Wow, I am the biggest poser ever, lol! First, I'd like to make it clear I was not on TF 1-08, I have never been to Afghanistan, have I ever been deployed overseas, nor do I want to appear as if I'm a CF vet with experience outside of my in-Canada reservist life. I haven't been in the CF very long, so I was a bit hesitant to get one of these for the longest time, but a deal popped up on CGN and the price wasn't horrible so I figured why the hell not. I'd get it as a commemorative firearm, sort of like my Colt Canada SA20.
I first heard about these years ago when googling military discount (like the cheap bastard that I am) and stumbled on these 1911s. Para Ordinance PXT 745 Kandahar TF 1-08 Canadian Forces edition. If you google them now, there are hardly any images of them, or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places. Anyway, I'd just gotten my RPAL and been in the CF as a reservist for only a few months. At the time, I could barely afford a Norinco 1911, and besides, I'd apparently missed the boat on these as they were no longer in production and I wasn't even sure I qualified for one, just by being in the military.
Actually, I still know very little about these pistols other than it might have been possible for members to acquire them for $750CAD? I don't know what the criteria was, whether you had to just be in the CF, or you had to have been deployed to get one, or if these were available to the general public and available to members for a CF discount. I do know one thing, they are limited, and of what few were made, there appeared to be a lot of complaints. regarding malfunctions and quality control. That may have changed, and Para Ordinance may have even fixed all the issues, but like anything else in the firearms business, folks will always remember if a company screwed up.
So, why did I get one after all the ugly stuff I heard about them? Well, most of the bad stuff I read about was related to the hi-capa version (double stack 1911). If I thought there was barely any info on the CF edition Paras, there was even less information regarding a single-stack version. The only image I found of a single stack was here:
https://www.1911addicts.com/threads/what-was-your-first-1911.16413/page-10
The pistol came in a pretty massive case, the biggest out of all my pistols.
As you can sort of see, the pistol was previously enjoyed, but the previous owner seemed like a pretty cool guy and though the pistol is used and has some history marks, it wasn't completely abused, and thankfully, no idiot scratch, lol! Like any used tool, it came with some character, and I won't be afraid to take her out and shoot as it is not much of a safe queen the way it is.
Before I looked at the pistol, I took a quick glance at the shiny magazines that came with it. Mine came with two, but I understand that if you jumped on these early when the first came out, some came with 5 magazines.
A simple base plate with the Para logo on it.
The first thing I played with was the follower and noticed it tilted.
I'm not sure I like this and have no idea if it will affect performance. To the best of my recollection, my other mags (Remington R1 mags, Wilson Combat mags, Springfield and Dlask mags) all are sort of designed with an anti-tilt follower.
One of my Dlask mags for comparison,
Something else about the Para mags. With an empty mag inserted and the slide locked back, I found hitting the slide release was difficult to send the slide forward. I tried with my Dlask mag (all under control of course), the slide was able to go forward with an empty mag after hitting the slide release. Is this important? I have no idea, just an observation.
The Para has a nice rail for a light...more on this later. The trigger is polymer, and supposedly self-lubricating. It had a funny feel to it though, as if the reset had a slight step to it before completely resetting. I will have to see if this is the case after I clean the pistol and send a few rounds through it. It may not even be an issue, but I'd never noticed this with my Remington 1911s.
Detail of the TF 1-08 markings.
Para decided to go with a curved main spring housing. I'm not really sure what the reasoning is for this, but for me personally, I am not a fan of the curved MSH and prefer a straight one. Since this pistol is very used and likely has little collector value, I may swap this out for a straight one. A polymer one from Colt only runs about $10 if I recall correctly.
The Trijicon night sights still have plenty of glow left in them, though not evident in this photo.
The slight to frame fit was nice and tight, about on par with my Remingtons.
A shot of the maple leaf, though I'm not sure this pistol was made in Canada as it says Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Another interesting feature is the full-length recoil spring guide. Most of my other 1911s do not have a full length guide.
The feed ramp appears to be polished and smooth. We'll know for sure when I take her out to the range.
The barrel bushing is a nice fit to barrel and the slide.
Despite being a little rough around the edges on the outside, the inside seemed fairly clean and well take care of.
This pistol came with Pearce grips. They had a rubbery feel like Hogue grips and looked like.....well, someone else's grips for lack of better words. There wasn't anything wrong with them really, but I had a spare set of Magpul 1911 grips laying around so I threw them on. I may swap them out with a pair of VZ Operator II grips. A set of those came on my R1 Carry and I like them a lot.
I tried mounting one of my lights on the rail, but it wasn't a perfect fit. I'm going to have to play around a bit to find the best fit as there are several inserts that came with the light for various pistols.
My 1911 family. So far, it's not as bad as some others. I have seen some people positively addicted to all things 1911 and my little collection pales in comparison. That being said, I have 4 more 1911s than I originally planned when I first got into firearms.
I'm really not sure why I have 8 pistols.....but then again, why to men collect man-crap? Who knows, lol!
No more pistols......said no one, ever, lol!
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