Update on The ParaUSA Weekend with Todd Jarrett

Travel arrangements are complete and I am good to go. I am very thankful for all of you who voted for me, and who even went so far as to ask their friends to vote for me. The competition was stiff and I am very fortunate to have won this weekend of training with Todd Jarrett. Very fortunate indeed.

For the weekend's training, ParaUSA is providing everything. Guns, ammo, bunks and food. Did I mention ammo? We're talking somewhere near 1500 rounds for the weekend. That is way cool.

We were given the choice of either 9mm or .45ACP for the weekends activities. I, of course, chose the .45ACP.

This is what I get to shoot:

PXT LDA Single Stack Tac-S

That is one nice looking sidearm. The LDA in the model nomenclature stands for "Light Double Action". From the ParaUSA website:

While many people in the industry have tried to create a double-action autoloading pistol, they have always had to struggle against the heavy trigger pull that was required to cock and release the hammer. But it was the genius of Para that finally broke through the old way of thinking. Para refused to accept that a double-action trigger had to be long and heavy, making it hard to hit your target.

Para’s light double-action (LDA) trigger system gives you the smoothest trigger you have ever felt on a double- action handgun of any kind, whether it is a revolver or an autoloader.

The LDA was not invented to replace the single-action trigger on the 1911 pistol. We could have put the LDA trigger into any style of pistol. We consider the ergonomics of the 1911-type pistol to be the best in the world for an autoloading pistol.

For those who must have a hammer-down carry, or just prefer a double-action trigger, we give you the LDA with its natural stroke that is consistent every pull. It is the sweetest trigger you have ever tried!

As you know, my choice of a carry gun is a 1911 type pistol carried in Condition 1. I like the single action trigger and the 1911 frame just fits me. A double action only pistol that also has thumb and grip safety's just seems excessively redundant to me.

That being said, if I were to ever open carry, carrying a pistol that felt and operated like a 1911 but did not have the exposed cocked hammer might be a tad more "socially acceptable".

I am excited about the opportunity to put this pistol through it's paces and see how it holds up.

ParaUSA deserves one heck of a lot of credit for giving this opportunity to bloggers. We are not paid writers for magazines that depend on Para's advertising dollars. Heck, there is at least one blogger on this trip who is decidedly not a fan of ParaUSA firearms. They have no idea how this is going to turn out, yet they have the gumption to give it a try. Good on them.