RIA 1911 or S&W 4506?

[CHARLIEWALLERFAN]

If limited to these guns, which would you get. No third choices please.

The purpose? Paper punching, home defense, and to uphold the good name of the All-Steel Combat Pistol. I like the price of polymer guns, but don't like firing them. And alloy is not much better.

[ShelbyV8]

I made the choice for the S&W 645 then 4506 15 years ago and never looked back and have not had a malfunction since I got rid of the 1911.

[GunsnRovers]

4506

[r2mach1]

+1 for the 4506.

[paul45]

4506, without hesitation

[AMT8951]

Both are good guns. I have a RIA and I'm very happy with it. Here is a pic.



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v669/amt8951/ria1.jpg

[PeterGunn]

As has been stated, both are great guns. The S&W may have the edge in overall durability and reliability. Not because the 1911 is of lesser design, but because the RIA 1911 is less consistent.

Were we speaking of a SW1911, SA Loaded, or some other high end 1911, my answer might be different, but I would say 4506-1.

God Bless

[Te Anau]

4506--not that the R.I.A.is a bad choice,its just that the 4506 is a truly great choice.

[Teufelhunden]

I don't know about the RIA, but I know that the 4506 is a soft shooting, reliable, accurate pistol. THey're the service sidearm of my Sheriff's department. Big and heavy, but I was hitting a 16" gong at 100 yards with it 7 times out of 10 with stock sights. They're a pain to carry, but a pleasure to shoot.

-Teuf

[KurtC]

I would get the 4506 and have the factory convert it to DAO. I've been using the 4546/4556/4586 near exclusively since 1991.

[Grayrider]

The 4506 remains on my list of "should not have sold it" guns. I am hoping S&W paid as close attention to making my incoming SW1911DK run as well as my long departed 4506. It was the definition of reliable. Given your choice my love of the 1911 would have to defer to my confidence that the 4506 would work 100%. The Rock Island may lack that quality, but I have no shooting experience with the make.

GR

[CHARLIEWALLERFAN]

Thanks guys.

I’ve owned both a Colt 1991 and a 4506, and I regret parting with them. At the time, I felt the 1911 was the better gun, since the 4506’s ergonomics were the worst this side of my Desert Eagle. And its trigger was terrible, too. But it was cheap, built like a tank, and would feed all of my garbage reloads. And there’s just something about it I miss ... build quality, I guess.

I shot the Colt much better and it fit my hand better. But I refuse to pay 2x the price of the 4506 for one, which leads me to the similarly-priced RIA .45.

Of course, the RIA has inadequate sights, which really bugs me.

I am actually thinking hard about a 4566 which for some weird reason is double action only ... always thought that was a 4586.

[Te Anau]

CDNN right now has 4566's (???) I think in excellent condition for like $389.00.Thats the 4.25" barrel version of the 4506.
www.cdnninvestments.com

[Flashpoint]

I've been looking at the 4566 in the CDNN catalog for a while and it suprised me when charlie said in was DOA. So I checked out the catalog and it said they're DA/SA. Did they make two different versions? I'm not real interested in them if they are DAO.