Hey everyone, I just wanted to share my experience and get some advice.
I bought a Para Ordnance 1911 single stack in .45ACP last year. The handgun shoots like a dream and looks awesome but shortly after I started shooting it, I was finding the slide would not lock to the rear after the last round was fired and the magazine was empty. The first couple times I took it to the range, the slide would lock to the rear every so often even though there were still rounds left in the magazine
frustrating to say the least.
Over the last 6 months or so, the premature locking of the slide had stopped but the slide still wouldn't lock when the magazines were empty.
I sat down the other night and repeatedly inserted each mag (empty) in to the empty handgun and would rack the slide and found that it would lock 1 out of about every 10 times and only if I pushed the slide lock "nub" on the ejection port side of it before I racked it. I also looked online at another forum and noticed that a lot of other people were having similar issues with their Paras and the most common fix was to replace the slide lock lever (was noted that some other shooters had said certain kinds of rounds would actually hit the factory slide lock causing it to engage while there is still a round in the magazine).
I took it to a friend at a gun shop the next day and he had a look. He was aware of the problem and suggested a new slide lock lever would probably fix my problem. He also had a look at the magazines and found that the part of the slide lock lever that connects with the magazine when it is empty was actually "chewing" away a part of the plastic follower! (Stupid me didn't even notice this the previous night!)
These are 3 different magazines, the last picture you can see particularly well what piece was being chipped off.
I'm going to get some metal followers for these magazines and I was wondering if there was a particular one I should get to replace these plastic ones. I've had a look on brownells but there are about 8 different ones to choose from. I'm probably going to get a new slide stop as well and was wondering if there was any particular one I should be getting.
Thanks in advance and I hope this helps other people who are having issues with their Paras.
I bought a Para Ordnance 1911 single stack in .45ACP last year. The handgun shoots like a dream and looks awesome but shortly after I started shooting it, I was finding the slide would not lock to the rear after the last round was fired and the magazine was empty. The first couple times I took it to the range, the slide would lock to the rear every so often even though there were still rounds left in the magazine
frustrating to say the least.Over the last 6 months or so, the premature locking of the slide had stopped but the slide still wouldn't lock when the magazines were empty.
I sat down the other night and repeatedly inserted each mag (empty) in to the empty handgun and would rack the slide and found that it would lock 1 out of about every 10 times and only if I pushed the slide lock "nub" on the ejection port side of it before I racked it. I also looked online at another forum and noticed that a lot of other people were having similar issues with their Paras and the most common fix was to replace the slide lock lever (was noted that some other shooters had said certain kinds of rounds would actually hit the factory slide lock causing it to engage while there is still a round in the magazine
).I took it to a friend at a gun shop the next day and he had a look. He was aware of the problem and suggested a new slide lock lever would probably fix my problem. He also had a look at the magazines and found that the part of the slide lock lever that connects with the magazine when it is empty was actually "chewing" away a part of the plastic follower! (Stupid me didn't even notice this the previous night!)
These are 3 different magazines, the last picture you can see particularly well what piece was being chipped off.
I'm going to get some metal followers for these magazines and I was wondering if there was a particular one I should get to replace these plastic ones. I've had a look on brownells but there are about 8 different ones to choose from. I'm probably going to get a new slide stop as well and was wondering if there was any particular one I should be getting.
Thanks in advance and I hope this helps other people who are having issues with their Paras.
