There are many great old military rifles out there, "para" or not.
When someone says "para" military, I instantly think first of folding-stock weapons for the airborne divisions.
In terms of modern manufactured rifles, I still like the M1A, expensive as it is. The model that most suits me (at 5'8") is the M1A Scout rifle. The standard rifle just feels too long and cumbersome. I dislike the muzzle blast of the shorter "Socom" rifles (and the SOCOM II with it's profusion of rails is even heavier).
The M1A is superb as a long distance rifle and I've watched shooters using them at 500, 700 and 1000m with both scopes and iron sights. That's much further than I can ID a target. For someone living and hunting in a rural area, the .308 will take just about anything in North America.
That said, the AR platform may be more suitable as a "first" rifle. Eugene Stoner's brainchild is more flexible and easier to customize than any rifle you could previously buy. For long range shooting barrels are available out to 22" and 24" with flattop receivers to mount optics. For typical use, the 18-20" barreled rifles can still reach out to 500m. The 16" carbine makes a dandy urban/suburban rifle with quick handling. And there is literally a thousand aftermarket products you can use to customize your AR.
Don't like the 5.56mm? You can replace the upper receiver with one in 6.7SPC or (harder to find now) 6.5 Grendel. Remington's 6.7 SPC provides more hitting power out to 500m and better ballistics in between. For Grizzly country, swap out to the .458 SOCOM cartridge.
Older Rifles
I'm with
kraigwy when it comes to long distance work. My Smith-Corona 1903A3 sports a 4-12x variable scope and can be accurate well out to 700m (just not in my hands!
)
A friend has a British Enfield in .303 which I would not want to face. The .303 works well but it's the Enfield's action that allows it to be faster than the 1903 rifle. In the 1960's, Independent India used the Enfield as a model to create a .308 Enfield at the Ishapore arsenal works. The rifle was built to fire .308 NATO ammo and with 147-150 grain FMJ these are good long range shooters (if you can see the small military sights).
The M1 Garand is, of course, a legend. The M1 Carbine is about the lightest rifle I've ever fired, though some call it a long-nosed pistol. For home defense, I'd certainly take the M1 Carbine with a 15 or 30 round magazine full of 110gr soft points.
The older HK 91 and 93 rifles (223 & 308) are excellent weapons, but heavy compared to the AR-15/M-16. FN's FAL likewise is heavy and somewhat unwieldy in urban environments but another proven design.
In terms of a semi-auto that would be my "only" go-to serious-fight rifle, the M1A Scout gets a slight nod over the M1 Garand. And that's only because the magazines are faster to reload than the enbloc clip of the Garand.
If you want a combination light hunting/defense/SHTF rifle, go with the AR-15 platform from Colt, Bushmaster or DPMS. Especially for urban/suburban areas where your likely ranges won't exceed 300m. It's lighter, accurate, ammo is less expensive, supplies and parts are easily available and it can be easily customized to fill multiple roles.
