Steyr Mannlicher is a firearms manufacturer based in the city of Steyr, Austria.
Originally part of Steyr-Daimler-Puch, it became independent when the conglomerate was
broken in 1990.
History 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 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, a blacksmith in Steyr, began manufacturing iron parts for the productions
of weapons.
After his father's death, 24-year-old Josef Werndl took over his factory.
On April 16, 1864, he founded the "Josef und Franz Werndl & Comp.
Waffenfabrik und Sägemühle in Oberletten", from which later emerged the "Österreichische
Waffenfabriksgesellschaft", a stock company since 1869, of which the Steyr Mannlicher
firearm production was a part.
Werndl's cooperation with engineer Ferdinand Mannlicher, who had patented an advanced repeating
rifle in use by the Austro-Hungarian Army, made ŒWG one of the largest weapon manufacturers
in Europe.
First applied in 1890, the Mannlicher pistol model 1905, and the Steyr pistol M.1912 became
milestones in auto-loading pistols technology.
At the beginning of World War I, with more than 15,000 employees, production output was
4,000 weapons per day.
Aftermath of World War I After the end of 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 OEWG converted their machinery to concentrate on producing Steyr automobiles
under chief designers Hans Ledwinka and Ferdinand Porsche, as well as bicycles).
In 1926 the company changed its name to "Steyr-Werke".
The production of Steyr Mannlicher 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 Mannlicher relied on forced labour, employing numerous
inmates from the Steyr-Münichholz subcamp of KZ Mauthausen.
1950s During the 1950s the Mannlicher-Schönauer
full stock rifle experienced a renaissance.
Simultaneously, the re-emergence of the Austrian Armed Forces in the Second Republic was the
base for a new start of military weapons production.
The AUG In the 1970s, Steyr developed an innovative
new assault rifle, the StG77.
A bullpup design, the StG 77 extensively utilized synthetic materials, and integrated fixed
optics.
The export version became the AUG—“Armee Universal Gewehr”, eventually being in service
with the armed forces of over two dozen countries.
Controversy Steyr made international headlines when it
sold 800 HS .50 long range sniper rifles to Iran in 2005, for the National Iranian Police
Organisation to use against drug smugglers, by Navid Pars business Group later to be known
as Navid Pars America through its chairman Navid Khiabani.
There were claims in the UK and the United States that the rifles would find their way
into Iraq and be used against the New Iraqi Army or Coalition forces.
Forty-five days later it was claimed that several American soldiers were killed by one
of the exported weapons, and that a number of the rifles were recovered in raids on Iraqi
insurgents.
However, the U.S. Central Command announced late 2007 that no Austrian rifle had been
found or seized in Iraq.
Products Assault Rifle
StG-58 AUG
ACR experimental assault rifle Rifles
M1888—bolt-action rifle M1895—bolt-action rifle
Dutch Mannlicher M.95—bolt-action rifle Mannlicher-Schönauer—bolt-action rifle
Steyr SSG 69—sniper rifle Steyr Scout—scout sniper rifle
Steyr SSG 04—sniper rifle Steyr SSG 08—sniper rifle
Steyr HS .50—sniper rifle Steyr IWS 2000—15.2 mm anti-materiel rifle
Submachine guns MPi 69
TMP Pistols
M1894 M1901
M.7 M1912
GB M Series
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 Steyr-Mannlicher corporate website
Steyr Arms Inc.—U.S. subsidiary of Steyr-Mannlicher Steyr Firearms - How Steyr-Mannlicher Hammer
Forges Their Barrels on YouTube