Substance-P
28th August 2008, 21:06
Last weekend I went to a local gun show to trade in a gun that was doing nothing but sitting in the safe. I was interested in getting a subcompact 9mm (similar to an EMP, STI Rouge, or Para PDA). I ended up making a snap decision and trading for a Para PDA in .45. The good: I enjoyed the LDA trigger in the one range outing the Para made it to. The bad: failure to feed on the first round of virtually every magazine (with three different types of factory hardball ammo) 18 failures out of 25 magazines, the black finish seemed to want to come off (flaked off of interior, wore off of slide serrations, scratch on top of slide [no idea how that happened]), needed Para proprietary magazines to fit flush (I had been told at the gun show that they were officer magazines).
So after my initial range outing, I knew the Para was not for me. I tried to talk with someone at Para customer service to see what their tips were for straightening out my problem (e.g. thorough cleaning, different magazines, polish ramp, etc), leaving a message with someone for a call back; however, I never heard back. To be honest, that was good thing because even if I could have gotten the FTF straightened out (which likely would not have been too hard), I was turned off by the seemingly immediate wear on the gun. Also, George Wedge with Para had been great in responding to an email I sent right after getting the PDA with some basic questions. My guess is that the message I left just got lost in the shuffle.
Yesterday, I packed up the Para and hit the road to go to the four gun shops by me. I almost traded the Para on a 9mm EMP, but that shop only wanted to give me $500 for the Para and wanted an additional $550 for the EMP. [Funny side story: This store had two EMPS. With one of them you had to hold down the mag release to get it to reload a magazine. The other worked fine, but one was definitely not right. I showed the person behind the counter, he tried it as well and confirmed it was defective...so he remedied the problem by saying "oh well, every gun is different you know" and but the defective gun back on display].
So today I went back out to the only shop in town that gives good money on trades. Having just been in the day before, I knew there wasn't really anything in there that I was that excited about, but I just figured I could find something. Then I saw it. The gun had come in yesterday after I left. A stainless/nickel lightweight colt defender. Almost the exact same size as the Para (length looked identical), with a little bit longer grip (just enough to take standard officer magazines flushly) and in a finish that won't wear so badly. With the factory houge grips, this thing feels GREAT! Of course, its not a 9mm like I had been looking for, but a beautiful Colt is always worth bringing home. (By the way, with the trade value this guy gave me, I only had to give $50...not the $550 I would have had to give at the other shop to get an EMP).
Here are some pics of the Defender
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefenderinBox.jpg
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefenderLeft.jpg
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefenderRight.jpg
And comparisons next to my Colt Commander Gunsite I picked up a few weeks ago
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefColtGS2.jpg
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefColtGS.jpg
So after my initial range outing, I knew the Para was not for me. I tried to talk with someone at Para customer service to see what their tips were for straightening out my problem (e.g. thorough cleaning, different magazines, polish ramp, etc), leaving a message with someone for a call back; however, I never heard back. To be honest, that was good thing because even if I could have gotten the FTF straightened out (which likely would not have been too hard), I was turned off by the seemingly immediate wear on the gun. Also, George Wedge with Para had been great in responding to an email I sent right after getting the PDA with some basic questions. My guess is that the message I left just got lost in the shuffle.
Yesterday, I packed up the Para and hit the road to go to the four gun shops by me. I almost traded the Para on a 9mm EMP, but that shop only wanted to give me $500 for the Para and wanted an additional $550 for the EMP. [Funny side story: This store had two EMPS. With one of them you had to hold down the mag release to get it to reload a magazine. The other worked fine, but one was definitely not right. I showed the person behind the counter, he tried it as well and confirmed it was defective...so he remedied the problem by saying "oh well, every gun is different you know" and but the defective gun back on display].
So today I went back out to the only shop in town that gives good money on trades. Having just been in the day before, I knew there wasn't really anything in there that I was that excited about, but I just figured I could find something. Then I saw it. The gun had come in yesterday after I left. A stainless/nickel lightweight colt defender. Almost the exact same size as the Para (length looked identical), with a little bit longer grip (just enough to take standard officer magazines flushly) and in a finish that won't wear so badly. With the factory houge grips, this thing feels GREAT! Of course, its not a 9mm like I had been looking for, but a beautiful Colt is always worth bringing home. (By the way, with the trade value this guy gave me, I only had to give $50...not the $550 I would have had to give at the other shop to get an EMP).
Here are some pics of the Defender
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefenderinBox.jpg
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefenderLeft.jpg
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefenderRight.jpg
And comparisons next to my Colt Commander Gunsite I picked up a few weeks ago
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefColtGS2.jpg
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefColtGS.jpg