My Rock River Arms Story - UPDATED!

Well, I am 2 months plus into my wait on my new Rock River Arms 1911 National Match Hardball.  Last spring, I bought a used RRA Wad gun from a member of this board and fell in love with it. (Thanks George if you read this!) I received it too late to take to Camp Perry but started shooting it upon return.  Shortly afterwards I shot my new personal best with it and decided it was time to retire my 2 consecutive numbered Colt Government models that were manufactured in 1932.  My 2 Colts were originally built by my father in the early 60's after retiring from the ARMY AMU while he was working at the Air Force MU at Lackland AFB.  It had always been my desire to go to Camp Perry and compete with his pistols. Now that my Colts have been there and done that it was time to move on.  My Colts now retired will be passed to my son for his enjoyment.  I am hoping my new Hardball gun arrives in time for Camp Perry 2022!!!

Keep us updated! I'm eyeing one of these too (the NM Hardball)

I’m 6 months into my Ford Maverick wait, so your looking good.

Not to hijack here but I thought I'd share. I placed an order for a RRA Wadgun (45 ACP) in September.. maybe October.. I received the gun in mid January. First off, the gun is beautiful in appearance. It was the first thing I noticed when I opened the case. The grips were not necessarily grippy enough for me but they are what I consider to be collector/presentation quality. Very nice bluing. Bluing is nice enough to where I'm definitely going to be disappointed when/if it gets a scratch. Not that I'll be careless. But it's made to be shoot so.. But, nice looking gun overall. Very nice looking gun. 

Second thing I noticed was the trigger but I expected needing to have it changed. Triggers are a shooter preference thing. The trigger was super crisp and clean. VERY crisp. No movement what so ever. Not my thing. I like a roll trigger. But again triggers are a shooter preference thing so I wasn't hurt over that. 

They went above and beyond willing to work with a third party. Meaning, I ordered a Kodiak mount for an Aimpoint 9000sc, had it sent direct to RRA, and RRA mounted it to the gun for me. Not just that, but the gun comes stock with their bullseye rib for mounting an optic since it's a bullseye model, they modified that rib to work with the screws that came with the Kodiak mount. The Kodiak mount uses a larger screw. So now if I want to, I could take the Kodiak mount off and still use the RRA scope mount. Very kind of them. 

The gun came with two test targets. Both seemed to look like seven shots each. They were 1.5" groups and if you exclude the one flyer each group had, they were roughly 1" groups. I had the gun test fired in a machine rest locally and it shot 10 shots into 1.8". Could've been the ammo.. a change in ammo, even a lot number amongst a brand of ammo can change group sizes for the better or worse. I'm not concerned. I physically can't hold 1.8". 

In all, the gun will flat shoot, looks good, I'm having the trigger modified but I expected that, and I'm pleased with the help getting the optic mount I wanted set onto the gun with the option to go back to what they offer also. Wait time was excellent considering I've seen other purchasing options in our sport/market take longer. I am pleased. I think it's a hell of a bang for buck option. 

Now - 

The above are my own personal comments and personal opinions based on my own personal experiences. They do not represent the views or opinions of the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Army. 

Thank you

Picture is local machine test result. 

Jason: Love the disclaimer!

If you haven't actually spoken to a real person at RR, you may wish to.  When I placed an order for a Basic Limited, I wanted a couple non standard options so the nine month wait began (which they hit right on schedule) but at that time they said they had four of these on their shelves in standard configuration.  You wouldn't have known it from anything you saw on their web site.  It might be worth a call to see what they have in their "unadvertised" inventory.

inthebeech wrote:If you haven't actually spoken to a real person at RR, you may wish to.  When I placed an order for a Basic Limited, I wanted a couple non standard options so the nine month wait began (which they hit right on schedule) but at that time they said they had four of these on their shelves in standard configuration.  You wouldn't have known it from anything you saw on their web site.  It might be worth a call to see what they have in their "unadvertised" inventory.

I walked into their spot on vendor' row at Perry.
Picked my gun, handed them my gun & FFL's imfo and had it in hand two weeks later.

I was lucky that they had what I wanted, but without the person to person you I would still be waiting.

And here’s some lead reloaded ammunition from a sand bag. I’m not a good sand bag shooter. I expect this load will shoot better from the machine tester. 

RR changed out my trigger on vendor row at Camp Perry a few seasons ago. I was 100% impressed with them, and decided at that time when I’m ready to order a 1911 it will be from them. Great guys there!

Jason: How do you like the Summers 200 gr lead? What was the BE load for this target?

….also do you have any experience with the Summer’s 200gr No Lube Grove Hi-Tek coated bullets??

Olde Pilot wrote:Jason: How do you like the Summers 200 gr lead? What was the BE load for this target?

The Summers 200 gr LSWC I was using were bought a few years ago and were just left over. Back when I shot them more I liked them. I made HM on a mix of there’s and my own hand cast stuff. That group with their Bullets I shot shows they’ll shoot okay. Best? Maybe not but I can’t free hand a group that tight so I’m ok with that. I’ll continue to tinker with it the ammo but I’m pleased the gun shoots well. They were at the time affordable and shot well. I haven’t bought any in a while so I don’t know if they’re still affordable or not but at the time I liked them for the money. That was supposed to be 3.5 grains of Bullseye but I pulled two Bullets to check what this Ammo was since it was old and it weighed 3.6 grains.

Robuc wrote:….also do you have any experience with the Summer’s 200gr No Lube Grove Hi-Tek coated bullets??

Never shot the hi-Tex stuff before

Tim:H11 wrote:

Robuc wrote:….also do you have any experience with the Summer’s 200gr No Lube Grove Hi-Tek coated bullets??

Never shot the hi-Tex stuff before

Brazos sells sample packs.  Try it you’ll like it!  

https://www.brazosprecision.com/Samples_c_28.html

It is now 5 months since I placed my order.  I had my dealer check on the status and I have been told that my new pistol is in the "BUILD" process.  There is hope that it will arrive in time to build a load for it and get the bugs worked before Camp Perry.  There is a light, a small light, at the end of the tunnel!!!!

It seems to me that when you ask to have something built to order,specialy a precision instrument, that tunnel looks really long.  I got lucky, but the time is usually worth the wait.

On another note, RRA makes the best checkered mainspring housings. Arched or flat. Their 20LPI in particular is razor sharp. Best quality of any manufacturer i have seen. All my guns have RRA mainspring housings. I care a lot about checkering, want it to rip my skin off and RRA delivers.

SmokinNJokin wrote:On another note, RRA makes the best checkered mainspring housings. Arched or flat. Their 20LPI in particular is razor sharp. Best quality of any manufacturer i have seen. All my guns have RRA mainspring housings. I care a lot about checkering, want it to rip my skin off and RRA delivers.

Try the 15LPI.

IT HAS ARRIVED!!!!!  I received the phone call from my local gun shop 8 months and 4 days after patiently waiting for its arrival. I must it is everything I had hoped for.  First impressions it is tight!  Fired 50 rounds at 25 yards and kept most ot them in the black on a timed/rapid repair center. The test target that came with it measured an extreme spread of right at 1 and 1/2 inches.  Now that I have a Ransom Rest (Thanks to Roy Dean) time to get to work. Further updates will follow!  Now I am off to the dog house,,,,,,

I recently received mine as well, RRA NM HB. And oh does she look nice. Sure feels tight. What did yours like to eat? Haven't shot it yet. Trigger Feels better than 4 lbs. 25LPI really bites, great stuff.

I realize they call it a NM hardball gun.  I’m just curious, is it truly set up for 230 grain hardball or do they set them up for a reduce load 185 JHP?

swissyhawk wrote:I realize they call it a NM hardball gun.  I’m just curious, is it truly set up for 230 grain hardball or do they set them up for a reduce load 185 JHP?

Mine is about 15 years old or so and was made when 230 ball was the norm. The weird thing about mine is that it eats everything equally well. When I was chasing distinguished, I shot that gun for every match using my normal wad loads and never had malfunctions.  My short line load is pretty light at 3.7 bullseye with 185 gr wcbn but it works. I just changed ammo when I got to the leg matches; 230 fmj early on and 185 JHP after the rules changed.  If you are in the market for one, I recommend them highly.

Good luck.
John

My new gun is a National Match Hardball gun.  I ordered it set up from them as follows: 20 LPI on checkering, flat mainspring housing and short trigger.  For springs I wanted it set up the same as their wad guns:  11 pound recoil spring and 19 pound main spring.

If I wanted an EIC gun, would it make sense to order their BE wadcutter gun but specify sights instead of a rib and a 4 lb trigger instead 3.5 lb?  That way I'd get their 1.5" group guarantee with 185 grain JHP.

I was told by my Rock River rep that the current production NMHBs are ~14lb and 19lb springs, no longer built for full 230gr 800-850fps ball ammo (16/21 or 18/21?). Instead they are indeed shot with 185jhp match on test targets and is held to the same 1.5" standard. They need to update the website as it says 3" with match ball but should be 1.5" with match 185jhp like the wad guns.

I bought a bunch of 230gr noslers in advance thinking it would have full strength springs. But every time I see her perfectly blued finish I can't complain!