Para Ordnance Magazines

[alamogunr]

Not sure what I'm trying to accomplish here except this entire forum doesn't seem to be overly active. As owner of 3 Para's(P13, P12 TacFour), I thought that some might be interested that I've been able to acquire several Para P13 and P12 magazines from CDNN over the last few months.

The only problem was that some had weak springs which I replaced with Wolff springs. I first recognized this problem when I bought the TacFour. It came with a coupon for additional magazines and all had weak springs. They fed the rounds but would not actuate the slide lock. Somewhat disconcerting to pull on the trigger and nothing happen.

I'll stick around for awhile to see if anything happens.

John
W.TN

[Hawkmoon]

That's good news. Are these Para brand magazines, or are they Mec-Gar or some other aftermarket brand? Are they full capacity, or 10-round?

[alamogunr]

They are full capacity and came in a fitted plastic bag with a Para-Ordinance insert. Each magazine has the concentric circle w/P emblem on the base plate. As a further ID, the insert has a bar code sticker on the back with the following:
PARM5
P13 45 13RD PARAORDNAN
FACTORY MAG
MAGOH/PAR

The P12 magazines have the same info except P12 45 12RD

I'm not informed enough to know if all that indicates an original Para brand magazine or "some other aftermarket brand".

I've bought at least a half dozen P12 magazines and several more than that of the P13 since they also fit the TacFour. Those that didn't actuate the slide lock, I replaced the spring w/Wolff springs. They all worked when at least each functioned with a full mag.

[warp2diesel]

CDNN liquidates excess & old stock, they got a lot of it from Remington who bought out Para USA years ago. The Para P-12 & P-13 mags I got were all marked Pre-Ban. I am building both a P-13 from a Sarco casting and a P-10 less than 80% sold as a P-13 casting (Sarco does not know what they have). The P-12 mags will be used in the P-10.

[alamogunr]

I think when I was looking thru the magazines that I saw some for the P10 Warthog. I'm leery of 1911's with barrels shorter than 4". That is why I never bit on a Warthog when Para was in business.

[alamogunr]

I just looked at the CDNN site. They still have the P12, P13 and P10 magazines. I looked at the P10's(https://www.cdnnsports.com/magazines...13rd-para.html). They look like P13's with a spacer added to cover the extended portion of the magazine the sticks out below the Warthog grip.

[Hawkmoon]

I just looked at the CDNN site. They still have the P12, P13 and P10 magazines. I looked at the P10's(https://www.cdnnsports.com/magazines...13rd-para.html). They look like P13's with a spacer added to cover the extended portion of the magazine the sticks out below the Warthog grip.

That's exactly what they are.

[alamogunr]

I stated in Post #2 that these are full capacity. I apparently did not check all of them. I have been verifying that springs are adequate for all the new magazines I bought from CDNN using dummy rounds. I have been loading each to full capacity. I just found one P12 magazine, still in the original plastic bag, that would only accept 9 rounds(normally 11 rounds).

I disassembled the magazine and found a plastic device restrained by two small tabs that fit in mating holes in the magazine body. This restricted the capacity to 9 rounds. The normal bottom plate covered the insert. I have not reassembled the magazine yet but assume that leaving out the small plastic part will enable me to put in the 2 additional rounds. This is the only magazine out of 8 that has this restriction. I can only assume that it was in the last of 2 orders I made. It may be also that CDNN left these to last.

[Hawkmoon]

I disassembled the magazine and found a plastic device restrained by two small tabs that fit in mating holes in the magazine body. This restricted the capacity to 9 rounds.

Are you referring to the magazine base itself, or to an insert?

All Para-Ordnance and ParaUSA 10-round magazines have plastic bases that snap into a 10-round magazine tube. The capacity is limited by the length of the tube and the spring, which are the same for all pistols. The plastic base varies in height depending on whether it's for a P12.45, P13,45, or P14.45.

Like this: https://d1llupjagpjgxp.cloudfront.ne...i81s7mrp2a.jpg

If this device is an internal part, in addition to the base, spring, and follower, I'd love to see a photo of it because I've never seen a Para magazine with holes in it to accept anything. Are you certain that it's a Para brand magazine, not something from one of the aftermarket makers?

[alamogunr]

OK! I need to go a little further. I didn't notice that the magazine that contained the insert did not have the small flanges the retain the the bottom plate. The flanges are on the insert. This prevents the magazine from being converted back to a 11round magazine. I guess I will try to reassemble the magazine and include the insert. Better a 9 round magazine than no magazine. Will work fine at the range.

EDIT: i didn't see Hawkmoon's post when I posted the above. I will try to post a picture but have never done so before. Not sure how that will turn out. Is there a post on how to do pictures here?