Para USA TAC S LDA

At the event, I shot ParaUSA’s TAC S LDA in 45ACP. It’s a single stack 45 1911 style pistol with Para’s Light Double Action Trigger:

(pic stolen from Joe because I forgot my camera)

It was also decked out with a set of laser grips from Crimson Trace (more on those later). Now, let me say upfront that I did not go into this thing a fan of the LDA. I had some preconceptions about the trigger and went there expecting to not like it. But that changed.

On the gun, short version is that I liked it. The gun felt good, as most 1911s do. And I was a fan of the trigger. Essentially, the trigger seems to be a slightly longer and smoother version of triggers found on striker fired guns. It was clean, crisp and had a well-defined break. It was distinctively a two stage trigger with a longer first stage (not too long, just longer than the take up on, say, a GLOCK trigger). This was good for accuracy as you can take up the slack prior to firing a round.

I’m going to guess that I probably put about 800 – 1,000 or so rounds of ammo (maybe more, I tried to count but didn’t keep it up) through it this weekend. I never experienced a failure to fire nor a failure to feed. After the first two days of shooting, the slide stop didn’t hold the slide back on the last round for about the last hour of shooting. I cleaned it, and never had it happen after.

The general trend, as discussed by some other bloggers, is that those of us accustomed to shooting GLOCKs liked the trigger. Though I carry a GLOCK, I’m the first to admit that the trigger on a GLOCK is not my favorite. And, as one who carries a GLOCK, I was not a fan of the safety. In fact, I never once engaged the safety on it. I prefer the keep your booger-hook off the bang-switch safety that all guns come with.

Joe reported what he called a bug in the weapon. He and I tried a few times to duplicate that on my weapon and we could not. Also, for those of us used to shooting GLOCKs, it was never an issue as we’re not accustomed to manual safeties and, in my case, didn’t use them. The fix, IMO, for 1911 shooters is not to use the safety. Or Para could just stop putting the safety on them. You don’t need them with a double action trigger, generally.

The gun was plenty accurate and, as evidenced by Todd Jarrett, shot better than I could shoot it. It was reliable and fun to shoot. I plan on using the Para as an alternative carry piece and as the wife’s house gun. I think the all steel pistol had substantially less muzzle flip than my GLOCK 30, which (along with the smoother trigger) would probably make it more pleasant for my wife to shoot.

The pistol we shot came with a fiber optic front sight. I was amazed at how quickly I could acquire the front sight and how quickly I could get back on target using the fiber optic as opposed to the standard white dot I am accustomed to. The fiber optic really draws your eye to it. Also, the rear sight was adjustable. The rear sight was square shaped and I actually scraped myself on it a couple times due to the sharp edges. I asked Kerby from Para what can be done about that and he said that, in the past, they rounded them but people complained that they weren’t traditional sights. Now, they square them and people complain about the sharp edges.

Disassembly was easy (I’ve never disassembled a 1911 before) even though Kevin, while showing me how to do it, launched something about 3 yards through the air. And it was cool having Todd Jarrett clean my gun.

What others are saying about the TAC S LDA:

Robb:

The pistol was definitely more accurate than I was. By far. I watched Jarrett put the bullet in the same hole over and over. The wide groupings I made were my fault and my fault alone.

I don’t know how I’m going to swing it, but I’m buying the pistol. I was comfortable with it, it shot well, and I feel I could use it nicely in IDPA

Armed School Teacher summed it up: I’m selling one my guns and buying that one.

Kevin:

To be honest with you, I was not all that enamored with the idea of the Light Double Action trigger. I normally shoot a Kimber Classic Stainless full-sized Government model 1911, and it has, IMHO, the finest factory trigger I have ever pulled. The idea of a long trigger pull before a 1911 went “BANG!” just didn’t do it for me.

Now that I’ve shot it, I’ve got to say I like it. A lot. I might not use it as a competition pistol, but it has definite attraction as a carry piece.

Sebastian:

The platform itself is reliable, however. A few people had issues with it, mostly people who were used to shooting standard single action 1911s, but I had only one FTF, and it was my fault for fumbling my grip. I also deliberately eschewed oil and cleaning throughout the day to see if it could take it without failing. It did.