para ordnance vs kimber

[kidcoltoutlaw]

is one a step above the other the pro's and con's of each ? i have a tac 4 and i have shot my brothers 7.45 LDA but im wondering if i did the right thing or not.i do love the LDA triggers.what about the LA SWAT GUN the kimber TLE ,thanks,keith

 

[dandean316]

I've owned 11 Para's and 2 Kimber's. Of them, I have 1 Kimber left.

IMO, the finish on the Kimbers leaves a lot to be desired. That may not be all Kimber's, but in my case it was. The finish on the stainless Para's can be spotty. I've seen great stainless finishes and some that just stunk. I liked the finish on the Para slides - I thought they were really good, but it seems the frame finishes could rub out easy.

I have a Kimber Gold Match and it is super accurate. I can easily get 1" groups at 25 yards with different charges in handloads. Some are tighter, some are a bit larger, but it doesn't matter, it's still accurate.

My Para .45's COULD be accurate, but needed specific loads to do so. To me, that is unacceptable since if I need to shoot a match and have to use factory ammo, I want to know it's accurate. Of my Para's I'd say my P13 was the most accurate and my 12.45 LDA was 2nd.

I did sell my double stack Para's because they weren't the right fit for my hands. I get a better grip with the single stack and I like accuracy at longer distances, so the single stacks are better FOR ME. If you have larger hands or longer fingers, the doubles stacks will probably feel great to you. I never tested my 9mm or .40 Paras for accuracy. They seemed fine at combat ranges. Once I got my reloader, I pretty much just stuck to .45's.

As far as the LA SWAT team thing; don't get too wrapped up in the hype of either company. It's all marketing. Go with what you like. I've have pretty much only heard good things about the TLE's, besides finish wear. Buy hey, it's a tool, my hammers don't look to nice either.

Hope that helps.

 

[HSMITH]

A few or 10 years ago the Kimbers were fantastic, better than anything else within $300 by a bunch. The first few years they made 1911's the were awesome for the money. Not so anymore, and the latest Kimbers I have been seeing are the worst yet. IMO the Springfields and Paras are about equal in fitting and both are better than the newest Kimbers. A very recent Colt was surprisingly nicely done.

Your Para is every bit as good a gun as the new Kimber, and probably better. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence and I buy/sell/trade like a maniac, but I have learned the hard way to hang on to the ones I somewhat like until the 'greener grass' has been tested and evaluated. It is surprising how many times I could have or did sell off the better gun and bought hype to replace it. Having a good gun go down the road and a lesser piece to replace it SUCKS!!

If you want a new/different gun by all means go get it!!! Just save up enough to get it without having to get rid of one you have, then you can test and evaluate freely before making a decision. If you don't want to keep both you can sell one and buy another to play with.

 

[MaceWindu]

Para vs Kimber

Well Gents,


I own both,


My P13 is one of the most accurate .45's I have ever shot. But, My Kimber is right there in the same class. OUT of the box the Kimber has more features as standard that other manuf. would consider custom.

This would be a hard choice. Kimbers custom shop and customer service is AWESOME. I sent my Kimber in for some PERSONAL PREFERENCE WORK not maint. and they have a 1-2 DAY TURNAROUND time. WOW!!

My P13 is SWEET. No other word for it. Also when I bought my Para is sent in a coupon and they sent me a factory (FOR FREE) 10 round mag.

To me this is a flip of a coin. So I have both!!!! A blond and a brunette...


MaceWindu

 

[cratz2]

I have owned one of each and currently own neither. My Para 14/45 Ltd was bought well-used and tweaked and had been used in competition. The trigger was probably the second or third best I've ever personally owned and the gun functioned 100% and was very smooth. The Kimber I owned was bought brand new right when the Series II guns first came out. It was also 100% and would not fail when trying to induce the Series II failure that some guys lamented. Overall, it was nicely fit, but the actual finish didn't exactly knock my socks off.

Outside of getting into some type of competition that requires/demands 10 rounds being on tap, I have no interest in having another Para even though the new model with the power extractor looks like a very decent gun for the money. On my short list of guns to get is either a lightweight Commander size gun or a Commander slide on an Officer sized frame... Want some kind of decent night sights, front strap checkering and ideally I'd like it to eventually have a chromed frame and a blued slide. If I get a gun pretty much like this out of the box, it will likely be a Kimber.

My favorite local shop is not a Kimber Super Master Wizard dealer or whatever that title is but sells plenty of Paras. He says that with the Paras, they often need to go back to the shop or need to be tweaked here or there to get them to be 100%. While you could expect this with any gun including Baers and Wilsons, it seems to be true of Paras more than the current Springfields, Colts or Dan Wessons in 45.

 

[kidcoltoutlaw]

thanks

the TAC 4 is more accurate than it has a right to be but will it be dependable as well only time will tell.love the way the tac 4 and the lda 7.45 fit my hnads,thanks,keith