Wanted a follow up on this comment

[ZainAnak]

Hey all- clinotus wrote, in response to my woes with an AO 1911:

"Please please please dont let anyone lead you down the 'get a Para' path."

Any ideas why?

Thanks.

 

[drgrant]

There are several people on the board that have owned the Warthogs and hated the things.

I forget who it was offhand, but there was at least one member who posted his customer service disaster with Para. In one case he got a replacement part from them (slide stop) and the thing was bent.

I'm not really enamored with paras, but that's just my opinion, and might not be worth the bytes its printed on. In fairness, I also know many people (on NES and offline) that have them and have very few issues with theirs.

Some of it you have to take with a grain of salt- I can find a customer service disaster under the banner of just about any gun manufacturer, if I want to. I think S+W, for instance, generally makes a better product than para does, and has better CS, but at the same time, I'll freely acknowledge that they pump out some duds periodically, too.

One thing to remember is that on the net, you see a lot more people complaining about something than praising it- it's just about an unwritten law.

-Mike

 

[45 acp]

I own four Para's and enjoy them all. If your looking for a high cap 45 at a reasonable price there you go. My favorite is the P-14 Limited all tricked out at the factory and never had a problem as of yet. Also have a LDA 625 and a LDA Tach Four as well as the 745. I sold the P-16 limited in 40 s&w and regret it to this day. A friend had a problem with ambi safety and sent the gun back to Para the turn around time was about 7 days no charge. I alson have several Colts and Smiths and the Para will run with them all of the time so far.

 

[M1911]

I can't vouch for anyone else's experience or what someone was or was not trying to tell you.

I have an early P14-45. After several thousand rounds through the gun, the hammer started following the slide down, so I had to have the hammer, sear, and disconnecter replaced. In addition, the slide stop notch on the slide is now misshapen, so the slide needs to be replaced. And I often experienced feed failures near the ends of a magazine. Yes, the magazines are factory new PO mags, straight from the factory. Yes, I've replaced the followers and springs in the mags. Yes, this happened with quality factory ammo.

In short, I think my P14 is a POS. I'll keep the frame and magazines. Once I get some money together, I'll send it off to a gunsmith and have it built into a race gun. In the meantime, it lives in the dark recesses of the safe.

Perhaps newer POs are of higher quality. YMMV.

 

[Cross-X]

C-pher is a Para devotee. I'm sure he'll jump in on this thread once he answers all his AR 15 lowers emails.

 

[MFP4073]

I have a Para 1640 that I use for USPSA compeiton. The quality of the internals was questionable at best. In the end I had Santurri replace the factory manufactured hammer, sear, and disconnector with Ed Brown and C&S parts.

Additionally the barrel bushing fit loosely in the slide and the barrel fit sloppy in the bushing so you can imagine what the groups were like. The crown on the barrel looked like it had been done with a dull tool on friday at 4:45pm (no kidding). I fit an EGW bushing and sent the barrel to Pinnacle to be crowned.

Add to that the factory ambi safety broke where the two pieces slip together so it was treated to a Wilson set.

Now its a very nice pistol with a great trigger and tight groups. I do like it alot but do the math. I could have had a nice semi-high end STI built for the money I put into it over the last couple of years.

I would not buy Para unless you are buying a frame and having a build done. And I certainly would not buy any of their parts for the build.

I guess it really depends on how much you plan on shooting it. Once in a while you would probably be fine. If you plan on shooting the hell out of it I would look elsewhere.

 

[ZainAnak]

Alright sounds good. Definitely not a step up then from my AO

 

[Cross-X]

Before you buy a 1911, check out those made by S&W. They make some great guns at very competitive prices.

 

[depicts]

C-pher is one of only two people I know who endorse Para's. The other is a professional gun writer who like his double stack 14.

everyone else I've ever talked to, and my own experience (though limited) has been that they are jam-a-matics. I bought a Colt, used, and have not had one failure in over 5 years.

 

[Fooped]

Crap. Total and utter crap. Avoid at all costs.

 

[snowjoker]

C-pher is a Para devotee. I'm sure he'll jump in on this thread once he answers all his AR 15 lowers emails.

C-pher is a "Para Whore" He has forgotten how many he has...

 

[Wolf99]

I have had no luck with Para.... But, I do have have several friends that have had great results. Like Cross X, I would look at Smith & Wesson, for the money you can't beat the features.

 

[pdm]

I haven't had any problems with my Para, other than me not being the best shot.

 

[dwarven1]

Ahem.

I had a P10 - somehow I managed to crack the frame rail and they replaced it in under THREE DAYS. (sent it out on Monday, had it back Thursday.) Only reason I sold it is that I was developing a wicked flinch from the muzzle blast of constantly firing ball ammo in it.

I bought a P12 and still have it. GREAT gun. LOVE it. Just bought two more pre-ban 12 round mags for it. It's one of the guns that I carry when I carry. Does that tell you how reliable I think it is?

 

[clinotus]

Hey all- clinotus wrote, in response to my woes with an AO 1911:

"Please please please dont let anyone lead you down the 'get a Para' path."

Any ideas why?

Thanks.

I'm famous!

I have a long story with Para up to and including horrific customer service. I'll search through my archives and see if I can post the emails at some point for you. But here is the mainstay: http://how-i-did-it.org/magazines/

Another friend of mine had similar issues and sold his as well. Paras are in my opinion the only guns that people are actually willing to take boating without fear of any 'boating accidents'.

 

[EasyD]

Crap. Total and utter crap. Avoid at all costs.

+1

I had a Warthog that was completely useless, and a Tac-Four (P13-sized) LDA that had a crap trigger and weak mag springs out of the box so it wouldn't feed a thing...

Get a S&W!

--EasyD

 

[KimberCT]

+1

I had a Warthog that was completely useless...

So far, same with my Warthog. The thing jams far too often for a gun that was supposed to be my carry piece.

It seems to be getting better, however, the more I shoot it. I've put about 500 rounds through it now and it only jams once every few mags. Still too often for a carry gun, but much better than when it was new and jamming 50% of the time.

I'm going to give mine one more workout at the range and see how it does.

 

[fubar]

I've got a stock Para SST. a "normal" full sized 1911. I have put at least 2 cases of ball through it. ... and reloaded the brass probably twice , fairly hot .... so 3 or 4 thousand rounds.

Never had a problem. I have heard of lot's of many High End 2000 dollar custom 1911's giving people trouble as well. And I traded a Sig 220 for it - cause that "hell & back reliability " gun was nothing but trouble for me.

Some people hate Fords , too.

 

[Arioch]

Hey all- clinotus wrote, in response to my woes with an AO 1911:

"Please please please dont let anyone lead you down the 'get a Para' path."

Any ideas why?

Thanks.

I have a Para-carry SMALL frame LDA. It's a carry gun, not a range gun, and I love it for what it will do. A .45 ACP that fits in my pocket is just right for me.

 

[Arioch]

So far, same with my Warthog. The thing jams far too often for a gun that was supposed to be my carry piece.

It seems to be getting better, however, the more I shoot it. I've put about 500 rounds through it now and it only jams once every few mags. Still too often for a carry gun, but much better than when it was new and jamming 50% of the time.

I'm going to give mine one more workout at the range and see how it does.

I had that problem (along with a truly awful trigger) with an early S&W 9mm. It took almost 800 rounds for it to start behaving acceptably.

 

[Cross-X]

A few years back I owned a Para P-12 .45. When I bought it it was broken. Para fixed it for free, but I could never get the gun to feed and extract reliably. I sold it and have never looked back.

 

[pdm]

Maybe it's their double stack 1911s that are twitchier than the single stack ones?

 

[dwarven1]

Anyone is welcome to try and make my P12 malfunction. It won't, but you're welcome to try next time you see me on the range with it.

 

[M1911]

Maybe it's their double stack 1911s that are twitchier than the single stack ones?

I don't think that you can blame all the problems on that. The action parts on my P14 (sear, hammer, disconnector) are the same for a single stack as a double stack. They were crap and had to be replaced when the hammer started following the slide. The slide is the same for a single stack as for a double stack and the slide notch on my slide has deformed.

So there is more going on that just double stack versus single stack.

My P14 is an early gun, so perhaps it isn't indicative of their current quality control.

If I was looking for a new 1911 these days, I'd find a dealer who would order a frame for me from Caspian and I'd take the frame to a gunsmith to build the gun the way I want it.

 

[BLAM]

I have two P-12s, steel and alloy frames, and a P-14 Limited. All great guns no malfunctions or part failures of any kind. Shooting them for over a decade!