Comments on: Rock Island Armory VR80 Review

By: david c

david c — Tue, 07 Jun 2022 17:48:50 +0000

In reply to George Miller. i have steel shot round for my Mossberg. are you saying i can't use them in the VR80?

By: dave C

dave C — Tue, 07 Jun 2022 17:40:56 +0000

hi, i have yet to shoot my VR80. i have 2 3/4 inch 1 oz 1325 fps steel shells. can i shoot them without fear of harming the barrel?
has anyone broken in their gun without usnig 3 inch high brass shells?

By: Bryan Pennington

Bryan Pennington — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 14:27:38 +0000

The VR-80 I am describing here would not cycle anything that was not high brass.
It would be a great gun if and only if the assemblers in Turkey knew how to smooth out each action parts corners and ridges and properly fit. If you do a ammo waste break in and then disassemble it completely you will see that the parts broke in by slicing and dicing leaving gouge and hack marks. This is bad. RIA should speak to the Turks. My advice is to take the VR-80 completely apart and then hand work each part. You cannot get there by just buffing. Buffing is after you get the gun to function. Get an empty fired shell and load it and you will see that the gun has a difficulty to extract shell casing, including cold casings, which is its major problem. Three major problems I discovered was
1. The bolt lock, as released is too high and would/will jam on the ledge and not unlock. After shooting slugs through it and taking it apart I witnessed the hack and gouge marks on the top of the bolt and receiver where the lock up is.
2. There is a ridge inside the receiver end of the chamber that when the shell is loaded into the chamber the extractor pushes the shell into the ridge and with expansion (fired) is locked into the chamber. With a fired aluminum shell on examination you can see the ridge mark and the expansion as a small bulge between the shell rim and chamber ridge causing the shell casing to be stuck/jammed into the chamber. The extractor is pulled over the rim or the bolt jams in position which takes great force to eject the shell. You must hold the bolt in the extract position and slam the butt onto a solid surface to eject the shell.
3. On the barrel one of the gas vents was not bored completely through which I did drill and clean.
Also, not to relate the buffer system to the problems, but, the tube was full of dirt and debris. The tube evidently was not cleaned following manufacture. And as a tip, do not fill the piston grooves with grease. The ledges are for max area for the gas to work upon.
In the end it is obvious that the guns are assembled in extreme hast to ship and not finessed by the assemblers or inspected by a Quality inspector.

By: Edward grech

Edward grech — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 14:27:01 +0000

In reply to Darryl. Will I be ok with a 1645fps slug in this?

By: Sam M

Sam M — Sun, 08 Nov 2020 10:12:46 +0000

In reply to Henry Ortiz. Not to my knowledge.

By: Henry Ortiz

Henry Ortiz — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 17:32:27 +0000

Is the VR80 a self regulating semiautomatic shotgun?

By: harry cha

harry cha — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 04:05:15 +0000

In reply to Scott A. How come people don't bring up hunting with it? I've taken it hunting for dove and it's been. Blast! As accurate as my brothers hunting shotguns.

By: Paul Hansen

Paul Hansen — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 01:06:54 +0000

In reply to Douglas Koerner. The choke you want has ***** stamped on it and comes with the gun along with a Full & Modified

By: Uncle Tom from Arizona

Uncle Tom from Arizona — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 19:03:49 +0000

In reply to Scott A. This is a Semi-auto weapon ... not a Full Auto. This guy was kidding, right !

By: George Miller

George Miller — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 01:26:08 +0000

I’m wondering if they make any chokes for steel shot for this gun for duck hunting ?I’m wondering what kind of aftermarket steel chokes they sell for the vr 80