Para Ordnance Limited - Western Arms
WA's two 'double stacker' 1911 style gun ranges, the Strayer Voigt and Para Ordnances, have recently received updated SCW gas systems, but, whilst there are a few SVI models in different sizes and styles, until now, the only Para in production was the excellent HRT.
However, obviously, someone thought the market needed a more target oriented Para Ordnance and the result is this gun, the Para Ordnance Limited.
This one came to me for review, courtesy of Elite Airsoft.
In the Box
Nothing unusual in the box, with the gun, a bushing wrench, an allen key, some BBs and the usual collection of paperwork.
The box itself is typical WA SCW fare, being plain grey with white text and only a sticker on one end indicating the contents.
First Impressions
For anyone familiar with a Para Ordnance, there is not a lot unusual about the Limited.
If anything, it is rather dull, with black barrel bushing, trigger and controls making it a less interesting gun, visually, than the HRT model.
The Bo-Mar sights make the gun look heavier than any other Para Ordnance I have seen and, despite being adjustable, do not seem much of an improvement over the white dotted Novaks found on the HRT or even the basic 1911 style sights on older Para Ordnance P14-45s.
Careful examination also reveals a hole in the trigger's front face allowing access to a travel adjustment, as seen on SVI models.
If you are new to Para Ordnances, what you have is a fat gripped (to accomodate double stacker magazines on the real gun) 1911 frame, with a strictly single action (you must cock the gun for the first shot). Everything else is very traditional 1911, with a grip safety and traditional 1911 bushing and barrel.
Metal parts include the outer barrel, slide lock, safeties, trigger, bushing and recoil spring plug.
Closer Look
The P14-45 Limited is based upon a full length Para Ordnance P14-45, similar to the HRT gun, which I reviewed recently.
The all black Limited is ONLY available in SCW form and offers a traditional 1911 style gun with the increased magazine capacity and enhanced gas system of WA's other double stacker range, the SV Infinities, along with a more target shooting oriented gun.
The gun features the classic Para look of the swollen bellied (to accommodate the double stacker magazine) 1911.
Up at the front of the gun, the traditional 1911 bushing is present, in plain blakc, and the barrel is the traditional 1911 tube, rather than the bushless setup seen on Infinities. The barrel (including the chamber) and trigger are also black, with only the hammer, in silver, breaking the monotonous black on this gun.
Interestingly, even with a bushing setup, the Limited features a full length recoil spring guide rod, split like an SVI's.
At the back, the grip safety, ambidextrous thumb safety and extended (and chequered) slide lock are painted black.
The trigger is unusual in that it features a travel adjustment, which I have only ever seen on WA SVIs in the past. This allows you to reduce the free travel in the trigger for a very light and fast trigger action, by means of an allen bolt in the trigger's front face. The trigger itself is plain black, with vertical ridges running down its face.
The grips are standard Para fare, in black and bearing the Para Ordnance logo. As with the HRT, but not the older Para Ordnances, the mainspring housing, at the back of the bottom of the grip, is flat with chequering.
The slide on the Limited is the most ornate Para slide I have seen, in stock form, but still not what you would call fancy. It is marked "PARA ORDNANCE" on the left hand side and "P14-45 Limited" on the right.
The frame is hardly abundant with markings, either. On the left the Para Ordnance/WA license script (as seen on all WA Paras) is present just above the trigger, whilst the right just bears "PARA ORDNANCE INC., FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA CANADA".
The slide is also different to the HRT one, with, in addition to the dovetailed front sight, vertical ridges on either side of the front and rear of the slide. These contrast with the diagonal ones, at front and rear, of the HRT and the vertical ones, only on the rear of the Magna R system Para Ordnances.
The magazine base bears the Para Ordnance logo, as does the, black, chamber.
The sights are Bo-Mar rear and dovetailed in front blade. Oddly, for a modern WA, none of the sights are marked with white dots, although there is a school of thought in Practical Pistol shooting that aligning dots is slower than simply matching the top of the front post to the top of the groove on the rear sights.
The rear sights are adjustable for windage and elevation and the front post can be moved left and right in its dovetail.
Shooting Impressions
The Para Ordnance feels more like an SVI to shoot than a Para, to me. The sights sway me in this respect, although there is little internally different between a WA Para Ordnance and SVI, anyway.
As you would expect the gun is comfortable to shoot, although some may find the swollen grip of the Para Ordnance styling too big for small hands or their liking. With the SCW2 double stacking 1911 style magazines, the case for an airsoft Para is less compelling on the grounds of BB capacity.
With a tightbore barrel, you would expect accuracy to be good and, certainly, the Para Ordnance P14-45 Limited produced groupings at 5m at the good end of the scale.
Click on image for bigger version in separate window.
Carrying out my standard 5m/6 round, off hand test, the Limited produced a best 5 grouping of 4.7CM (under 2 inches), using Abbey Ultra gas. I have achieved much better groupings with Paras before, but the grouping was very consistent around the target centre and under 2 inches is pretty good accuracy at this range. The Para Ltd seems to kick harder than other Para Ordnances I have tested, too, although I suspect I just didn't really get on with the sights.
Accuracy with 134a was pretty disappointing, with 3 groups of 2, but at 16C it was probably a little too cool to expect good results
Over 10 shots, the Para Ordance Limited averaged 245 fps (using 134a gas) indoors (at 21C), probably a little over 300fps with Ultra/Propane.
| Shot | FPS |
| 1 | 247.8 |
| 2 | 248.2 |
| 3 | 247.2 |
| 4 | 248.0 |
| 5 | 247.0 |
| 6 | 244.1 |
| 7 | 246.1 |
| 8 | 243.8 |
| 9 | 242.1 |
| 10 | 241.2 |
Trigger pull was 740g (27.5 Oz), out of the box, which is a medium weight pull for a GBB.
Take Down
Take down of the standard Para Ordnances will be familiar to anyone who has field stripped a 1911, real or airsoft.
With the magazine out, the slide should be moved back until the slide lock can be pushed out of the frame. The slide and barrel can then be slid off of the front of the frame.
The barrel bushing should be rotated 45 degrees anti-clockwise, it can then be removed. The HRT has an unusual, more Infinity like, recoil spring guide, which needs to be pushed towards the rear of the slide to remove it, along with the spring.
The outer barrel and chamber can then be drawn out through the front of the slide.
Conclusions
Overall, I was a little non-plussed by the Para Ordnance Limited.
It performs well enough, but is very plain to look at and I didn't like the sights, either to use or in terms of what they do to the appearance of the Para Ordnance.
Of course, some those are personal views, but I would search out an HRT if you want an SCW Para Ordnance or an SVI if you want a target WA pistol.
Weight : 1,050g
Realism : ****
Quality : *****
Power : ****
Accuracy : ***
Real Steel link at World Guns
Para Ordnance's website
Buy this gun from Elite Airsoft
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