Rock Island Armory is best known for its Philippine-made 1911s, but expended into US pistol production with a novel design a couple years ago. The call it the 5.0, and it uses an interesting vertically-traveling locking block instead of the typical Browning tilting-barrel system. It is (concealed) hammer fired, chambered for 9x19mm, with a 4.9 inch barrel. They subsequently released the improved 5.0E (“Enhanced”) model, and that is what we are looking at.
It is not a perfect gun, but it is remarkably fun to shoot – recoil is soft, muzzle climb is quite good, and it just has a subjective feel that is excellent – everyone who shoots it really likes it. The mechanical design is innovative and very simple, and it has the potential to be very successful. However, it is priced at an eye-watering 2k MSRP (about 15% less at retail). It’s not really optimized for any particular use; it doesn’t have things like a magazine funnel and gas pedal to attract competition shooters, it’s too big to be a good compact carry pistol. RIA initially promised all sorts of modular options and accessories, none of which have become a reality (shocking, I know).
So it’s left being a legitimately very nice pistol but at a price point that really leaves me wondering who the expected customer base is.
Disclosure: RIA provided this pistol to me free of charge for filming.
It’s an expensive Shiny Thing for people who are impressed by expensive Shiny Things.
Even trust-fund babies in bespoke suits who drive Teslas buy guns, if nothing else to keep in the top right-hand drawers of their $10K home office desks.
It makes them feel special. Like a Korth revolver.
clear ether
eon
“(…)special(…)”
According to their own description https://www.armscor.com/ria50e it does contain
HANDCRAFTED ELEMENTS
Largely crafted by hand for the ultimate in fit and finish
Which certainly helps with that, but question appears: are parts interchangeable or do even minor fixes require hand fitting?
It has a price. Not a price point. What is with gun people’s fixation on using this stupid corporate term?
“(…)who the expected customer base is(…)”
According to RIA https://www.armscor.com/ria50e product description
The successor to one of the most
sought-after sporting pistols on
the market. and it does contain MATCH GRADE BARREL so they apparently to appeal to competition shooters.