schmeky
Member
This is not a critque of Para, just my observation of one pariticular pistol. It was a Hi-cap 1911, .45. A couple guys walked over to talk to me about my pistols today while I was shooting at a local indoor range, and one had questions about his new Para.
He handed it over to me for inspection. I didn't shoot it, but could have. Several things jumped out: the frame and slide were blued, but the manual saftey and controls looked like stainless. The manual safety was badly discolored, it was stained/mottled/blotchy. The extractor was really strange. From the rear of the slide, the extractor looked like a combination of stainless on the outer edges, and blue on the inside; it was like a badly shaped blue "star" in the center.
The owner had to replace one of the grip panels (under warranty) since a plastic tang had broken off. Looked like the tang held tension on the manual saftey to keep it snug. The barrel was definitely riding the barrel link, but this is not uncommon on most production 1911's. I was surprised how lite it felt even though it was an all steel pistol.
This particular pistol just didn't have a solid feel to it; it felt cheap to me. Please don't get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against Para, and I know they make some fine pistols.
Glad I got to handle one.
He handed it over to me for inspection. I didn't shoot it, but could have. Several things jumped out: the frame and slide were blued, but the manual saftey and controls looked like stainless. The manual safety was badly discolored, it was stained/mottled/blotchy. The extractor was really strange. From the rear of the slide, the extractor looked like a combination of stainless on the outer edges, and blue on the inside; it was like a badly shaped blue "star" in the center.
The owner had to replace one of the grip panels (under warranty) since a plastic tang had broken off. Looked like the tang held tension on the manual saftey to keep it snug. The barrel was definitely riding the barrel link, but this is not uncommon on most production 1911's. I was surprised how lite it felt even though it was an all steel pistol.
This particular pistol just didn't have a solid feel to it; it felt cheap to me. Please don't get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against Para, and I know they make some fine pistols.
Glad I got to handle one.
