RIA Commander Finished (Now Tactical)

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jstanfield103
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RIA Commander Finished (Now Tactical)

Post by jstanfield103 » Sat Oct 20, 2012 10:16 am

I bought the RIA Commander because I was hooked and still am on the 1911 platform but I wanted the smaller size to carry. Taurus, Remington did not make the commander size. I held the RIA once when I bought my Taurus PT1911, but bought the Taurus over the RIA. When I was looking for the Commander size I read and read and watched everything on the RIA that I could. Very very few complaints if any, the sights were the biggest complaint. I was not going to buy one but I walked into my LGS and there set a brand new Commander on the shelf. Bought it right up. I Loved the feel of the pistol but did not care for two things, sights and the fact that it did not have a flush magazine. After reading on how to change the sights and a couple of YouTube videos I order some sights from Fusion (http://www.fusionfirearms.com/servlet/t ... dot/Detail). I also ordered a Magwell Mainspring housing (but in blued http://www.fusionfirearms.com/servlet/t ... ing/Detail) Replaced the trigger with a short trigger one that I took off my Remington R1. and Fusion commander size MagWell grips. The only problem I had was the Fusion Magwell the mainspring part was a little long and I had to fit it, but it works very well now ( it would not let the grip safety move ). I then used Perma Blue from Wal-Mart on the big roll mark on the slide to blue it out (thanks to every body that I read their posts on sights and the bluing idea for the roll marks on this site. It's an awesome place here ). Well here is the final product of witch I am very happy. I just wish the front sight was dove tailed instead of staked.
Let me know what you think, for me the sights are a let better for my 50 year old eye's to pick up, even in an emergancy situation you probably will barely use them.

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bigfatdave
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Post by bigfatdave » Sat Oct 20, 2012 11:38 am

That's not a commander, that's the RIA equivalent of an Officer, you'd find it listed as a "CS" (Compact Size) or CS-GI, as opposed to the "CS tactical" that does have dovetailed sights.
http://centerfiresystems.com/AC-RI1911-CS.aspx

Looks like you did a good job on the sights, I'm not sure why you'd want to add a magwell to a carry-size gun, but it fits up nicely. I really like that MSH texture, I didn't know it was available in Officer size, I've got something like it from Ed Brown on my fullsize guns, now I'll have to order a couple of those Fusion MSH's for my Officer frames.

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jstanfield103
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Post by jstanfield103 » Sat Oct 20, 2012 1:51 pm

Big Dave thanks for the CS update and the reason for the MagWell I figure if the Mag already sticks out might as well cover it. Just me.

greener

Post by greener » Sat Oct 20, 2012 4:32 pm

I like the sights. I think I could see them. A big deal for my 65 year old eyes.

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jstanfield103
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Post by jstanfield103 » Sat Oct 20, 2012 8:37 pm

Yes greener they help my 50 year old eye's also.

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Baldy
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Post by Baldy » Wed Oct 24, 2012 12:43 am

That's a fine looking 1911. We had five of the RIA Compacts in the family here. I had to do a little fine tuning on them and they have been running just fine for a couple of years now. I lost mine in a hot trade for a old Marlin .30-30 I want.

Good luck with it... :D

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Hakaman
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Post by Hakaman » Thu Oct 25, 2012 7:42 pm

Those grips look sharp on the dark color steel. I also like the textured MSH.
I was wondering how much it weighed?
thanks, Haka

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jstanfield103
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Post by jstanfield103 » Fri Oct 26, 2012 5:31 am

Approx. weight 34 oz. best I can guess from other web pages.

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