The Hermann Weihrauch company was founded in 1899 in Zella-Mehlis, the same small German town where several other famous gun manufacturers such as Walther and Anschütz also began.

Finally, after the German Shooting Federation ("Deutscher Schützenbund") was re-established, the allied government allowed the production of rifled barrels.

Even after the firearm manufacturing ban was withdrawn, the Hermann Weihrauch KG company continued to produce air rifles.

The rather uncommon HW 55T version with its ornate Tyrolean-style stock, usually sporting walnut, has always been a favorite among offhand shooters and collectors.

The HW35 also has a locking barrel catch and an automatic safety located at the rear of the cylinder, the HW35 was such a successful model that despite its relatively modest power output it still remains in the company's range, almost unchanged to this day, although no longer imported to the US by Beeman.

It had survived both the war and the Russian occupation by having safely gone overseas as a sales sample to the Hy-Score Arms Company in the USA.

After a period of importing Weihrauch-designed airguns, the Beemans had decided that they needed to introduce a German-made air rifle with American styling and features.

[5] This cooperative development program resulted in the Beeman R1 (sold outside of the US as the Weihrauch HW 80 in a lower-power version with a more European-style stock).

The factory presented a rather bulky, high top, "Desert Eagle-like" design which the Beemans did not think would appeal to the American market.

This was a great improvement over under lever air rifles which utilized a loading tap from which the pellet had to leap into the barrel.

The HW77 and HW77 Carbine, with their rigid barrel and easy cocking and loading, became extremely popular in countries with lower power limits.

The great optimism of that period of the company's development was dampened by the unexpected death of Hans Weihrauch, Sr. on 3 April 1990 aged 63.

However, Weihrauch did not follow the conventional and expected practice of retiring its older sporter rifles to make way for newer models.