Keep in mind that I will be using this gun for IPSC / competition purposes ONLY! NOT for concealed carry or a duty weapon.
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Had one, sunk a bunch of money into it. After I replaced everything but the frame, slide, and barrel, it wasn't a bad gun. When it became time to deal with the flyer every third or fourth round, the expense of a new barrel, bushing, and accurails just wasn't worth it. I got an STI Edge which was a far, far better gun right out of the box though much more expensive too.
A stock Para will not take heavy IPSC use. Enough parts fail on Paras and consistantly enough that several aftermarket parts makers are making replacements just for the Para. Other problems are soft frames and slides (why accurail is not optional if you want it to stay tight...) and holes drilled all over the place.
I know several guys who have had to had things like custom drilled sears because the frame dimensions are off that much. Several top smiths will not do a trigger job on a Para without replacing the sear and the hammer because the metal is so soft.
That said, Todd Jarrett wins everything in sight but I know for a fact his frames are hand picked for dimensional accuracy and everything else but the slide is aftermarket.
Now depending on your usage, it still might not be a bad choice for you. If you're only going to shoot a couple matches a year, it will probably be satisfactory (until you want a trigger job
), it's just not going to handle high shooting volume without parts failures (which I've found usually happen in a match instead of practice).
I was shooting over 10,000 rounds a year with that gun and there are 6 or 8 other guys in my club shooting similar round counts and their experiences were similar to mine. A couple of the guns are okay but chances are over 50/50 you'll have to put money into the gun that you weren't expecting.
If something in the STI or SV hi-cap product lines is more of an investment than you are willing to make, I'd suggest a good single stack 1911. Since the USPSA has implemented the Limited 10 division, you can compete using a single stack without having to deal with the disadvantage of everybody else shooting hicaps. My personal feeling is in 2 or 3 years, Limited and Limited 10 will become one again but with a 10 round capacity limit.
Kimbers will do all right for you though you'll probably replace the barrel bushing and the slide stop not too far out. STI makes a great single stack in their Trojan 1911 (I have 2 Kimbers and my Trojan which is a much better gun in terms of fit and finish - no reliablilty problem with either BTW).