[1] Prior to 1 January 2019, the company was named Steyr Mannlicher GmbH Co. KG (German pronunciation: [ˈʃtaɪɐ ˈmanlɪçɐ ʔaːˈɡeː]).

[2][3] Steyr has been on the "iron road" to the nearby Erzberg mine since the days of the Styrian Otakar dukes and their Babenberg successors in the 12th and 13th century, and has been known as an industrial site for forging weapons.

[5] Werndl's cooperation with engineer Ferdinand Mannlicher (1848–1904), who had patented an advanced repeating rifle in use by the Austro-Hungarian Army, made ŒWG one of the largest weapon manufacturers in Europe.

It used a 16-round fixed magazine loaded via 8 round stripper clips, a detachable shoulder stock and a rather large exposed semi-auto/full-auto selector switch on the right side of the frame above the trigger (down = semi & up = full).

The production of Steyr Daimler Puch weapons continued in cooperation with Patronenfabrik Solothurn AG at Zuchwil in neutral Switzerland.

After the Austrian Anschluss to Nazi Germany in 1938, the Steyr factories were incorporated into the Reichswerke Hermann Göring industrial conglomerate and the outbreak of World War II provided a brief revival in weapons production.

Like many other companies, Steyr Daimler Puch relied also on forced labour, employing from the Steyr-Münichholz subcamp of KZ Mauthausen.

[citation needed] Simultaneously, the re-emergence of the Austrian Armed Forces in the second republican state was the base for new military weapons production.