R. Doug Wicker — Author | Stories of Mystery and Adventure

January 31, 2018 · 5:35 am

First look at a Rock Island Armory Ultra FS in 10mm

Rock Island Armory Ultra FS 10mm

People tell me that 10mm is a fun cartridge to shoot, especially out of a 1911-style pistol. I’ll let you know when I get around to trying it, but for now I’m just going to give my first impressions an a used 10mm 1911 from Rock Island Armory. Rock Island Armory have no connection with the famed U.S. Army Rock Island Arsenal. This Rock Island Armory is a subsidiary of Armscor, and is located in Marikina, Philippines.

Rock Island Armory Ultra FS 10mm

Rock Island Armory (RIA) is known for making an affordable (read: cheap) yet reliable 1911 copy. In other words, it’s a good bargain, and if you’re buying something for only occasional use and which you don’t care if it gets beat up in a holster while hiking in the woods, then cheap and used are the way to go. Thus, the RIA Ultra FS 10mm you see here today.

Rock Island Armory Ultra FS 10mm

That’s not to say that there aren’t problems with the RIA’s 10mm. Fortunately, reliability isn’t one of them, according to most reviews. What reliability issues I have seen reported appear to be what would normally be expected during break in of a new pistol using a very powerful cartridge. Finish, however, isn’t up to Colt standards. But, then, neither is the price. A new RIA Ultra FS 10mm comes in at around $300 to $400 less (street price) than the Colt Delta Elite. And for that cost advantage you get the added benefit of having a fully supported chamber, which may hold up better when firing full-powered 10mm loads. There are reports of catastrophic case failures with the unsupported chambers of some 10mm pistols such as the Delta Elite, but I’m not convinced that isn’t more attributable to home reloaders pushing the envelop on an already powerful cartridge.

Rock Island Armory Ultra FS comes with only one magazine

Another difference compared to the Colt Delta Elite is the addition of a bushingless barrel, which supposedly improves barrel-to-slide fit, thus increasing accuracy. The bushingless design also requires a wider “bull” barrel, which slightly increases mass and thus may reduce felt recoil. However, I doubt that the very slight increase in mass here would be enough to result in any real benefit in this regard.

Bushingless design

Note the wider bull barrel at the muzzle end

You can see from the following photograph this particular 1911 has a tendency to eject the casings in such a manner that they strike the upper portion of the slide behind the ejection port. Again, not something I’m very worried about, and I could probably remove those marks without marring the Parkerization.

Ejection marks

Rear sights are adjustable.

Adjustable rear sight

The front sight is fiber optic. Nice touch! Together, here is what you see looking down the slide:

Rear sight

Fiber optic front sight

Watch for a firing review after I get this thing to the range.

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January 29, 2018 · 5:35 am

An original Colt MK IV Series 70

Next week I begin another travel series — 54 days at sea on a trip that took us on two transatlantic crossings and a tour of both the Mediterranean and Black Seas. But for this week I’m returning to the subject that garners my highest audience, firearms.

An original Colt MK IV Series 70

It’s not often you come across a 36-year-old firearm in this condition. And according to the previous owner, the original Colt MK IV Series 70 has less than 100 rounds through it.

Colt MK IV Series 70 circa 1982

There are a few flaws in the original Colt satin blue finish, but I’d rate this pistol at around 98%. The wood grips also had some minor dings, as well, but also very minor.

Colt MK IV Series 70 original grip with Colt medallion

If you read my previous blog article on the new MK IV Series 70 (see: A Look at the Colt MK IV Series 70), then you know that the originals differed from the original in more than just the trigger. The original run from 1970 to 1983 also included a fingered “collet” bushing over a barrel with a widened muzzle end. This change was incorporated to improve the barrel-to-bushing fit in order to improve accuracy.

Series 70 collet bushing and wide-end barrel

The collet bushing held over into the Series 80 line until the late 1980s, but reports of bushing failures led Colt to revert back to the solid bushing which carries over to the reintroduced Series 70 pistols of today.

An original Colt MK IV Series 70 disassembled

The example here has a 70B prefixed serial number. That places this 1911 at the very end of the original MK IV Series 70 run, as the 70B serial number began in 1981 and ran through the end of production in 1983. The rest of the serial number leads me to believe that the actual year of production was probably 1982.

Colt 70B serial number places manufacture between 1981 and 1983

In my second article on the current Series 70 (see: Colt’s Series 70 Trigger Put to the Test — Series 70 vs. Series 80) I noted that the trigger was not all it was cracked up to be my Colt 1911 enthusiasts. I’ve since repeated my experiment (see video below) on side-by-side comparisons between probably half a dozen new Series 70 Colts and the current line of Series 80. Results were always the same. Out of the box, the current Colt Series 80 routinely beats the current Series 70 on every gun I’ve tried.

So, what about the original MK IV Series 70? Not so in this case. This truly the trigger I’ve seen praised. That’s not to say that the current Series 70 trigger is bad, as no Colt 1911/1991A1 trigger can be described as such from my experience, it’s just that the new Series 70 has more creep after take up and displays a degree of grittiness that simply doesn’t exist in any other Series 80 Colt I’ve tried.

Colt MK IV Series 70 slide stamp

COLT’S GOVERNMENT MODEL slide stamp

Sights on the original Series 70 match the current crop. They’re nothing about which to write home. I much prefer the three-dot sights Colt uses on the current Series 80.

Colt MK IV Series 70 rear sight

Colt MK IV Series 70 front sight

Here’s a comparison between a new Series 70 and a Series 80 M1991A1 to illistrate what I mean:

New MK IV Series 70 left; new M1991A1 Series 80 right

Fortunately, both the original and previous owners of this pistol did something that far too few people do; they retained the original box and owner’s manual.

Here is this original Mk IV Series 70 posing with the box it came in:

Colt MK IV Series 70 with original box

But the box has definitely seen better days, and the Styrofoam insert inside was partially melted away from gun lubricant. Fortunately, that didn’t mar the finish on the pistol.