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Steyr Arms () is a firearms manufacturer based in Austria. Originally part of ''Steyr-Daimler-Puch'', it became independent when the conglomerate was broken up in 1989. Prior to 1 January 2019, the company was named ''Steyr Mannlicher GmbH Co. KG'' (). In April 2024, the company was acquired by Czech ''RSBC Holding'' a.s., which owns also Slovenian gun maker '' Arex Arms''.

History

Origins

Steyr has been on the "iron road" to the nearby Erzberg mine since the days of the Styrian Otakar dukes and their Babenberg successors in the 12th and 13th century, and has been known as an industrial site for forging weapons. The privilege of iron and steel production, particularly for knives, was renewed by the Habsburg duke Albert of Austria in 1287. After the Thirty Years' War, thousands of muskets, pistols, and carbines were produced annually for the Habsburg Imperial Army.

In 1821, Leopold Werndl (1797–1855), a blacksmith in Steyr, began manufacturing iron parts for weapons. After his father's death, 24-year-old Josef Werndl (1831–1889) took over his factory. On April 16, 1864, he founded the ''Josef und Franz Werndl & Comp. Waffenfabrik und Sägemühle in Oberletten'' (Josef and Franz Werndl & Partners Weapons Factory and Sawmill in Oberletten), from which later emerged the ''Österreichische Waffenfabriksgesellschaft'' (ŒWG, Austrian Arms-Manufacturing Company), a stock company ( AG) since 1869, of which in the future ''Steyr Arms'' firearm production was a part. In 1912 '' Bodencreditanstalt'' bank became a majority shareholder.

World War I

Werndl's cooperation with engineer Ferdinand Mannlicher (1848–1904), who had patented an advanced repeating rifle in use by the Austro-Hungarian Army, made ŒWG one of the largest weapon manufacturers in Europe. At the beginning of World War I, with more than 15,000 employees, production output was 4,000 weapons per day.

The company introduced the world's first machine pistol, the ''Steyr Repetierpistole'' M1912/P16, during World War I; it was a machine pistol version of the Steyr M1912 pistol, and was manufactured as product model ''Repetierpistole M1912/P16''. It used a 16-round fixed magazine loaded via 8 round stripper clips, a detachable shoulder stock and a rather large exposed semi-auto/full-auto selector switch on the right side of the frame above the trigger (down = semi & up = full). It fired the 9×23mm Steyr cartridge, with a full-auto rate-of-fire of about 800 to 1,000 rounds per minute (RPM). It weighed about 2.6 pounds. Introduced in 1916, it is considered one of the world's first full-auto capable pistols. Only 960 M1912/P16 were made.

Aftermath of World War I

After the war, weapons production in Steyr was all but entirely prohibited according to the 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain, and the company faced bankruptcy. To survive, the ŒWG converted their machinery to concentrate on producing Steyr automobiles under chief designers Hans Ledwinka and Ferdinand Porsche, as well as bicycles (colloquially called ''Waffenräder'' (weapon bicycles)). In 1926 the company changed its name to ''Steyr-Werke'', in 1934 to ''Steyr Daimler Puch''. The production of ''Steyr Daimler Puch'' weapons continued in cooperation with ''Patronenfabrik Solothurn AG'' at Zuchwil in neutral Switzerland.

World War II

After the Austrian ''Anschluss'' to Nazi Germany in 1938, the Steyr factories were incorporated into the ''Reichswerke Hermann Göring'' industrial conglomerate and the outbreak of World War II provided a brief revival in weapons production. Like many other companies, ''Steyr Daimler Puch'' relied also on forced labour, employing from the Steyr-Münichholz subcamp of KZ Mauthausen.

Since 1950s

During the 1950s the Mannlicher–Schönauer full stock rifle, designed in 1900, experienced a renaissance. Simultaneously, the re-emergence of the Austrian Armed Forces in the second republican state was the base for new military weapons production.

In 1989, after the partial dissolution of the ''Steyr Daimler Puch'' conglomerate, the weapon division was named ''Steyr Mannlicher'' in honour of the great Austro-Hungarian engineer Ferdinand Mannlicher. The name remained in place until 2019, now ''Steyr Arms''.

The trade mark ''Mannlicher'' is traditionally known for hunting weapons such as the Mannlicher-Schönauer repeating rifle. The company continues to produce hunting weapons.

The AUG

In the 1970s, Steyr developed an innovative assault rifle, the StG 77. A bullpup design, the StG 77 extensively utilized synthetic materials, and integrated fixed optics. The export version became the Steyr AUG—''Armee Universal Gewehr'' (Universal Army Rifle), eventually used by the armed forces of over 24 countries. It has been prominently featured in films such as ''Octopussy'', ''Commando'', and ''Die Hard''.

Products

;Assault rifles
* AUG – bullpup assault rifle
* ACR – experimental flechette rifle
* STM556 – modular assault rifle
* Steyr G62 - upgraded G36

;Battle rifles
* StG-58

;Rifles
* M1886 – bolt-action rifle
*M1888 – bolt-action rifle
* M1890 – bolt-action rifle
* M1895 – bolt-action rifle
* Dutch Mannlicher M.95 – bolt-action rifle
* Mannlicher–Schönauer – bolt-action rifle
* Steyr Model 1912 Mauser – bolt-action rifle
* Steyr SSG 69 – sniper rifle
*Steyr Scout – scout rifle
* Steyr SSG 04 – sniper rifle
* Steyr SSG 08 – sniper rifle
*Steyr HS .50 – anti-materiel rifle
* Steyr IWS 2000 – 15.2 mm anti-materiel rifle
*DMR 762 - Semi-auto Designated Marksman Rifle

;for hunting e.g.:
*Breeze
*Carbon
*CL II
*Gams
*Monobloc
*SM12
*Scout II
*Steyr Custom
*Pro Varmint
*THB
*Zephyr II

;Submachine guns
*MPi 69 (Variant: Steyr MPi 81)
*TMP

;Pistols
* M1894 (1894–?)
* M1901 (1901–1903)
* M.7 (1908–1913)
* M1912 (1912–1945)
* SP (1957-1964)
* GB (1981–1988)
* M Series (1999–present)

;Grenade launchers
*GL 40 – side loading 40 mm grenade launcher

Date codes

Steyr pistols are marked with a three-digit date code on the slide just forward of the ejection port.
The first letter represents the month of manufacture.
The second and third letters represent the last two digits of the year of manufacture.

In this example, the date code "BOY" indicates a pistol manufactured in April 2007.

See also

* Steyr Sportwaffen GmbH

References

External links

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{{Authority control

Firearm manufacturers of Austria
*
Economy of Lower Austria
1864 establishments in the Austrian Empire