just curious; when i was shopping for mine majority opinion over on that forum was "get a springfield, no get a colt no get a ria" then when i said i wanted a p14 double stack "that's not a REAL 1911"...

well it made it's range debut today and i am most pleased... only one failure to extract and it turned out that the case was deformed. so 199/200 rounds were perfect. also... (and i am FAR FAR FARRRRRR from a decent shot) but this was the first time i've shot my 1911 and i shot far better with this than any other weapon i own:




from 12 yards, from NIB to 200 round count (trying to break it in...).

i think it's broken in just fine...

Para quality can be spotty but I have nothing else against them. I prefer STI.

I own a couple of Springfield 1911s and a Para P14-45, and guess what, the Para is just as reliable and accurate as the Springfields. Enjoy your Para.

I like my Para frame kit, done by the Springfield Custom Shop.

Forged over cast frames,

In cast frames and slide, you can run into a void when milling, and the cast frames will not hold peen'g/tightening as long as a forged frame.

Main reason is FUDD.

How about because all the Purists have little girly hands and can't hold onto such a full-size 1911?

I get tired of all the purist B.S. I hear it all the time from the Harley guys that I ride with who don't like fuel-injection because the "real bikes" are supposed to have carbs.

THIS, and the evils of hard recoiling, inaccurate, non-mil-spec, piston AR15s and those new fancy 30 and 40 round magazines.

None of the above, para QC sucks, they have no customer service, they have no resale, and most of the time you have to spend money to make the gun work. Other than that they are fine. I have a P16 slide and frame that runs like a top after I replaced all the other parts.
If you want a Hi cap 1911, SV/STI is what you get.

Bullshit.

Yeah, I gotta go with the flaming poop on this one. They do have customer service and the one time we needed it ,( wife's 9mm PDA grip safety locked in the down position for unknown reasons, couldnt get it out), Para stepped right up and fixed the pistol with no questions asked. I've got no complaints with Para based on my experiances with the gun.

But I also own the only functional, reliable Kimber 1911 also. So obviously I'm incredibly lucky and crazy...

Nick

if you get them on the phone they are helpful. through email they are kinda worthless. i sent mine in for a repair, asked all the questions up front before i send it. told me to send it then pay once done, i give it 2 weeks and email them to ask about it, and the guy i was talking to was out, so i talked to a chic and she says well you gotta wait 3-5 weeks. so i waited till 6 weeks and then try to get ahold of them, nothing, it took past 8 weeks till i got a response, finally telling me its waiting for a payment, so finally i call it in. as i work during the entire time they are open for calls, thats why i email, being a temp i did not want to take personal calls during work in case they used it against me.finally i call and i pay and ask is it done,,,,, they are like we have not started yet. wtf............ the only reason i did no flip out on them, was they asked for half of what they told me it would cost. but since its not done, i dont know if there will be anymore charges. all i can say is if you rma something... call them before, and during the time they tell you to wait. i was afraid they would lose it after so long. if i send in something expensive of course im gonna pay for it when they are done, that makes no sense to me.

now if it comes back and works like a charm it will be worth the wait, but it its the same or worse than before i think i will sell it for parts or something.



btw my uncle has 3 p-14 and he says they run fine for him. so i guess its just luck for some, i get the short end of the straw through most things.

Well that's great guy's. But I stand by what I said, I have seen way too many guns not work after they have gone back to para.
I see no reason to buy a new hi cap para with SV/STI in the market.
But hey, if you want a hard crome P-16 with 5 20 round mags that works, let me know.
s

I say this in every one of these threads. My P14 has run flawlessly for years now. Thru classes and match's. Runs dirty or clean and it's accurate. All for 750.00. Whats not to like?

I will say this, most of the problems I have seen have been with the P-16 .40 cal gun's. I think the higher pressure on the .40 and the 180 pf .40 brought the fitting problems to the surface.

I'll add this most of the problems I see are from "custom" pistols regardless of make. I have seen people be very adept at making a Glock choke on ball ammo.

Well if by "custom" you mean a box stock P-16 Limited with a mag well I would agree. Most of what I have seen have been this, the barrel's are not well fitted. All the support to lock up the barrel are on the link and slide stop, not the barrel feet. You can see this if you pull out the slide stop. If the only place you see wear is from the link and no spots on top of the slide stop from the barrel feet, you will have a problem.
This may never show up if your just plinking with a .45 but, if you shoot 1000's of major power .40's it will.
I replaced the barrel with a ED Brown Bull barrel and recut the feet. Have never had a problem again.

No what I meant by "custom" is not box stock. More of good 1911's made "better" by people who really don't know what they are doing

Yeah, I think I'll skip the $1000+ price jump there. I've owned 6 Paras of various vintages, and still have 5 of them, 1 x 1990s P13, 3 x early 1990s to early 2000s P14s, 1 x 2011 Super Hawg, 1 x late 1980s alloy frame kit with an 'unfitted' Commander top end...and all are dependable and accurate. I've done some work to most of them, but it was all optional. New or used, they ran like clockwork right out of the box every time.

Why do the purists look down on the p14?
(1) It is not a stander Browning design.
(2) They hold too many rounds.(In my day some purists would not use the 8rd mags!)
(3) Light wt
But mostly they are just jealous!!!!


PITA45

It's been said before, but you answered your own question. The P14 isnt a 1911 because a 1911 is a siingle stack pistol. That doesnt mean its not a good pistol. Para is always on the edge of commonality. One shooter was denied entry into the Single Stack class with an LDA, and he couldnt understand why it was not considered a single stack. Nevermind that dilemma. When I explained it was excluded because it wasnt even a 1911, his confusion was not abated. Although the detractors may have been disparaging the quality as well, in which case they were incorrect. I traded my P14 along with another pistol for and LDA Companion, upon which I bet my life mulitple times until I sold it in order to buy a Companion II. So far in two Para Ordnance (Para USA) guns I've had no failures to feed except for some ammunition-related failures when experimenting with oddball stuff.

My P14 was dead nuts reliable too. Enjoy yours. Just dont load the mags full and dump them too fast. The gun will like it fine. Your wallet might not.

Excellent and of course no charge examination of a perceived problem that was not a problem, $550 for a nine year old gun, and no investment of my $ to improve the gun. No improvements were necessary. Once again, other than that, you're right. Since you were right on nothing you said, I guess the STI recommendation isn't a good one. Thanks though.

What the he'll are you trying to say? That you have a p14 that works?
Well aren't you special.

Don't load your mags full and don't shoot to fast? well ok then...

I load my 15 round mags to 16 rounds and dump'em fast all day, and the run like crazy. YMMV, I guess...

I think he's saying don't do it because it gets expensive faster than with a singlestack, not that they don't work.