What Happened to Para Ordnance? (Short Overview)

Para Ordnance is not likely a name you’ve heard recently, unless you’re an owner of one of their platforms and are in the market for Para Ordnance parts.

Be that as it may, Para Ordnance was once a commonplace name among fans of 1911-style pistols, but the brand is no longer around in the way it once was.

Para Ordnance Origins

Para Ordnance was a firearm manufacturer that was founded in Canada in 1995 by two immigrants, one a Hungarian-born man whose family fled the country in the aftermath of the Soviet takeover, the other a transplant from Greece.

Despite the fact that the company was best known for its production of high-capacity 1911-style pistols (more on that in a second) the brand actually got its start making paintball guns. Its first product was the “Model 85” Dye Marking Tactical Machine Pistol, which was designed to support law enforcement and military training.

While the company’s origins were in paintball platforms, it is best known for its production of 1911-style pistols.

What the Brand Offered

Para Ordnance was actually the first manufacturer of so-called “high capacity” 1911-style pistols. Whereas original 1911 pistols and 1911 clones at the time were all single-stack models and therefore highly limited in terms of capacity, Para Ordnance pioneered a new double-stack design, which staggered the rounds in the magazine, thereby increasing capacity.

Para Ordnance was also the first company to produce a true double-action-only 1911-style pistol. In addition, the company produced a wide variety of 1911-style pistols in an equally wide range of calibers.

On top of the perennially popular .45 ACP, Para Ordnance produced 1911-style pistols in .40 S&W and 9mm Luger, among others.

Their platforms were popular for a wide range of different shooting disciplines and applications, including but not limited to competition, law enforcement, defensive applications, and of course to support the general shooting sports.

While Para Ordnance is best known for its pistol platforms, such as the Para Ordnance Tactical, the LDA, or “Light Double Action,” and the “Warthog,” an ultra-compact 1911-style pistol, the company also had a brief stint in the rifle market.

Notably, between 2009 and 2011, Para Ordnance developed a “TTR,” or “Tactical Target Rifle,” which utilized a delayed gas blowback system that the company called a “DIGS.” This delayed blowback system offered smoother shooting, less wear and tear on action components, and produced less recoil than direct gas blowback. Even so, the company only operated in the rifle market for a few years.

Despite the fact that the company changed the market for 1911-style pistols, it only lasted for a few years, and underwent a bit of evolution during its time. Today it lives on only in the hands of those that still own and use original Para Ordnance platforms.

What Happened to Para Ordnance?

The company did well from Canada in the years following its founding, but about 20 years after its inception, the company announced that it would be opening a new US headquarters for US operations. Shortly after that, the company moved to the United States entirely and became Para USA in 2009.

However, only a few years later, Freedom Group (which later became known as Remington Outdoor Company) acquired Para USA, making Remington the corporate owner of the brand. The same group owned Marlin, Bushmaster, and several other outdoor brands.

Unfortunately for Para USA a series of consolidations would eliminate the brand from its own standalone existence. In 2015, Remington announced that Para USA would be integrated into Remington and that the brand would cease to exist on its own.

It only went further downhill thereafter; as you may be familiar, Remington Outdoor Company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy starting in 2018, then quickly exited bankruptcy, only to file again in 2020 before the brand was auctioned off in parts to several buyers, including Vista Outdoor (owner of CCI and Federal Ammunition, among others), Sportsman’s Warehouse, Ruger, Sierra, and some others.

That, therein, ultimately ends the formal history of Para Ordnance as a brand. However, there are still owners of Para Ordnance pistols and other platforms that may periodically have need of compatible pistol parts, and SARCO Inc. is uniquely situated to help with that.

Here for Para Ordnance Parts?

Are you the proud owner of a Para Ordnance 1911 from the heyday of Para Ordnance or Para USA production? If so, hang onto it and take care of it. These are still some of the finest 1911-style pistols out there even though they are out of production.

For our part, we carry a wide variety of pistol parts, with Para Ordnance parts in our collection. In particular, we have quite a large assortment of Para Ordnance slides in our collection, among other parts like grips, springs and spring kits. We also carry a curated selection of pistol frames, some of which are for Para Ordnance models.

Take a closer look at our collection of Para Ordnance parts via the previous link or sift through our entire collection of pistol parts and if you have any questions or are looking for something specific you don’t see listed get in touch with us and we will try to help you find what you need.