Para Elite?

[87hurricane]

I've been thinking about picking up a Commander sized 1911 for a while now. I had my mind fairly set on a Ruger, but after fondling one at the local dealer I wasn't overly impressed. It wasn't bad, just not quite as nice as I had hoped for I guess. Then I checked out a few other commander sized 1911s they had, and really liked a Para Elite, felt just right, lots of nice features, and still reasonably priced. I guess the Elite series is new, anyone have any experience with them? How about Para in general? Most of what I have read about them lately has been good, but I'd like to hear what other people think.

[phill]

We do not have a Para Elite but do have 3 other Para 1911's and am well satisfied. The latest addition to the 1911 stable is a R.I.A. 3.5" 1911. Probably the most for our money of all of our 1911's. IMHO well worth a look for less than $500.00.

[harold63]

This may not help you much, but my wife has the Para 'Expert' Commander that she uses for carry. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles that the Elite Commander does, but it is very close, and with an AL frame instead of the 'Elite's' SS frame. We actually compared both the Elite and the Expert with a couple of the Kimber Pro Carry II models and my wife ended up choosing the Para Expert. Why is this relevant? Well......

I'd encourage you to inspect the 'Elite Commander' you are looking at to be sure Para got the 'ramped barrel' they talk about having ramped right, and without looking like it was cut with a hacksaw blade like my wife's was. Also, look at the frame feed ramp to see if they got the park removed from it where it should be, and the shelf between the barrel ramp and frame ramp is there like it should be. All of this was terrible on the Para Commander we bought, but since it could be corrected, we bought, anyway.

The grip safety on her Commander came with no tension on the spring....and I mean none. It actually rattled around to the point that even the salesman said that's pretty effed up.

Trigger was not even workable. It was crisp, yes, but it didn't break until around 8 lbs, plus, it had more creep than three thugs on a gang rape.

Good things about the Para Commander she bought are the finish is excellent. I'd call it Sig quality and I'm pretty fucking critical of that kind of stuff. The fit of everything including the trigger group parts, pins, 'PLASTIC' main spring housing, and slide/frame mate is actually excellent to even a bit better than excellent. It looks like Para's machines are doing the job, but the blokes that come in and do the hand work were nursing a hangover the day they filed on my wife's Para. Something else is Para has a huge typo on their Expert Commander web page add that has been there for quite a while and they still haven't fixed fit. If you listen to their vid when you first go on their website, you'd think you were getting a freaking Wilson Combat competitor in the Para, but looking at the one we bought, I'd say differently.

Just be sure you look the gun over, well.