Para Ordananace Warthog .45ACP

[The One]

Has anyone here had any experience with the Warthog, if so please give some insight on weather this gun is worth the money for what it is.

[beebopcop]

Has anyone here had any experience with the Warthog, if so please give some insight on weather this gun is worth the money for what it is.

I have not owned a Warthog but I have owned 3 Paraordinances and they are great. All the ones that I have owned are top quality and the trigger pull has always been very good. Two of the ones that I have owned I carried on duty. I would easily equate them to a Kimber.
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[Fawkinscratch]

Para's are great guns! However the LDA and the DA is a solution for a problem that never existed. The Single stack, single action 1911 is the all around best choice in my HO. I have a Kahr P9, and the size makes it want to jump out of my hand, So I am thinking about how reaction time for the Warthog .45 ACP would be lacking for the follow up shot/s.

[Colt45guy]

I'll be the voice of dissent here. Para Ordnance is one of the few manufacturers that I absolutely REFUSE to purchase from again. I only have experience with one sample, but that was more than enough for me.

**For the record, I'm a DIY guy, and I've made some money as a part time gunsmith. I have owned, built and shot 1911s almost exclusively since about 1988, so I could have very easily take care of any of the usual, minor problems myself. But since the warranty is void if I start tinkering on it, I decided to let Para handle the first little problem....just in case I ran into major problems later--unfortunately, Para Ordnance's warranty department proved to be the biggest problem...here's what happened with my brand new S13 45 Limited back in 2003:


Within the first 50 rounds, the extractor broke. I called them, and was told to send the whole pistol back, not just the slide.....on my dime--"but don't worry, you'll be reimbursed." (OK, that's fair.) I drive an hour to the FedEx hub, pay $55 to overnight the pistol, and off it goes.


3 MONTHS LATER, I get my S13 back. Extractor has been replaced, and my shiny new pistol has an idiot scratch on the frame. (I have several 1911s, and NOT ONE of them has an idiot scratch)

The extractor has been replaced, but not fit to my pistol--it hangs over the back of the slide by 1/16". I decided to shoot it to see if it works. The extractor wasn't fit, and it hasn't been tuned either.....Failure to return to battery on every shot--waaaayyy too much tension.

I called to see what they plan to do about it. They tell me to send it back---on my dime again. Since I haven't been reimbursed for the shipping for last time, I ask about sending me a call tag. They refuse and hang up.

Subsequent calls to various supervisors are met with ever increasing resistance--accusations of shooting steel cased ammo, overpowered handloads, and total denial of the idiot scratch are made......I know that the only ammo this gun has seen is WWB and Fiocci. I know that the only scratch on this gun that I put there is on the Bomar windage adjustment screw. I've spent several hours on the phone, and I'm not getting anywhere.

At this point, I decide that if I want to shoot this pistol sometime this calender year, I'm on my own.

Fortunately, I know what I'm doing and I enjoy tinkering---the money is already spent, and Para Ordnance has already screwed up the gun twice--once being made, and once being 'repaired'.....no point in giving them another chance to screw up.

Instead of just gutting the pistol and replacing everything with Cylinder & Slide parts all at once, I decided to leave as many of the original parts in the gun as I could--just to see where it would fail next....and here's what happened in the following few months--approximately 2500 rounds total:

Magazines: weak springs. Many failures to feed until they were replaced with Wolff +5% springs.

The right side safety lever broke on the 217th round.

The hammer broke on the 438th round.

The front sight flew off on the 478th round.

The disconnector broke on the 612th round. (**I had never seen a disconnector break until then, and I haven't seen one break since)

The rear sight shot loose somewhere around the 1000 round mark.....it wasn't Loctite'd. (caveat: it's common for drift adjustable sights to be left loose from the factory so you can more easily tune it to your liking....but since these sights were adjustable, it SHOULD have been properly installed.)

I stopped counting rounds at the 1000 round mark. I figured that the problems were worked out by now......not quite.

Second extractor breaks. (the one that was replaced at the factory)

While replacing the extractor, I learned that Series 80 style firing pin block wasn't tuned properly from the factory. The firing pin block plunger was getting chewed by the firing pin, and it's a miracle that I wasn't getting any failure to fire malfunctions.


At this point, I gutted the pistol and installed quality parts. Nothing original remained but the slide, frame, barrel, and rear sight.


I found some "problems" that necessarily didn't hurt the function of the gun, but they were definitely not things I expected to see on a pistol that cost almost $1000.

Cast frame. Not a huge deal when it's done properly. This one wasn't. My S13 frame had little bubbles all through it. You could see them on the surface--very slight cosmetic blemishes that I didn't worry about when I bought the gun. Unfortunately, when I checkered the front strap, I found that they were throughout the metal.

Several plastic parts: Front sight, mainspring housing, and trigger. One of the things I like about 1911s is that they aren't plastic. **I'm not a plastic hater--I own a Glock, and it's a fine pistol.....I just expected certain things.

I gave 'em a chance.....I wasn't impressed with their product, or their warranty department. Glad to hear that others have had better luck, but after my experience with them, I rank PO no better than Charles Daly---pretty guns, but I won't trust one enough to put in my holster ever again.



**my opinion only--Your mileage may vary......but I'd recommend a Springfield over a Para any day. They share some common problems--namely the MIM parts, but Springfield has a No Questions Lifetime Warranty that they actually honor.



ETA: I still haven't been reimbursed for the shipping.

[Fawkinscratch]

[I gave 'em a chance.....I wasn't impressed with their product, or their warranty department. Glad to hear that others have had better luck, but after my experience with them, I rank PO no better than Charles Daly---pretty guns, but I won't trust one enough to put in my holster ever again.



**my opinion only--Your mileage may vary......but I'd recommend a Springfield over a Para any day. They share some common problems--namely the MIM parts, but Springfield has a No Questions Lifetime Warranty that they actually honor.



ETA: I still haven't been reimbursed for the shipping.[/QUOTE]


I'm sold. I am always in the market for a new 1911, I was thinking about trying out the taurus PT1911. I KNOW you always get what you pay for, but there is another case where I got an amazing deal on a basic no frills government model. The Rock Island Armory 1911..hands down the best bang for the buck in a BASIC NO FRILLS Government model.

[Colt45guy]

I'm sold. I am always in the market for a new 1911, I was thinking about trying out the taurus PT1911. I KNOW you always get what you pay for, but there is another case where I got an amazing deal on a basic no frills government model. The Rock Island Armory 1911..hands down the best bang for the buck in a BASIC NO FRILLS Government model.

The RIA has quite a following, and deservedly so. They make one of the best products to ever come out of the Philippines. I've shot a handful, done a few trigger jobs, and installed parts on a few of 'em. I haven't come across any out of spec frame holes or dimensional abberations yet--that's something that Daly never got right, and unless I'm very mistaken, they were made in the same factory for awhile!

The 'You get what you pay for' theory definitely gets tested when comparing Para and RIA......maybe this is the proverbial exception that proves the rule?



The PT1911 isn't a bad choice IMO......but know that their warranty department has a reputation eerily similar to Para Ord's. If you're unlucky enough to get a bad one, you might be in for some frustration. That being said, I was very pleased with my M85 and PT99. The one time I used their warranty service, I was satisfied with the outcome. (new slide for the PT99--cracked at the ejection port.....same problem the M9/92F had)

[Morguns1Cam]

Dont own a Para, shot a few, wasnt very impressed, it may be an ok gun but I think saying its comparable to a Kimber is a reach. I like 1911's, dont particularly like the triggers on DA/SA's although I have a Ruger and a Beretta that are DA/SA. and they're both excellent weapons. There are reasons that the 1911 design has stood the test of time, its damn hard to beat! I have a Kimber in.45 and a Colt in 10mm, A better handgun Ive yet to find. Everyone has his or her own favorites, that's why they make so many different flavors.
Cam

[The One]

Okay I know this has been here a while but I have decided to go to the Kimber custom II in 45acp looked around shot quite a few different pistols and like this one the best for my price range.