Opinions needed on the Para GI Expert

i have one in stainless. it absolutely hates jhp. i havent done anything to the feed ramp yet as i havent had time. the para magazines are garbage but most folks upgrade to wilson's or chips anyway.

that being said, it will shoot FMJ all day. i've put 400 rounds through it with 4 FTF's so far and they were all with the factory mags.

All the other weapons i looked at in its price range have the low profile gi sights. The para comes with 3 dot sights so that is a plus.

I would not consider this as a ccw but if someone wants something just to plink around with i think it is a good buy. Hard to beat in its price range for sure.

i think the para gi esp looks good and would be a good option for someone that wanted a 5" 1911.

I had a friend who had one. He liked it, but he only shot ball through it

i have a gi expert made in canada when they first came out. it FTF's every now and then--the extractor is malformed, and the breechface is machined improperly.

a call to para was a waste of time. i got some crabby old lady on the phone that told me i have to pay to ship it to them, or buy another extractor off of brownells.

i'm selling it for a SA milspec soon.

I had one, ended up trading it and another handgun for an AR. It was fairly reliable even though it was still in the break in process. Just a few misfeeds. It could have been certain mags or ammo, but traded it before I was able to give it a better diagnoses.

When I bought mine I wanted a Springfield Milspec but none where around at a decent price. You would probably be better off spending another $100 and get one of those. (If you prefer the 3-dot sights over the SA GI's.) They're made in Brazil, so not sure if that's a deal breaker for you.