Bought a 16-40 and am finally getting it to function mostly correctly. At first it would hold open with 1 rd. left in the mag. Some sanding on the followers solved that. Now w/ extended base pads it just tries to slam the round into the super-steep feed ramp, but I knew this might be an issue w/ factory ammo. Reloading to longer OAL will take care of that. Once you get 3/4 full, it feeds fine mostly.

Also replaced the HEAVY trigger in their 'match' gun with C&S pieces. Absolutely love it now.

An alloy framed P12 (or maybe a P13) is your best bet for carry; the P14 is a full sized 1911 frame that, Para marketing speak aside, is significantly wider than a single stack 1911. The steel framed pistols, IMHO, are simply too heavy for CC, especially when loaded with good defensive ammo (14 - 15 rounds of 230gr JHP is heavy compared to 9mm).

As far as quality is concerned, I'm a firm believer that the quality of a 1911 is less important than the quality of the customer service of the company that you bough the pistol from. In this regards, Para Ordnance ranks at the very bottom of the heap, below even Taurus. They were terrible when they were up in Canada, and are only marginally better now that they have moved to Florida. For what it's worth, the pistols themselves seem to be fairly decent (none of mine have been too terribly problematic, and a couple have even been trouble free).

Although they claim to have a lifetime warranty, this is only true
1) if you are the original purchaser of the gun and register it with them (fair enough, since other manufactures nominally have the same policy)
2) if you own one of the newer guns made since they moved

You are absolutely SOL if you bought the gun second hand or have one of the older pistols. This wouldn't be that big of a deal, except that the pistol best suited for carry is (IMHO) the alloy framed P12, which is no longer in their lineup. Also, from personal observation, the alloy P12s seem to have a problem with cracked frames, as 2 out of 4 that I've bought had this issue. Fortunately, I was able to return them for a full refund (after being told by Para that it would cost $300+shipping for them to replace the frame).

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of their double stack frame design and prefer it to STIs, but when I buy a Para I think of it as just a frame kit. I know there is no factory support, so I basically throw away all the MIM parts and replace them with quality aftermarket parts and go from there. I doubt I would ever buy one of their new guns.

Oh yeah, and I always check for cracks.

I had a 14-45 stainless since 1993-ish. Great gun, ran flawlessly, but a bit on the heavy side. I sold it this year because it just sits in my safe.

Their US HQ was in Ft. Lauderdale before they move the whole operation to NC (before that, you had to send your gun to Canada for repairs).

As always it seems it is a YMMV I have a 45 LDA runs fine always has with about 2000 rounds put through it

your the exception

I've had alloy framed Paras for years now, with thousands of rounds through them. I don't think there is anything wrong with the frames, per se, but they are aluminum, and so are not as strong as the steel frames. This means you really have to stay on top of maintenance and spring replacement, otherwise the slides will beat the frames to pieces. I've owned a dozen or or so Paras, most of them with alloy frames; the only ones that were problematic were the P12s, where two frames were cracked (out of 4). I would probably not run overly hot ammo through them, though.

As a range or competition gun I wouldn't recommend them, but for daily carry the alloy frames are far more comfortable than the steel frames (it's only 6oz or so, but it is very noticeable).