I carried a Para while working evenings alone at a gun shop. When 4 "urban youth" wearing their ball caps bills forward and pulled low over oversized sunglasses backed an old Chevy “ghetto cruiser” up to the front door the day after a gang shootout up the road, I wouldn’t have traded those 14 rounds of .45 HP for all the tea in China. Heavy? A little bit but it was my EDC and I had no problems with it.
If you look at the grip panels on a standard 1911 you will see they are rather thick to help fill your hand, the grip panels on a Para are real thin, there isn’t much thickness difference between them. With a Galco Sky-Op holster experienced LEO couldn’t tell I was carrying
I have a high cap .45, but they don't make them like that anymore. It is a Kimber Polymer Custom and it came with one 13rd magazine and one 10rd magazine. It has a polymer frame that was manufactured by a company called BUL if I remember correctly. It was only produced for a couple of years I believe. I wish I would have gotten a few more mags for it about 10 years ago when I had a chance!
Charles Daly is now importing 1911s with the BUL frame, Wilson Combat used to have the KZ45 as well which IIRC used the BUL frame. The mags can still be found if you look hard enough.
Just my $0.03, but I've recently fallen in love--again--with my Kimber Pro BP Ten II. I carry it full-time, often with a spare mag and scarcely even notice I have it on me. That's 26 +1 rounds of .45 caliber lovin'. :image035:
I just found a source and ordered a 14-round mag for $29.95--compared to the previous $50 for a 13-round mag. I've been shooting the Kimber a lot lately, and the accuracy just puts a perma-grin on my face. I've been consistently hitting 9-ring or better shots at 50 feet offhand through the entire mag without pausing for air.
I'm 6', 210lbs with M-L sized hands. Does that make me a freak, or near average? Whatever. The guns fits me like a glove. I carry Federal +P 230-grain HP and shoot Federal American Eagle 230-grain FMJ ammo with no hiccups.
I previously thought I'd abandon my Kimber for a Springfield XD45. Not any more. I'm just going to find and buy another Kimber Pro BP Ten II. I've seen them out there for sale.
The ATI Fat Boy Lightweight 12 in the mag and one in the pipe, I absolutely love this gun. only 27 ounces and not as thick as other double stack 1911 clones
I am not a fan of Para but a friend uses one in competition and likes it. He will occasionally carry it. Not the weight but reliability is an issue. I sold him some thin Alumna Grips and it made it a lot more comfortable. If you go this route you will need new bushings; $12.95 from Brownells
If you can find a used Wilson Combat KZ45 it would be a fine choice. I carried one for a couple of years and then got stupid and traded it to a guy here on the forum.
I have a Wilson KZ 45 compact that I carry quite often. It's a fantastic gun, and magazines are very readily available for it from Wilson and Midway. It's a great shooter with the best trigger of my many 1911's including another Wilson, an Ed Brown and a couple Novak built guns among others. The overall fit and build quality is as fine or better inside and out than the others as well.
These sad puppies are a bargain on the used market. I paid $850 for mine looking nearly un used with everything it came with new plus a third magazine.
I also have a Para P13 light weight I bought new in '94 that has been moderately customized. Out of the box the only reliability issue it ever had was ejecting brass into my eyes all the time. A tune up of the recoil spring weight and ejector fixed it up pretty fast. This gun was surprisingly accurate out of the box, and had some work done on it by Novak's.
I always considered it to be a .45 caliber Browning Hi Power. I don't actually carry it that often lately and I don't really know why. Too many other choices.
If I were shopping to build a Hi Cap 1911 today (and the only reason I am not is a lack of unlimited cash), I would go for an STI 2011. Their really impressive IMO.
Holy old threads Batman!! RussWrkmn took this thread out of 2009. I wonder how many pages he had to go back through to find this rickety old thread I started. :duh:
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