[tcomet8]

Hey guys! I'm new to the forum but I have been lurking for a while. While I'm no stranger to handguns, or firearms in general, I am a stranger to 1911's. That being said I was at a local gun shop the other day and noticed a very nice used Para Ordnance 14 45 for $430. Even with my limited 1911 experience I could tell that this gun had seen very little use so I decided to put it on layaway. So my question to you guys is this.......What are your opinions of this gun? Are these quality made guns? Where would you place them in the hierarchy of 1911's? Any help you guys could give me would be great! This will be my first 1911............but the more I'm around them I think it will be the first of many!

 

[sholling]

Para made some nice pistols. I've shot a few and they shot well but I've just never gotten into them because I'm not blessed/cursed with huge wide receiver hands. A single stack is about all I can manage. I do prefer the single action versions over the LDA. There is just something blasphemous about a DA trigger hanging down from a 1911 frame.

 

[tcomet8]

Thanks!

This would be the SA version and my hands are a little bit bigger so the grip actually feels pretty nice to me. Are there any common issues with these guns that I sould be looking out for?

 

[busdriver72]

If you mean common issues as far as Para is concerned, I can't say.
With 1911s ANY of them can have issues. Any 1911 can jam up occasionally due to various factors, some of which may not be the gun itself (magazines, ammo, etc.) A 1911 that basically shoots good but may malfunction occasionally is common, and this usually smooths out after a few hundred rounds. Some 1911s may need a bit heavier recoil spring (18LB) if FTRB (fail to return to battery) happens alot, or the extractor may need slight adjusting.
Warranty is also a consideration.
For the money I would have gotten a Rock Island Tactical. Good guns, reasonably priced, and outstanding customer service.

 

[razorgrind]

Congrats on a nice pickup. Checkout the para section I'm sure you'll find problems and fixes and guys that have your same model will tell you their experiences.

 

[sholling]

If you mean common issues as far as Para is concerned, I can't say.
With 1911s ANY of them can have issues. Any 1911 can jam up occasionally due to various factors, some of which may not be the gun itself (magazines, ammo, etc.) A 1911 that basically shoots good but may malfunction occasionally is common, and this usually smooths out after a few hundred rounds.

I will never understand why people accept this as "just how they are" because it isn't just how they are. It's how some of them are. The overly tarted up all show and no goes from manufacturers that only give lip service to quality control while pumping out a bizillion pistols. Or perhaps the occasional lemon that slips through from some of the good guys. The good guys stand behind their products for life and fix those rare examples once and for all with a single call to customer service.

A well made 1911 will run like a well oiled machine (especially when well oiled) and will be as reliable as any of the latest generation of pistols. My advice to anybody is to read each forum. Some will be very busy and will be filled with 'how often does yours malfunction' polls, others will be nearly dead because their brand 1911 just works. If you aren't getting 99.95% reliability then your 1911 is sick and needs the attention of a quality pistol smith. That's a bare minimum by the way. The design is quite capable of 99.99% when well executed.