Local 1911 guru?

lateapex31

lateapex31

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Hi everyone, I have a buddy who just bought a Para 1911. It's a beautiful gun, however I wouldn't trust my life to it. Even after the recommended break in of 2-300 rounds, it still has FTE's fairly regularly. Sometimes the spent shell has to be pushed out of the chamber as it gets stuck half way extracted. I know he loves the gun but we were wondering if there is a local 1911 oriented gunsmith who could take a look at it. Otherwise, is there someone he could ship the gun to for testing and repair? I think he would rather not send it to Para and just use a 'smith to get the gun in 100% working order. Thanks!
 
There are several people who can look at it, but if you would let us know where in MA you are, we could point you towards someone close rather than all the way across the state.
 
Just my opinion, PARA is CRAP, I would not spend a dime "modifying" (fixing) it. I bought a Para 1911 LTC, the thing jammed beyond belief. I took it to one of the Steel Plate shoots in Woburn and it jammed every shot, it even locked up with a round in the chamber.

It also would not cycle with some high grade factory ammo with there (cough) "match barrel"

I got the dealer to take it back and bought a S&W 1911 PD which was flawless.

I would if at all possible, get a refund (yeah, difficult at best) or send it to Para, get it fixed, sell it and buy a different brand...
 
I recently purchased a 1911 (Four Seasons) and there was a Para sitting on the shelf for around $160 less than the S&W next to it. I checked out the Para and then the S&W and there was no comparison. I walked out with the S&W ($879.00 vs $719.00). It looked and felt like crap next to the S&W, although, to be fair the S&W was stainless with a rail mount and the Para had a crappy parkerized finish (I normally like the parkerized finish but theirs didn't "pop").
Of course, by paying the extra money I am now getting an earful on a daily basis from the wife.. But such is life...
I have put about 200 rounds down the pipe (100 factory and 100 reloads) without a single ftf or fte.
Love my 1911...
 
Based on my experience, I'm not a fan of Para. That said, if he wants to get it fixed, have him take it to Greg Derr.
 
+1 on the Para being crap. I've had 2 and I wouldn't have trusted either for carry. I'm sure they could be made to be reliable but I wouldn't bother spending the money (initial purchase + extensive gunsmithing) when S&W makes a perfectly good 1911.

Although Greg Derr does nice work so yeah, tell your bud to keep it and spend some money with Greg! ;)
 
Thanks guys! I'm in the metro area. I agree the Para seems like a poorly made gun. He bought it when some of his Army buddies got some special super duper edition Para.....still, polished junk is still junk. I will pass along some of the contact info you all have graciously provided, hopefully he comes to his senses. Last night at the range, we swapped guns and after the 2nd mag, I yelled over to him in the next lane, "I wouldn't trust my life to this". He agreed that his Glock was the one for carry duty.
 
lateapex31 said:
Hi everyone, I have a buddy who just bought a Para 1911. It's a beautiful gun, however I wouldn't trust my life to it. Even after the recommended break in of 2-300 rounds, it still has FTE's fairly regularly. Sometimes the spent shell has to be pushed out of the chamber as it gets stuck half way extracted. I know he loves the gun but we were wondering if there is a local 1911 oriented gunsmith who could take a look at it. Otherwise, is there someone he could ship the gun to for testing and repair? I think he would rather not send it to Para and just use a 'smith to get the gun in 100% working order. Thanks!
Click to expand...

I have a Para P 16 40 that functions flawlessly. Unfortunately I had to replace just about everything except the slide and frame! Paras are crap, but the frames and slides are actually pretty good.

The ejection problems are the result of Para's attempt to improve on JMB's original design. Their "new and improved" extractor sucks. Fortunately EGW makes a replacement extractor similar to the original design. If extraction is the only problem I would try the EGW replacement part.
 
LaRocca in Worcester as well.
But for the money spent trying to make it into something it's not, you might be able to get a nice and very tweakable rock island 1911
 
lateapex31 said:
Hi everyone, I have a buddy who just bought a Para 1911. It's a beautiful gun, however I wouldn't trust my life to it. Even after the recommended break in of 2-300 rounds, it still has FTE's fairly regularly. Sometimes the spent shell has to be pushed out of the chamber as it gets stuck half way extracted. I know he loves the gun but we were wondering if there is a local 1911 oriented gunsmith who could take a look at it. Otherwise, is there someone he could ship the gun to for testing and repair? I think he would rather not send it to Para and just use a 'smith to get the gun in 100% working order. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Contact Greg Derr in the Dealer's Section. He does excellent work and will get the Para in shape so your buddy can depend on it with his life.

Paras are excellent guns if you put a little bit of tuning in them through a gunsmith like Greg. [wink]
 
We just found out that Para will not service the gun. Since it is not MA compliant, they will not ship it back to MA. Insane! The owner is a LEO and they still will do nothing. So, it's going off to Greg Derr in a few weeks. Thanks all, I will post back with the results of the work.
 

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