JP Sauer & Son
| JPSauer & Sohn GmbH | |
|---|---|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1751 |
| Seat |
Isny im Allgäu Germany
|
| management | Matthias Klotz, Florian Hasler, Michael Lüke |
| Branch | Weapons manufacturing |
| Website | www.sauer.de |
The JP Sauer & Sohn GmbH is a German shot weapons manufacturer based in Isny . The company was founded in Suhl in 1751, making it the oldest active German firearms manufacturer.
history
Beginnings
The Sauer family came to Suhl from Nuremberg in the 17th century . There the gunsmith and gun tensioner Johann Paul Sauer founded JP Sauer & Sohn in 1751 . After moving early years, the Elector of Saxony was the main arsenal Dresden permanently won as clients. Initially, military weapons such as flintlock pistols , rifles and later revolvers were manufactured. Sauer's luxury-class double shotguns were known as early as 1844. In 1880, priority was given to hunting weapons . Sauer & Sohn became the market leader in this area and was able to consolidate this position with new developments, patents and awards. Sauer & Sohn has been working with Krupp since 1893 . Pistols were also made from 1898 onwards.
Second World War
At the beginning of the Second World War , Sauer & Sohn increased the production of military weapons again. After 1941 armaments were produced almost exclusively. Alongside Mauser, the Sauer company was one of the most important manufacturers of the standard rifle of the Wehrmacht, the 98k carbine, which was built in 14 million copies . The submachine gun MP 44 (" Sturmgewehr 44 ") was developed in Suhl in 1944 and built 424,000 times by the end of the war.
post war period
After the war ended, production was stopped and later temporarily resumed as a reparation payment for the Soviet occupying power . Typewriters were first made.
New beginning
To maintain the Sauer brand name , JP Sauer & Sohn Aktiengesellschaft, based in Eckernförde, was founded on March 26, 1951 , primarily by Rolf-Dietrich Sauer and the Hamburg businessman Fritz Bohmmüller. Eckernförde was chosen because the Schleswig-Holstein state government promised loans to build up the company at an early stage. In Eckernförde, 70 employees from Suhl and over 200 former technicians from the TVA Eckernförde began manufacturing hunting weapons after the war. The site of the former TVA Nord in Eckernförde-Louisenberg was given to the company by a leasehold contract for 60 years based on a Bundestag decision at the end of 1951. From 1952, contacts were made in the USA , the most important sales market for pistols. The company increased its production and the number of employees. Hunting guns sold well in Scandinavia. But Pakistan and Brazil were also supplied with large numbers. Apartments were built in Eckernförde especially for the workforce, now numbering 430.
In 1966 JP Sauer & Sohn in Eckernförde was taken over by the Wilhelm Poppe compressor factory in Kiel. Two years later, Wilhelm Poppe, Hydromechanik Maschinenbau and Veltrup-Werke merged to form JP Sauer & Sohn Maschinenbau GmbH. In 1976, JP Sauer & Sohn Maschinenbau sold the hunting weapons factory in Eckernförde to the Swiss industrial company SIG. In 2000, the Swiss SIG Holding sold the arms business to entrepreneurs Michael Lüke and Thomas Ortmeier. This meant that the same owners were behind JP Sauer & Sohn GmbH, the competitors Blaser Jagdwaffen and Mauser , the trading company for “Hunting and Nature”, the sports weapon manufacturer Hämmerli and Kettner International GmbH with L & O Holding .
The sister company SIG Sauer recorded particular success with the pistols of the series P220 , P225 (also known as P6 of the police), P226 , P228 , P229 and P230, which were introduced by various authorities around the world.
The new millennium
In the area of public authorities, a tender for the French police was won together with sister company SIG Sauer . From 2003 to 2009, 250,000 pistols were exported to the neighboring country.
In 2009 JP Sauer & Sohn GmbH was newly founded. The production facility was relocated to Isny im Allgäu , where the sister companies Mauser Jagdwaffen GmbH and Blaser Jagdwaffen GmbH already operate their long gun production. With this restructuring measure due to mismanagement, half of the workforce (approx. 175 employees) had to be laid off. SIG Sauer stayed in Eckernförde and is responsible for handgun production and the police, military and civilian sport shooting with non-hunting rifles.
The idea was to also increase sales activities at the headquarters of the L&O SIG SAUER GmbH & Co. KG holding company in Emsdetten, but this project - which included moving to a new building and building a shooting range - was stopped after the first reports in the press and critical letters to the editor appeared and the building permits were not granted by the authorities.
The successor company Barrel International GmbH , which remained in Eckernförde , was also relocated to Isny in 2011.
Customers
Today, besides sport shooters and hunters especially the FBI , the CIA , the NCIS , the SAS , special units of the police and the armed forces and the police and the customs in Germany, Switzerland and France to customers of Sauer & Sohn . The Swiss Army and the Swiss Guard in the Vatican are also equipped with Sauer pistols.
In the United States, the weapons are sold under the name SigArms .
literature
- Peter Arfmann, Rolf Kallmeyer: JP Sauer & Sohn. History of the oldest German arms factory, founded in 1751. Suhler time, Eckernförde time. Peter Arfmann-Verlag, Suhl 2004, ISBN 3-9807760-2-6 .
- Leonhard Dingwerth: The history of the German typewriter factories. Volume 1: Large and medium-sized manufacturers. Dingwerth, Delbrück 2008, ISBN 978-3-921913-38-3 , p. 239ff. ( online book preview ).
- John Walter: Rifles of the World. 3rd edition. Krause Publications, Iola WI 2006, ISBN 0-89689-241-7 , p. 419, available online .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Official report on the General German Trade Exhibition in Berlin in 1844 . S. 299 ( archive.org ).
- ↑ Application in Bundestag printed paper 2330
- ↑ Company history at JP Sauer & Sohn Maschinenbau
- ↑ Liability of managing directors in the event of insolvency; Page 2, lines 6-12 (PDF; 388 kB)
- ↑ Die Welt Online, article redundancies at the arms manufacturer Sauer and Son in Eckernförde
- ↑ Hans Vietmeier, July 30th 2010, building permit according to § 35 Abs. 2 BauGB for arms trading holding company, L&O in Emsdetten (viewed on March 15th 2011)
- ↑ The sudden crash of barrel production. Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag , March 12, 2011, accessed on July 18, 2014 .
- ↑ Sigsauer. Sigarms. Atlantic Tactical, New Cumberland, accessed October 7, 2016 .
Coordinates: 47 ° 41 ′ 15 ″ N , 10 ° 3 ′ 31 ″ E