Para 1911's

[Giortire]

Can anyone tell me about the quality on the Para 1911s?
Thanks,
Gio

 

[Action]

I have 3 of them and love them. Had a problem with my tac 4 45 not functioning after I let a friend borrow it. Thought I could fix so I took it apart and screwed it up and couldn't get it to work period. Put it in the safe and 3 years later decided to get it fixed. Para paid the shipping and put it back together and replaced the parts I lost no questions asked. Gun hasn't missed a beat since. Just ordered another one last week as a matter of fact. Wish I could say the same for kimber. +2 for para!

 

[Champ62]

I had a Warthog. Quality pistol.

 

[Overtime]

I loved my GI Expert

 

[Giortire]

Thanks Guys
My brother-in law was looking for one for his son, and asked me what I thought. I had not idea, because i had never shot one, or even held on. As always I knew where to turn to get information!

 

[ilintner]

I had a nite hawg, the finish left a lot to be desired. After sending it back to PARA for a refinish and having the finish flake off when I applied masking tape to the slide to protect it while I reinstalled the rear sight... I gave up, stripped it, polished it, and traded it. The customer service I encountered sucked, so I just gave up.

 

[Giortire]

Thanks Ian, I will let my brother in law know. I have been pushing him to get a Rock Island Armory tactical, as my nephew's first 1911. They are a good value, great customer service, and he will get his money out of it, if he doesn't like it.

 

[ilintner]

Thanks Ian, I will let my brother in law know. I have been pushing him to get a Rock Island Armory tactical, as my nephew's first 1911. They are a good value, great customer service, and he will get his money out of it, if he doesn't like it.

Judging by what I have seen here my experience is more the exception than the rule, but that doesn't mean that it didn't p!ss me off! .

I saw a Para GI Expert on slick guns the other day with a fiber optic sight, beavertail and some other nice features in the sub 500 dollar range, seemed like an excellent buy, but based on my personal experience my $$ will go elsewhere.

 

[Giortire]

I totally understand. I had the same experience with Springfield Armory, and unless the sting goes away, I will never consider them again to get my dollars, even though I know most people have had great experiences with them. I appreciate your thoughts on this.

 

[Tomslick]

Does Para's warranty cover the finish? My grip is turning kinda reddish and I was considering paying for a refinish job, but...

 

[Aaronious45]

Had a gi expert that was pretty nice. No problems

 

[ilintner]

Does Para's warranty cover the finish? My grip is turning kinda reddish and I was considering paying for a refinish job, but...

Long story short, no...

Mine had excessive wear when I purchased it new at Jay's just from being taken in and out of the case. I called customer service and provided them with my receipt, and they agreed to refinish it at no charge.

When I sent it in, I got a call from someone at their warranty facility who told me that they would not refinish the gun, that it was normal holster wear. I explained to him the same as I had to customer service, that the gun was brand new and had never been in a holster and after some arguing they agreed to refinish it (again).

At the same time they were re-finishing the gun, I had requested night sights be installed (there was a coupon in the box). When I got the gun back the finish looked good, but the night sight on the rear had the tritium vials installed unevenly. So I called and they asked me to send the slide back again, I opted to take the sight off and send it back so I wasn't without the pistol for another month. I tapped the sight out and sent it back, I got it back in about 2 weeks and someone had taken a file and squared up the notch (not fixing the fact that the tritium was out of place) and I realized that they weren't going to do any better, so I taped off the surface around the rear sight and used a delrin punch to put the rear sight back on, the sight slid right in and I tightened up the set screw. When I removed the masking take, the majority of the finish came with it... I gave up, stripped it and went to polishing...

 

[Snow Bird]

Ian, Just asking. Did the blueing come off or some kind of finish. Don't know anytthing about them is why I am asking.

 

[ilintner]

Ian, Just asking. Did the blueing come off or some kind of finish. Don't know anytthing about them is why I am asking.

This was a matte black "painted" gun.

 

[Snow Bird]

Ok,Thanks. I learn something every day.

 

[TennJeep1618]

Hopefully I'll be able to weigh in on this subject soon. I just picked up a Para Expert last night as a "project gun." I had a bunch of Bass Pro gift cards and right now Para is offering a $100 mail-in rebate with the purchase of any of their 1911's, so I went for it. It will end up costing me only $180 out of pocket once I get the rebate back. The gun will be mostly a range toy, but I plan on using it as a platform to do some upgrades over time. I don't have any illusions of increasing the value of the gun; I just mainly want to learn how to upgrade and fit parts. I've heard great reviews on everything except the finish, so we'll see.

 

[Xenol]

Hard to mess up stainless. Im looking at the same one as you JEEP . What do you think of it . Im looking at it simply because of the price after the rebate.My price will be $489 vs 700 for the ruger or remington. I think someone said the mainspring housing was polymer?

 

[merkinman]

Cosmetics not covered, I>e> holster wear, scratches. But the did replace my cracked slide after 15,000 rounds and new barrel for $75.

 

[Dan1612]

Apparently they did away with their old crappy para-kote, and use black nitride on their base guns, anodizing on their aluminum frames and ionbond, yes, ionbond aka black diamond in their nicer guns.
Honestly, I'm tempted by the 3" slides with the full size frames, one is even bobtailed and ionbonded. Hmmm...
They seem to be overhauling the whole operation since getting Travis Tomasie onboard and moving south.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[TennJeep1618]

Hard to mess up stainless. Im looking at the same one as you JEEP . What do you think of it . Im looking at it simply because of the price after the rebate.My price will be $489 vs 700 for the ruger or remington. I think someone said the mainspring housing was polymer?

The mainspring housing is indeed polymer, but that's not really a concern for me.

I shot it about 80 or 90 times this past weekend and plan on shooting it a few more times this coming weekend. The only hiccup it had was when I tried to drop the slide using the slide release on the first magazine I loaded. It jammed the round into the feed ramp, causing the bullet to be set back in the case. After that, I slingshot(ted?) the slide on every new magazine and it functioned flawlessly. I do plan on polishing the feed ramp to see if that helps. I was shooting 200gr plated round nose handloads (light to medium pressure, lower than most factory ammo), since I don't have any factory ammo on hand and I didn't have a chance to order any before last weekend. If polishing the feed ramp doesn't work, I'll start playing with seating depth to see if that has an effect.

The trigger is actually pretty decent once you get past all the take-up. It has a slight catch about half-way through the take-up that I plan on fixing and I have a couple ideas of what may cause it. I'm about to start a thread in the Gunsmithing section to voice a few questions, state my plans, and eventually post my results, so keep an eye out for that.

Edit: Here is my new thread on the trigger: http://gulfcoastgunforum.com/showthread.php?15536-1911-Trigger-Job-Questions