TyROL

Many airgun collectors think that non-match CO₂ rifles were made only in the United States. Here are some wonderful exceptions. The rifles below bear the same TyROL brand name (in the same unusual font printed in this unique way), same Austrian eagle logo, and "MADE IN AUSTRIA" marking. Production of these airguns sometimes has been attributed to Tiroler Waffenfabrik ("Tyrol Weapon Makers") Peterlongo, Richard Mahrhold & Sohn, Innsbrück, Austria, founded in 1854 and reportedly still making airguns into the 1970s, but Richard Mahrhold's Waffenlexikon (Weapon Dictionary) edition of 1998 notes that they are the product of the firm presently known as Tiroler Sportwaffenfabrik und Apparatebau GmbH ("Tyrol Sport Weapon Makers and Apparatus Factory Inc.") (aka Tiroler Jagd undSportwaffenfabrik or "TyROL Hunting and Sport Weapon Makers") of Kufstein, Austria, a gun maker associated with Voetter & Co. of Vöhrenbach/Schwarzwald ("Black Forest"), Germany. The Tiroler Jagd und Sportwaffenfabrik Company name was established in 1965, but the firm was known as the Tiroler Maschinenbau und Holzindustrie ("TyROL Machine Factory and Wood Works") in the 1950s when the TyROL COmatic and CM1 CO₂ rifles were produced and prior to that as Tiroler Waffenfabrik H. Krieghoff (probably unrelated to H. Kreighoff of Suhl and then Ulm, Germany). These airguns, especially the M1 Carbine-style trainer, may have been supplied to Voetter & Co. who reportedly was the official supplier of arms to the Austrian Army. Voetter also used the well-known brand name of Voere. The M1 Carbine version known officially as the Österreichischen Übungskarabiner KM 1 or "ÜK" is one of the most sought-after military arms among European arms and airgun collectors.
The association of the Austrian TyROL CO₂ rifles and the Italian Armigas "OLYMPIC" CO₂ rifles is a puzzle. While the civilian COmatic version of the TyROL gas rifle and the Armigas "OLYMPIC" appear to be the same, close examination shows that while virtually every part is similar, with almost identical styling, none actually are the same and they certainly are not interchangeable! Perhaps the TyROL CO₂ repeater was the inspiration for the OLYMPIC from Armigas. The TyROL CO-Matic rifle obviously was also the model for Venturini's Golondrina COMatic CO₂ pellet rifle, not surprising, considering the past ties of Germany and Argentina. The Golondrina repeater was in turn the model for the Golondrina repeating CO₂ pistol.
The TyROL COmatic and CM1 rifles may have additional special significance in the historical development of airguns as the maker claimed that they were the first semi-automatic CO₂ rifles to be developed commercially. (Ref: Amer. Rifleman Sept 1959:62-3; DWJ March 1992:401-3).