THE HISTORY OF PARDINI FIREARMS
(TAKEN FROM THE SHOOTING WIKI)

Founded by Giampiero Pardini, the history of Pardini Firearms is relatively short compared to other famous companies; the facts,as we have seen, demonstrate however that the life of Pardini Firearms has been very intense and particularly successful. The “recipe” of this success has many “ingredients”.

First of all, its specialization has shown itself to be a very profitable company policy, because it has allowed Pardini to concentrate all its resources, human and economic, in one field – that of competition pistols- up to the highest levels of competitiveness. Secondly, the size of Pardini Firearms, a small industrial company, has given that productive flexibility that in a continually evolving sector is important for the constant innovation of its products.

Another aspect that needs to be considered in a sector dedicated to competition is the after sales service: both marksman and the ordinary pistol shooters know that they can always count on assistance from the producer. Without Giampiero Pardini and his team’s passion for shooting, we would not have seen the birth and the growth of Pardini Firearms: all firearms are simply pieces of iron, but these also have a soul.

Giampiero Pardini, a knight of the Italian Republic and CONI Star of merit, has been one of the most prominent marksman in Italian target-shooting. He was born in 1941 in Camaiore, Tuscany, and he first “met” a gun by chance in 1970. One of his friends had bought a gun and invited him to go to the shooting-range in Pietrasanta to test it: he fired five shots, and that was all. After three months Pardini fired fifty shoots consecutively: “staying in the black” didn’t seem to be too difficult and so started his brilliant career as a marksman.

He challenged himself in all the handgun shooting events, but the Free Pistol turned out to be his favorite.

His previously dormant passion for mechanics came out in Pardini-the marksman: the logical consequence was, at the beginning, to modify a a Free Pistol followed by the creation of a new trigger mechanism. Finally the creation of a completely new and original pistol, with which Pardini obtained a series of record scores.

The PGP 75 (the name of his first pistol) immediately attracted the attention of shooters in the event: he started receiving a lot of requests from marksmen, who, importantly, were able to improve their scores easily with the new pistol. This all persuaded Pardini, at the beginning of the 1980’s, to retire from competitive shooting and completely dedicate himself to the work of gunmaker.

Pardini can rightfully be proud of the fact that his company produces all the parts for his pistols. In the seaside resort in Lido di Camaiore, where Pardini firearms has its headquarters, we can find various workshops using computerized numerical control machinery: the blueing baths, the chromium-plating, and the thermal treatment of components are also carried out at the headquarters.

The barrels are Pardini’s latest “success”: due to the fact that there was no specific equipment on the market for this type of work. Pardini built and modified equipment that is now able to produce all calibers of barrels that are considered at the top-end of the market for their precision and quality.

Pardini’s equipment allows them to build a progressively narrowed barrel, from the start of the rifling to the muzzle of the barrel, without “steps” thereby improving precision and a reduction in recoil. In a short time, Pardini has been able to produce a complete range of pistols for competition shooting. It is also important to state that all these pistols have allowed their numerous owners to reach an infinite number of wining results.

Another aspect that needs to be considered in a sector dedicated to competition is the after sales service: both marksman and the ordinary pistol shooters know that they can always count on assistance from the producer. Without Giampiero Pardini and his team’s passion for shooting, we would not have seen the birth and the growth of Pardini Firearms:

Medals Won using Pardini Pistols (to 1996)

ISSF World Cup Rio DeJaneiro 2008
Gold: Women’s Air Pistol: Pardini K2S
Bronze: Women’s Air Pistol: Pardini K2S
Gold: Standard Women’s: Pardini SP (NEW)
Bronze: Standard Women’s: Pardini SP (NEW)
Gold: Rapid Fire: SP1 Rapid Fire
Bronze: Rapid Fire: SP (NEW)

ISSF World Cup Beijing 2008
Gold: Mens Air Pistol: Pardini K2S
Gold: Womens Air Pistol: Pardini K2S
Silver: Womens Standard Pistol: Pardini SP (NEW)
Bronze: Mens Rapid Fire: Pardini SP (NEW)

ISSF World Cup Milan Italy 2005
Gold Zhang Penghui (CHN) 25m Rapid Fire Pardini SP1
Silver Guohui Liu (CHN) 25m Rapid Fire Pardini SP (NEW)
Bronze Martin Berendt (GER) 25m Rapid Fire Pardini SP1
4th Martin Strnad (CZE) 25m Rapid Fire Pardini SP (NEW)
5th Ralf Scheumann (GER) 25m Rapid Fire Pardini SP1

Athens 2004
Gold Ralf Scheumann (GER) 25m Rapid Fire Pardini
Gold Maria Grozdeva 25m Pistol Womens Pardini
Silver Lenka Hykova 25m Pistol Womens Pardini
Bronze Maria Grozdova 10m Air Pistol Pardini

Sydney 2000
Gold Franck DuMoulin 10m Air Pistol Man Pardini
Silver Michel Ansermet 25m Rapid Fire Pardini
Bronze Julian Raicea 25m Rapid Fire Pardini

Atlanta 1996
Gold Roberto DiDonna 10m Air Pistol Man Pardini
Gold Ralf Scheumann (GER) 25m Rapid Fire Pardini
Bronze Julian Raicea 25m Rapid Fire Pardini