Rock River Limited Police Competition

Browsing through the Rock River Arms catalog, you might think this company is solely into tactical rifles, but get to the last few pages and you'll find a wide assortment of 1911s that will surely get your attention. Cartridge choices include 9mm, .38 Super, 10mm, .40 S&W and the ever-popular .45 ACP, and there's a never-ending list of custom features, parts, finishes and barrel lengths.

It's almost overwhelming and reminds you of the days decades ago when everything on this list was an option from custom houses where aspiring target shooters sent their guns for fancy sights, tightening up of the barrel, slide or slide rails. In any event, the gun that caught my attention was on the last page of pistol options and is called the Limited Police Competition 9mm.

Starting with its own forged National Match frames as a foundation, Rock River adds a slide with either rear or front-and-rear serrations, and the fun begins from there. On all of the guns, you have a choice of 20, 25 or 30 lpi checkering on the front strap of the grip frame.

The frames have a .255-inch radius that is cut and profiled for RRA's comfortable memory-hump beavertail safety, which comes standard on all guns.

Below the beavertail safety, the checkering continues down the flat mainspring housing, ending at the base of the Smith and Alexander magazine well. For those who, like me, prefer an arched housing, that feature is available as an option.

Ambidextrous, serrated safety levers are standard fare. I found them easy to use and smooth to the touch. The slide release is serrated as well, but I'd like to see this lever a bit larger and extended to the rear so you don't have to twist the gun to the left to drop the slide. I don't think it would take much to execute as a cast piece and would definitely be appreciated by serious shooters everywhere.

The Limited Police is fitted with an oversized magazine release, which is probably one of the most sought-after features of competitive shooters for quick reloads during the heat of a match. Each magazine is fitted with a rubber bumper and locks within the grip frame with assurance.

The gun features Rock River's skeletonized and serrated aluminum speed trigger, which broke on my sample at about four pounds with minimal slack before the sear released. A Match Comm-ander hammer nestles down into the grip safety at full cock, and the gun features the traditional half-cock hammer safety.

Atop the slide sits a three-position, fully adjustable rear sight made by Aristocrat. The sight has three settings you can preset for load/bullet weights or distances. Once you've established these three settings by turning countersunk screws in the top of the sight, getting those zeros is a simple matter of rotating the cam on the right side of the sight.

You have your choice of a wide or narrow rear blade; mine was the former and measured 7/8 inch wide by 7/16 inch high. The rear notch measured roughly an eighth of an inch square, offering plenty of open area to square up the front sight within its boundaries. The front sight blade is Patridge in design, fits into a dovetail and is tapered from front to back for easy acquisition in any lighting condition you'd find in competition.

The ejection port is lowered and flared for flawless ejection of the spent round. The barrel is from Rock River and comes complete with a supported and polished feed ramp for total reliability.

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Accuracy Results: Rock River Limited Police
9mm	Bullet Weight (gr.)	Avg. Velocity (fps)	Avg. Group (in.)
CCI Lawman	115	1,256	1.5
Remington Metal Case	124	1,152	2.0
Winchester Match	147	1,030	2.0
Notes: Velocity recorded 10 feet from the muzzle with an Oehler Model 33 Chronograph. Accuracy tested off a bench rest and the results are the average of five-shot groups at 25 feet.

The Limited Police Competition sports a skeletonized trigger and oversize mag release button. The author wished the slide release lever was just a bit longer.

Since this gun is fully tuned, the takedown procedure with its custom two-piece guide rod takes a little time for the details. According to Rock River, you need a 5/32 Allen wrench to break loose and aid in removing the front section of the guide.

From here, you need to move the slide back to the slide stop notch to remove the slide stop, then move the slide forward enough so your thumb can

capture the recoil spring. Remove the recoil guide, spring and plug from the dust cover, then use a bushing wrench to turn the bushing counter clockwise so all that is left is to remove the barrel for cleaning.

I fired the gun off a sandbag rest and was impressed with the gun's inherent accuracy potential and its ability to digest any ammunition I loaded into the magazine. After accuracy testing, I spent the better part of the morning speed shooting at steel targets at various distances.

The Rock River Limited Police handgun functioned perfectly with a number of brands and types of ammunition and fit my hand comfortably. Considering it's finished to perfection and has more than 40 custom or refinishing options, there's no way a serious pistol shooter couldn't find a configuration that wouldn't make him happy--really happy.

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River Rock Limited Police Competition
Type:	1911 semiauto
Caliber:	9mm
Magazine capacity:	8+1 rounds
Barrell length:	5 in.
Overall length:	9 in.
Weight:	46 oz.
Finish:	blue, black, or hard chrome
Stock:	deluxe checkered grip panels
Sights:	Aristocrat fully adjustable, three-position rear sight, Patridge front blade
Price:	$2,355
Manufacturer:	Rock River Arms, , rockriverarms.com, 866-980-7625

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