RIA 5.0E: A Very Nice Pistol, But For Whom?

Duration: 20:44

Rock Island Arsenal 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.