What's up with Para Ordnance?

[ChasMack]

I have been looking for Para pistols and Buds has one model, GB has a lot of used or new old stock and some other sites have none. Are they on their way out? If myself or anyone else buys a Para gun is there still customer support? I have never had one so I never had any experience with them in terms of having to get one fixed, etc. I have read about 50% good and 50% bad about them or their guns. A lgs said they would never carry their guns anymore because of all the complaints so got they switched to Kimber.

 

[1911 guy]

In my experience, which is limited to one pistol I regretted soon after i bought it, Para is a has-been. Poor QC and completely unhelpful customer support. However, the older Para Ordnance guns enjoyed a very good reputation. If you're seriously interested in owning one, I'd consider a well cared for pistol a couple decades old.

 

[gotboostvr]

They completely shut their doors after being bought up by freedom group.
Remington will still work on the Para guns and offer a number of similar models to the old Paras.

 

[Fleetman]

Yep....now they call themselves Para USA.

Para's are ok.....triggers are less than fair, cast slides, and proprietary mags. Mine (two) have never had a glitch.

 

[hornet41]

I have a 70's era P14 45 LDA that runs like a scalded dog!! Excellent trigger and eats everything I've run through it. Look for an earlier Canadian pistol. Stay away from new ones!!

 

[kozak6]

Yeah, Freedom Group bought them and fed them to Remington so Remington might absorb their 1911 powers.

I seriously thought they were dead, but it looks like Remington is still running them as Para USA. Apparently the lifetime warranty is still being honored, although it's only intended for the pistol's original owner.

 

[Wishoot]

I have a Para GI Expert made in North Carolina.

Can't say it's anything truly exceptional, neither is it a dud. Fit and finish are about as average as you can get. The trigger is about what you would expect in an entry level 1911, but it's certainly usable. It's managed to shoot everything I fed it from cream-puff reloads to +P stuff.

 

[wally]

I'd look at the RIA 1911-A2 series "widebody" pistols. They are basically clones of the earlier Para models and use the same magazines. Good price and customer support too.

 

[Olympus]

Yep....now they call themselves Para USA.

Para's are ok.....triggers are less than fair, cast slides, and proprietary mags. Mine (two) have never had a glitch.

Now....they don't call themselves anything because they no longer exist. But what was once Para Ordnance became Para USA which is no longer in business.

 

[Jonesy814]

When Freedom Group bought them out I remember reading that production was going to be moved down south to the new Remington facility. They were going to decide which models to continue and which ones to drop. That's the last I've heard of Para

 

[Rock185]

Yea, Para is not just on the way out, they are out period. CDNN was selling them cheap. Not cheap enough for me to ever buy another one. I'd been a 1911 owner/shooter/carrier for many years and once bought a new Para P-14 Limited. Not sure I ever got through a magazine of any kind of ammo without a malfunction........ymmv

 

[L-2]

Here's a link to the subject company's history:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Para_USA

Wikipedia sometimes gets a bad rap of having information which could be made-up; not verified; or otherwise just plain incorrect. This may or may not be true. I don't know where or which subjects on Wiki where these errors have occurred, if so. For Para Ordnance's history, Wiki's write-up of Para Ordnance/USA seems to be accurate enough for this thread's subject.

In business, a company with a brand name gets bought. That brand name is now owned by the buying company. Whether the buying (aka parent) company chooses to use that brand name (in this case Para) is a business decision of that parent company. Whether the name "Para" has marketing "value" is one of those business decisions.

 

[Nanook]

I read somewhere that Remington had sold their Para parts to Numrich. I don't have a link, though.
I have a Canadian made Para Ordnance 14.45 which runs like a top. No issues, plenty of firepower. I had the presence of mind to buy extra mags not long after I bought the gun just in case. Looks like the right move these days.
To think at the time many of us thought them moving to the USA was a good thing.

 

[wally]

I had the presence of mind to buy extra mags not long after I bought the gun

I've actually had better luck with the Meg-Gar or ACT mags than the original Para mags (from the bad old days just before Clinton's AWB). But a bit of futzing around and Wolf extra power "custom fit" springs has got them working well, although I shoot my RIA "widebody" far more than my Original Para P14.

 

[herrwalther]

I have an older Para GI Expert. Runs excellent and would not hesitate to buy another one built around the same year. They were recently bought by Remington and now some "new" Remington 1911s bear striking resemblance to firearms Para USA was making. I won't touch them now with that big R on the slide.

 

[Jim NE]

My stainless Expert has been a very competent gun and I like it, but I'd say it's probably not quite as accurate as my Taurus PT1911, out of the box. I should mention, however, that the PT 1911 is exceptionally accurate (though not a fancy gun.)

I hadn't planned on buying the Para at all. I bought it right after I'd purchased the Taurus because Para and it's dealers were making rebate deals that were too good to be true. I got a brand new stainless Expert, two mags and a decent case for $349 brand new after rebate.

That was a two or three of years ago, and shortly after I got the the great deal, I was surprised to hear that Remington (or whoever) was probably going to phase out Para 1911's altogether, though they would maybe continue a couple of Para models under the Remington brand. To my added surprise...that never seemed to happen. I kept seeing new Paras and advertising for the next couple years (???)

Maybe they're just starting to phase them out now?