Rock Island Armory’s ROCK Ultra for mid to hotter loads

[Kenk]

Any of you have experience with the Rock Island Armory's ROCK Ultra 10mm / 16rd's. Reliability and overall functionality for use with mid to hotter hand loads
Thanks

Ken

[sqlbullet]

I have a Rock Ultra FS HC.  I had some three point failures the first time out to the range, and I hated the magwell.

The gun went under the knife for a magwell reduction:



Since it went back together, and had the extractor cleaned up a bit, it hasn't been back to the range.  Testing will resume hopefully this Saturday.

Overall I am very impressed with the fit and finish of the gun.

[Kenk]

Thanks, hope to be picking one up in the next week or two

[Kenk]

So what exactly does the magwell reduction in entail?

[sqlbullet]

Scribe, grind, grind, grind, file, file, file, file, fit, file, fit, file, fit, file, fit, file, fit, file, fit, file, fit, file, fit, file, fit, file, fit, file, fit, file, sand, sand, sand, parkerize.



It was pretty straightforward, but I have done things like this before.  I scribed onto the top of the magwell the outline of the grips.  From that I then decided about what material I wanted to remove, took the magwell off the gun and headed out to the bench grinder.  I went slow and cooled the part very often.  I doubt there was any factory heat treat but I didn't want to risk altering the hardness if there was.  I skipped gloves and dunked the part in ice water anytime it started to feel warm.

As I started to approach the scribed lines that indicated where the grips were I started stopping more and more often to put the part back on the frame and evaluate.  I new I needed to stop grinding well before my final target so I could file and sand to the target.  If you grind all the way you end up under-size after you file and sand out the grinder marks.

Once I had done all the bulk removal of material and had a slightly oversize part of the right basic shape, I completely stripped the frame of parts and installed just the magwell and the mainspring housing and the grips.  I wrapped the grips and frame right above the part with a couple of layers of masking tape.  I cut off the now excess mainspring housing pin with a chop wheel on my dremel and then ground the pin down flush.

Here is where I made my first "boo-boo".  While I was grinding the pin flush I noted a spot of two that I could save some file time by grinding a bit more.  I neglected to think about how much faster a grinding wheel would go through masking tape, and I got the edge of the wheel into the mainspring housing in one row of the checkering.  Just wiped it right out.  The part rest on the bench grinder also wore through the tape on the  left side of the front strap and wore the finish a bit there.  The worn finish I can fix with a quick soda blast and trip to the parkerizing tank, but the mainspring housing is more troublesome, but I patched it up later.

Finished with the grinder I used a large file and began to smooth out the grinder marks, and then to knock off sharp edges, flatten and uniform both sides, etc.  Finally I took the part back off the gun and used 220-600 grit sand paper to remove any remaining file marks. I didn't want to mess with the sand blaster at that point so I just dropped it in the parkerizing solution to see how it came out.  It was about 10 at night.  I figured it would either look nice and I would be done or I would have to sand blast and try again.  Since the park only takes about 15 minutes I figured very little lost and lots of gain if it worked.  I don't yet have a blasting cabinet, so running the sandblaster means I will get sand everywhere and have to shower.

It came out of the tank looking really good.  The final three issues:  The mainspring housing pin wouldn't parkerize.  I don't know what it is made of, I would guess 416R stainless based on how it behaves.  So I left it bare metal for now.  Next time I have some cerakote out I will put some on the ends.

The set screw that snugs the magwell up was now too long, so I just filed it down and re-indexed the point on it.

And finally that big scar on the mainspring housing checkering. My checkering file was a different LPI than the checkering on the housing, so just cleaning them up was a non-starter unless I bought another file.  But, I found them a little aggressive for my taste on a carry gun anyway.  The mainspring housing stood plenty proud of the frame, so I just flattened them all down.  Not quite completely gone, but probably took off the top 40-50% of the peaks.  I like the look, it still grips good but doesn't grab clothing or abrade your hands.

I still have not addressed the shiny spot on the frame.  I had originally planned to cerakote this gun at some point, and I will probably not bother fixing this part of the finish until then.  Reminder to not do dumb things

Thats about it.

[Kenk]

Wow.... Thanks man!

[Kenk]

I would like to think that this would not be needed on every one of their guns to function properly

[sqlbullet]

Had nothing to do with function.

I bought the gun to carry.  That magwell made it un-concealable.  I had planned to just remove it, but when I did so, I realized that they frame had been shortened .250", leaving a gap that was also not acceptable for my purpose.

This was my next option, short of returning it.

[Kenk]

Smart guy : )

[Sobrbiker]

Just got a rock 10mm FS Ultra myself.

Anyone have any input on OP's post other than fitting magwells on HC versions?

[Randy99CL]

Just got a rock 10mm FS Ultra myself.

Anyone have any input on OP's post other than fitting magwells on HC versions?

You haven't fired yours yet?
I got the FS myself when they were $500 at Sportsman's Warehouse a few weeks ago.

I love it and couldn't be happier.
Went to the range with two boxes of ammo: Federal 180g (40 cal velocity) and Magtech 180g (1164fps), both functioned perfectly with 0 problems or failures.
The Federal was more accurate and the Magtech snappier.  Not quite as accurate as the Fed but not bad and at $17 a box a great deal.
Very first 5-shot group was 1.790" at 10 yds with hand resting on bag.  Second group was 1.5" and gun shoots better than I expected.