Rock Island Armory RIA 5.0 9mm: Full Review

New handguns are introduced all the time. However, they are almost all variations of or incremental improvements to existing designs. Completely new handgun designs are rare, and even more uncommon are new handgun designs that seem to not be just different but better in some way. The RIA 5.0 from Rock Island Armory looks to be just one of those rare guns. It is a revelation. It sports a completely unique recoil system labeled “Ram Valve System” (RVS). Not only does RVS work, but it also appears to offer substantial improvements versus traditional tilt-barrel designs — although it does have its limitations. Let’s dive in to the specs of the pistol before exploring the new RVS recoil system.

The RIA 5.0 is a single-­action-­only (SAO) 9mm with an internal hammer. The steel slide rides on an aluminum chassis, onto which is attached a polymer grip module. The 5.0 sports a 4.91-­inch barrel and is fed by 17-­round magazines; two are provided with the gun. Overall, it is 8.11-­inches long, 5.17-­inches tall and 1.43-­inches wide at the slide release. Weight, with an unloaded magazine, is 37.4 ounces according to my scale.

The proprietary magazines for the RIA 5.0 are made by ACT-­MAG in Italy. I was told by an RIA rep that the magazine bodies use the same basic design as those for the SIG Sauer P226, but there are slight differences in the magazine-release cutout, feed lips, follower, and so on, therefore they are not interchangeable.

The RIA 5.0 is a heavy, full-­size pistol. It’s an SAO gun with no external safety beyond the lever on the trigger. Rock Island refers to it as a “sporting pistol.” I presume that, due to its size and weight, it will initially see the most use ringing steel and punching holes in paper for the competition world. That said, I suspect the unique RVS recoil system will grow legs. I’d be surprised if we didn’t see subsequent concealed carry models feature RVS.

Besides the trigger, the only notable controls are the slide release and magazine release. At the slide release, the pistol is 1.43-­inches wide, but apart from that the pistol is very flat; the grip is 1.175-­inches thick and the aluminum frame is 1.065 ­inches. The slide is just .91 inch.

For 2023, there are two versions of the RIA 5.0: A model with iron sights and a version that leaves the factory with a C-­More STS2 mini red dot. I secured a sample of the iron-­sighted model for testing. A Rock Island Armory representative told me that — as you read this — the second-­generation RIA 5.0 will not be an either/or proposition; it will have iron sights but will also be offered in an optic-ready configuration. While you might see some cosmetic differences on the exterior, the internals will be the same.

Rock Island Armory is a subsidiary of Armscor, which is based in the Philippines. RIA/Armscor makes more Model 1911 pistols than any brand in the world. Still, the pistols tend to be basic, entry-­level models at affordable prices. I expected the 5.0 would be less refined than it is, especially considering that it was made in RIA’s new manufacturing facility in Utah. Yes, manufacturing costs are higher than production in the Philippines, but COVID presented many challenges that can’t happen again. The first RIA pistol made in the United States is the RIA 5.0. In person, it looks and feels like a limited-­edition semi-­custom gun. It has a smooth action and clean lines, and the iron-­sighted model G&A received has a relatively low price of $999.

At first, I couldn’t figure out why the RIA 5.0 looked so familiar. Then, I realized its silhouette is similar to the Italian-made Arsenal Firearms Strike One. The similarity ends there, however. Apart from profile, the two guns are different.

The RIA 5.0 features internal rails like a CZ 75, the opposite of what we see with modern pistols. It means that the slide rides on the inside of the frame, rather than the outside. The slide offers less real estate to grab, so it is good that they’ve machined aggressive cocking serrations fore and aft. As with the CZ 75, the internal frame rails are full length.

---

The front sight is from Dawson Precision. It’s made of steel, dovetailed, and has a red fiber-optic insert. The rear sight is from LPA. It is steel, too, click-­adjustable for both windage and elevation with an all-black notch.

At the rear of the slide is a cutout. There, you can see the hammer, which is a short, flat piece of stainless steel. The only way to cock it is by working the slide. The only way to drop the hammer is to pull the trigger.

The advertised trigger-pull weight for the RIA 5.0 is 4 ­pounds. Most of the samples we’ve handled have trigger pulls right around there. G&A’s test gun had a trigger pull that measured 41/4 pounds. The trigger pull was very interesting; it was a smooth rolling takeup with no wall or discernible break point. It felt a good pound lighter than it measured. 

Unusual, the trigger is also steel. It’s nearly straight, too, with a flat face and a drop-safety lever in the center. The trigger group is as simple a design as we’ve seen, and makes a Glock’s internals look busy. Inside the slide, you’ll find a firing-pin drop safety.

The aluminum chassis on which the slide rides is thick and sports a five-­slot Picatinny rail for mounting accessories such as lights. Measuring 3.87 inches, even the 1,000-lumen Streamlight TLR-10 fits the rail. The polymer grip module, which includes the triggerguard, is attached to the serialized aluminum chassis. The grip feels less vertical in the hand than it appeared at first glance, providing roughly the 13-degree grip angle of an M1911. (I’d love to see an alternate grip module with a more aggressive 20-something angle, but that’s just personal preference.) Both the chassis and slide have a black Cerakote finish.

The texturing on the grip is aggressive, nice, and the magazine well in the frame is beveled. On our sample, the magazines did not drop free, but I’ve seen that they do on other guns. We want drop-­free magazines as a general rule, and definitely on a gun that might be used in competition!

the interesting stuff

The RIA 5.0 was designed by gunsmith Fred Craig for Martin Tuason, CEO of Rock Island Armory. They are the “T” and “C” in the .22 TCM, i.e., the “Tuason Craig Micromagnum,” RIA’s proprietary bottleneck pistol cartridge that spits out 40-ish-­grain bullets at nearly 2,000 feet per second (fps) while producing less recoil than a 9mm.

The RVS system used in the RIA 5.0 is a linear recoil system, meaning that the barrel doesn’t tilt. It slides directly back and forth about a quarter of an inch, but that’s it. There is a rectangular steel piece underneath the rear of the barrel, i.e., the “locking block,” that fits into a cutout there. It helps the barrel interface with the aluminum chassis. Even more important, it is a mount for the recoil spring and guiderod. What locks the barrel to the slide at the start of the recoil cycle is a round steel block, i.e., the “valve,” which interfaces with the barrel about three-­quarters of an inch from the muzzle. When the slide is all the way forward, the valve is held in place by the barrel above it and the frame below. During the recoil cycle, as the barrel moves back, the valve begins to move downward, dropping into a slot in the frame above the rail. It’s pushed there by the sharply angled nose of the steel recoil spring and guiderod. After the slide/barrel have moved about a quarter inch, the valve clears the barrel and the slide separates from the barrel to continue the cycle of operation.

When the slide moves forward, the valve is forced up into the cutout on the barrel as it comes to the end of the slot in the frame’s dustcover. At the front of the frame slot for the locking block, there is a steel pin used to give it durability and longevity; here, there is steel-­on-­steel lockup inside the aluminum frame.

So, the valve and locking block are forced down by the angled recoil spring guiderod as the slide comes back. It’s forced up by the frame as the slide goes forward. It isn’t just simple, it works! Not just that, this is one of the smoothest cycling actions I’ve felt outside of custom 1911s, in part because there is no tilting; everything just slides back and forth.

The RVS is why the barrel profile is not round; one can’t machine a notch into a barrel unless there’s extra material there. Hence, the funky profile gave engineers that material. It’s not exactly square but rather trapezoidal, and wider on the top than the bottom with a bit more distance between the bore and the bottom than on the top, just for that RVS lockup. There is also somewhat of an internal rail system within the slide upon which the barrel rides.

New designs are great, and kudos to anyone who tries something new. The only question is whether the concept is simply different or better in some way. The RVS seems to be both. Only time and use among the shooting public will determine its success.

The primary advantage of the RVS recoil system isn’t that it’s smoother, although that’s nice. And I don’t think that it’s inherently more accurate than a properly fit tilting barrel. It’s how low it allows the barrel to sit in the gun. Many gun people don’t seem to understand how important bore height off the hand is in managing recoil and reducing muzzle rise. The higher the bore is off the hand, the more muzzle rise there is with each shot. It’s Lever Physics where the hand is the fulcrum. Anyone who argues that bore height on a pistol doesn’t matter is either inexperienced or trying to sell something. (Probably a pistol with a high bore axis.) I’ve heard some say, “The slide cycles before you can even get off the trigger, so a high bore doesn’t make any difference.” If that were true, nobody would be putting compensators on their pistols to reduce muzzle rise. Muzzle rise can disturb the sight picture and your grip. It matters.

A pistol weighing nearly 21/2 pounds and chambered in 9mm isn’t going to feel like it recoils much. Still, I was curious how flat shooting the RIA 5.0 could be. The answer? It’s pretty darn flat. Muzzle rise was minimal, and I found that the only thing slowing me down wasn’t a bouncing front sight; rather, it was the trigger pull. 

While smooth, it wasn’t as light or as short as I’d want in a competition gun. When Craig first prototyped this pistol, it had a 21/2-­pound trigger, which is great for a dedicated competition gun but a little light for a defensive-use pistol. And it has no external manual safety. For these reasons, the trigger pull weight was increased to 4 pounds. RIA is considering an accessory trigger that would bring the trigger pull down to 21/2 pounds. (Do it!)

I practiced double taps on IDPA silhouette targets and ran the MGM Targets plate rack over and over. With my preferred competition ammo, Federal’s 130-­grain Syntech PCC — which barely makes Minor Power Factor from a handgun — the RIA 5.0 was like shooting a .22.

Whether cycling the slide by hand or while shooting, I felt the valve moving in and out of place. But don’t think that there’s massive kerchunking occurring; the pistol cycles very smoothly. It’s just that valve moving up and down was distinctly different in the hand than a tilting barrel if you’ve got the experience to spot it.

I was pleasantly surprised, especially considering the price. I loved that RIA tried something different and that it works. As for this recoil system, it seems simple enough so it should have longevity. The RVS can be shortened, but perhaps not as much as some recoil systems. (Just in case RIA reads this, I would love to see a shorter carry version of the RIA 5.0, one with a 4-­inch barrel and compact grip.)

Unique and having a robust recoil system with a low bore and good trigger, the RIA 5.0 is a special pistol that seems born from the sketchpad of a custom gunsmith rather than one from the world’s largest manufacturer of 1911s. I’m curious to see how it fares with American shooters.

Rock Island Armory RIA 5.0

• Type: RVS, recoil operated, semiautomatic
• Cartridge: 9mm
• Capacity: 17+1 rds.
• Barrel: 4.91 in.
• Overall length: 8.11 in.
• Width: 1.43 in.
• Height: 5.17 in.
• Weight: 2 lbs., 5.4 oz (tested)
• Frame: Aluminum with polymer grip module
• Finish: Cerakote, black
• Safety: Trigger, lever (external); firing pin block (internal)
• Sights: Dawson Precision fiber optic (front); LPA adj. (rear)
• Trigger: 4 ­lbs., 8 oz. (tested)
• MSRP: $999 (standard); $1,098 (C-­More optic-­equipped)
• Importer: Rock Island Armory, 775-537-1444, armscor.com