Rock Island Vs Taurus.
I want to purchase a less expensive .45 auto. I am thinking Taurus or Rock Island. Which one would be the better choice and why?
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My experience was with a Taurus Judge revolver. It had serious quality control problems, regarding basic functioning. Over and above it's lack of accuracy, with both shotshells and ball ammo.
Unless you're able to get a actual hands-on with the Taurus 1911 clone. Including test firing. I would go with the RI.0 -
My kids, my grand kids and I have have put a couple of thousand rounds through through my RIA with no issues. Never even handled a Taurus.
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RI. 0 -
I'll go the other way, bought a Taurus a couple of years ago and like it. Plus you get good warranty service. 0 -
I've had both. The rock island was a GI model I believe, finish was terrible, other than that it was ok, but not great. For about $50 more I got a taurus, with better finish, sights, and trigger. Basically an altogether better gun. Also, with the taurus you get a life time warranty even if you buy it use. 0 -
You can't go wrong with a Rock Island, but its a stripped down gun with zero "bells and whistles".
Taurus Judge revolver is a bad idea on top of bad execution. Bluntly, I don't trust Taurus revolvers or their proprietary designs, and I wouldn't touch a Judge, but that's not the question/issue here. This isn't some weird revolver, its a 1911, which is a 100+ year old design put out by some 15+ makers.
In this case, I strongly doubt that Taurus is even making most of the parts in this gun, just assembling them. It does make the frames, barrels, and slides, and unlike some of the better "name" makes these Taurus parts are hammer forged, not cast or MIM. That's usually considered the best manufacture technique for these. Taurus claims its guns are hand-assembled and tuned, though bluntly, I'm not sure what that really means in this case.
Taurus Beretta 92 copy models work fine, and they have a long track record building them. So I'm more willing to give Taurus a little slack here.
I don't own one, but these are the issues I've heard about with Taurus 1911s:
-Reportedly, factory Taurus mags aren't very good. Personally, I don't think that's a big deal, given that excellent 1911 mags are cheap and readily available.
-Yes, on paper Taurus has a lifetime unlimited factory warranty, but again, reportedly, the actual service is slow and of variable quality. So *IF* you get a bad gun, you may end up unhappy. If you have the ability to buy a gun, test it out, then return it to the place of purchase if its no good, that should be OK.
-Lastly, Taurus 1911 sights use a proprietary dovetail. At one point this was a potential issue, because if you wanted to swap out the factory sights for aftermarket ones, you couldn't (or at least not easily). At this point, there are a few different types of aftermarket sights out there that will fit (including Novak, adjustable, and night sight types) so this isn't as much of an issue.
Bottom line, I think Taurus will give you more gun for your money, and personally I would be willing to give on a shot, but optimally, only if the seller would give me a reasonable chance to return it if it wasn't working OK.0 -
I would go with the RIA. Even though I personally do not own one, several folks I know, do. They have hardly ever a glitch. A pistol in the hand is worth far more than one with a lifetime warranty, that is always in the shop under warranty repair...just my thoughts.
Best
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quote:I have a Taurus 1911 38 super that hasn't missed a lick
Lucky you...I will not even sell a Taurus in the shop I help, just because there are a steady stream of them coming back in for warranty work0 -
Rock Island, hands down. Taurus is hit or miss quality, especially with autos. 0 -
I have a Taurus 1911 38 super that hasn't missed a lick with either barrel, fitted 9mm or factory [;)]
It runs as good as my Springfield, custom Caspian, Kimber, or Colt [^]0 -
RI 0
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