On Paras in general, quoting from Page 1:
The Para GI expert seems to have bad reviews by a ton of folks who have never handled one. I would not hesitate to buy it if that is what I wanted. I know I would buy it 10 times over the Remington R1 ,which I am sure runs fine as well, but since it costs more my ticket is with the Para.
I talked to the guys at my local shop, and they said they never have problems with Paras. So I bought the gun and came home to settle into my waiting period. I researched here and on The Firing Line, and found that indeed people were badmouthing it, but would not substantiate anything they said.
I figured: "Oh well, it is too late. I'll have to find out myself."
I had a couple jams in the first hundred rounds, most likely related to my flat tipped 185 gr. bullet reloads. The spring seems a little heavy to me, so I assume it is made for full power 230 gr. loads.
Anyway, I've never had a jam with factory ammo, and now that I've figured out I need to load 185 gr. bullets beyond max. published loads for reliable function, all is well.
I cross-shopped it against a couple of the Springfield Armory models, and found that the finish on the Para is better, the sights are better, and the magazines are better.
I also have a CZ 97B that I took action shooting with me. I'm sure the folks watching thought it was a piece of garbage, because I had still some of the light reloads with flat-tipped bullets and it wasn't feeding well. The day before, I had used the bottom of the magazine to tap out the disassembly pin, but I think I hit the disassembly button of the magazine too, because when I slapped the magazine in the next day at the shoot, it fell apart! Both the jamming and the magazine coming apart were my own fault. Yet the perception of those around me may have been that it is a garbage gun.
I guess my point is not to take any badmouthing seriously, unless it comes from firsthand experience with full disclosure.