Para USA now offers its LTC model 1911 in 9mm in addition to .45 ACP. The LTC is an upgraded version of the original Colt-made Commander. (Colt holds the trademark for "Commander"; however, the equivalent rank is lieutenant colonel, thus Para's LTC designation.)

The LTC has a 4.25-inch barrel, matching short slide and aluminum frame. It weighs 28 ounces, compared to the all-steel, full size 1911 at 39 ounces. A Colt Commander weighs 26 ounces. The additional two ounces are due to the LTC's full-length guide rod.

The LTC has nice fixed sights with tritium inserts. And since the sights are dovetailed into the rounded top of the slide, they're windage adjustable. The rear sight is a new Para USA design. It's squared off up front so that one-handed slide manipulation is made easier; you can catch this abrupt edge on a belt or boot. Six diagonal grasping grooves are at the rear of the slide.

The Para USA tactical rear sight has an abrupt front face that allows the shooter to manipulate the slide by catching the face on a belt, table or similar object.

Inside the slide, along with part of the Colt-based Series 80 passive firing pin system, is the Para Power Extractor, which I see as a definite improvement over the original design. The Power Extractor articulates, with its front half pushed inward under spring-driven pressure. This keeps the extractor hook under a constant inward force to positively capture the cartridge case rim.

Historically, extractors of similar design have been chosen by pistolsmiths for custom 1911s that are going to be heavily used in the action shooting sports because these extractors help eliminate one cause of gun malfunctions. Here, Para USA makes it a factory part. (And, no, you can't substitute an original extractor; the extractor channel is larger.)

Another Para USA factory-supplied custom feature is the fully supported and ramped barrel with the feed ramp extending down into the frame. This elongation almost guarantees positive feeding and, I think, surely adds to this sample's reliability in 9mm.

Operating controls are all where they should be. The single-sided thumb safety has an enlarged and grooved ledge for more positive operation. The standard-configuration slide stop is grooved. The magazine catch is checkered, as is the flat mainspring housing. The frontstrap is unadorned.

The magazine well has a slight bevel, and the well-shaped beavertail grip safety rises up far enough to surround the lower part of the skeletonized and rounded hammer. The polymer trigger is of the "long" style, also skeletonized, and has a trigger overtravel screw accessible through the grooved trigger face.

At first, the trigger pull weight was six pounds, but after my extensive shooting of the LTC, it now breaks at a smooth 5.5 pounds.

The LTC uses a full-length guide rod, as mentioned earlier, giving the LTC a slightly muzzle-heavy feel. A 12-pound recoil spring is used in conjunction with a 16-pound mainspring. (Colt specifications, in contrast, call for a 14-pound recoil spring and 23-pound mainspring.) Attractive checkered-wood grip panels complete the picture.

It's a nice gun to shoot and to carry, as I reluctantly discovered--"reluctantly" because I've never been a fan of the genre of shorter and lighter 1911s. I've not found any that will tolerate neglect or, putting this another way, they all require paying fairly strict attention to a scheduled replacement of recoil and magazine springs, for these small guns work only if these parts are at full strength.