RWS GmbH (originally Rheinisch Westfälische Sprengstoff-Actien-Gesellschaft). (1886/87. Construction of a primer factory (“Züfa”) on the Troisdorfer Heide by the Rheinisch-Westfälische Sprengstoff-Gesellschaft (RWS), founded in 1886). is a manufacturer of small-caliber ammunition for civilian and military purposes, detonators and other pyrotechnic products. The company is headquartered in Fürth, Germany and has plants in Fürth and Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Germany
History The chemist Emil Müller founded the company in Cologne in 1886. In the same year, he established the Zünderfabrik Troisdorf production facility for detonators in Troisdorf. Three years later, Rheinisch Westfälische Sprengstoff-Actien Gesellschaft acquired the laboratory for the production of detonators from Heinrich Utendoerffer in Nuremberg. When the company premises in Nuremberg were no longer adequate, an expansion site in Stadeln was put into operation in August 1897. Emil Müller died in December 1910. Paul Müller took over management of RWS.Karlheinz Ossendorf: Aus kleiner Sprengkapsel wuchs Riesenfabrik. 100 Jahre Zünderfabrik Troisdorf 1886–1986. In: Jahrbuch des Rhein-Sieg-Kreises (). Rheinlandia Verlag, Siegburg 1986, , pp. 113–122 (online). During the Great Depression, RWS merged with Dynamit-Actien-Gesellschaft together with five other companies in 1931. The headquarters of the merged company became Troisdorf, but the RWS brand for ammunition remained.Neue Marktchancen. Dynamit Nobel kauft Firma in Schweden (New market opportunities. Dynamit Nobel buys company in Sweden). In: Nürnberger Nachrichten September 19, 1990.
After changing its name to Dynamit Nobel AG, the company acquired the site in Sulzbach-Rosenberg in 1959 and took over Geco (1963).Robert E. Walker: Cartridges and firearm identification, Taylor & Francis, Boca Raton 2013, , p. 135. In the 1970s, the company developed ammunition free of heavy metals. This was due to high levels of heavy metal dust in shooting ranges, which now had to be covered for noise protection reasons. At the end of the 1970s, this ammunition went into production under the brand Sintox.Klapötke, Thomas M. (2019): Chemistry of High-Energy Materials. 5th, revised and expanded Edition. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, p. 92, . Norma was acquired in 1990. In 2002, the Swiss company RUAG bought the small-caliber division of Dynamit Nobel and restructured it and its own ammunition division as RUAG Ammotec. The German part of the company operated as RUAG Ammotec GmbH.Mayer, Wolfgang: In guten Waffen steckt viel Handarbeit (A lot of manual work goes into good weapons). In: Nürnberger Nachrichten, March 12, 2011. RUAG Ammotec existed for 20 years until 2022, when Beretta acquired ownership of Ammotec with all of its brands. In this context, RUAG Ammotec GmbH adopted the traditional name RWS.
Customers, products, brands RWS GmbH manages several brands. It serves both the governance and commercial sectors with a focus on the civilian sales market and industry.
Army and police In addition to the German Bundeswehr and the armed forces of various NATO members, customers of the Governance division also include police authorities from various countries.
Civilian customers Commercially, RWS sells its own brand RWS as well as Geco, Rottweil and Hausken to civilians such as hunters and sportsmen. RWS also manufactures products that are used in the products of other industrial manufacturers. These include components for small-caliber ammunition, priming elements and primer sets as well as pyrotechnic mixtures for predominantly automotive use such as airbags or belt tensioners. Manufactured cartridge ammunition is used, for example, for bolt-setting devices in fastening technology or for bolt guns in slaughterhouses.
Sports sponsorship The company promotes shooting sports. The company is a partner of the German Shooting and Archery Federation. In 2010, for example, it was the main sponsor of the 50th ISSF World Shooting Championships in Munich. The Geco brand is also used in sponsorship, for example as official ammunition at competitions or to support individual athletes. Qualified young shooters are supported with Rottweil brand ammunition.
References
External links
Early documents on RWS in the 20th Century Press Archives of the German National Library of Economics - newspaper clippings 1910-40 and annual reports 1910-1930, 1934, 1935, 1937-1940