Tactical package: Para-Ord's OD-green TAC-S goes good with camo--and with Spyderco's Lum Tanto fixed-blade.

Light Double or single action? Double or single stack? Micro, Commander or full size? In the world of .45s, Para-Ordnance certainly offers a full plate of options. Enough so that if you can't find a model perfectly suited to your individual needs, you just haven't looked hard enough at the company's inventory.

One of the latest Para Ordnance offerings, the TAC-S, is a case in point. It's a Commander-size Light Double Action featuring the company's state-of-the-art Power Extractor, Novak-type three-dot combat sights, single-stack magazine, vestigial LDA hammer and OD-green Para Kote finish for a military look on what may well be the company's premier carry gun.

I'm predisposed to single stacks and found the TAC-S to be extremely comfortable to shoot. A Commander-size platform (and a steel one at that) is about as abbreviated as many 1911 end-users prefer, and I'm certainly not atypical in that regard. I used a pretty representative sample pack of factory ammo, which included Remington and Winchester USA 230-grain FMJ, Black Hills 200-grain SWC, Hornady 200-grain XTP, Remington 230-grain Golden Saber JHP and Taurus 185-grain all-copper JHP.

Functioning was flawless over the course of about 150 rounds--even with the unjacketed 200-grain SWCs. The LDA trigger was very easy to manage--a modest amount of takeup followed by a fairly predictable 51⁄2-pound break.

Accuracy was good across the board. My best five-shot, 25-yard groups were with the 200-grain Hornady XTPs and Remington 230-grain FMJs, both loads running slightly under two inches. Everything else ran between 23⁄4 and four inches. Unfortunately, I suspected the wrong-height front sight had been installed on my particular pistol because the point of impact was considerably below my point of aim--between six and 12 inches depending on the load. A call to Para confirmed that was the case. A shorter front sight, it seemed, is all that stood between by test gun and something approaching perfection.

The TAC-S, to me, makes a lot more sense than a 3-inch-barreled "micro" 1911. CCW holders and plainclothes law enforcement officers might desire a micro, but anyone who plans to do a lot of shooting should probably think twice about scaling down that far. Anyway, the bobbed-hammer, single-stack TAC-S is plenty compact enough as it is.

The OD-green/black TAC-S is an attractive, no-nonsense 1911 variant. It's accurate and dead reliable, and the fact that it features two of Para's premier innovations--namely the Power Extractor and the LDA ignition system--will make it pretty tough to ignore.