Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Vandergrift, Pennsylvania
    (Armstrong County)
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    Angry para ordance help

    Hello, I am looking at a para ordnance expert commander. I have been on all kinds of forums and get mixed reviews. Can anybody that has one give me their opinion? Thanks.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    back to Port Charlotte, Florida
    Age
    60
    Posts
    5,483
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    Default Re: para ordance help

    My wife has one as her primary (and only) carry gun, but I had to do some work on it before I felt comfortable letting her carry it. We recently purchased this pistol, new, a short time ago, and though I'd recommend one as a carry, I would not recommend one as a carry without it having a reliability tuning done to it.

    Pros right out of the box:

    * lightweight
    * super thin, including the grips
    * $300 less than a Kimber of same style
    * fit and finish are excellent
    * barrel bushing and slide/frame fit are exceptional
    * internals seem well made with minimal casting marks on them
    * both mags, though followers are plastic, work perfectly
    * trigger broke very cleanly


    Cons out of the box:

    * trigger took over 6 lbs to break with a ton of stacking
    * grip safety spring was way out of adjustment...too loose
    * frame feed ramp still had park on it...needed a ton of polishing
    * barrel feed ramp had deep, horizontal tool marks...also took a lot of polishing
    * mag release was way too stiff...removed 3 coils to get it right
    * all the trigger group part contact areas, especially the sear/disco leafs had burrs where they shouldn't be and needed to be cleaned up to operate, smoothly. None had to be recut, just cleaned up.
    * plastic main spring housing


    As I said, I would definitely recommend one of these for carry, but the one I bought was not done very well...at least the part controlled by the gun smiths. We looked at one earlier in the day that was $40 more and it was also terrible. Para needs to reevaluate what they say on their web site or they need to actually do to this gun what they say they do. My (or my wife's) took me over two hours to get all the internals cleaned up enough to call it 1911 worthy. Out of the box?...it was terrible. Do not buy one unless you know how to do a reliability tune on it or plan on paying a smith to do it for you. Even with that, it should still fall around $200 less than the Kimber Pro Carry II and you get a lifetime warranty.

    At the range, the gun worked flawlessly, but keep in mind, I did not try to shoot it before cleaning it up. It has a fair amount of muzzle flip...definitely not a plate gun, but for SD, it it fine. 7 yards produced groups that looked like a 12 ga slug hole when shooting on the slower side.

    Overall, it is an excellent gun, but I can't stress enough how much the one we bought needed to be cleaned up to operate smoothly. My wife loves it.
    BCM and Glock...for a bigger pile of 'cold dead hands' brass.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Under A Rock, Pennsylvania
    (Indiana County)
    Posts
    269
    Rep Power
    796283

    Default Re: para ordance help

    Take the factory Para Ordinance magazines and run them over with a truck!

    My Para Super Hawg long slide .45 is 100% reliable with Wilson, Chip Mc Cormick and Mec-Gar magazines, but it is a jam o matic with both original Para mags.
    NRA PATRON LIFE MEMBER, GOA, SAF, PAFOA

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Henryville, Pennsylvania
    (Monroe County)
    Posts
    3,583
    Rep Power
    26032

    Default Re: para ordance help

    if you are going to buy a para ordnance buy one that were made in 2005 the latest , after that and you will have a pistol that needs a lot of fluffing and buffing.

    it should say made in canada on bottom of the frame at the dust cover if it doesnt say made in canada, its the north carolina or florida junk.

    i have 2 paras and they are perfectly made with 0 probs, my ltc is my daly carry, thats how much i trust it.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Vandergrift, Pennsylvania
    (Armstrong County)
    Posts
    19
    Rep Power
    0

    Default Re: para ordance help

    Thanks for the advice. But, I think I will pass the on the para.

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