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NEWS<br />
pflaumer-umareX walTher<br />
<strong>2012</strong> tuned into a special milestone for one<br />
of the world’s leading entrepreneur in the<br />
field of gun manufacture, Mr. Wulf-Heinz<br />
Pflaumer. The founder of the Umarex Company,<br />
which includes the worldwide known<br />
brand Carl Walther, celebrated his 70 th<br />
birthday, together with the 40 th birthday<br />
of his company, along with its co-founder<br />
Franz Wonisch.<br />
The reception was held at the Schloss<br />
Herdringen castle, near Arnsberg, in Germany,<br />
last 17 th of December <strong>2012</strong>, and the<br />
party was a chance to recall the history of<br />
a company that is nowadays a pilaster of<br />
the shooting world. Ironically, the owner<br />
of the most trusted precision-gun brands<br />
started-off from replicas. When legislation<br />
was passed to restrict the sale of weapons<br />
in Germany, the company acquired the<br />
rights to build high-quality replicas. Quite<br />
soon, Umarex grew to become the world’s<br />
largest manufacturer of replica guns and<br />
formed the nucleus of the expanding cor-<br />
38 ISSF NEWS 1 2013<br />
<strong>ThE</strong> MILESTONES <strong>OF</strong> A MARKET PROTAGONIST<br />
Wulf-Heinz Pflaumer in a friendly conversation with ISSF President Dr. Olegario Vázquez Raña and IOC Vice President Dr. Thomas Bach<br />
porate group that was then named the PW<br />
Group in 2010. Back in 1993, the enterprise<br />
acquired the Carl Walther Company, entering<br />
into the precision shooting market,<br />
implementing the Umarex over-the-counter<br />
product range with world-famous firearms<br />
and sporting arms manufactured by Walther.<br />
Nowadays, the range of products for<br />
the shooting sport world offered by the<br />
PW has increased again, with the recent<br />
acquisitions of the well known Röhm and<br />
Hämmerli brands. Throughout the years,<br />
the support to the sport has always been<br />
a highlight, in the history of Umarex and<br />
of his founders. The shooting family witnessed<br />
the outstanding passion that Mr.<br />
Pflaumer personally put into the business.<br />
Proving to be a true enthusiast of our sport,<br />
the German entrepreneur has always been<br />
present at major competitions such as the<br />
Olympic Games and World Championships,<br />
in close contact with his athletes. The apex<br />
of his commitment was probably reached<br />
at the 2010 ISSF World Championship in<br />
Munich. The event, which was widely<br />
recognized as one of the best World Championships<br />
ever, was extensively sponsored<br />
by Mr. Pflaumer’s companies, which also<br />
supported a number of other competitions<br />
around the world, in these years.<br />
Turning 40, the company counts now<br />
over 700 employees, and has entered its<br />
second generation. The steering wheel<br />
is now indeed in the hands of the second<br />
generation of owners and partners, Eyck<br />
Pflaumer and Martin Wonisch, who will<br />
guide the PW group through the future<br />
challenges. Umarex, through its brands, is<br />
nowadays one of the most trusted and successful<br />
sport-gun manufacturers, and keeps<br />
winning on the path set by its founders,<br />
40 years ago.<br />
Photo: ISSF
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