| Heym AG | |
| Type: | Firearms manufacturer |
| Location: | Römhild, Hildburghausen, Thuringia, Germany[1] |
| Industry: | Firearms |
Heym AG is a German gun manufacturer established in 1865. Heym manufacture shotguns, bolt-action rifles, and double rifles.
Heym was founded in Suhl, Germany by Friedrich Wilhelm Heym in July 1865. On May 24, 1891 they were issued Patent Nr. 60215 for a three barreled hunting rifle with three triggers and three hammers on the same axis. This was the birth of the first hammerless drilling. The company expanded producing drillings, shotguns, and over and under rifle-shotgun combinations. Russia was their most important export market until 1914.
In 1912 Adolf Heym assumed management of the company and began shifting the export market from Russia to the USA. August Heym assumed management of the company in 1920, and began production of Anson & Deeley Drillings, double rifle drillings, drillings with three triggers, double rifles, and rifle shotgun combination guns.
Following World War II in 1945, Heym made a new start in the West Germany. The factory moved to Ostheim in the Rhön/ Lower Franconia. August and Rolf Heym oversaw the establishment of a new factory. Heym products during this time consisted of cuckoo clocks, slide rules, spinning wheels, among various other products.
Heym built a new factory in Münnerstadt/ Lower Franconia, Germany in 1952 and transferred manufacturing to this site. Their first cold hammer forging machine “Aklett” was purchased in 1960. Rolf Heym took over management of the company in 1963 until his death in 1972. At that time Elisabeth Heym assumed management of the company and began acquisition of new foreign markets.
In 1988 Oskar W. Zurflüh of Zurich assumed management of the company. The company was transferred to Jürgen Nierich, Munich, HEYM Jagdwaffenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG in 1992. They built a modern weapons factory in Gleichamberg / Thuringia, Germany in 1995 and transferred production from Münnerstadt. On February 1, 1998 Thomas Wolkmann of Erfurt re-established the company as HEYM Waffenfabrik GmbH (Limited), with a strong emphasis on foreign markets especially Eastern Europe and North America. The company went public in October, 2002. The name was changed in February 2007 to Heym AG.
New products since 1995: