I have been wanting to get a new 1911A1 as close as I could to the original and having read as much as I could about the current offerings, I decided to order one from Auto Ordinance. Very close to the original with the exception of the series 80 type firing pin safety. I should have it by next weekend. While at my LGS I noticed another 1911 in his case and took a closer look. It's a Para USA Elite Pro in S.S. I had read that Para had a lot of problems and was being absorbed into Remington. They will probably be involved in making any of their pistol designs under the Remington name in the near future. At any rate this pistol really caught my eye and after fondling it I couldn't resist the price tag. I put a deposit on it and it may take a few weeks to pay for it, but I'm already looking forward to bringing it home. So it was a good Saturday with 2 X .45! One plain Jane and the other with the bells and whistles.
The Auto-Ord looks totally WWII to me! Your pic shows a correct WWII style trigger, but on the AO website they show the wrong trigger. The Para looks like a custom gun - If yours really is as well finished as the one in that pic, it's a winner. Whatever bad Para has done (mostly rough internal parts - Easily fixed), the Warthog proved that they really loved the 1911, and 1911 shooters. If I ever see a Warthog for sale in CA, it'll be mine in two shakes.
I've read of a lot of problems with Para pistols and if it were an LDA I'd have to pass due to parts availability, but as long as it's a 1911 parts can be found if needed. They did use some quality parts on this gun. Ed Brown magwell, Trijicon night sights, EGW HD ejector. Hopefully the rest is as good. The price was easily $300 under the lowest price I've seen elsewhere. They had a $100 rebate going 'til the end of last year , but since then the prices have been coming down. Remington just announced, in the past few days, that Para USA of N. Carolina is being absorbed into the new Huntsville, Alabama Remington factory and they will honor all Para warranty work at their authorized Remington repair facilities. How much those facilities know about working on Para pistols is yet to be seen.
I wish I were younger so I could work at the new factory in Huntsville when it opens. What could be a better job than making firearms?
I spent the last 40 years working in railroad construction. I always thought I'd like a job working in a gun shop. The only down side is I'd probably spend more than I made. Of course you could make a lot of good contacts for hunting and such. I've got 18 months to go if our dear leader doesn't screw it up!
If you have a passion for it, go do it! To me, gunsmithing is an art form that to succeed at, you have to be passionate about. Sure, anybody can 'fix' a gun, but will you take it to a higher level? That is the question.
I've already graduated, back in 1980. I also have a degree in Machine Shop Technology. I'm a journeyman machinist and tool and die. Graduated A/C and Refrigeration Technology. I completed 32 out of 64 credit hours in Mechanical Engineering. Oh, and I hold a general contractors licence for Alabama and Florida. If you have ever heard of the educated idiot, now you know who it is, Lol.
Not what I meant, though I realized you might take it that way... I meant, when are you going to teach ME! Where I work, I barely pass as an educated idiot. Scientists don't think much of engineers... They forget who drives the train And now that you've spilled the beans, are you interested in managing the manufacturing end (in other words, doing the legwork to find a shop that can do the job well, and still leave us some profit) of a small project I am working on, to make a run of Springfield Omega recoil assemblies? I've got a hotshot kid here who is a SolidWorks guru to handle the design.
Do you have any prints and specs. There are several small job shops around. Would you not save money in shipping having your manufacturing done closer to home? Or are wages there upscale?
As far as welding, I'd love to teach you. I've trained countless employees in a manufacturing setting. That's pretty simple tho because they don't have to make any decisions. All that I'd all ready done for them.
I'm sorry SH. You don't have to know anything about metal except dif between ferrous and non ferrous. Its just easier to understand the how, if you have a grasp on the why. Lotsa good welders don't know a lot about metals!
I need to take the guide rod out of the gun and give it to the cad guy, he said he can do the drawings in an hour. If you can get a machine shop here to give you a quote, the price here will be outrageous, and if you pay them 50% up front they will never bother to finish the job. The place that does prototypes for us at work wants $5k just to talk to you.
I don't mind giving it a try. My email is [email protected]. make sure all specs, (material, tolerances, etc) are included.
