Feinwerkbau

The company was established 1949 by Karl Westinger and Ernst Altenburger, both former employees of Mauser where Westinger had been responsible for an important design improvement to the Mauser C96 “Broomhandle” pistol. Because of post-war sanctions, there were few opportunities to develop small arms in Germany during the 1950s and so the fledgling company spent its first decade concentrating on the manufacture of precision parts and machines (particularly electro-mechanical calculators). In the late 1950s they returned to their original design focus with the development of the first truly successful recoilless target air rifle (an area which was excluded from the weapon manufacturing restrictions but which could tap into the undiminished German interest in target shooting). This was launched as the LG150 in 1963 and was followed with their first air-pistol in 1965.