Who's got first hand experience with these? Do they run out of the box? If not, is it hard to get them to run? How good/durable are the mags? I'll take any comment or observation. Thanks!
Who's got first hand experience with these? Do they run out of the box? If not, is it hard to get them to run? How good/durable are the mags? I'll take any comment or observation. Thanks!
I’ve had a P12, a P14 and a P16 limited. The P12 and P14 were early Guns, the P16 was a Ft Lauderdale gun from the late 1990’s.
Mine ran - the P14 actually had the most problems the mag springs wear / get weak fast but it ran out of the box.
I had a local gunsmith install a Wilson beaver tail grip safety on the P12 and it went full auto the first time I shot it after the install.
From what I’ve seen the QC was hit or miss with the Ft Lauderdale Guns being the best QC.
A friend has one, maybe the Expert or Black Ops, that is a few years old. He is OCONUS currently so I can't ask but I don't recall him having any complaints and he did shoot it frequently but never EDC'd it. He was very pleased with quality and especially the ragged hole accuracy it had. In terms of quality he probably was comparing it to his SA MC Operator.
I know I remember reading that Louis Awerbuck frequently used a Para but I doubt it was "stock."
My first pistol was a p14.45. I don't recall it having any issues during the firing process but it often wouldn't feed when dropping the slide using the slide stop. I had to slingshot the slide, but it's been so long and was so early in my shooting career that i don't recall much more. I didn't keep notes, shoot well, shoot often, or have anything to compare to back then. Aside from the issue above, the only other issue i had was a rear sight that was only held in by the set screw... very undersized for the dovetail. Para sent a new rear that was press fit on their own dime.
They were popular base guns for a handful of the guys in my neck of the uspsa woods. A poor man's sti i guess. Every now and then i entertain the idea of grabbing a p18.9, the 9mm version just for kicks but never get past just looking. I was also intrigued by the lda versions back then.
Unfortunately i don't have any extensive or recent experience to give. I would consider one for the right price as a range gun but not much else.
"...we suffer more in imagination than in reality." Seneca, probably.
I trained with LA several times and he said this about his custom Para, "Mine works, but I wouldn't wish one on my worst enemy."Originally Posted by PNWTO
This is all I got.
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....SA-Hybrid-1911
I have a P.10. I wanted to like it so much, couldn't get it to run with hardball.
Knowing what I know now about compact and subcompact 1911s, I probably wouldn't have bought it.
'Nobody ever called the fire department because they did something intelligent'
Like many here my first gun was a P14-45 (1993). I still have it and after I shot/carried it for about a decade I sent it to Novak's to get a new bbl, bushing, stippling, refinish, etc. No complaints from a reliability perspective. For me, the gun is as close to ideal as it gets. I have large hands so a single stack 1911 feels too skinny.
I later bought a P12-45 (2004) to be the little brother and like any officer's size 1911 it has a thing... the last round in the magazine hangs up on the ramp about 50% of the time. Tried different magazines and springs (mag and recoil), but there is something going on there that I no longer have the time or money to keep chasing. Since my agency only allows Glocks, it doesn’t really matter anyway.
Around that same time I also bout a P14-45 LDA with a rail to be my nightstand gun. I'll give them credit - their Light Double Action trigger was VERY nice! It ran with 14rd mags as well as mags that had the Dawson extension. I eventually traded it away for a Glock 17L which is now my bedside blaster.
Last thing - I figured out pretty quickly that Para mags were under sprung from the factory. Even brand new in the wrapper mags would have issues. Throw in a +10% Wolff spring and the gun ran like a champ. It was at the point where if I bought new mags, I bought the Wolff springs at the same time and installed them immediately.
The QC at Para seemed to drop off a cliff many years ago and I'd be hesitant to buy one now. If you get one that runs - great! If you don't you could wind up spending serious money to try and remedy it. Over the years I've learned more about the 1911 overall as a platform and people much smarter than me have told me getting the 45ACP cartridge to go from a double column magazine into a single line for feeding is an exercise in frustration. It's a fun gun to shoot, but if you are looking for something with which to defend life and limb, I'd go with something more modern.
ETA:
Last edited by El Cid; 01-22-2018 at 09:22 AM.
I have seen them hit an miss as far as QC and reliability go. The most reliable I have seen was a P13 .45 that was just a good gun all the way around. The P16 a friend had, not so much. Like anything else, there are lemons and gems in every batch. I did, however, not elect to purchase one when I was buying a 1911.
pat
Had a P-16 that ran fine out of the box. Had a Smith&Alexander Magwell, trigger job and fiber optic front sight added and ran it in Limited Division for years long after the 2011 frames took over.
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