I went to an indoor range Sunday with a friend of mine and was shooting to my average ability, about 6" groups at 40' with my 1911 in the standing possition.
After about 200 rounds I tried his custom Para-P16 (barrel,bushing and trigger job)and to my surprise I made one hole with 18 rounds (about 3") and had 2 holes about 1-1 1/2" away from edge of my group.The mag held 21 rounds but I dropped one loading the chamber.
I REALLY need to get me one of these or something simular.
Is this accuracy typical of the Para .40 cal. ?
I never really thought much of Para Ordnace...but damn.
So on to my real question.
Should I buy one of these (they are about $750 stock stainless one) or would I be better off building something simular with SVI or Caspian parts?
I kinda like the idea of building a nice pistol.
Can any of you provide me with a link where I could get a quality fitted bare slide/frame
I also heard that STI was not as good/nice as SVI or Caspian is that true?
I don't sell guns so I really don't care who the manufacture is as long as it does what I want it to do.
This gun will be used for shooting paper and home/camping defence and I'm thinking .40 cal but a good friend of mine said to consider .38 super.
Thanks in advance.
Andy

What brand of 1911 are you shooting now?
What type of Ammo is it that's giving you 6" groups? You may just need to "TUNE" your 1911 to achieve the same results.

HANDGUNS

SGB,
I shoot a series 80 Gold Cup that I had since they first came out.
It had some custom work done to it about 12 years ago or so.
It had a tigger job, beaver tail,ramp job,skeleton hammer and some other cosmetics like an amb. saftey,extended slide release,extended mag release.
I have shot everything from PMC to expensive hot ammo and it the groups are about the same about 6" or less when I'm shooting good.
I also have a Glock 30 that shoots about the same for me so it might be an opperator malfunction.
If I take my time it is not uncommon for me to hit one of them Shoot and See dots from 15 yards but overall my pattern is about a 6" section on my target.

You claim that this Para was 40S&W, are you sure? If it was I'd say this guy may have been handloading his ammo & had it tuned in to the gun. As a general rule of thumb, 40s aren't as accurate as 45s simply because of the ammo.

Para's have the rep as being finicky, i.e. not very dependable. Accuracy is usually not a problem with them.

I agree with the others, I'd maybe have a NM barrel installed in your gun ($150), a better trigger installed ($40) & maybe better sights (Novak) if you don't have good ones already.

My .o2

Mechandy your Gold Cup should outshoot the Para all day long. The major differance that I note between the weapons is the girth of the grip. The Para's wider grip may be forcing you to grip the weapon in a manor which prohibits what ever actions cause your groups to open up.

Just a theory, but you may wish to explore it.

The Para in 40S&W is not the greatest choice unless you handload, as the cartidge is rather too short to be reliably fed in a 45-size frame. It can be done (wide hollow points, long loaded-round-length), but don't expect just any ammo to be reliable.

I concur that the Gold Cup should be able to shoot more accurately than an out-of-the-box Para. I suspect that your experience is either something ergonomic (grip size, trigger weight), novelty value (i.e. not flinching before the shot) or ammo compatibility. It could also be that there is something not right with the Gold Cup.

Rather than buy a new gun, I'd invest in a match barrel (BarSto or similar) fitted by a competent and experienced IPSC pistolsmith. While he's at it, get him to give the rest of the gun a once-over for any other sources of inaccuracy (loose parts etc.). Lastly, get him to install a set of match-grade fire-control parts (light trigger, match hammer and sear)... a sub 2lb trigger is possible if you just want a target gun.

Lastly, you don't say how old you are. Dare I say it, your eyesight may not be what it once was. If the Para has bright sights (dots, fiber optic insert, tritium etc), then maybe your eyes pick them up better than the black-on-black sights of the Gold Cup.

If you still want a new gun, I'd go SVI or STI rather than Para... better made and optimized for 40S&W, IMO. More expensive, but worth the extra.