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1. Yes and no (this is similar to my current setup) For most down-strokes, this is solid enough, but when you get that one case that's hard to resize it will flex down some. I've also read that the little bit of flex can affect your powder drop, but mine seems pretty consistent TBH. I'd recommend bracing under the press so that it can't flex down if this is what you stick with. 2. Necessary? No. Might be nice, but if you can customize the bench height and brace it as needed, it's just fluff. 3. Absolutely. Can't imagine loading a thousand rounds in one sitting with the knob...I remember my dad getting blisters on his 650 before upgrading to the roller, so I grabbed it from the get-go when I got mine.

Yeah, noticed that, seems like more and more movies/shows are throwing things like that in nowadays. That particular grip doesn't seem ideal for the end of the world!

This was my first season that I really got involved in a lot of matches and tried to improve my shooting. The prior year was my first year competing and I really only did one match every month or two. After having performances all over the map, I did make the decision to stick with something for a while and started running my GP X-Calibur in Limited Minor consistently. Like you, I could shoot similarly with most of what I went back and forth between, but I did start making more noticeable progress when I finally picked one and stuck with it. Unfortunately, they don't make that gun in 40 S&W, so for next season I'll be switching to the RIA Pro Match 40 and doing my best to stick with it all season. The problem is that I'm a collector/gear whore and enjoy competitive shooting...those things sometimes work against each other lol!

Love my X-Cal...surprised they don't have a larger following. Haven't shot a more accurate polymer framed handgun and it handles recoil very well, not that the 9mm has much in the first place. Doesn't seem to like heavier bullets in my experience, but that's OK, because I like the way it shoots with light rounds more anyway. Strangely, that isthe opposite of my preference with most other handguns...probably has something to do with the rotating barrel. First polymer I've ever bought that was so good stock that I haven't really felt the need to tinker with anything... People may complain about it being slightly more expensive than a G34 or XDm 5.25, but once you factor in all of the parts that most people seem to change out on those, it's far cheaper in the long run. The most I can complain about is the expensive magazines and lack of available mag well. The latter doesn't matter for production, of course, but I threw some base plates on it and have been shooting it in Limited Minor while I work on my RIA Pro Match 40.

What Hooked said. I just recently worked up a load to shoot in the RIA Pro Match I got a while back and ended up with a 1.2 OAL and 4.9gr charge of N320 with a 185gr bullet. No pressure signs or anything. Just step your way up on the chrono until you are making the power factor you want, and check your casings for any pressure signs as you go and you should be fine. I'll be testing these out tonight at a local indoor USPSA style match, but they felt pretty good while I was out with the chrono.

I wanted an STI, but the RIA Pro Match 40 made more sense financially. Was afraid I'd regret it, but I'm pretty happy with it so far. As for your questions... -The barrel on this model has a clark/para style ramp. -I've heard that Hayes works on them and does good stuff . I initially thought I may send it to them for the reliability package, but at 700+ rounds without a single hiccup so far, that thought has faded. -The magwell can be removed and is held in place with the MSH pin. The bottom of the grip has been relieved to allow for the magwell though, so if your intention is to leave it off, it will probably look unsightly. Your options are probably to use the factory magwell, or use the "Fattie" from Taylor Freelance, which was what I did. -None of the parts I've ordered match the factory finish. Frankly, the finish is about the weakest point for me. About 10 practice draws from my Ghost Holster and the finish around the trigger guard was worn through...no joke. I get that costs have to be cut somewhere to get the good price, but when refinishing voids the warranty and the factory finish comes off that easily...well, I'll probably just get it Cerakoted over the winter. Hope that helps.

Definitely usable. The worst part of the stock parts, IMHO, is the factory thumb safeties. Edges are kind of sharp.

Lots of information in this thread and I felt like I had to read a ton of posts to piece together some information on my recently purchased RIA 51738 (Edge clone type model) to make an informed decision regarding reliable magazines. Just wanted to do a quick re-cap to possibly save people the time and effort of reading all the posts I had to go through in this thread and a couple others. -The first route where you don't have to mess with anything regarding magazines on this 40 S&W model seems to be to buy the MBX magazines for Para/Armscor. At $130 a piece, that quickly becomes a chunk of pocket change, though a reportedly reliable option. Not a bad choice, but it didn't make sense to me. Seemed silly to buy a "budget" competition gun and then buy a bunch of super expensive magazines. -The second reliable route seems to be using STI mags, which may or may not work with your factory magazine release, and also becomes expensive fast once you get into tuning and replacing base plates, followers, etc. This was my first inclination. My reasoning was that even though it would ultimately be almost as expensive as the first option, these were magazines that could later be used in any other STI platform if I were to upgrade. Ultimately, I went with the cheaper option to keep some extra money in the budget for any changes/upgrades needed on the firearm itself. -The third route is basically buying a factory magazine tube and using some form of base plate and follower combination that is reliable. This is the route I took, though it seems like some people's luck has been hit or miss depending on what parts they settled on. I ended up using the ACT P16 magazines from Greg Cote ($22), Taran Tactical Universal STI/SVI Follower ($10), matching Taran Tactical 140mm Spring ($9), and Dawson Precision base plate for Para HiCap ($35) for a total cost of $76/magazine with a 21 round re-loadable capacity. They have been very reliable so far. I did file the protrusion that engages the slide stop off on the follower to improve reliability. Prior to doing so, the mags would occasionally not drop free and it seemed like it was sometimes causing binding within the tube. They seem to be functioning very well now. I've had about 2 failures in roughly 400 rounds, both of which were with my 170PF reloads. Factory loads have been 100%. Thinking that a lighter recoil spring will probably increase reliability with my reloads to 100%. -I also changed the factory magwell out to the larger Taylor Freelance "Fattie" and it works well with my chosen magazine setup with no modifications. -Got a Ghost "The One" holster for 1911 & Clones, and it seems to fit great. I wanted an Edge, but decided to go with the "budget" option for now and am not disappointed since I went into it with the realistic expectation that it would require at least a little bit of work. Have another buddy that wanted an Edge, and has the money for it, that shot the RIA 51738 once and then promptly tried to buy it off of me when he realized that it's hard to find in stock and is really good "bang for the buck". Happy shooting!