HS Produkt d.o.o. is a Croatian firearms manufacturing company, best known for design and production of the

HS2000 The HS2000 (''Hrvatski Samokres'', ) is a series of semi-automatic pistols. Polymer-framed and striker-fired, the series is manufactured by HS Produkt (formerly I.M. Metal) in Karlovac, Karlovac, Croatia. In Europe, the pistols are marketed as t ...

and XDM series of

semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol (also called a self-loading pistol, autopistol, or autoloading pistol) is a repeating firearm, repeating handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridge (firearms), cartridges in its chamber (firearms), chamber afte ...

s, which are sold in the United States market by

Springfield Armory, Inc. Springfield Armory, Inc., is an American commercial firearms manufacturer and importer based in Geneseo, Illinois. Founded in 1974 by Bob Reese and family, the company produces rifles such as the M1A and imports handguns such as the XD series ...

, under their XD, XD-S, XD-M, Echelon and Hellcat brandings.

History

HS Produkt was founded as IM Metal in 1991, after the first democratic election in the Republic of Croatia. Since company founding its headquarters was situated in the town of Ozalj, Croatia, about 50 kilometers southwest of the capital

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, and its manufacturing facility was relocated to

Karlovac Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. In the 2021 census, its population was 49,377. Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located southwest of Zagreb and northeast of Rijeka, and is connected to them via the ...

in 2000. At the beginning of 2001, following the success of the

pistols on the world market, the company changed its name to HS Produkt. HS Produkt's current production facility produces about 30,000 pistols per month with a trend of continued growth; ninety percent of production is exported to the United States. The number of employees rose from around 80 in 2000 to nearly 1000 in 2007, making HS Produkt the leading employer in

Karlovac County Karlovac County () is a county in central Croatia, with the administrative center in Karlovac. It borders Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia. The city of Karlovac is a fort from the times of the Military Frontier. It was built as a six-side st ...

. Founders and co-owners of HS Produkt, Ivan Žabčić and Marko Vuković, are both mechanical engineers; Vuković is the chief designer behind most of the company's products. Vuković also has combat experience as a veteran of the

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...

, in which he was wounded twice. HS Produkt is in 2016, one of the suppliers competing for the replacement of French army rifles alongside manufacturers such as Beretta (Italy), FN Herstal (Belgium), Swiss Arms (Switzerland) and Heckler & Koch (Germany).

Products

Early products

* Krešimir, a semi-automatic grenade launcher manufactured in 1991 used a 5-round magazine of M50

hand grenades A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade g ...

with percussion fuses. A second magazine held 7.62x39mm grenade-launching blank cartridges. It was named upon king

Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

. * ALKA M-93, a 9x19mm

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine (firearms), magazine-fed automatic firearm, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to descri ...

manufactured from 1994 to 1995. The weapon had a lightweight bolt with a short travel, which allowed for a very high rate of fire (1200 RPM). *

PHP PHP is a general-purpose scripting language geared towards web development. It was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995. The PHP reference implementation is now produced by the PHP Group. ...

(Prvi Hrvatski Pištolj), a

, manufactured from 1991 to 1994 was the company's first pistol design. It was based on

Walther P38 The Walther P38 (originally written Walther P.38) is a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol that was developed by Carl Walther GmbH as the service pistol of the Wehrmacht at the beginning of World War II. It was intended to replace the comparatively comp ...

, with some features common with

Beretta 92 The Beretta 92 (also Beretta 96 and Beretta 98) is a series of semi-automatic pistols designed and manufactured by Beretta of Italy. History Carlo Beretta, Giuseppe Mazzetti and Vittorio Valle, all experienced firearms designers, contributed to ...

. * HS95 (''Hrvatski Samokres 95'') was the second handgun model, described as an unlicensed copy of the

SIG Sauer P226 The SIG Sauer P226 is a full-sized service pistol made by SIG Sauer. This model is available in four chamberings: the 9×19mm Parabellum, .40 S&W, .357 SIG, or .22 Long Rifle. It has the same mechanism of operation as the SIG Sauer P220, but ...

with some original external features. These early all-metal pistols were considered solid designs, but were plagued by quality issues due in large part to the difficulties of manufacturing during wartime. * RHS

revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

HS2000 pistol

The company's most successful product, the HS2000 (''Hrvatski Samokres 2000'') polymer-framed semi-automatic pistol, was HS Produkt's third pistol in a series developed on the basis of experience gained during the

. It was introduced in 1999. It is marketed in the US by

as the XD (eXtreme Duty) series. The pistol is the standard sidearm of the Croatian Armed Forces and Police. It has attained a niche of its own on the world market; , more than 500,000 pistols have been sold in the US, where it is popular both with law enforcement and the country's civilian market.

Hellcat pistol

This micro-compact polymer-framed semi-automatic pistol is produced by HS Produkt and marketed by Springfield Armory, Inc., as the Hellcat. Its original international name is HS Produkt H11. It was designed as a

concealed carry Concealed carry, or carrying a concealed weapon (CCW), is the practice of carrying a weapon (usually a sidearm such as a handgun), either in proximity to or on one's person or in public places in a manner that hides or conceals the weapon's pre ...

weapon, similar to

SIG Sauer P365 The SIG Sauer P365 is a striker-fired subcompact semi-automatic pistol manufactured by SIG Sauer, intended for everyday carry and, is produced in Newington, New Hampshire. Features The P365 is a striker fired, short-recoil handgun with a st ...

. Hellcat 9mm was named

Guns & Ammo ''Guns & Ammo'' is a magazine dedicated to firearms, hunting, competitive shooting, reloading, and other shooting-related activities in the United States. Content and Circulation The magazine offers reviews on firearms, ammunition, optics an ...

handgun of the year and won a NASGW-POMA award for 2020 best new handgun.

Echelon pistol

In an effort to appeal to new military and police tenders as well as introduce a forward-looking new design, the company has brought out a pistol based on a serialized chassis like that of the SIG Sauer P365 and P320. The

Echelon Echelon may refer to: * A level formation ** A level or rank in an organization, profession, or society ** A military sub-subunit smaller than a company but larger than a platoon ** Echelon formation, a step-like arrangement of units * ECHELO ...

is a full-size gun that has a modular, self-contained fire-control chassis that is removable for cleaning and maintenance. Echelon was named

handgun of the year and won the NASGW-POMA 2023 award for best new handgun.

Kuna submachine gun

Kuna (Croatian for

Marten A marten is a weasel-like mammal in the genus ''Martes'' within the subfamily Guloninae, in the family Mustelidae. They have bushy tails and large paws with partially retractile claws. The fur varies from yellowish to dark brown, depending on ...

)

appeared first at the COP Internacional trade show in Sao Paulo in 2024 after HS Produkt won a contract with the Sao Paulo Military Police. Later in 2025 it was revealed at EnforceTac 2025 and

IWA OutdoorClassics IWA OutdoorClassics, also referred to as simply IWA, short for ''Internationale Waffen Ausstellung'' (International Weapons Exhibition), is an annual trade fair held in the Messezentrum Nuremberg in Bavaria, Germany for the hunting, shooting spor ...

2025 under

Springfield Armory The Springfield Armory, more formally known as the United States Armory and Arsenal at Springfield located in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, was the primary center for the manufacture of United States military firearms from 1777 until ...

branding. It's available in a semi-automatic version for commercial and civilian sales, and as a select-fire sub-machine gun for military, law enforcement and government sales in 9x19mm Parabellum and .40 S&W variants.

VHS assault rifle

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

assault rifle An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...

is a 5.56×45mm NATO

bullpup A bullpup firearm is one with its firing grip located in front of the Chamber (firearms), breech of the weapon, instead of behind it. This creates a weapon with a shorter overall length for a given barrel length, and one that is often lighter, ...

select-fire weapon that was first introduced at the 2007 iKA, the annual Croatian innovation display that takes place in the city of

. The development was carried on following a request of the

Croatian Army The Croatian Army ( or HKoV) is the land force branch of the Croatian Armed Forces. It is numerically the largest of the three branches of the Croatian Armed Forces. The HKoV is the main force for the defense of the country against external threa ...

for a new infantry rifle to update the individual equipment to NATO standards. On 19 November 2007, the Croatian Ministry of Defence placed an order for an experimental batch of 50 rifles to be tested by the Croatian contingent currently deployed in Afghanistan within the

ISAF The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a multinational military mission in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. It was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1386 according to the Bonn Agreement, which outlined t ...

. Full-scale production began towards the end of 2008, when field testing completed. Other nations, including Kuwait and Venezuela have shown interest in acquiring the rifle. On 12 May 2009, the Croatian Minister of Defence Branko Vukelić confirmed the positive end of a torture test over the rifle and on 15 May officially signed a contract with HS Produkt for the acquisition of 20,000 rifle kits (both versions) for a medium price of 14,503 Croatian kunas each (as of December 8, 2018, approximately 2233.70 USD or 1961.52 EUR). A new and improved version of the VHS rifle, known as the VHS-2, was introduced in April 2013. It introduced a new, more conventional fire selector, a redesigned carrying handle, an adjustable-length buttstock, and an ambidextrous cartridge casings ejection system that can be configured for either right or left side ejection in less than a minute. Both rifles come in two barrel lengths designated as D (long) and K (

carbine A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges. The smaller size and ligh ...

) variants. Both rifles can be equipped with 40x46mm VHS-BG grenade launcher. The civilian version of semi-automatic VHS2S (Springfield Hellion) in .223 Remington caliber was introduced in 2022. Hellion won

American Rifleman ''American Rifleman'' is a United States–based monthly shooting and firearms interest publication, owned by the National Rifle Association of America (NRA). It is the 33rd-most-widely-distributed consumer magazine and the NRA's primary magaz ...

award for 2023 tactical product of the year.

VHS-BG grenade launcher

The VHS-BG is double action single-shot 40x46mm

grenade launcher A grenade launcher is a weapon that fires a specially designed, large caliber projectile, often with an explosive, Smoke screen, smoke, or tear gas, gas warhead. Today, the term generally refers to a class of dedicated firearms firing unitary gre ...

. Equipped with hammer forged barrel and high durable polymer, VHS-BG can fire all 40x46mm type of grenades and can be used as stand alone variant or as under-barrel grenade launcher for VHS-2 rifle. It has mechanical sight attached to the side of the launcher, either on the left or right depending on the users needs.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hs Produkt Manufacturing companies established in 1991 Firearm manufacturers of Croatia Privately held companies Karlovac County Croatian brands Croatian companies established in 1991