para ordnance warthog

[glock17]

anyone have any experience with the para ordnance warthog? looks like a nice gun. been looking for a compact 1911 and i love that this one holds 10 rds. Have never seen one in person so any info is appreciated.

[karder]

I checked this gun out a few years back when I was looking for a compact carry. I think it is really neat looking and the compact size was appealing. In all honesty though, it is pretty fat, so while it is short, you do have a bit of girth to deal with. It is not a compact many other options on the market, but 10 rounds of .45 is awesome, so you have to make compromises.
I did not get a chance to fire it unfortunately. I had a few people tell me that they had a higher than average FTF rate, so that kind of turned me off to them. Don't let that discourage you though, I did not shoot it myself so I don't know if that is an accurate statement or not and it was a few years back now, so maybe they corrected any earlier problems. I think they look really great so if you get one, be sure to post the range report.

[gfmun]

I had a chance to handle one and I was surprised at how wide/thick it was. I have no idea how they shoot because I was not interested after handling one.


thanks,
George

[longtooth]

with All of the above too.
I have not shot one either but if you are not an experienced shooter you need to think about recoil on a .45 that small. It will bounce pretty good when you shoot it.

[gregthehand]

From a post I made back in 2008. The pistol was a Para Warthog in .45 ACP. The pistol shot great otherwise and I had no problem selling it to someone as it was reliable besides this. If you buy one I would consider removing the firing pin block. Once again it was a reliable accurate pistol, the incident just scared me enough that I wouldn't carry it.

As for recoil it was actually very manageable.

I guess I'll be the first to recount my own reasons why I don't like series 80 1911's at all! This was kind of a scary thing for me to realize and I have actually never spoken about it on here until now. Alot of people don't know it but if you take the rear sight off of a dovetailed series 80 1911 the firing pin block is exposed. I just want to make sure everyone understands that before I tell this story.

Back in 2005 I was still working in law enforcement. One night while trying to detain a guy he tried to fight me and my partner and during the scuffle I fell down on my right side on the concrete interstate. I was in plain clothes and had my 1911 in a Don Hume OWB holster with no thumbstrap. My pistol stayed in it's holster but the side took a dang good whack on the conrete and it marred my holster, my rear dovetail sight and the front of my slide which I had literally paid to have recoated a few weeks before. No big deal. Well a few days (or maybe a week I'm not totally sure) I was cleaning said 1911 and trying to get as much of the scuffs out as I could. The rear sight was just a tad off and I said I was going to have to take it to my gunsmith that day to get it fixed so I could carry it again that night (we were only allowed one duty pistol to qualify and carry with, plus one back-up so just grabbing another 1911 was not an option). Anyway I got done cleaning it and went to perform a function check. The trigger would not pull. I took it apart and put it back together and yet again nothing. It fealt like the safety was on but it was clearely off. I picked up my BUG got in my truck and drove to the gunsmith right then. I told him what had happened (he was sad the nice coating he had put on now looked ugly). He took off my rear sign and reinstalled it (and the firing pin block) correctly and what da ya know? The gun worked just fine. When the sight had moved over just that itty bitty bit it had caught the firing pin block in a bind and put the rest of the trigger action also in a bind. If I had to use my weapon that night after figting the guy, or had I needed it in the week prior it would not have worked and I would probably not have been here to tell this story. Instead all those dang officers who carry Glocks would be saying "I told him he should have gotten a Glock" .

So that is why I dont' carry a series 80 1911. At anytime during a confrontation my pistol could take a good smack and I could be left with a very expensive, very short club. Low chance of happening but it happened to me and scared me good. I had all the firing pin blocks on my series 80s welded shut and I sold that pistol since everytime I looked at it I got a chill up my spine. It scared me that much. You got to think I probably drew that pistol at least once between the fight and when I cleaned it. I could have possibly needed it during the fight, I could have needed it a few days after. What if he had gotten my partners gun? Just too many variables and when it comes to a self defense posture I like to take out as many variables as possible.

Sorry this is a long post but I want to try and convey how this made me feel and how come when it comes to series 80 1911s I just don't play. I know it's a rare occurence that this could happen but guess what? It happened to me and so is the chance you could need to use your weapon! We still prepare anyway.

[glock17]

Thanks for all the info. I currently carry a Glock 27. I also have a pt145 that I sometimes carry. The pt145 is a double stack .45, maybe the warthogs grip is about the same thickness? The pt145 fits my hand perfect, as long as the warthogs grip isn't similar in thickness to the glock 30 I'll be happy. Ive read a few reviews on the warthog, older reviews seem to have more problems than newer ones.I just love the whole concept of a 10rd compact 1911.