RIA Rock Ultra FS 45

[philmo11]

I got a good deal on these RIA Rock Ultra FS 45s. What I like is that they were cheap, feature rich and just run as expected. I have function tested these and they passed with flying colors. They don't look exactly like this anymore so I will update on that later.


The fiber optic front sight is easy to find and the addition of a target rear sight allows for fine tuning the point of aim. Very nice sights for such a cheap gun ($425 ish…).

What I don't like… the G10 grips were not cut evenly. 1 set barely has any scoop cutout for your thumb, the other set is deep. The gun has a magwell but standard bevel cut grips… WHY???

The magwell extension is a bushing mounted attachment. That means, if you change grips, you are either limited to a set you can find made for this type of magwell extension, deal with your grips not sitting flush or lose the magwell extension altogether.

I chose the latter. Byebye cheap magwell extension. I intend to order another mainspring housing with integrated extension but haven't done so yet. The grips have already been replaced, I just need to add a picture.

Also don't care much for parkerized guns. I know there is a cult following for parkerized guns but i just don't find them all that attractive. The finish is never uniform (assuming you clean them often). The finish is extremely soft and prone to damage. Good thing I bought these at a bargain for bug-out guns. There are just better finishes out there these days, but that said, that's why it's cheap.

They are great shooting guns and would not hesitate to buy more at a good price, just not anywhere near msrp.

 

[joepistol]

my 1st 1911 in 9mm was a Rock Island GI model (small sights !) as it was only 1911 model in 9mm that RI offered @ that time. I didn't like the sights, or that parkerized finish. A local shop offered an entire gun cerecoated (?) for $100..had mine done in a matt silver, looks very similar to a hard chrome finish I had done on another 1911. Big improvement, Imo

 

[philmo11]

my 1st 1911 in 9mm was a Rock Island GI model (small sights !) as it was only 1911 model in 9mm that RI offered @ that time. I didn't like the sights, or that parkerized finish. A local shop offered an entire gun cerecoated (?) for $100..had mine done in a matt silver, looks very similar to a hard chrome finish I had done on another 1911. Big improvement, Imo

At the end of the day, these are SHTF guns. I have nicer ones I play with. In that situation, you're not going to care about parkerizing. They go bang every time and they're black so they don't give you away. Two extremely important things you should worry about in that situation. The sights are also important. I bought a bunch of RIA Standard FS that have the recesses on the sights but no painted dots. Thinking about glow in the dark nail polish or something similar. Enough for the shooter to see but not bright enough for others to see.

 

[philmo11]

Alright, I got my target grips on… I thought it was best to add them to something with adjustable target sights. I think they are pretty nice… The grips really spruced them up.



I did, unfortunately, get to spend a 2hr car ride filing a bevel into the bottom of the grips because there was no bevel. Magazines wouldn't fit but they do now.



Some other minor fitting was required that needed rounded pencil files but, fortunately, I bought some cheapies at HF the other day.

 

[mm1911]

The RIA's are a fantastic way to beef up your collection without breaking the bank for sure, I've never had one that didn't work, grips are sweet!

 

[philmo11]

The RIA's are a fantastic way to beef up your collection without breaking the bank for sure, I've never had one that didn't work, grips are sweet!

I hope so, I purchased 26x 1911's of various caliber/models and 8x Beretta 92 clones from RIA (all recent). You could say I'm invested to the tune of about $13,000. I've had 2 issues so far, 1 safety on a beretta clone and one grip safety on a 1911 (leaf on the sear spring isn't long enough). I'll probably just order a sear spring but the 92 clone is going to them.

It's a lot to invest in one company but they are sending me $7,500 in free guns soon (That's $7,500 at the lowest price I could find, $9,100 msrp). I got the email on the first one ready to ship. When you figure those into the mix, it doesn't seem so bad. On paper, it's $20,500 in guns for $13,000 but in reality, I got some killer deals, like 8x 10mm Rock Ultras for $351 shipped. That's unheard of for an Ultra model. I paid $576 shipped for each of my 4x 9mm Stainless models but only $451 shipped for the the 3x stainless 45 ACP. There's a few thousand in savings on top the free guns. I'm working those deals man.

 

[philmo11]

To someone who spends $2k-3k on guns, this next part might not make a difference. To someone who spends $30k-$50k on guns, this might help.

Just a disclaimer here, Im not into guns to make money (as you'll see below). I'm not an FFL nor do I want the responsibility and overhead to be one. That said, just because I got on the numbers earlier, I'll lay out my rationale when I buy guns.

On average, you should see a price of 80%-82% of msrp at the actual gun counter. Your mileage will vary depending on what, when and where. Add tax/ship/transfer fees (if ordering online) on top and that percentage goes up.

My goal is to be at 80% of the goin counter price. That means a sale needs to be close to 20% off to get my attention. The reason for that is that when I get rid of guns, the average price my FFL gets at auction is 80% of the counter price for a used gun. Of that 80%, the buyer pays a 10% premium and I pay a 10% auctioneer's fee. Which brings me down to 70% of the gun counter price I'll actually see (or 10% loss).

Doing the math, 70% of 80% of msrp is 56% of msrp. That's just to break even if I have to sell for some reason. That's happened a couple times. Once when I traded in all my polymer for metal frames. Happened when I dumped thousands of dollars of my own money into Husky Ranch for the rescue dogs. It happens.

On these RIA's, between the distributors cutting prices and Armscor promotions, I'm averaging 41% of msrp across the board. That's final cost after it's transferred to my possession.

In other words, an RIA Ultra 10mm with an msrp of $749 should (and usually does) retail for $599, the goal is $480, I need to see a price of $419 to break even. After the I average in the free guns and all of the deals, I'm actually paying $307.

I'm again, buying to rebuild my collection but if life threw me a curve ball and I had to transfer my gun collection for auction, I wouldn't lose my butt.

 

[joepistol]

I can see the logic of your purchasing plan, but am still surprised you haven't had "govt. oversight" into your purchasing experience. I wouldn't know what to do with so many firearms, as I've got more than I can shoot on any kind of a regular basis. Hand loading allows me to have a sufficient quantity of ammo, so I can shoot as much & often as I desire . Having multiple examples of the same model would not interest me..I'd have to shoot 'em all, & have to keep a record of which one's I'd shot & which I haven't. Too much work..I only have 2 of the same models on handguns . Bought a 2nd Taurus 92, maybe 10 yrs. after my 1st one, as I found a used one FS @ what I thought was a good price. Thought I'd have a "backup " in case my 1st 92 had an issue. Well probably been close to 40 yrs. & the 2nd Taurus 92 hasn't seen much use as the 1st hasn't missed a beat.

 

[philmo11]

I can see the logic of your purchasing plan, but am still surprised you haven't had "govt. oversight" into your purchasing experience. I wouldn't know what to do with so many firearms, as I've got more than I can shoot on any kind of a regular basis. Hand loading allows me to have a sufficient quantity of ammo, so I can shoot as much & often as I desire . Having multiple examples of the same model would not interest me..I'd have to shoot 'em all, & have to keep a record of which one's I'd shot & which I haven't. Too much work..I only have 2 of the same models on handguns . Bought a 2nd Taurus 92, maybe 10 yrs. after my 1st one, as I found a used one FS @ what I thought was a good price. Thought I'd have a "backup " in case my 1st 92 had an issue. Well probably been close to 40 yrs. & the 2nd Taurus 92 hasn't seen much use as the 1st hasn't missed a beat.

Oh, I'm sure the "oversight" is there. They just haven't bothered me with it. If you, as an ATF agent, was looking for something, would you bother the guy with 50 1911s and uses a FFL to create a paper trail they can "audit" at any time or the guy that buys 50 80% lowers, binary triggers and pistol braces, then does "private" sales on his own?

That's why they don't bother me. There is no probable cause to do so. I'm also not in the business of threatening people. If I wanted to rebel against the government, I could do 1000x the damage from my keyboard than 1 man could ever do with 1000 guns. So yeah, I get watched. I just keep my nose clean.

 

[joepistol]

maybe I missed this, but do you have an FFL license ?

or have a relationship with one that offers you a bulk rate for your large purchases ?

 

[philmo11]

maybe I missed this, but do you have an FFL license ?

or have a relationship with one that offers you a bulk rate for your large purchases ?

Nope, I buy at retail just like the rest.

 

[joepistol]

I don't know about your area, but the best price In my area for an FFL transfer is $20.00 a gun, rifle pistol, shotgun..doesn't matter.
I've asked, and the place I use doesn't offer a bulk purchase discount..still $20.00 / gun
( Then again, I didn't ask if I'd get a discount on an order for 10, 20, or more guns in a single order.)

And that a good price, the lowest I've seen or heard of, in my area.
I'm curious, if you don't mind answering..what do you have to pay for an FFL transfer ?

I've read posts by others I've seen online that the FFL fee they have to pay can be a deal breaker, for a firearm they find on sale online.
Then again, they may be paying a lot more for an FFL transfer than my dealer charges..
He does advertise, so don't know why anyone would pay more, elsewhere, ...maybe driving distance ?

 

[philmo11]

I don't know about your area, but the best price In my area for an FFL transfer is $20.00 a gun, rifle pistol, shotgun..doesn't matter.
I've asked, and the place I use doesn't offer a bulk purchase discount..still $20.00 / gun
( Then again, I didn't ask if I'd get a discount on an order for 10, 20, or more guns in a single order.)

And that a good price, the lowest I've seen or heard of, in my area.
I'm curious, if you don't mind answering..what do you have to pay for an FFL transfer ?

I've read posts by others I've seen online that the FFL fee they have to pay can be a deal breaker, for a firearm they find on sale online.
Then again, they may be paying a lot more for an FFL transfer than my dealer charges..
He does advertise, so don't know why anyone would pay more, elsewhere, ...maybe driving distance ?

I don't pay for transfers. The FFL that transfers my online purchases gets to sell anything I no longer want at auction. They make a lot more that way. About 10% from me and another 10% from the buyer. That's $60 on an $300 gun. If a year or 2 from now, I get tired of RIA and want to upgrade to stainless Kimbers and sell off $20,000, they'll make $4,000 instead of $1,000 @$20/gun transfers. They know this. It's good business on their part, and I'm loyal to good people.

They have never charged me from day 1. They always said they would but never have and have even refused my money. Even if they did, it's $10/form as their usual fee.

$20 isn't bad. As far as paying $20 per gun, I'd walk out and never walk back in. I also wouldn't have a gun sent there before knowing that. They aren't filling out a form and running a background check on each firearm. They are just listing them all on the same form under the same background check. If an FFL wanted to tack on $5 or $10/per for additional, I wouldn't have an issue with that. It does take a couple minutes to pull the make/model/serial off and they do have to hold it until I come in.

On that 22 gun order, that would have been $125-$230 for 30-45 minutes of additional work and I would have paid them that. My FFL sees my name on it and just stacks the boxes in a corner of the vault until I come in. Then, we pile them on a cart, take them to a conference room and verify the serial numbers when I examined the firearms. The form is electronic so as I approved a firearm, they type it in the form.

The only caveat I have with that are people who have firearms sent to an FFL without speaking to them first. I know a few FFLs that have that problem. The fees should be part of that conversation. Those FFLs charge a premium for those and I don't blame them.

I've also had an FFL try to charge for a firearm I bought from them. I quite plainly told them, they can refund my money for refusing to release the firearm to me or waive the fee. They waived the bogus fee but I still never went back. You only pull that crap once and I'll never trust you after that.

 

[kite005]

At the end of the day, these are SHTF guns. I have nicer ones I play with. In that situation, you're not going to care about parkerizing. They go bang every time and they're black so they don't give you away. Two extremely important things you should worry about in that situation. The sights are also important. I bought a bunch of RIA Standard FS that have the recesses on the sights but no painted dots. Thinking about glow in the dark nail polish or something similar. Enough for the shooter to see but not bright enough for others to see.

I tried for some glow paint from Amazon on my USP sights which I can't use at night with dark backgrounds. The paint was very bright (more than my VP9 night sights) and usable for maybe 40 minutes after exposure to a flashlight. After that they were mostly unusable. I'll get night sights for my GI 45 and my USP.

 

[langshan]

I got a good deal on these RIA Rock Ultra FS 45s. What I like is that they were cheap, feature rich and just run as expected. I have function tested these and they passed with flying colors. They don't look exactly like this anymore so I will update on that later.
View attachment 36436

The fiber optic front sight is easy to find and the addition of a target rear sight allows for fine tuning the point of aim. Very nice sights for such a cheap gun ($425 ish…).

What I don't like… the G10 grips were not cut evenly. 1 set barely has any scoop cutout for your thumb, the other set is deep. The gun has a magwell but standard bevel cut grips… WHY???

The magwell extension is a bushing mounted attachment. That means, if you change grips, you are either limited to a set you can find made for this type of magwell extension, deal with your grips not sitting flush or lose the magwell extension altogether.

I chose the latter. Byebye cheap magwell extension. I intend to order another mainspring housing with integrated extension but haven't done so yet. The grips have already been replaced, I just need to add a picture.

Also don't care much for parkerized guns. I know there is a cult following for parkerized guns but i just don't find them all that attractive. The finish is never uniform (assuming you clean them often). The finish is extremely soft and prone to damage. Good thing I bought these at a bargain for bug-out guns. There are just better finishes out there these days, but that said, that's why it's cheap.

They are great shooting guns and would not hesitate to buy more at a good price, just not anywhere near msrp.

 

[langshan]

I have one similar to that picture. a great shooter.

 

[philmo11]

These weren't Rock Ultras, they're Rock Standards but I got a few new grips in.

These American Eagle grips are fantastic in person. I wish the camera did a better job. I used a file to fit the grips for the ambi safety levers (both sides).


These skull grips were not the ones I intended to buy but they're alright. A bit light in color for my taste. The holes are loose fitting over the bushings. They work but the screw head is what is holding the grips in place, not the bushings. They are 3D engraved.


I need a belt and disk sander for fitting grips. I actually went into Harbor Freight to buy a bench top and ended up buying this big ole 20" drill press instead. Then a 17" for my brother. Both display models so they were 60% off. Figured I'd better stop while I was ahead so I left without the sander.

 

[philmo11]

I got a few more grips in that I haven't put on yet. I'll update when I get to them.

 

[philmo11]

Oh, I forgot, I bought 4 Chip McCormick Power 10+ magazines for these Ultras. They got better but have yet to try them.


8rd vs 10rd mags in those grips.

 

[joepistol]

Since I've bought a few extended mags for a few 1911's after I added Stan Chin magwells , I discovered I had to file the edges of some of those extended mags , so they'd lock up in the frame. I had to cut a small amount off the plastic bottom of the mags, ( the front corners ) so they would clear the edges of the magwell.