SA Range Officer vs Trophy Match

Good evening all. I ran across a used SA Trophy Match today. I've been wanting to get a Range Officer for a while and toyed with the idea of getting an Elite to make the jump from 22 to center fire. The Trophy Match looked clean, but wasnt able to handle it due to being in a rush. 

They wanted $895 for it. Assuming it isn't messed with, is it a good price?

My question would be is it worth it to have a gun to 'grow into' with the Trophy Match, or get a straight Range Officer for a few hundred less? 

Thank you.

JD

It’s worth that, I suppose. It’s supposed to be a step up from an RO.

I am a huge Range Officer fan but at that price, I would think hard about getting the Trophy Match. Either is a good gun.

I have had both.  Get the Trophy Match for the price of a stainless RO.

The Trophy Match has better options installed and you will likely be able to sell it for equal to what you pay for it, since it was bought used.

You will not “grow into it”.  You will continue spending money on the RO trying to upgrade it to a TM.  One day, after owning the TM for a while, you will grow into a real match grade pistol.  

That said, I did a partial trade back to the guy I bought my TM from after I refit everything on it to what a TM should be when you get it.   He needed a BE gun and I already had a way nicer match grade irons pistol.

I kept the RO because it had a full BE parts workover, checkering, Kart barrel, and slide scope rail.  It was way nicer than the TM by the time I was done with it!

Don’t assume you are getting a match gun because it says Trophy Match on the side.  It is just a somewhat nicer version of the stainless RO.

That is a reasonable price with the box and a couple of mags.  Especially if it is in good shape.

I have both. The biggest difference IMO is the Trophy Match has a nicely checkered front strap.

I have a SA Loaded and Trophy Match. I paid much more for my used Trophy Match, so that seems like a good price, if like you say, it is in top shape. The stock trigger on the Trophy Match has MIM parts, just like all the rest of SA, 1911's and was just ok. The barrel bushing/ barrel fit on my Trophy Match wasn't great and the accuracy is just so, so. I ended up upgrading the trigger parts to Cylinder and Slide and fitted a Wilson bushing. Like Orpheoet says, the biggest difference is the front strap checkering. For a bullseye pistol, I prefer carbon steel to stainless, but YMMV.

Both pistols build nicely when adding match barrel, etc. The checkered front strap is a bonus!
Jon

Thank you all for the replies. I went to check the pistol out today. Its blued which I prefer, with a few scuffs, mainly on the rear sight. The slide has a decent amount of play, both up and down as well as side to side. The barrel locks up solidly, but can't determine the bore condition. It looks as though it was shot then never cleaned.

The trigger was crisp enough, but a bit stiff. 

They came down to 810 plus tax, as it has been there since last April. Thoughts?

Thank you.

JD

mmmm...less attractive due to the slide play.

For the price, it seems like it might be a good candidate for a full-fledged accurizing job, if that's the way you want to go. If you want it to compete with it as is, it may not be up to the challenge for 50 yard slow fire. Having sat on the shelf for so long, does make me wonder.

Does not surprise me that it has been sitting around.
 No one wants steel when plastic is cheaper.
 No one wants a “target” pistol, they want “tacticool”.

1911s just lay around and the Glockenschlock flies off the shelf at my local gun shop. Offer them $750 cash out the door if you can swing it.  Every gun shop I have been into is pretty hard up for sales to begin with due to gunbroker type sites.  They will probably be glad to see a pistol that there is little interest in go out the door.

Don’t worry about the slide play, it is probably equal to what a stock RO is.  As I said, the gun should have been called “Trophy Marketing”.  You get front strap checkering, a FLGR, front slide serrations.  The internals are MIM parts, same as RO.  The fit up is the same as the RO, with the same tolerances. I was actually pretty pissed off once I had mine apart and saw how far away from a “Trophy Match” it really was.

That being said, a used TM for $810 is probably worth it.  I bought mine for $1000 two years ago and sold it for $1000 a few months ago.  So you may be able to sell it for more than you paid for it.  You won’t be able to do that with a new RO.  Even if it is just a glorified RO, there is little chance you will be able to outshoot the pistol at this stage in your game.

Thanks again for your replies. I might stick with a straight RO for now, I have a hunch the TM will be there for a little while longer. I can get a RO Elite for just over 750 new and it'll probably outshoot the TM as is, from what everyone is saying so far.

JD

FWIW...the TM is a $2k gun brand new. Don’t let the slide play fool you, it’s the lockup that really counts. And they lock up tight! They are Springfield’s answer to the Gold Cup, with a few more bells and whistles. That’s really not a bad price for the pistol from a shop. Ask them if you can shoot it first...you can make up your mind then. I was able to snag one a year or so back and sent it to Dave Salyer who made it into a smoking accurate wad gun for not too much...and he is quick at it too! You won’t be disappointed.