At this year’s Shot Show 2023, I got an opportunity to check out Rock Island Armory’s newest pistol design. Not just see it at the booth but actually shoot it at Industry Range Day. This new 9mm has a low barrel axis design with the slide riding inside of the frame like the CZ 75, FN Bruno, and Sig 210. The RIA 5.0 shares no parts or magazine compatibility with those other pistols.
The RIA I shot on Range Day had a 4 lb single-action trigger that felt smooth, crisp, and tuned. It has a 4.9″ barrel with a unique rectangular profile that locks up with the aluminum frame to make it a very flat shooter. I was able to keep the barrel pointed easily with very little jump. I did experience one malfunction due to ammo not going bang (solid primer strike noted on the cartridge). And one momentary pause when an ejected shell lodged between my eye-pro and my forehead. Given the amount of use that pistol got that day without a cleaning, I’d say it ran reliably.
The initial release will only be available in black Cerakote, though the samples at their booth were in other colors, so other options will likely be forthcoming in the future. The pistol has a 17+1 capacity and comes with a single 17 round magazine. They will offer two models at release, a standard model with fibre optic sights (MSRP $998), and a SP model with a pre-installed C-more RTS2 red dot (MSRP $1298). Unfortunately it is yet another new, modern pistol that us law-abiding Californians are not allowed to own.
Rock Island Armory’s parent company is Armscor which was founded in the Philippines. Its not surprising that many of their staff are Filipino, as am I. I was able to make use of my limited fluency in my mother tongue to film a Tagalog language version of my booth visit video.
