[Para Pro Comp 40 Review]

I too recently got a Para Pro Comp 40. I mostly shoot USPSA Production with a Glock 35 (reload to .40 minor), but wanted to get a reasonably priced 1911 in .40 to occasionally compete in Single Stack division. The fit and finish of this Para is excellent. No machine marks or burrs anywhere. No slide rattle from side to side, but not too tight either. I really like the Ion Bond finish on top of the Stainless Slide, Stainless Barrel, and Stainless Frame. However, the trigger pull is HEAVY and rough. Here's a breakdown of the changes I made at home to get this 1911 ready to my liking for competition:

Installed a .250" Diameter Full Length Guide Rod and Plug from EGW, to run flat ISMI 17# recoil spring (feels like a Wolff 14#)

Removed the Series 80 Firing Pin Safety Mechanism (out of frame and slide)

Installed a .065" Metal Filler Plate (from Brownells) in the frame to take up the space occupied by the Series 80 leverage bars

Installed a Wilson Titanium Firing Pin (.065" tip) with a Wolff Heavy Duty Firing Pin Spring

No adjustment necessary on the stock Extractor (EGW Heavy Duty)

Installed a Wilson Bullet Proof Slide Stop

Lightly Polished Barrel Feed Ramp with a very small amount of Jewelers rouge and a Dremel tool with a felt polishing pad

Lightly Polished the top end of the Disconnector, and the bottom face that contacts the back of the trigger

Lightly Polished the top edge of the Sear (using a polishing block used for finger nails)

Lightly Polished the face of Hammer

Lightly Polished the contact points of the Grip Safety arm

Lightly Polished the back face, top and bottom arms of the trigger bow

Installed a Wolff 16# Hammer Spring

Installed a EGW Titanium MSH Cap

Installed TechWell "TGO-IPSC" Magwell (Black), with their Black Diamond G10 Grips

Installed a Wilson SS Extended Mag Release with a slightly reduced weight release spring

Lubed the Rails, Inner part of Bushing, Outer Barrel, and Lugs using "Gun Butter"

Later, I may install a higher quality Sear, Disconnector, and Hammer from either Wilson or Harrison

It now feels like its running on ball bearings. The trigger break is now smooth, crisp and approximately 3.5 lbs. The gun has run flawlessly in practice using "Tripp Corey Mags 10mm", shooting MG 180gr CMJ loaded to 1.180" with a 171 Power Factor. The real test will come when I shoot it in an actual match. I may wait to get this Para in match until after the Area 6 match in April. Overall, and so far, I'm very pleased with the Para Pro Comp 40. Also, the adjustable rear sight and fiber optic front have a great "feel" and sight picture. The width of the front sight is a perfect match to the notch on the rear sight, and the fiber diameter is small enough to not "Halo" and distract. If you don't like the Fiber Optic front, Dawson Precision makes a solid Black front sight for a Para, with options for height and width.

Thompson

exactly what I would do if I had one!

[9mm Breech Face]

no...wait. I have a Kimber 9mm and although I dont recall the measurment, I could fit a 40 case into the breechface. Now saying that, the bottom where the round slides up, the area next to the extractor, will not let a 40 case slide up, only a 9mm case, which I do remember is .357 or something like that.

If you look here on the forum, you will find others that have mentioned that Kimber used the same breechface size for both 40 and 9. And while I am not a gunsmith, it seems to me that if only the bottom is tighter to only let a 9mm case up into the breechface and the gun works...no problem, right? Because my gun shoot 9mm alright!

So, by opening up that area to allow a 40 case up into the breechface, a 9mm gun can be made to shoot 40sw.

IMO

[California Legal]

Well does your brother have any magazines that were legal before the 10 round law came into effect? If you legally owned them before 2000 you are good to go. Just go down to the matches and check it out and see what everyone else is doing. Its pretty easy to get into the sport even here in Cali.

how can you tell when the magazine were made? no serial number, no date of mfg. so how can law enforement tell you have illegal magazines?

[Limited Build...... IT HAS BEGUN!]

what mag release to you use with this grip??

[What Does Your Limited Or Limited 10 Look Like?]

cool, thanks

[What Does Your Limited Or Limited 10 Look Like?]

keep us posted eith your discoveries! one other thought, EGW does sell comp blanks along with the adapter you got from them. but I guess any gunsmith can make one from a chuck of scrape aluminum)

thanks

[What Does Your Limited Or Limited 10 Look Like?]

thanks for that last post. when you mean AL, you are talking about the aluminum comp, correct? question about the barrel being proud, was that done so that the gases would not erode or wear away from the front face aluminum?

thanks

there could be more interest in this concept, since it was debated last year on the forum, when it was announced that rules in Limited were being lifted. there was alot of talk about a "solid comped" Limited gun.

sooooo, more photos would be great!!!!!

[What Does Your Limited Or Limited 10 Look Like?]

ah1356 why did you use a bull barrel to turn down? could you not have use a straight classic barrel?

thanks

[buffer spring question? Not locking back BCG....]

16" mid length with rifle buffer and JP buffer spring. BCG is full weight. Ammo chronos at 3000 fps. Does not lock back with empty magazine and will not manual lock back when pulling the handle back.

I can see through the ejection port that the BCG is not going back far enough for the latch to catch on the front of the carrier.

Could the spring be too long?

Am not too concern about the last round not lock back, new magazines could fit that but pulling back the handle and seeing the carrier not going back enough does concern me.

Any ideas.

thanks

[SVI Pistol Prices]

I'm sure they are nice but....

[Single Stack Photo Thread]

not that it matters, its a beautiful gun but what caliber???

thanks

[S&W Performance Center 1911s]

Les Baer Premier II. has everything you need, no junk parts on it. holds its resale value.

[glue/locite on barrel extenstion?]

Based on the title of the thread, was hoping you were asking about locktite on barrel extension/upper receiver interface, which some folks advocate, but NOT on barrel nut. The gas tube, if using a mil spec barrel nut, makes this unnecessary.

Mark

yes that is correct not on the barrel nut threads but on the extension.

any locite?

thanks

[glue/locite on barrel extenstion?]

should I use glue or locite when installing the barrel nut back on???

thanks

[Dillon 1050 - loading .223 - 1 step possible?]

^{post #2}

[Dillon 1050 - loading .223 - 1 step possible?]

exactly like Chrills 1994 said, you dont have to trim everytime, only when needed.

[Dillon 1050 - loading .223 - 1 step possible?]

there is alot of posts of this topic. I did read everything I could on this forum about loading .223. I have a 1050, bought a RT trimmer and tried a setup like you describe.

what I came to the conclusion (for me), without going into a long story of the steps I did. I finally do it this way and it works well. and since you have two loaders 1050/650, you can easily do the first part on the 650.

on a rockchucker with lubed brass:

1. decapping (using a Lee 40SW die) it only decaps

2. FL /trim with the RT trimmer

3. since the RT trimmer only FL and reduceds the neck smaller than you want, about .009's smaller than you need,

4. I run all the brass again using only the FL die, screwed down enough, so that ONLY the expander plug runs through the necks to reopen the brass to about .222. Thats enough neck tension to hold the bullet, which is about .224.

You can determine the tension by reduce the size of the expander plug on a drill, using a file and sandpaper. Measure first see where you are at on the expander.

.

Tumble

Then run load on the 1050:

1. swage

2. prime

3. load powder

4. seat bullet

thats it!! rounds really dont need the crimp but if you like to crimp, then on the last stage add the crimping die. but really not needed.

no tumbling needed either, since your not handling lubed brass or shavings on the brass, when loading on the 1050.

I don't shoot thousands and thousands of 223 a year but you would be surprise how quickly you can do six to eight hundred rounds on the Rockchucker before going to the 1050.

if your doing more brass, doing this way in your spare time before loading on the 1050 is not a big deal.

hope this helps

with this method I can get sub half MOA @ 100yds.

[Novsake 16" barrel with rifle length gas system?]

just when I thought mid length was the ticket, now comes out intermediate gas length barrels!!

[Novsake 16" barrel with rifle length gas system?]

what gas tube would you use for intermediate length? does anyone make one???

[Novsake 16" barrel with rifle length gas system?]

Has anyone used a 16" with a rifle gas system??? Is a rifle 18" barrel w/ rifle gas preferred over a 16" w/rifle gas system??

thanks

[dillon powder measurer returns slaming...1050]

mine is like the last photo with the cotter key. No I would say there is medium pressure on the spring. I was loading 223 with H335 powder. One thing I did notice was the square cube that rides in the slot for the powder measure. I was sort of...angle in the corners so I replaced it.

Also on mine since it so old, in the last photo, the longer slot where the rod rides on, had a rough surface with bumps. So I sanded it down and now I grease that whole area where the rods moves in.

I have switch to loading 45 and will see if I get the same slamming effect.

thanks

[dillon powder measurer returns slaming...1050]

has anyone experience the powder measurer bar slamming back after the pouring powder into the case? It seems as though the bar get stuck after the downstroke on a 1050 and returns in a slamming motion.

Does not happen everytime on the downstroke only on occasion. What can be causing this????

thanks

[gas leaking from end of gas tube?]

I removed the BCG and I can see the exhaust inside of the chamber and up along the wall of the receiver escaping through the gas tube hole. The end of the gas tube is shinny clean about a 1/4 inch, the rest of the area is covered with soot. That tells me that gas is escaping from the chamber, right???

Could it be that my handloads, I bumped the shoulder too far down, in an effort to ensure that they chamber and extract without getting stuck?????

The loaded rounds fit the Dillon gauge and do not fall below the lower limits. About even or maybe slightly below.

thanks

[gas leaking from end of gas tube?]

just got back from the range and the ran but after 50 or so rounds the bolt is not stripping the next round. I can hand cycle but not shot after shot.

When I remove the magazine, I can see signs of gas on the top rounds. I can also see between the receiver and handguard the gas tube is black from soot. there is no gas leak from the gas block, only from the area I mentioned.

So, what should I look for when I dismantle the upper?

thanks

[barrel nut installation]

When tightening the mil-spec barrel nut, if it does spoke does not clear for pathway for the gas tube, do I loose the nut, file off the spoke that is the way or use barrel shims???

What would be the correct method???

thanks