I have this pistol and have put about 1000 rounds through it no problem. Great 1911 for the price, does come a bit dry though. Only time I've ever seen a problem with it was if someone was unfamiliar with the 1911 platform in general.
I have one and like most guns there are some types of ammo that it just doesn't like. The Federal 230gr. Hydroshock runs perfectly every time in mine, and has never had a flaw ever. That being said Hornady 200gr. +P XTP will never feed right, because of the shape of the bullet and the fine copper ring around the hollow point causes it not to feed correctly.
So...here are the 3 things I do with ALL my model 1911s, which includes 1 Charles Daly (Armscor) pistol identical to your test gun except for the name on the slide. 1. Use Wilson Combat magazines 2. Polish the feed ramp on the frame and chamber mouth with "Mother's Mag & Aluminum Polish" and a fabric buffing wheel on a Dremel tool. 3. Replace the extractor with a Wilson Combat "Bullet proof" extractor. Adjust it as the instructions describe. I have done this for 3 Colt, 2 Kimbers and the Charles Daly pistols I own. They are all 100% with any ammunition I have fed them, including my usual practice loads of a 230 gr. cast roundnose bullet. It is MUCH cheaper and less time consuming than a 200-500 round "break in" period. At current prices (2022) the parts will cost about equal to 1 box of ammo. (not counting the magazines) Except for the 20 minutes needed for the polishing, it is basically a field strip, cleaning and reassembly proposition. While you are changing the extractor, get inside the firing pin and extractor "tunnels" with some good spray cleaner and a "straw" to blast out the gunk in there. A pipe cleaner helps cleanout those places also. You need extra magazines anyway, get Wilson Combat mags. ***For ARMSCOR pistols ONLY (Armscor, Citadel, RIA, Charles Daly, Cimarron) replace the firing pin spring with a Wolff standard firing pin spring. Why? Because these guns are "70 series" handguns with no firing pin block. They manage to pass the "drop safe" test (required for all imports) by using an "extra strength" firing pin spring. Combined with some gunk in the firing pin tunnel this can easily result in "light primer strikes". If you are concerned about losing the "drop safe" feature, then add $15 to the bill and get a titanium firing pin. *** Armscor pistols seem to offer really good value for the price, and really don't require any "tuning" that other, much more expensive, 1911s don't need anyway.
Got the same pistol 7 years ago. Changed out the commander hammer for a 1918 spur hammer, 1922 grip safety, and a 1921 GI guide rod. All I need now is to get a GI trigger. Then my "modern original" 1911 will be complete.
i have the exact same pistol and ive had a good experience out of it. i took the factory mag springs out and went with a wolff 10% extra power and made feeding better. and i plan to get a wilson combat flatwire recoil spring and guide rod. that is absolutely the best thing for any 1911. liked the video and stay safe.
Good job man. You love guns and making these videos, keep doing it brother. Don't let some of these commits get you down. I've never owned or fired one of these pistols, so I appreciate the video.
yeah the RIA RU-vid channel advises you to give it a thorough cleaning with mineral right out of the box. Mine came completely coated in some type of lube. I just gave it a thorough cleaning and lubricated with gun oil. RIA, if memory serves me correct, also recommends you give it the mineral bath cleaning every 300 rounds. I'm not doing the mineral bath thing but am cleaning every 100 rounds and doing a more thorough break down every 300 res.
Sua Sponte to get training handling a firearm, you have to actually handle a firearm. His shooting mechanics were fine. If he didn’t assemble something correctly it would just fail to fire. Also 1911’s are very difficult to get together if it isn’t assembled correctly so he was fine.
My Citadel 45 ACP had the same kind of issues but only when using the rimmed ACP ammor from Remington using the Winchester ammo 45 ACP had no problems first 50 rounds it had 2 loading issues then as I got into 100 to 150 rounds the gun stopped having that issue and I stuck with the Winchester ammo. The gun is getting better and better as time goes on. My wife's 1911 springfield is much more wound up and aiming is not as good as this out of the box citadel no lie my 1.8 Inch MOA and 2.5 are fantastic
When I purchase any firearms, I break it apart lubricate them and then take it to the shooting range. I have never experience problems. ARMCOR manufacture decent firearms and if you have a general concept of how to take care of firearms you will be good with them.
I've had one for a couple years. Works fine. I found that they need to run a bit wet until they break in. No biggie. I like it better than my Rock islands, but they work good too. The RIA 9mm however, took a couple hundred rounds to work properly. The more you shoot it, the more you'll like it.
So ... haha I'm not exactly 'sold' on this 1911 but I appreciate the honest review and I'll be sure to lube it up if I do buy it. I really like the video, thank you. Subscribed! James
great video, i have the same malfunction with the feed time to time i believe it is the finger hitting the slide stop also. One major problem i had was the rear sight came off during firing! Gunsmith said lack of glue and primer when they made it. lol
"Hallow points". Its sage advice to not follow the "advice" of people who can't even spell what they are trying to talk about. And no, its not the "barrel". Its the feed ramps.
@@jamesstephenson2346 oh yeah, sorry for my bad spelling .. i'm not a good shooter but love to see you shoot too .. i just wish your channel isn't empty (lol !!)
The sentiment on your shirt, I feel the same way. Re : the pistol, A lot of people seem to have issues with the pistol shooting low. I'm not a fan of the full length guide rod. Wish you had commented on it regarding preference or even no opinion one way or the other.
It absolutely is an armscor gun. You shouldnt comment if you dont know what you are talking about. Amd yes, armscor 1911s are notorious for this issue. Its feedramp geometry and setup. 5 minutes with a gunsmith will fix this
@@jamesstephenson2346 I do know what I am talking about. The problem is not ARMSCOR, RIA is owned by ARMSCOR. The instruction book says, this firearms was built specifically intended to shoot ball ammo. The problem is not following INSTRUCTIONS! I have the same gun built by RIA, I regularly shoot ball ammo with my handgun, I have never experienced any malfunction.why I Shoot ball ammo? Because with 45 Caliber to stop a threat you don’t need a hollow point round.
No need to "throw the mag away". Thats flat out stupid advice. What MAY be needed is a new mag spring. The follower and feed lips are fine, as is the mag geometry.
Why do you not just stay with Glock. I don't understand people that hate everything that is not Glock spending a ton of money just to complain that is not a Glock. That makes no sense. But OK if you have 500 Dollar to spend to have a reason to complain. OK your money.
Glock is trash. Sig/hk/s&w are all better guns. glock is popular due to the cheap price, marketing, and "reliability" of the platform. In all actuality its a generic design with simply awful ergonomics.
Learn the mechanics of the pistol beforehand!! Dont disassemble and reasonable and not KNOW that you put it together properly! Also oil the damned thing. Do you run your vehicle without oil? With a lot of new pistols there is a break in period.. especially 1911's and that includes the high end as well as cheaper models. Your pistol is a good quality piece, get to know it and learn how to tweek it a bit if necessary. And NO LIMP WRISTING! That can mess up the functionality of any semi auto pistol.
Its an armscor issue. All their barrels have a similar geometry to an original 1911. Not made for hollowpoints or certain other rounds. Needs feedramp polished. Ive had to fix hundreds of em
Remington is the worst 1911 money can buy, and the Sigs have reliability problems. I don't know much about S&W 1911's but I know that Springfields are okay. Might as well go Kimber
poncoolride Being smart has nothing to do with it. Citadels are just junk. That's why you don't go down and buy the cheapest thing in the store... And Glocks are good yes, but there are TONS of excellent options nowadays, some i's prefer to Glock
xAeschylusx citadel is not the cheapest thing in the store. Ill admit i haven't owned one but i do have a Philippine built 1911 .45 and it is excellent. BTW i said nothing about "smart" there are plenty of "smart" people who act like idiots, and actually id like to retract my statements about glocks being idiot proof anyway after seeing all the videos of blown up glocks. Idiots shoudnt own guns period.
I bought a Citadel 1911 chambered in 9mm as my first pistol. Here's a quick review of mine in a few sentences: Came extremely lubricated. First thing I had to do was field strip it, clean every nook and cranny, and then apply better lubricant. The first 150-200 rounds were rough. I used a variety of ammunition and nothing seemed to work for more than 50 rounds without some kind of malfunction. Of course, this was during the "break in" period, so I wasn't worried about it. I have not replaced any springs, guide rods, or magazines. It's basically stock except for some nail polish I added to the front post and rear aperture. Now that I've put several hundred rounds through it, I am very happy and would trust my life with it. The only problem, as with many 1911s, is that it is not hollow point friendly. But a good polishing of the feed ramp helps.
Yeah 1911 life depends on lube. Very dependable if lubed and get educated on the platform. It isn't like polymer guns where you can run hundreds of rounds through it without lube.
My citadel functions flawlessly, I do find dropping the slide with the release loads hollow points a lot more reliably than hand dropping the slide. I pretty much just release drop all my slides now. I also changed mine back to a half length guide rod, and installed a new high power firing pin spring.
I bought a SDS Tisas G.I. model and a Tisas Regent for under $400. each. They work great with any ball ammo and MecGar 8 round mags. I consider them to be better than RIA .45s ... see Hickock45s video on them. Thanks for the video
@@jamesstephenson2346 the Tisas is made of harder steel than the RIA pistols which are notorious for soft parts. Turkey adopted the M1911 over 70 years ago and has not ceased production since then. there is nothing wrong with their M1911 military pistols. Their non military pistols are not so hot.
There aren't many guns that run without lubrication. I just picked up a Citadel from a local gun shop, it was still in the box, absolutely no wear externally, and drier than a popcorn fart. It seemed that someone bought it, didn't like the functioning and brought it back. The salesman emphasized that if there were difficulties with the gun, I only had 10 days to bring it back. I took it home, field stripped it, lubed it and shot a couple of boxes with no issues at all. To my way of thinking, I got a very good deal on a gun because someone failed to lube it before shooting it. I have had 5 RIA/Citadel pistols and all of them have performed flawlessly.
Limp wristing isn't the guns fault, neither is not lubing a 100 year old design that is all metal. This isn't a glock 19, they run different, and it is on you to know the gun.
I just put $100 down on one of these. 400 more and I'll have it. I've owned many 1911s in my lifetime. High-end low end and quite honestly unless you get a defective one out of the factory it's all on how you take care of it. First thing I do when I get one is I strip it and I clean it my way. I'm talking thorough thorough cleaning properly lubrication job then I take it out to the range. All in all excellent review. Thank you very much rather informative I do appreciate it.
wipe the lube it came with and it will run smoothly... same with almost all brand new 1911 Armscor. 500rds up and running thru my 1911 GI Armscor and still shooting straight...
I think I would always clean and lube a new pistol before I shoot it. Machine oil and metal shavings could still linger in the gun. I also lube a new gun up pretty well. I want to give it every chance to run well that I can.
my first comp pistol was a citadel, they are finicky man gotta clean them right out of the box and put better lube on them and they absolutely need that 300-500 rnd break in period, after I did that to mine I ran close to 3000 rounds through it with close to no mechanical issues just shooter error
I`ve got the Citadel 1911 4" - It`s been a great gun. It don`t like steel case Wolf ammo. Also, I put a Wilson combat trigger spring & retainer kit on mine. There`s also a cheap ($9.95) rubber finger grip that mounts under the factory grips that I added. Peirce I think is the manufacturer. No complaints at all. shoots as accurately as I can!
