Are my expectations too high?

[The Shooters Apprentice]

It seems like the last few years, any of the newer guns I have bought I have been disappointed with, having to send several back to the factory. 

Here is todays example. now this is not a new gun, but a newer used gun and I have had this one for awhile, but don't really shoot it that much, mainly because this issue with it really just bothers me, even though it is a very accurate shooter.

The gun is question is a early 2010s PARA USA Expert model 1911 in 45 ACP. I did buy this gun used, and it had a ugly set of hogue finger groove grips on it that I swapped out for a set of checkered double diamond walnut grips. I also did a series 80 delete on it, and swapped out the plastic trigger and main spring housing with aluminum ones. Overall the pistol is s pretty decent shooter grade 1911 and pretty danged accurate.


First Day Home


Group fired at I believe 25 yards. I had a set of extra Ruger rubber grips on it for a bit.

Anyway, the issue with this gun is that the beavertail grip safety is very poorly fit to the gun, and it bothers the crap out of me. I'm not sure how well this will show up in photos, but the bottom of the radius probably has 1/16 of a inch or better protruding past the edge of the frame.

Now sure, I could refit this safety or a new one, but that would require filing and blending to do it right, in which case I will have to have the gun refinished, and then I'm investing more money into something that shouldn't have been a issue in the first place in my opinion. And of course, in this example PARA doesn't exist anymore so I can't just sent the gun back to have the issue corrected.



Anyway, these is my millennial rant for the day. Maybe I'm just too picky.

As a long-time fan of Smith and Wesson revolvers (carried one for 30+ years), I was seriously disappointed in the new 637 I bought for my wife last year. The two-stage trigger is terrible, and I hate the built-in lock. My wife refuses to carry it after shooting it a couple of times. Guess I'm getting old and crotchety.

As a long-time fan of Smith and Wesson revolvers (carried one for 30+ years), I was seriously disappointed in the new 637 I bought for my wife last year. The two-stage trigger is terrible, and I hate the built-in lock. My wife refuses to carry it after shooting it a couple of times. Guess I'm getting old and crotchety.

My wife hates, really hates shooting the 442 with 38spl wadcutters
she really likes shooting the 632 UC in 32 H&R magnum 

https://www.gunsamerica.com/digest/lipse...-breakdown

[The Shooters Apprentice]

My wife carries a newer 642, but she doesn’t really shoot it.

My wife still carries the Walther PPK/S stainless I gave her for our first anniversary in 1987.

Terry

My wife still carries the Walther PPK/S stainless I gave her for our first anniversary in 1987.

Terry

That’s what the cop shots himself with when I worked in the ER, it was his wife’s and he was cleaning it 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

thru and thru his calf, walked in, not bleeding or even limping 

I cleans it, had x rays & he got antibiotics & walked out without any pain meds

[The Shooters Apprentice]

My wife still carries the Walther PPK/S stainless I gave her for our first anniversary in 1987.

Terry

That’s what the cop shots himself with when I worked in the ER, it was his wife’s and he was cleaning it 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

thru and thru his calf, walked in, not bleeding or even limping 

I cleans it, had x rays & he got antibiotics & walked out without any pain meds

Heh…I guess I need to tell the story of when I got shot….

My wife still carries the Walther PPK/S stainless I gave her for our first anniversary in 1987.

Terry

That’s what the cop shots himself with when I worked in the ER, it was his wife’s and he was cleaning it 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

thru and thru his calf, walked in, not bleeding or even limping 

I cleans it, had x rays & he got antibiotics & walked out without any pain meds

Heh…I guess I need to tell the story of when I got shot….

My wife is a better shot than that. She puts the holes where they need to be.

Terry

Yeah, your expectations are too high. They all get the drop in parts and really that is why there is a cottage industry built on the 1911 and dozens of parts manufacturers in business making only 1911 parts that need to be fitted and the tools to do the fitting. Not to mention about 5,000 gunsmiths of varying skill levels who have hung out a shingle to do those same things. I mean you can't expect a company that uses plastic for the hammer spring housing to pay someone $50 an hour to fit the grip safety. Hell, I would bet they don't even pay someone to actually file the grip safety lever to fit the trigger bow. They just make the parts, or more likely spec the parts from other manufacturers, to work without hand fitting 99% of the time.

I played with a lot of the early Para guns and they weren't any great masterpieces of hand fitting and I haven't seen a single gun manufacturer in history say, "You know, we don't spend enough money on hand fitting our guns, we need to stop churning them out and really spend more time on making them perfect". Sure there are companies that do that from the start, but none that ever start as mass producers and decide to hand fit their guns.