranty work next week.
Mine was supposed to arrive back from Arnel today by 2pm (didn't make it).
The barrel has gone in for work. Now they have the whole gun.
I will say that their customer service is very much aimed to please you and get things right...I just haven't had the "heavens parting and a beam of sunlight falling on a perfect gun" experience, yet. (I say "yet" because I'm still hoping it happens just like I keep reading from everybody else!)
My compact had to be sent back for failure to return to battery. The only thing I was not a fan of is having to pay overnight shipping to send a gun back that was only a few weeks old. It has been 100% since I got it back, took probably 3 weeks the entire process including shipping so thats not too bad imo. Also did some nice polishing and tuning it up. Cant complain about that.