Monday, July 07, 2008

Scooped by Uncle!


Yes! It's a fact...Say Uncle scooped me on the Para ARs (which are not really ARs, if an AR is defined by its recoil system).

Here's the just-live link from Para. Here's the specs:
The new Para Tactical Target Rifle with its Direct Impinged Gas System™ (DIGS™) gets you back on target faster than any other rifle of its kind. The recoil spring is over the op-rod so there is no “twang” in your ear as your head rests on the rifle’s stock while the bolt cycles between shots.

Having the recoil system up front over the barrel puts it where it naturally pushes the rifle back down on target instead of up and into your shoulder.

The Tactical Target Rifle’s gas system not only improves target acquisition but it also keeps the chamber area cleaner. The gases that flow through the tube inside the op-rod are expelled through the Manifold Injector System™ (MIS™) in the bolt carrier making it the cleanest running autoloading rifle in the world.

Bailing in and out of a Humvee or MRAP vehicle with a conventional rifle can be slow and awkward but the Para Tactical Target Rifle with its DIGS recoil system gives you the advantage of compactness without having to shorten the barrel and lose velocity.

The Rapid Deployment Stock™ (RDS™) reduces the overall length of the Tactical Target Rifle by almost 10-inches when the stock is folded. The unique 5-position sliding stock means that whether you are 5-foot 4" or 6-foot 4" the Tactical Target Rifle will fit you.
"For the past decade one of my top secret weapons in the competition world has been the Tactical Target Rifle. I have trusted it and used it exclusively for over ten years. Its unique design lets me get on target faster with accuracy and reliability unmatched in any other rifle. And it is just fun to shoot."
- Todd Jarrett, World Champion Shooter and Instructor

Para Tactical Target Rifle Specifications:

Product Code: LTR556
Caliber: 5.56 Nato
Barrel: 16.5 inches Chrome Lined
Twist: 1 in 9 inches
Action: Semi-automatic
Sights: Flip up front sight and fully adjustable flip-up rear sight
Receiver: Flat topped with full length Picatinny Rail
Magazines: 2 – 30-round
Overall Length: Stock Open and Fully Extended – 36 inches
Stock Open and telescoped in – 33 inches
Stock Folded – 26.25 inches
Height: Bottom of pistol grip to top of sites 9.125 inches
Weight: 7.6 pounds
Additional Features: Field strips with no tools
Multiple sling mount points
MSRP: $2,297
Conversion Kits: Coming in 2009, will be kits to convert your conventional AR-15 to the premier Para Tactical Target Rifle.
BTW, Para just signed the final papers on their move into the United States...come October, they'll be safely relocated to Charlotte, NC.

15 comments:

Frank W. James said...

Michael: It's my understanding these guns are from Al Zitta, the original Z-Man. He's crazy, but he builds good stuff and he ALWAYS thinks outside the box.

All The Best,
Frank W. James

Anonymous said...

When I was at the NRA meeting in May I spoke to the Para guys and the Yankee Hill Machine guys about this. Looks like Para tweaked the Al Zitta design just a bit but Zitta's design is the core. Thank the good lord that piston systems (although Para doesn't call it a piston design) are back in vogue!!!

Bonnie said...

Looking forward to having you on the show tomorrow night to talk about this and the Para/Blackwater event! :-)

Anonymous said...

I wonder if there will be free samples handed out?

You know, to help generate a little buzz?

It is my understanding we'll see you there along with some TV crews? I can't wait!

Anonymous said...

Charlotte? Let's get them to move about 240 miles east!

-SayUncle

John Richardson said...

Charlotte? I see a road trip in my future!

John in WNC

Tam said...

"Michael: It's my understanding these guns are from Al Zitta, the original Z-Man."

I was gonna say...

I took one look at those things and thought "But... But... Yankee Hill is selling ZM AR-15s!"

Tam said...

...and, looking at my '08 YHM catalog, I see they're not selling ZM rifles any more.

Para's tradition of innovation that began with the Seeca... er, LDA and continued through the Afte...er, PXT is alive and well in the Z... er, Target Rifle! ;)

I'm sure the guys from Para are reading this so please understand I'm just tweaking your marketing department! I always thought that someday, somebody would bring the ZM rifles to market in buyable quantities and reasonable prices; I think it might well be Para.

Michael Bane said...

I suspect there are no original ideas. Yeah, it's a Z-Man gun, but his piston system is darn good and pretty much debugged.

One of the hardest things for the industry is getting from innovation to production. Generally, the mainstream part of the industry is suspicious of the loony inventor and innovator part of the industry, so too often we've seen really good ideas get lost in the mix.

I subscribe to the Bruce Lee maxim, "absorb what is useful," which, loosely translated, means take whatever works. Manufacturing is a whole other world from one-offs. Companies like Para, whic have the most to gain by innovation, are the "bridge companies" between the innovators and the mainstream.

A good example, to me, is the LDA system, which is indeed the Seecamp concept perfected. I was never crazy about the couple of Seecamp DAs I shot back in the Back When (or the similar GunCraft pivoting trigger conversions), but the LDAs to me are totally slick, which is why I'm now carrying a Carry 9 LDA.

And YES, we will be filming the Para Bloggers Class with TJ, so you guys will get to see all the dogs and ponies. In fact, you'll get to see DOUBLE the d&p, since we'll have a second crew there filming for DRTV. In a couple of brief days, you'll come to despise television. television crews and most of all television "personalities" as we methodically run roughshod over everyone. Todd has on occasion threatened to shoot me if we didn't wrap a scene...

Uncle...west is the OTHER left! Or is that right...

mb

NotClauswitz said...

The hard-core guys in my club who shoot out to 1,000 yards with an AR believe that all the racket up top and forward has a negative effect on accuracy at those ranges, so they don't have a boner for the piston guns or ones with the AK style action - or care much about cleaning them either. They just want X's from 600-yards outward - but that's just High Power jacket-shooters, not knee-pad commandos.

Tam said...

Oh, there's no doubt that DGI is what lets an AR deliver bolt-gun-like accuracy.

At the same time, there's no doubt that it makes the gun ever so slightly less reliable in favor of that last half-MOA.

Jason said...

It's my understanding that the ZM weapon system (and by extension, these Para guns) are NOT piston guns. They still blow crap back into the chamber. They use a shorter bolt carrier and the recoil spring is above it, but there is no piston (unless you count the bolt inside the bolt carrier).

The name even says it: Direct Impingement Gas. That is what Stoner's design is (taken from the Ljungman, I believe).

Tam said...

Ah.

See, I've never been inside a ZM; they're one of those guns that hasn't ever really existed much outside of articles in Guns And Weapons For The King's Men.

For whatever reason, Yankee Hill just didn't seem to be able to crack the mainstream with them, either.

I'm crossing my fingers that Para has better luck. The fact that they have an ad budget certainly can't hurt, because word-of-mouth and the occasional 2-pager in a B&W niche magazine is no way to pimp a two-kilobuck rifle successfully.

NotClauswitz said...

Interesting! As a side note, over at Cap’n Bob & the Damsel she's been having a helluva time with her Warthog.

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