Rock Island Armory Rock Series M1911 A1FS Tact II 51632 9MM

The 9mm chambering is the most popular pistol cartridge today, and manufacturers of the 1911 platform are capitalizing on that popularity — and with good reason. The 1911 is known for its comfortable grip angle and single-action-only trigger, and 9mm ammo is inexpensive and available nearly every where ammo is sold. 

When a 1911 is chambered in 9mm, the result is a softer-recoiling pistol because the 9mm pistol is heavier than a 45. The outside diameter of the barrel is the same as the barrel used for a 45 Auto-chambered gun, but the bore is smaller for the 9mm. This makes the barrel slightly heavier. The magazine is also 45 Auto size in outside dimensions, but it is re-engineered for the shorter 9mm cartridge. Magazine capacity increases with 1911s chambered in 9mm, too, because of the difference in cartridge diameter.

In this match-up we look at three economy 9mm 1911s costing around $500 — the Taurus 1911, Rock Island Armory (RIA) Rock Series M1911 A1 FS Tact II, and the Tisas 1911 Duty B9, offered by SDS Imports. All three of these 1911s are set up in a similar fashion with fixed snag-free sights, ambidextrous thumb safeties, single-stack magazines; thin, checkered synthetic grips; and a no-nonsense matte-black finish. The similarities end there, and soon we will get into the weeds with these guns. 

Because 1911s are hand fitted, the price point dictates the quality of parts and time spent assembling the gun. Think of 1911s in tiers of quality, and as you expect, the lower the tier, the less the cost. Tier 1 1911s are made by Wilson Combat, Les Baer, Ed Brown, and other high-end custom makers. These guns are produced with premium parts, and their makers spend a lot of time ensuring the guns perform as expected, and as a result, these guns cost a premium, often more than $2500. Tier 2 1911s are the Springfield Armory, Kimber, Colt, Ruger, and others from major handgun brands that jumped on the 1911 bandwagon. Many of these guns are in the $800 to $2000 range. Tier 3 1911s are under $800 and include brands like Girsan, Taurus, Tisas, RIA, and others. Tier 3 guns are usually built with inexpensive parts and are not finished as nicely as Tier 2 and Tier 1 guns. With all that said, your expectations of how a particular 1911 will perform should be tempered. But an inexpensive 1911 doesn’t necessarily mean cheap or unreliable, or does it?

How We Tested

We tabulated accuracy at 15 yards using a rest, and performed Bill Drills at 10 yards to see how the pistols performed in rapid fire. For the speed test, our shooters used IDPA-style cardboard targets with 8-inch bullseyes. 

Ammo consisted of Armscor 124-grain and Federal American Eagle 115-grain FMJ training ammo, and Remington Ultimate Defense loads with 124-grain Golden Saber Bonded jacketed hollow points. We started by shooting a mix of 9mm orphan rounds left over from previous tests and found none of the slides locked back after the last round fired. We guessed that these 1911s needed a break-in period, and after 50 rounds, they all performed without issue. Accuracy across all ammo choices averaged between 1 inch to 1.3 inches with five shots at 15 yards, which is not bad for inexpensive 1911s. Trigger-pull weights were heavy, and that is another common trait of inexpensive 1911s. No doubt a lighter trigger pull would shrink group sizes. Check the Range Data because we did see instances of brilliance with some of these pistols. We swapped magazines between the guns and they all worked, but we would deep six all of the magazines and replace them with Chip McCormick or Wilson Combat magazines for ease in loading. Now let’s get into the weeds.

Rock Island Armory Rock Series M1911 A1 FS Tact II 51632 9mm Luger

$415

Gun Tests grade: B+

The Rock Series M1911 A1 FS Tact II was smooth cycling, had a decent trigger, and offered a comfortable grip. Accuracy was very good. The magazine was its Achilles’ heel.

The RIA comes in a hard case with two steel-body 10-round magazines with polymer bumper pads. It, too, uses a 70 Series system in a cast receiver and a forged slide. The parkerized finish was well executed and covered the entire pistol, including controls. Nothing fancy, but well executed. Grips are double-diamond checkered rubber with enough tackiness for a good grip.

The front grip strap on the cast frame is serrated with no undercut trigger, and the mainspring housing is checkered. The model name is discretely roll marked on the frame. The rear of the left side of the slide has a gaudy Rock Island Armory logo in white. Thank goodness it is small. Our recommendation is to make the logo black, so if you own this gun, give it the Sharpie treatment.

The ambidextrous thumb safety is low profile so it doesn’t stick out much, yet it is still easy to operate. The skeletonized trigger is adjustable for overtravel via a hex screw. The trigger face is curved and serrated. It had about 1⁄8 inch of take up before it hits the wall, and it broke cleanly just under 6 pounds. A heavy trigger pull is what you can expect with inexpensive 1911s. 

The beavertail protected our hands from hammer bite and had a nice speed bump in case your grip is sloppy on the draw. The gun will still go bang when you press the trigger. The magazine catch is GI height. There is a slight chamfer at the mouth of the mag well to more easily insert the single-stack magazine for reloads.

Novak-style sights are dovetailed into the forged slide. They are large but completely black, so on a dark target, sight acquisition takes a millisecond more time. There is a hex screw on the rear sight that can be loosened to tap the rear sight left or right to adjust windage. We had a reader email us about the rear sight of his RIA being difficult to adjust due to a copious amount of Loctite. We found we could easily adjust the rear sight if we needed to. It was dead on. 

The fine vertical slide serrations are straight off a GI 1911A1, and they offered plenty of texture, even if they did look retro. Racking the slide took 13 pounds of effort. We missed the front slide serrations of the Tisas. A serrated skeletonized hammer offered a good grasp when thumbing it back to cock the pistol.

The FS Tact II features a full-length guide rod so the action cycled very smoothly. The barrel bushing is removed similar to a GI-style barrel bushing. The sharp edge on the recoil spring plug required use of a bushing wrench to rotate the bushing and disassemble the pistol. The barrel is forged stainless steel. Like the others, the RIA needed 50 rounds to break in and allow the slide to lock back. After that it ran strong.

 Some might complain about its cast receiver not being durable, but most shooters will never wear out a cast receiver. The cast receiver keeps the cost down on the RIA. We like the 70 Series action, and though the trigger-pull weight measured 5.9 pounds, the RIA was the easiest and most accurate 1911 of the bunch. The smallest five-shot group measured 0.71 inches with the Remington Ultimate Defense 124-grain BJHP ammo. The Federal American Eagle best group measured 0.94 inches. Nice. Across all ammo, the average accuracy was 1.06 inches. The bad news is loading the last two rounds in the 10-round magazine was a darn chore. In speed shooting, the RIA cycled the smoothest and was a pleasure to shoot.

Our Team Said: The RIA 9mm is our choice in this match-up. The finish was plain, but the gun performed well, even with the less-than-stellar magazines. We liked the front grip serrations. Ditch the magazines and enjoy.

To collect accuracy data, we fired five-shot groups from a bench using a rest. Distance: 15 yards with open sights. Velocities were recorded using a ProChrono DLX digital chronograph set 10 feet from the muzzle.

Special thanks to Eastern Outfitters (easternoutfitter.com) of Hampstead, NC, for their assistance.

Written and photographed by Robert Sadowski, using evaluations from Gun Tests Team members. GT