I just picked up a new RIA 1911. Tight little pistol except when you push down on the barrel through the ejection port. You can't see the movement but you can feel a very subtle downward move. I didn't notice this at the shop, but after cleaning the filthy thing I noticed it about once in three full battery positions. Any advice or suggestions? Best Regards, C
Your question makes me think that you are very new to 1911s. If that's all you've found, be very happy. Most "rack grade" 1911s will have much more movement than that. Semi customs will often have a little movement there, though they shouldn't for my money. Bottom line - A custom fit barrel is the only way you can guarantee no movement at the hood. Of course there is much more to a good 1911 than a hard fit barrel. That is a very short answer to your question.
You're sort of right owning them is not totally knowing them. All my Kimbers, Sigs, Colts, and Springfields are tight in full battery, but of course some have a little slide play and are "shelf grade". This is the first one I've seen that moves in that manner. All I've read says that is is very important that no movement should be made on the barell while pushing down. Maybe I've gotten lucky on the other 1911's.
I dont buy the shelf grade excuse.
RIA's barrel is a little sloppier that other non-budget 1911s. Shoot it, it'll be fine!
ALL of my older Colt's and USGI .45 pistols were fitted so that after dropping the slide into battery the barrel would drop slightly when pushed downward at the hood.
The only exception were match pistols, intended for nothing more serious then paper-punching. Know something? John Browning - bless him - designed it that way. It's part of the reason that guns built to the original design are exceptionally reliable in even the most harsh environments. Today's buyers worship "tightness," and then complain when they have functional problems. RIA's gun is just about the last to be be made to service rather then match pistol standards. Usually they shoot well, out-of-the-box, without requiring 1,000,000,000 rounds of expensive ammunition to "bust them in," and I expect if our new owner's marksmanship skills are up to it the gun will interlock bullet holes in a target set out at 15 yards, and shoot 3 inches or under at 25. This should be good enough for government work of the kind the pistol was designed to handle.
If you want a big-boy's toy buy one of the tighter ones.
To expound a little on Fuff's observations...
The only real problem with the barrel dropping a bit would be if you pushed it down before firing and did a partial vertical disengagement of the lugs. As long as the barrel achieves full or near-full vertical engagement, it won't hurt anything to shoot it. The way the rear radius in the lower lug is designed, it tends to "ride up" on the slidestop pin... camming the barrel further up into the slide.
With a tightly-fitted barrel, the barrel is cammed up and the lug stands firm on the slidestop crosspin. This is an aid to having the barrel return to the same place each time it goes to battery, and is an accuracy enhancing fit... but unless you're chasing small groups at 25 or 50 yards, it won't detract from the serviceability of the gun for general use... bustin' steel plate racks... or self-defense.
Shoot it carefully with a sandbag rest supporting your wrists and see how it does. It may well surprise you.
Shoot it; enjoy it. It's a 1911. What more can be said.
So, how to fix?
Ignoring for the moment arguments to leave it alone, can you remove the slack with a longer link?
Yes.
But you must keep the locking recesses in the slide and the corresponding locking lugs on the barrel very clean and damage-free.
If you use a longer link, then the barrel will ride the link rather than seating evenly on the slide stop pin as it should. When a barrel rides the link, the link supports it in the middle, but the barrel may cant to one side or the other in an inconsistent manner, which is not good either. I agree with the "shoot it first" advice.
You can... but it's not what you'd want to do. In addition to Jim's observations... it also places stresses on the link pin and the link pin hole that those parts were never meant to bear. The pin hole gets wallowed out, and the pin starts to fall out. As the hole elongates, the linkdown timing is delayed even more than it is by using a longer link...t he link being the part that times barrel linkdown. A long link can also prevent linkdown, if it's very much longer. Lugs crash... Barrels get destroyed... Slide lugs get damaged. Much bad JuJu is possible.
Not a single good reason to do it... but several reasons not to.
So if you shoot the gun, and are not happy with the results, and wish to tighten this up, you'd probably fit a new barrel.
Alternately, could you weld up the lug and re-contour it?
Back in '93, a friend of mine bought a 91A1 Colt Government Model that does the same thing. Barrel dropped about .010 inch when pushed... but it had to be pushed. It didn't fall on its own. He's shot the gun for nigh on 14 years now without a problem, and it's death on the fallin' plate rack at 25 yards. I've offered to fit another barrel to it, but he just wants to wait until this one is worn out...