Although the prefix “para” is often taken to mean “related to,” it also can be construed as “beyond.” That second sense more appropriately characterizes the firearm company that today is based in Charlotte, N.C., and is known as Para USA, but that only 25 years ago was an upstart in an Ontario, Canada, suburb making a single, unique, non-firearm product. Para-Ordnance, as it was then known, was built on a partnership between two friends and on the idea that unique, innovative products would capture the imagination of shooters looking for something different. While its first foray into things that shoot was less than commercially successful, it nonetheless established the founders’ talents for combining innovative design with compelling marketing. By the second time around, that formula proved to be dead-on and aimed at no less a target than the reinvention of the greatest firearm in its category.

Reinventing A Masterpiece
The Para-Ordnance product line began inauspiciously enough in 1985 with the development of a non-firearm product called the Model 85 Dye Marking Tactical Machine Pistol. The black polymer “gun” bore a striking resemblance to a real MAC 10, but used light primer charges to shoot gelatinous die capsules without potentially injurious wads. When introduced to the market in 1987 an informative and, for the time, flashy brochure marketed the blowback-operated Model 85 on the strength of its realistic appearance and sound, 440 fps velocity, and even a 1,200-r.p.m. full-automatic firing mode. It suggested that the Model 85 would allow SWAT teams to train in tactics, foresters to mark trees for cutting, and stunt men and actors to create the impression of a real gunfight.

The Model 85 was the brainchild of engineer Ted Szabo, a 20-year veteran moldmaker who appreciated firearms not only for their functionality, but for the freedom they represented—his family had fled their native Hungary to avoid Communist oppression. What’s more, Szabo had a knack for understanding how firearms worked along with the rare talent and determination to see their shortcomings as an opportunity to improve them for greater functionality. Szabo’s partner and friend, Thanos Polyzos, the son of Greek immigrants and an attorney practicing criminal law, had not only an appreciation for firearms but a keen sense of the market forces that drove their sales. He was also comfortable with regulatory paperwork such as that required by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms.

Both men knew that the Model 85—as unique, well-engineered and, doubtless, ahead of its time as it was—simply didn’t have mass market appeal. Fortunately, a confluence of circumstances created an opportunity for far greater success just as Model 85 sales dissipated. The new idea had been in the back of Szabo’s mind since the early 1970s. An admirer of John Browning’s classic M1911 pistol, he felt that its magazine capacity of seven rounds was unnecessarily limited, requiring too many changes—especially during competitions, which were gaining in popularity at the time. In addition, the U.S. military had for several years been considering a replacement for the long-serving M1911 partly for the same reason—that of capacity, or “firepower.” The Army’s selection of the Beretta M9 in 1985 marked the midpoint in the popular gun press’ exploitation of the so-called “Wonder Nine” wars that endlessly debated the merits of a defensive or military pistol containing a dozen or more 9 mm Luger cartridges versus one containing fewer, larger-caliber cartridges.

Most people approached the argument from the vantage point of which existing design merited the greater favor; Szabo came at it from the idea of blending the best attributes of each platform and set about to create a better mousetrap. By the 1988 Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show, he had completed the solution: a higher-capacity, extra-wide M1911-style frame and double-stack magazine kit that could be retrofitted to the slide assembly of an existing single-stack gun. Polyzos confidently announced the gun in a letter to then American Rifleman Technical Editor Pete Dickey, whose breadth of experience made him difficult to impress.

The kit’s features, however, were remarkable. The frame was a precision, light alloy investment casting that featured full-length rails, a thicker section around the slide stop pin hole, a cast-in plunger tube and a beveled magazine well—all of which added nothing to the weight of a complete gun and resulted in only a 1/8-inch thicker grip area including stocks. The magazine was a 13-round double-stack unit made of 0.028-inch-thick heat-treated steel and had an easily removable floorplate for cleaning and maintenance.

The opening words in the American Rifleman “Dope Bag” review of the “Para-Ordnance 13-Shot .45 Kit,” stated, “For two years a prototype of Para-Ordnance’s aluminum frame for Colt’s Government Model pistol has been a focal point at gun shows. It is now on the market. Its great attraction is its 13-shot magazine capacity (plus one in the chamber) that almost doubles the 7+1 capacity of the standard .45 ACP model. The many shooters who prefer .45s yet appreciate the greater capacities of 9 mms are the obvious sales targets, and that potential market is sizeable.” It took a few years before the first complete pistol from Para-Ordnance appeared in the “Dope Bag,” which summed up the new gun by stating, “The P14-45, then, lets the less adventurous soul who doesn’t want to go on a scavenger hunt for parts enjoy the big 13-round capacity of the Para-Ordnance frame, a unit that has become popular both for defense and competition purposes.” With the P14 45’s release, Para-Ordnance had become a full-fledged firearm manufacturer.

Expanding The Brand
In the intervening years, the Para kit, and later, complete pistols sold briskly, and the company expanded its line to include dozens of M1911-based models including double-stack guns and, ironically, single-stack guns in all manner of sizes and with all manner of finishes and enhancements. In 1991, Polyzos shrewdly enlisted the marksmanship and showmanship skills of competitive pistol shooter Todd Jarrett, who became the face of Para pistols, winning countless titles and performing numerous feats designed to demonstrate the brand’s inherent quality. To date Para USA claims more than 100 championships including nine USPSA National titles and the IPSC World title.

As Polyzos was busy expanding the business and cementing Para’s reputation among shooters, gunwriters, and even some law enforcement officers, Szabo was turning out even more innovations for the famous Browning platform. In 1998, the company unveiled the Light Double Action (LDA) trigger system for its M1911-based pistols. With it, shooters finally could benefit from the familiarity of the M1911 platform without having to carry it in the “cocked and locked” condition that made some uncomfortable. The top-pivoted, smooth-faced trigger, which initially had a blade that appeared too slender in its fore-to-aft dimension, has been redesigned to be thicker in that regard and to have a serrated face. But the LDA’s real beauty was beneath the surface. It offered a long, deliberate pull stroke with a relatively light letoff of approximately 6 pounds and was engineered with several internal safety features. The LDA represented Szabo’s and Polyzos’ finest hour as even Colt had been unable to produce and market a commercially successful double-action version of Browning’s masterpiece during the nearly 90 years since its development.

In 2003, Szabo launched his final improvement to the M1911 platform: the Para Power Extractor, a multipiece internal unit that fit into the M1911 slide assembly in the way that Browning’s original extractor had, but that was articulated by means of four separate parts including a small coil spring. The Power Extractor not only offered greater purchase on the case rim, but alleviated the necessity of a traditional extractor’s having to be precisely fitted to the gun. The company even offered a service of modifying conventional M1911 frames to accept the device. Today it is found across the Para line of pistols, be they single- or double-stack, full-size or compact.