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Honest Review on the RO (9mm)

3K views 20 replies 11 participants last post by  remanaz 
#1 · (Edited)
So I won an RO at a USPSA match (shooting a SA Loaded in 40sw I might add). LGS took the 45acp one I won and traded me for a 9mm since I don't need another 45acp gun. I've been hearing a lot of people saying its God's gift to 1911s, I've played with a few in the past and they seemed to be good guns... so here what I think about the gun.

From what I can tell this a $700 gun on Bud's gun shop... so lets call it a $730 gun transferred in.

Outside... I'm not a fan of parkerized guns, but the finish on this thing appears to be good, uniform, smooth, nice looking. I think as a gun advertised to be a target gun it should have front cocking serrations but the surface is coarse enough to grab the front of the slide the rack the gun. The frame/slide/grip safety isn't blended front the factory but it matches up about the same as any other sub $1000 1911. The RO uses Springfield's goofy grip safety cut that is "kinda like" a Colt... I believe a Wilson Combat #297 grip safety is the aftermarket one that will fit.... in order to get an Ed Brown/Kimber/STI style (they are cut higher up into the frame) you'd have to weld and recut the frame tangs or live with a massive gap.

The thumb safety is sharp and curved at an awkward angle but that's kind of typical for all the SA models I have seen... not a fan but that's personal preference obviously. Smooth front strap, but I run aggressive skateboard tape on all my guns so that's not a big deal. Also, no undercut trigger guard on the frame, which I personally really like.

Frame/slide/barrel fit, in my opinion is VERY impressive. Its tight, its smooth, and unlike a lot of Springfield Loaded models I have seen nothing inside is filled with tool marks. I pulled my STI Edge out which just had a new slide put on it (old one cracked at like 95k) and its very comparable in fit/finish. Ramped barrel with Wilson/Nowlin cut. The SA I shoot with (and many others I have seen) have poorly fit slide/frame/barrels.... some of them had barrels with short enough barrel lugs that you could push the barrel down and out of battery by as much as .020" ... not the case with the RO... Springfield calms the frame/slide is the same as the Trophy Match and the TRP... I would definitely believe it. I've only built one 1911 from scratch, but to me, this gun is fitted very well for something made on a production line.

Another interesting thing I noticed is the mag tunnel is actually believed on the bottom, I'd have to go to the LGS and look at other 1911s but I know the Colt commander frame I used to build my 38 Super commander on didn't have a bevel. Don't recall any of my other guns as they all have magwells I blended to the frame. While the bevel isn't a magwell it actually does help with getting the mags in there faster/allows for a little bit more misalignment.... still nothing beats a magwell though.

Insides of the gun, not very impressed... but then again its a $700 gun. First thing I noticed when I took the thing apart inside is the mainspring housing was missing the cross pin that holds the mainspring inside the housing. Threw one in from my box of 1911 parts I've accumulated through the years. From what I can tell, nothing is actually fitted inside the gun (again its a $700 gun, can't expect the world). The sear had no angle on it, just cut flat across and the hammer hooks have tooling marks on them on the sear contact surface. When I checked trigger bow/shoe fit I noticed that it was actually catching pretty hard on the frame. Trigger overtravel screw clearly not set from the factory as it accepted almost 3 full turns in before it started to catch the half cock notch. All of this would probably explain why in my opinion the trigger was absolutely terrible... I don't own a trigger gauge, but judging from feel its all of the advertised 6lbs, with a pretty noticeable creep and a lot of overtravel.

Stoned the hammer hooks and filed the trigger shoe so it would move freely while I was in there... I don't have a sear jig handy so I didn't mess with the sear at all (I've got an extra STI one laying around that I'll throw in there, but it requires fitting the grip safety more and I'm too lazy right now). Tweak the sear spring back a lot and set the overtravel screw 1/4 turn from where it contacts the half cock notch... its pretty good. its not 2-2.5lb trigger like I have on my competition guns but with some minor tweaking its not bad for factory parts, creep is still noticeable to me though.

The gun comes with a GI plug recoil system... typically I prefer FLGR, cause from my testing, when sprung light, the guns run smoother with them... but Springfield's 2 piece guide rod is a terrible design... it comes loose and needs an ellen wrench to take the gun apart.

So... overall. I think if you can find one out the door in the mid $700s... it would be a good 1911. Your other comparisons in that price range are the Ruger, STI Spartan, and the Remington which I don't think are anywhere near as nice as this gun as far as frame fit/slide/barrel fit goes... trigger on the lower price range 1911 seem to between different guns of the same type so find one that feels good. If you're spending more than $800 I would maybe look into something else... I still believe the Kimber Custom Series guns are the best sub $1000 guns out there if you want something out of the box that has all the features and doesn't need much tweaking... I'd probably go with that. If you are capable of doing minor trigger tweaking/filing/stoning you can probably end up with a gun that could surpass some of the $800+ guns but I'm looking at it from a standpoint of someone who isn't familiar with this work and would have to pay money to do it.

Now if you are thinking about a gun to start shooting competition like USPSA/IDPA with, don't plan to dish out a lot of cash up front and plan to overtime modify the gun. This would be a good starter gun. Rear target sights already there that I think will go excellent with a .090" or .100" front post (personally like FO fronts) you have an excellent fit frame/slide/barrel. Throw a magwell on and redo the trigger and you a solid contender for the an practical pistol gun. I've seen people compare it to other target guns in the sub $1200-1500 range... and I don't think it stands a chance. You can compare the frame/slide/barrel fit, but everything else falls short.

Hopefully I'll get to shooting it this week, have another USPSA sectional match next weekend and then Single Stack Nationals the following week.
 
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#3 ·
Great write up and I agree with everything you said. I have the same 9mm RO and it's a nice gun to just throw in the range bag and run a few 100 rounds thru everytime. It's not flashy but it's nice and more accurate than I usually am.

I've got a front FO on mine - transferred the one from my ROC9 which is my EDC (bought night sights for that gun). The FO front really works well with the notch rear.

I'm gonna try to install a magwell MSH like you recommended and run a 21# mainspring while I'm at it. I'm not a fan of the ILS that all Springers seem to come with.
 
#4 ·
I recently purchased a ROc in a 9 and I also have a thing for the 9mm versions of the platform :) Having owned several others and trying a few more ,I picked a STI Trojan In hard chrome Personally I must say that Owning one of these makes it hard to give any of the others a chance ...but this time I decided I wanted an edc in a smaller size and caliber , I didn't have the $$ to front another STI so my budget narrowed my choices .I settled in on the ROc and I'm Glad I did ,it runs pretty nice .. . I agree at this price point it's a nice gun , all the right features you need none you don't ! Fit and finish cleanly done, parts are fit well and it functions as it should. You could spend less but I don't know why you would. I was otd for 689$ ( I made several purchases that day :rock: )
Nice right up btw I think SA has done a great job on this series I have yet to hear any major complaints .
 
#6 ·
Agree with everything you said. SA does a good job with the barrel/bushing/slide fit. I am surprised at how well they beveled the mag well for a production gun.

I actually like the parkerized finish though. It's enough traction on the front strap to get by without any sort of front strap treatment. It also looks not bad, and is a good beater finish for daily carry.

The trigger is mediocre at best. My pistol will be getting an action job, a blended beavertail, new sights, a wilson ambi, and a new ejector (don't like the gap). Then I can call it perfect.
 
#10 · (Edited)
With my .45 ACP Range Officer, the only somewhat unexpected shortcoming is a sloppily-fit firing pin stop, which I'll be correcting with an oversize square-bottom EGW FPS shortly. All in all, I like the RO just fine, considering what it is intended for (starting competition gun).

The trigger out of the box had some creep just before sear-hammer letoff, which I detected at the gun store before buying it, but I wasn't bothered by it; a quick treatment to the sear nose with the Warner jig and a breakaway cut on the Power Custom I stoning fixture, and the trigger is free of creep and breaks around 5 lbs.

A fiber optic front sight and a mag well would be all I'd add to it for competing. Other touches would be nice but those two are must-haves.
 
#18 ·
Here a couple of pics I just took to show the difference for any on lookers.



In this pic the ILS cap is in the msh while a standard cap type is held against the msh.




Here are pics showing how deep they are compared to one another.


ILS depth





standard cap depth

 
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