“Blaser Jagdwaffen GmbH”(pronounced: Blah-zer) is a German firearms manufacturer of high end shot guns and rifles both for the hunting and tactical market. It was founded in 1957 by Horst Blaser and based in Isny, Germany.
Monday October 19th, Gord Montgomery of“The Monty Heat Treat News”, Joern Rohde of “Rohde Furnaces”and Jeff McLaughlin of“McLaughlin Furnace Group” had the privilege of a 4-hour tour of firearms manufacturer “Blaser” in Isny, Germany. The tour was hosted by “Mr. Thomas Macher”, Chief Technical Officer of the company who showed us every single aspect of their manufacturing process including heat treatment and surface finishing.
In this two-part series we share all of the details of this facility along with extensive photos-this is the story of firearm manufacturer “Blaser” and their in house heat treatment department;
The firm was founded in 1957 by Mr. Horst Blaser in his home town of Isny, Germany which remains the headquarters of the company with a total of 600 employees. Other manufacturing facilities include a facility in Bulgaria with 150 employees who focus on the Turkish Walnut gun stocks which are an integral part of all of the firms’ shotguns and 30% of rifle production. A third production facility with 150 employees is located in Wetzlar, Germany and produces optical systems for firearms-it total the 3 plants generate over $200 million Euros/year in revenue. Our tour covered the Isny location which is the only one of the three locations which has in-house heat treatment.
To ensure quality and delivery times “Blaser” makes virtually everything in house from scratch; gun barrels, receivers, stocks, “clips” pretty much everything except for fasteners and firing pins.
“Blaser” has the ability to produce lot sizes anywhere from single orders right on up to 500 weapons at a time although the standard is typically 30 at a time. Interestingly enough each and every weapon is tested fired at least twice at “overpressure” to ensure quality and safety-this test (which we did not see) is a semi-automated process.
This year the firm will produce over 50,000 rifles and 2,000 shotguns although they can produce 100,000 barrels/year if required with a typical delivery time of 3-5 months from order to finished product.
Tomorrow, we look at various steps in the manufacturing process with special attention to the heat treat/finishing department.
