Tag Archives: Steyr

Steyr, Now Czech Owned

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Legendary Austrian firearms maker Steyr Arms has been purchased by the Czech Republic-based RSBC Investment Group.

RSBC, with its corporate headquarters in Prague, has been in the small arms business for almost a decade, having previously acquired Slovenian gunmaker AREX Defense in 2017. The group announced last week that it had assumed a 100-percent stake in Steyr from the German-based SMH Holding group.

Steyr, between its Austrian operation and Steyr USA subsidiary, employs over 200 and includes the legacy Mannlicher brand. It dates to at least 1864 when it was founded by gunmakers Josef and Franz Werndl.

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The Werndls had fast success in their innovative 11mm M1867 Werndl–Holub breechloading rifle, of which some 600,000 were ordered by the Austrian military and police. Changing the company’s name to OWG (Osterreichische Waffenfabriksgesellschaft = Austrian arms factory company), it followed up with Ferdinand Mannlicher’s bolt-action magazine-fed rifle platform in 1886, of which over 3 million were built before 1918.

And who can forget the Steyr 1912?

Remaining foremost a firearms company, it branched out over the years into bicycles, trucks, and automobiles and evolved first into Steyr-Werke AG in 1924 and then to Steyr-Daimler-Puch in 1934.

Following World War II, Steyr made the FN FAL under license for the Austrian military as the StG58, then found international success with the SSG precision rifle and MPi 69/81 submachine gun.

The Austrian Bundesheer’s MG 74 is an MG42/59 variant licensed from Beretta and manufactured by Steyr Mannlicher used since 1974

In 1977, Steyr introduced the revolutionary AUG bullpup rifle, adopted by the Austrian military as the StG 77, followed by the pioneering GB and M series pistols, and the Steyr Scout bolt-action rifle.

A Royal Oman Army soldier with an Austrian-made Steyr AUG, standard issue not only in Austria and Oman but also in Australia Bolivia, Ecuador, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malaysia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Pakistan

By 1989, with the breakup of the Steyr-Daimler-Puch conglomerate, the firearms and air gun business spun off into the firm of Steyr Mannlicher before morphing into Steyr Arms in 2019. It was purchased by SMH Holding in 2007.

RSBC plans to fold Steyr and AREX into a division headed by current AREX CEO, Tim Castagne, to “enable both companies to offer an all-encompassing portfolio in the future.”

So, Glock is Doing lots of R&D on Rifles

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A series of innovatory rifle and carbine technology patents filed by Glock has been surging through the gun webs this week, causing a stir.

The fact is that, yes, a simple search of patents assigned to Glock Technology Gmbh over the past two years shows several for carbine systems logged originally with the European Patent Office. World-wide applications filed on behalf of inventors Elmar Bilgeri, Mario Kastrun, Josef Kroyer, Siegfried Sereinig, and Andreas Wutte, were registered by Glock in Austria, using the company’s Gaston Glock Park 1, 9170 Ferlach address.

Of interest, Bilgeri has a long history of firearm patents dating back to the 1990s with Steyr and is credited as being one of the minds that brought Col. Jeff Cooper’s Scout Rifle concept to life.

The patent drawings detail an adjustable gas block, a short-stroke gas piston system with operating rod, an ambidextrous magazine well for STANAG-style AR mags, a bolt assembly with a charging handle, and a barrel with a supported barrel extension.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Aussie Spec Ops WO1 weighs in on the new and improved EF88

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Australia went against the Commonwealth grain when they ditched the then-standard FN FAL (L1A1 semiauto) pattern SLR (and some M16s) for the Austrian Steyr in the 1980s, naming the rifle the F88 Austeyr as they were built under license at the Thales Lithgow Small Arms Factory. Now, after an extensive redesign that has produced the EF88 with lots of new upgrades (rails, internals, ergonomics, etc), the Australians are set to keep the Steyr for generations longer while Australia’s closest ally, the U.S., rock the M4/M16.

EF88 steyr aug australian

Some of the troops down in Oz think that’s a mistake. From ASPI:

I am a senior warrant officer who has been fortunate to serve in an Australian Special Forces unit for over 25 years, including more than 13 years in combat roles, and, most recently, as head of my unit’s combat and firearms training program. I’m writing this because I respectfully disagree with John Coyne’s recent assessment that the EF88 (the designation of the rifle in Australian Army service, not ‘F90’ which refers to Thales’ export version) ‘seems to make perfect sense’, when compared to the M4/AR-15.

I’ve had the opportunity to fire the EF88 and while it’s an improvement on the current Steyr, it’s definitely not a good combat weapon. The Steyr has many aspects that are less than desirable—some I will discuss below—but I’ll acknowledge that for the majority of the Australian Defence Force, it’s adequate for self defence. However, for our combat soldiers (not just Special Forces) we could do a great deal better.

More here

The beautiful Brugger and Thomet MP9 series and why it matters

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This compact family of pistols and personal defense weapons with a name that rhymes with nausea are one of the least known combat arms in the world– but that shouldn’t stop you from really digging on them.

Why the B+T?

When the first submachine gun designs popped up around the middle of the First World War, they were an interesting compromise between the large full power bolt-action rifles of the day, and smaller handheld pistols and revolvers. The concept, which gave a soldier better firepower than either (at short ranges) while being more compact than the former, proved popular in combat.

From the early Thompson M1921 of the Prohibition-era and its contemporaries the MP18 and Lanchester, to the cheaply made stamped metal M3 Grease Guns and STENs of WWII, and on to the improved Heckler and Koch MP5, British Sterlings and UZIs of the 1960s, the class evolved until, by the 1990s, they had largely worked themselves out of a job, being replaced by modern 5.56/5.45mm compact rifles with collapsible stocks and even smaller machine-pistols such as the Micro Uzi and Beretta 93R.

However, the Austrian Steyr group hit upon a concept subgun that, just slightly larger than the holsterable machine-pistol, yet much smaller than a Colt AR-pattern SMG or MP5A5. This gun was the TMP

Steyr origins

Designed by Styr’s chief engineer, Friedrich Aigner (the man who also later went on to hold several patents including those on the Steyr M and L series pistols), in 1989 the company perfected their Taktische Maschinenpistole (Tactical Machine Pistol), or TMP.

Using a rotating bolt, the gun's simple blowback action was reliable while its polymer frame kept the weight down.

Using a rotating bolt, the gun’s simple blowback action was reliable while its polymer frame kept the weight down.

This gun was hefty for a pistol, at 46-ounces, or about a half pound more than a Colt M1911, and it was a little long, at 11-inches overall, or about three inches longer than the longslide Colt with the same length barrel– but the TMP could fire 9mm rounds (which it could pack in up to 30-round detachable box mags) at up to 900-rounds-per-minute.

Say, “Abracadabra.”

Odds are, it took you two seconds to get that out– in that time the TMP could zip out 30 rounds and run dry. And a Colt 1911 can’t do that.

A TMP in action

The Austrian Federal Police’s Einsatzkommando Cobra, their specialized anti-terror team, as well as neighboring Italy’s Gruppo di Intervento Speciale (GIS) which performs a similar task for the military police there soon adopted it.

The SPP, note the flush 15 and extended 30-rounders

The SPP, note the flush 15 and extended 30-rounders

An even smaller version, without a buttstock and capable of being holstered like a standard pistol, the SPP, was designed. This gun shaved an inch and a few ounces off the standard subgun, but could still hold its full cyclic rate. Above it is shown with its flush-fit 15 rounder and extended 30s.

Nevertheless, by 2001, Steyr had gone soft on the idea of the TMP due to the country’s import/export laws on certain munitions. You see at that time a controversy erupted over the export of SSG 69 sniper manufactured by the Steyr Company and Hirtenberger ammunition of Austrian production to the embattled Croatian Army during the 1990s while the Balkan country was under embargo. With that, the company washed its hands of the TMP.

However, don’t worry, someone else eagerly picked it up.

bt9

Read the rest in my column at Firearms Talk