telecat

Your not kidding on the mags cyclicRate !! I can run Sti's but my buddy can't. I'm trying to get some to work for him to have a good supply for 3 gun matches. I just don't understand why para didn't dump a bunch with CDNN like they did with the .45's. It's got to be worse for the new 16.40's that have just hit the market . Maybe they're holding back to get full. $$ when they get settled in AL?

That's a great post! Everything you need right there. That is almost exactly how my PC 18.9 is set up except I went on a put an EGW sear in and had tuned to 2#. These are a lot of gun for the money. I just wished Para hadn't fitted the barrel so the feed ramp is so far away from the mag and the feed ramp angle is very steep compared to the Canadian one I have. Speaking of mag tuning... I've picked up a few early Para 38 Super mags that I'm gonna try to get to run 9mm. I went to the web page that is dedicated to this and have a good understanding of modding the transition point groove. Where I'm baffled is that one mag locks in to My PC 18.9 and the others don't with factory base pads (Magwell interferes). The mags are ever so slightly shorter than my 90's Canadian .40 mags. They almost lock in. I'm wondering if I raise the mag release hole on the upper part of the mag if that will let it lock sooner. Anyone played around doing this?

That "usually ships in 1 to 3 months" on the guide rod from Amazon is a little bit of long wait... but that's the one I picked up for mine and its nice. Agred Sharppoint. That makes a big difference in how the gun feels.

The factory plug works. The Wilson rod I bought came with a plug but I'm using the factory one. Springs are pretty cheap, you should try a 9 ,10 and 11 to see which feels right and is reliable with your loads.

I'm running a 9# Wolf in my PC18.9 reliably. I couldn't find a source for a reduced flat spring so I got a full size full length guide rod to run a regular round spring. My buddy tried a 9# in his and had a few FTF. Both our guns had the feed ramps polished and chambers reamed. He's running a 10# and its reliable now. Related to this though, I run STI mags which sit higher in the magwell than the factory mags. He's running factory mags as STI's would not fit at all. My buddy's seemed to need more power to drive the bullet up the feedramp since Para's barrels seem to have the feed ramp cut way forward and very steep. Much steeper and greater bullet jump than my older Canadian P16-40. I'm not sure what the factory spring is but its heavy and does help overcome the steep feed angle problems a bit. You may need to try a couple different #'s to see which works best.

That's odd that it didn't come complete . When I ordered my turkey barrel for my 930, it came ready to go. All I had to do was install the barrel and go shoot. Is this a new policy or just an oversight?

I will but the gun is at my gunsmith having a trigger job and flat trigger installed so it's a couple weeks out. The mags are with the gun too. On the one that hung up, it was very obvious where it was hitting. It was scoring the follower. Mine was the top back corner. I rounded that a bit and it worked great!

Oh Storz... have you shot slugs through your turkey barrel yet? Just wondering how your point of impact was.

I did the same thing. I built a 930 3 gun from an SPX. I bought the factory trukey barrel w/o ports. When I got rid of my rear sight, I just took a tiny flat head screwdriver and taped it under the base on top of the rib till it lifted a little so I could pull it off. It was just a press fit rear sight. Took some cold blue to touch up where the rear sight was and you can't tell it was ever there. I suppose you could take the front sight off and drive it all the way down off the rib too but its a long way down there... Hope that helps!

Nice! I have a shim plate ready to go for my Pro Comp 18.9. I'm going to switch to a flat trigger at the same time.

I've had the GunCraft long flat for a many years in my p16-40. Works flawlessly. Just got the same for my new pro comp 18.9. I like flat triggers so the are the only game in town.

They do in mine. I had to smooth the top edges of the follower just a bit as the slide would catch it when empty but that was just one mag of 3 sti 140mm's.

Sweet! Those are the numbers I'm looking for!

Jlchevy, how many rounds are you getting in the 140mm/Dawson/Grams 9mm setup? I'm trying to decide between that set or TTI.

Marv Z, I get twenty in my 16-40 para mags with Dawson pads so I was hoping to squeeze more out of the 18.9. Like you this will be my 3gun pistol. I was hoping for 23-24. I just got my trigger job parts today so I'm hoping to have this gun in action in February.

Marv Z, that's the exact route I'm going with my 18.9. I've got 3 more standard 140mm 20 rnd STI mags coming today. I've gotten pretty good at tuning para mags over the years but it sounds like STI's are a whole new game. I was going to try the TTI base pads this time. Sounds like I'm gonna have my hands full! I wonder what capacity on para mags would be with extended basepads?

MarvZ. You said that right! I've got one wacky post ban mag that hangs and won't drop free if the mag spring tension is too much. Springs and followers that work in all other mags will not work in this mag . I have one low power spring that allows it to work and feed 20 round of .40. I wish para had been as serious as Sti about building competition pistols. Supposedly these new mags are supposed to be better but people are still are having trouble . The move to Alabama isn't helping much as mags are vapor ware. Not ragging on para as I like my new one.. Just consistency.

I have 5 older mags that i got with my 90's para that were pre-ban when all that was going on. I also have some from the 2000's after the ban. They are .40 cal mags so I'll never truly know if they function in the Pro Custom 18.90 but all will lock in and drop free with Dawson base pads. I have one with an old Arrendondo base pad that the magwell interferes with preventing it from locking. .My old Sti made para .40 mags will lock in and drop free too in the new 18.9. If I had to guess, at least in my gun, old Mags, old Sti para mags, new Para mags and new Sti (for Sti) would work in my particular example. I've never tried Megar mags...

Here are some reviews of my Pro Custom 18.9 that I did on another forum: I just received a new Pro Custom 18.9 tonight. Here are some quick observations. The gun looks great! Iron bond finish is very nice. Gun locks up tight. Feedramp looks somewhat polished. Magwell is tight on the frame. All safeties work. Now for the niggles.. There are a few casting marks on the frame but about the same as my 90's para. Couple of small stain/blemishes in the finish on the slide (have to angle it in the light to see them). Some kind of wacky square barcode looking thing in front of the serial number (unsightly). Trigger kinda flops around and is loose. Trigger pull is mushy, heavy and breaks very late. Hammer may be slightly rubbing the slide as it falls. Fiber-optic rod is kind of small. Speaking of small, that skinny guiderod and flatwire spring. Where do you get an 8-9lb flatwire spring? All of this can be worked out except the barcode and blemish. This is going to be my 3gun pistol so a few matches with dumping it in the bucket and in and out of the holster and it'll have more blemishes... Lol. I was going to save up to build a custom STI but the prices on the paras had me put that down the road and jump in! At this price point its a great platform to build up. Here is a pic next to my 90's Para that was set up by Tommy Abernathy in NC. I'll get the 18.9 set up like it once I go to the range and see what it needs. Range Report: I just got back from the range where I put my first shots down range with the new 18.9 I picked up from CDNN. The pistol performed flawlessly. I shot a little over 250 rounds with 100 being run of the mill pmc and the rest my reloads. No malfunctions, no extraction or ejection problems. All brass wound up in a nice little pile. Slide locked back on the para mags when empty just as it should. My first 20 or so rounds were a bit of a shocker. The target looked a bit like a shotgun was fired at it. I started to get worried when I couldn't get it to hold a group or kept chasing flyers around with the sight adjustment. Two things happened as I kept shooting. first, the groups shrank and it started shooting nice and tight groups. Next the mushy trigger firmed up. Well maybe a better way to explain it is the crunchiness from the series 80 parts smoothed out reveling a very crisp trigger break. I got to where I could stage the trigger after the initial take up which i'm thinking moves the series 80 parts. My 90's para had those immediately removed so I have no experience with what a series 80 trigger feels like. I ran the para mags with with the full 18 rounds with no trouble and the slide locked back empty every time. I tried an Sti mag and it worked too. I did notice a quirk with the Sti mag. If I inserted an sti mag with the slide locked back and released the slide to charge a round, the slide would hang on the follower after the last round. It wouldn't lock back (which I knew it wouldn't) but it wouldn't close all the way either. The net result was the mag was pinned and wouldn't drop free. Now if you inserted a loaded mag with the slide closed and charged the gun by pulling and releasing the slide, everything went as expected with the gun shooting empty,the slide not locking back and the empty mag dropping free no problem. I must admit I was expecting a bit of a fight to get the gun running right but I'm pleasantly surprised at how well it functioned and shot. I'm still getting it set up the way I want it with flat trigger and trigger job but it looks like the platform is solid. I'm sure my gunsmith who builds competition guns on Sti frames will have a few things to point out to me but so far I'm off to a very good start!!!!! Hats off to Para!

Oskino's work is outstanding! That looks like my 930 in the last pic. He has a very high attention to detail and his polish work is slick. I've seen his work on Versamax,Benelli, Stoeger and 930 guns and all are top notch. T

I got mine from Southern Kentucky Tactical and its very nice. Install took 2 mins and its all good now!

I'll put my .02 in...Last year just before the JM came out I got a 930SPX new and converted it to a 3gun shotgun with a 24" non ported turkey barrel. With the new barrel it didn't work. Mossberg said send the whole gun back and they would make it work. it took about 2 weeks but it came back running like a champ.... No issues since. I don't clean it much, maybe every 1k rounds or so but its been very reliable. I use a Briley mag tube with it and didn't have to tune it at all. I'm with Ramairthree... Slugs shoot WAY too high at 100 yards.. I have no idea how to deal with that as it patterns right with #8 bird shot. t

I'm in the same boat! Been looking for a while. Is Para changing there follower or when the new mags come in, will the new followers work with old tubes/guns? t

My brand new SPX was like that. I struggled to get the barrel off and when I did it was next to impossible to get it back on. It scored than mag tube also. Sent it back to Mossberg and they replaced the barrel and tube and it was fine. Fine until my 24" non ported custom order barrel came in. Guess what? It scored the mag tube too. Now it had other issues and the gun went back again. Mossberg got it running but it still scores the mag tube. It works so I'm just going to shoot the thing. My only concern now is hopefully it will not be a place where lead and fowling build up and are hard to clean off. Customer Service can't not know about this!!! Just look at this forum and the Mossberg Owners Forum and its a problem. I'm glad that mine is working and look forward to blasting away with it.

Just a follow up on my 930 problem... I sent it back to Mossberg at the end of December. It arrived back today. The packing slip/invoice didn't really say anything as to what they did. from what I can tell, they definitely replaced the barrel with a new 24" non ported barrel with fiber optic front and rear sights. Looks like a new factory Mag tube but it had some scratches on it so I'm not sure what all that is about. It was shipped in a new box with a new manual and goodies, 3 choke tubes (Full, Mod and IC) no turkey choke and a choke tube wrench. Oh, they also put in the little screws on top of the receiver from where I took the rail off. Nice touch! Took it to the range and it ran perfect for the box of 25 that I had on hand. No issues. It patterned point of aim, point of impact so no issues there. So far so good!!! Now while I was waiting for the gun, my new Briley extended mag tube came so now I get to introduce a whole new set of issues trying to get that to run... Anybody use a Briley tube?? :-)