Description

In order to reduce international shipping costs, as well as to convey the impression that he didn’t wish to have all the fun himself, John assigned me to shoot and to evaluate some of the many airsoft pistols he has assembled for reviews. John himself received a Para Ordnance P14 airsoft pistol in Greece, directly from Ted Szabo, the president of Para Ordnance. That pistol was manufactured in Japan and is a fully licensed copy, right down to wearing genuine Para Ordnance grip panels.



We also received another P14, from forum sponsor Airsoft Extreme. Because John already had one, he assigned testing of the second pistol to me. The P14 I received is manufactured by KJ Works in Taiwan.

The pistol is finished overall in a matte black that is very close to the matte black on the older Para pistols. In fact, the only major visual differences between this pistol and an early 90’s vintage Para Ordnance P13 are the lightened trigger (stock trigger is solid);



a beavertail grip safety; an ambidextrous thumb safety; and the pseudo Novak-style rear sight (the stock sights were similar to the older Colt combat sights).



It appears to be styled after the older P14 Limited series rather than the more basic P14 series pistols.

The pistol arrived in a Styrofoam box with a cardboard cover. Inside I found the pistol, a box of 100 6mm plastic BBs; a magazine loading tube and pusher stick; a chrome(like) plastic tube; a very small target; and a rudimentary but adequate instruction pamphlet. The instructions take up only ten pages, three of which are exploded isometric views of the barrel and slide assembly; the frame assembly and grips; and the magazine. The instructions are written in English, but text is minimal and each instruction consists of a cartoon panel with a text caption. It is a minimalist approach, but it conveys the information.



The unidentified chrome(like) tube puzzled me for several minutes. It is not mentioned or shown in the instruction pamphlet. Then I noticed that the pistol came out of the box equipped with a barrel that is about ½” (12mm) longer than the slide, which left a bright red tip protruding from the barrel bushing. A quick field strip, which I was pleased to discover proceeds exactly like field stripping a real 1911, led to the happy realization that the chrome tube was a replacement barrel, without the red tip and of the correct length for the slide. I don’t know if I am breaking any laws by not having a red muzzle on this pistol, but I happily reassembled the pistol with the chrome barrel and put the ugly red tube in the box. Now I had something that looked like a real 1911 (well … like a real Para Ordnance double stack 1911, at any rate).

Detailing on this pistol is superb. With the red barrel replaced it looks exactly like the real thing. Everything works like a real 1911, too. It is correct even down to details such as the thumb safety cannot be engaged unless the action is cocked. Racking the slide to cock the action, of course, requires considerably less effort than a real 1911, but the movement is the same. However, I am getting ahead of myself.



The magazine on the left is a real PO magazine, while the one on the right is the Airsoft one. The Airsoft one holds 22-23 BBs, so you can definitely call it a high capacity magazine.

This pistol also has realistic heft. I weighed it on a postage scale and the weight (with magazine) is 32 ounces (900 grams). Para’s web site lists the weight of their current P14 pistols as 40 ounces (1.14 kg). The heaviest part of this pistol is the magazine assembly, which results in a more rearward-biased balance than the real thing, but despite this there is sufficient mass that it feels as if you are holding a real pistol, not a lightweight toy.




The pistol on top is the KJW P14-45, while the one on the bottom is a real P13-45.



To load the pistol, the magazine is removed just as on a real 1911: depress the magazine release button, and the magazine drops out into your hand. The magazine is shaped and contoured exactly like a genuine Para double-stack magazine. Naturally, the details are different. The nose has a small orifice for 6mm BBs, and a hole in the baseplate provides a nozzle for filling the gas chamber. This pistol uses green gas. It isn’t included in the box with the pistol, but Airsoft Extreme thoughtfully sent along two canisters of green gas for the five pistols they supplied for review.

The loading procedure is to first charge the magazine with gas, then load the BBs. Charging is simple. Insert the tip of the gas canister nozzle into the valve on the magazine base plate (being careful to align the nozzle perpendicular to the valve), and press the nozzle against the valve to release the flow of gas. Hold until you no longer hear the hissing of gas transfer. I didn’t bother to use the pellet loader. I found it easy enough to drop a handful of BBs into the palm of one hand, depress the magazine follower, and simply pour the BBs into the loading orifice. Using the magazine loader would probably be beneficial for someone who is shooting a lot, however.

One final note here, the pistol (according to the box) is equipped with a hop-up mechanism, which however is not adjustable.

In the next page, you can read how to disassemble the pistol and our shooting tests results.