2003 "Handgun of the Year"

Providing leading edge technology has always been the quest of the Para-Ordnance Manufacturing Company. Founded in 1985, its first product was the Model 85 “Dye Marking Tactical Machine Pistol.” It used a novel primer fired paint ball cartridge that revolutionized tactical training for law enforcement and military personnel.

In 1988, Para introduced an innovation that had been the dream of company president Ted Szabo since his college days, a high-capacity frame and magazine for M1911A1-type pistols. Prior to this, handgunners had been faced with a difficult choice between the superior stopping power of the .45 ACP cartridge and the impressive magazine capacity and firepower of the 9mm Parabellum.

The high-capacity Para pistols in .45 ACP, .40 S&W and 9mm Parabellum have won championship after championship in the action shooting sports. The development of a light double-action trigger system, the LDA, won Para its first two “Gunny” awards from GUNS & AMMO magazine. The Para Carry was proclaimed the “World’s Smallest DAO .45 Auto” by the editors of GUNS & AMMO magazine when it was introduced in 2001, winning Para their third “Gunny.” Then this past fall, the editors and readers of GUNS & AMMO selected the Para CCW as the 2003 Handgun of the Year giving Para an unprecedented four “Gunny” awards.

The Para CCW is one of a special series of single-stack LDA autos engineered by Para to offer the ideal balance between concealability and shootability, and what handgun editor Wiley Clapp refers to as perhaps “the optimum concealed carry pistol.” The 4.25-inch barrel and noticeably short pistol butt make for a compact handgun that is easy to carry. More importantly, the CCW has an abbreviated hammer spur and bobbed beavertail—making for a more concealable, snag-free and easy-drawing package. As with every Para LDA pistol, the CCW gives you the security of three positive safeties and the comfort of cocked-and-locked carry with the hammer down, and the extra safety margin of a longer, totally controllable trigger travel. All these factors quickly add up to make this pistol an obvious and proven winner.

While other companies’ research and development department may consist simply of a copying machine and reproducing designs that the patents have run out on many years ago, Para keeps re-forging the edge of the sword. New patented technology keeps rolling out of the genius of Para from the massive claw of the Power Extractor™ to the beautiful design of the Griptor™ grasping grooves.