Being an avid shooter I like to recognize both good and not so good service in the shooting community.  But what really gets me is when a company comes so close to being the best they can be and then falls short in silly ways.

Today's topic is my experiences with Para-Ordnance and their 1911 pistols.

I've now officially owned two of these.  While that isn't a large sampling of firearms from a manufacturer it is a good start to determining whether that number will ever grow.  Now while I say I've had two of these that is not to imply at the same time.

I had one, which I purchased brand new, and then quickly rid myself of, leaving me with none.  Then some time later I acquired a second Para used, which will likely not stay in my possession as long as the first one.

So now all that is missing is the details.

The first pistol was a Para LTC (which is their version of a Commander sized 1911) which was finished in an interesting "midnight blue" color.

After purchasing the pistol in question I took it to the range to break it in and see how it shot.  I have to say that the first trip to the range left me loving that Para pistol.  It was accurate, easy to shoot, and in general just felt right.

The love affair ended on the second trip to the range when I noticed that the ejector on said pistol was starting to look like a mushroom on the end.  By 500 rounds down range it had progressed to the end of the extended ejector being peened back to the point that it was interfering with the slide of the pistol.

Also the rear sight had come loose which is in general not a big deal, it tightens up with the hex set screw.  Unfortuantely the rear sight which appeared to be of some composite material vs. metal, did not want to tighten as the dovetail on it was deforming and was causing it to lift up high in the dovetail slot.

Well I did what I think any normal person would do and called Para-Ordnance about my now week old pistol.

Their response?

Well apparently the ejector had not been properly hardened.  (Ya think?)

As for the sight, it was defintely not plastic (sure looked like it to me) but either way they could fix that at the same time, unless of course I wanted to send them a check for $99 to put night sights on it.

All I needed to do was spend $20-30 to overnight the pistol to them and they'd get right on it.

Um, yeah well you see I just dropped a ton of cash on buying this thing, so why would I spend $30 to send something with a third rate (not properly hardened parts) back to them to replace with more parts that may or may not have been properly hardened.

I argued that they should issue a call tag and pay to ship the pistol, they refused.

My solution?  I went back to my dealer and argued with him until he took it back and I went home with a brand new 1911 from another manufacturer.  That pistol now has around 8,000 rounds down the barrel, with as much as a hiccup. 

All in all pretty shoddy for a company that says they have the best service:

The Best Service Policy

At Para, we believe that providing you with the best pistol you can own means that we will stand behind that pistol 100% for as long as you own it. Since the beginning of the Millennium, Para has offered a Lifetime Service Policy to each original retail purchaser of its pistols.

This means that we will provide the original retail purchaser of any one of our pistols with all necessary service, free of charge, for the lifetime of the pistol, where adjustment or repair is required due to some defect in materials or workmanship.

I can't say I agree with them.  For instance a while back I had a pistol from another big firearms manufacturer, in fact one that has huge Government contracts to worry about, that broke an extractor in mid-magazine at the range.  I caled them up, they didn't ask for a receipt or anything else.  They simply got my address and said a call tag would arrive two days later have the pistol packaged up to go.  Sure enough, call tag shows, I stuck it on the box, driver took it, less than two weeks later, the box was back fully repaired pistol inside.

NOW THAT is service.  I feel that in itself is enough to prove they don't have the BEST service at Para-Ordnance.

OK so the experience with the LTC was about six months ago.  I recently had an opportunity to get a Para-Ordnance Tac-Four in a trade deal.  The Tac-Four is a double stack magazine design with their LDA trigger in it.  This is a pistol that Para feels is worth over $1,000.

From:  http://www.galleryofguns.com/gunlocator/gunsearch/Product.asp?item_num=CTX1345S&other_page=true

Item #	CTX1345S	MSRP	1099.00
Mfg	Para USA	Quantity	1
Model	PXT 1911 LDA High Capacity Tac-Four	Caliber	45AP
Type	Semi-Automatic Pistol	Finish	Stainless Steel

Well, you guessed it, things did not go well with this one either.  At some point in the future I'll go into more detail on why I at least have determined the LDA trigger is not something I want my life to depend on, but for now we'll stick to just the issues with this pistol.

Most of the time you pull the trigger and it goes bang.  However randomly, yet frequently, it will strike the primer of the bullet too lightly and not fire.  There are times where you can go through 2 or 3 magazines without a failure and at other times, it may do it every two or three shots.  Needless to say, this particular pistol fails miserably at the one thing a pistol absolutely MUST do.

Now as for feel of the LDA trigger, it's incredible.  Accuracy of the pistol?  Both Para pistols discussed here were wonderfully accurate and a pleasure to shoot.  Yet BOTH suffered from mechanical ailments that rendered them useless as a defensive firearm.

My calls to Para about the Tac-Four went even worse than the LTC.  Since I bought this pistol used vs. new, there of course is no warranty as that only applies to the original owner.  So if I'd like to send it in and pay $30 in shipping as well as what they believe would be about $63 they could fix it.

Yeah I'm going to toss $100 at a not very old pistol to get it to do what a pistol should do?

Nope I simply sold it off to someone at a good price that wanted to deal with it.

I doubt I'll invest in another Para pistol.  I'm 0 for 2 which to me is not good odds.  Especially when compared to companies like Springfield that WILL back their warranty (generally speaking) for second owners.  But then again, none of my Springfields or my Kimbers have ever needed to go back to be serviced.  The FN pistol I mentioned earlier was taken care with exceptional customer service.  All in all, why would I bother with another Para?

This is a company that comes so close, but just falls short in such silly ways.  It's quite disappointing.  I really WANT to like Para-Ordnance.  I want their products to be top notch.  Unfortunately in my two gun experience they just aren't and worse, I can't say Para seems to care.