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Haendler & Natermann Sport GmbH – the company we all call “H&N” – is one of the world’s largest and most famous manufacturers of airgun pellets and slugs.
2025 is the company’s bicentenary. It’s the 200th anniversary from when a certain Johann Georg Haendler and his brother-in-law, Friedrich August Natermann, set-up a freight forwarding company named “Haendler & Natermann” in 1825.
Their company started producing lead shot in 1848. This means that H&N has been producing lead projectiles for no less than 177 years. In addition, round balls for air rifles were already being produced in the 1890s. That gives H&N a 130-year history of making airgun-specific ammunition, too.
Below. The 1848 product range.
For ANY company, a 200-year history is a massive achievement. Congratulations H&N!
In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the high points in this remarkable story. There’s something for us all to learn…
Haendler & Natermann Sport GmbH In 2025
Today H&N’s 55 employees are responsible for an annual production of over 1.3 Billion – yes BILLION – pellets every year!
And that’s not counting the 60+ Million slugs, bullets and round balls for muzzleloaders they also manufacture every 12 months. All this ammo is sold to just about every country around the globe where people are privileged to be able to shoot airguns.
In 2025, H&N Sport has a grand total of 107 SKUs. That’s the largest range of any company in the field.
As we all expect from a German company, H&N is heavily focused on quality. For this reason, the entire production process from tool making to packaging is done in-house.
In addition, production batch numbers are allocated and tracked rigorously, with random samples of each batch measured for conformance to tolerances. Then these batches are test-fired at the three in-house test ranges (10, 25 and 50 Meters) and samples kept for reference.
All of this takes place in a clean, modern plant in the town of Hann Münden, in Lower Saxony. That’s roughly in the middle of Germany.
Since 2023, general management of the company has been in the hands of Christian Hirschel (left in photo below). Formerly the production manager and a long-service company employee, he took over from Florian Schwartz (right) who retired after 14 years at the helm.
Haendler & Natermann Sport GmbH In The USA – The Past 60 Years
In recent times, H&N products have been distributed in the USA by Air Venturi and Hatsan USA.
However that was not always the case. From about 1984 to the early 1990s, a large range of H&N pellets were imported into the USA by Beeman Precision Airguns. As was the company strategy, most of these were branded as Beeman products.
During that time, the H&N product range had become quite varied, as we can see from this 1988 Beeman catalog.
But back in 1979, the H&N product range was still pretty small:
– Flat nose in .177 and .22, smooth or ribbed skirt
– Pointed nose in .177, .20, and .22
– Round nose (“English model”) in .177, .20, and .25
– Round balls in various diameters
– Pointed “slugs” (similar to Sheridans) in .177, .20, and .22
K.J. David was a U.S. company about which I know nothing. However they seem to have specialized in selling airgun pellets. Below we see their 1978 price list. They have a range of H&N pellets in multiple calibers.
FThe pricing? Well, a 500-count tin of H&N Match pellets in .177 caliber cost $3.85 back then. Accounting for inflation, that would be $18.98 at current prices. Today, in 2025, a 500-count tin of .177 caliber H&N Match Heavy pellets costs $15.99 at Pyramyd – and that’s before the “buy four get one free” deal.
Quality has gone up while prices have gone down! Who said the 1970s were “the good old days”?
H&N “English” pellets were domed-head diabolos. They were probably the fore-runner of the Field Target Trophy design. H&N pellets all seem to have been wadcutters before about this time.
Stepping further back to the 1960s, Air Rifle Headquarters was the first company in the USA devoted to “serious airgunners”. It specialized in selling high quality European-manufactured airguns and pellets.
Given their focus on quality, Air Rifle Headquarters sold “H&N Long Range Precision Match” and “Super-Match” pellets. These are all wadcutters.
Above is a photograph of the oldest Airgun Headquarters catalogue I have in my collection. It dates from 1965.
Yes, in those days, 35 Yards was long range for airguns and most of the pellets were wadcutters!
One thing’s for sure: the design of the packaging was extremely durable. In a 1979 catalogue, the tins still looked the same as they did in 1965!
Moving Back – A Haendler & Natermann Sport Historical Timeline
In 2019 production of airgun slugs started. At first they were all in .22 caliber. Since then the product portfolio was extended by covering the caliber range from .177 to .35. In total 52 different varieties in diameter and weight are now available.
You can see full details in the Big HAM H&N Slugs Guide.
2013 saw the company move to a new and 50% larger factory building that it occupies today. This enabled an expansion and better layout of the production. Test shooting ranges were installed, with sophisticated optical measuring and electronic assessment equipment.
In addition, a comprehensive suite of CNC machines was purchased. This kept the new workshop to up-date for the manufacturing of all dies in-house.
Below. A pencil sketch of the old factory.
In 2008 Haendler & Natermann Sport GmbH was acquired by two private investors. Since then it has continued as an independent company, separate from the original Haendler & Natermann business.
1995. H&N had developed the so-called “High Speed” lead bullets for reloaders (photo below), which feature a thin copper coating and an additional plastic layer. This provides better protection against damage during firing and allows them to be shot at higher velocities than conventional copper-coated bullets.
1991 was a key year for our story! Haendler & Natermann Sport GmbH was founded as a separate subsidiary of the original Haendler & Natermann company.
H&N Sport assumed all previous activities related to hunting and sport shooting. The parent company focused on packaging materials and subsequently became part of the huge Constantia Flexibles packaging organization.
At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, air rifle and pistol shooting became an official discipline for the first time. H&N Sport pellets were successfully used right from the start!
Until the 1983 lead shot was produced under the “Lätare” brand name by H&N.
In 1970 the last remaining shareholders of the Natermann family sold their shares in the company, thus ending 145 years of management under the Natermann family.
By 1950, the company’s management had succeeded in obtaining permission from the British occupation forces to resume production of airgun pellets and lead shot. Below we see the company’s packaging line; 1950s style!
1923 was the year in which H&N became a corporation. (Aktiengesellschaft in German).
In the 1890s H&N’s product portfolio includes lead shot, lead rifle bullets, round balls for muzzleloaders and air rifles. This was in addition to packaging materials (metal capsules, tin foil, etc.) and other lead products like milled lead.
Below. The 1890 product portfolio.
Johann August Natermann, grandson of the company founder and the then-current managing director, established H&N’s company health insurance fund in 1884. In contrast to the German statutory health insurance system (the world’s first) introduced the previous year, this covered not only the industrial workers but all factory employees. This was a revolutionary, forward-thinking employee benefits measure at the time.
In the European “Year of Revolutions” – 1848 – Carl Georg August Natermann, son of Friedrich and successor in the management, acquired a tower of Hann Münden’s old medieval defense system, had it heightened to 118 Feet and began the production of lead shot. In 1871, due to the tremendous demand of the “Lätare” lead shot a second tower was acquired and modified for the production of shot.
Here’s a pictogram of how they did it.
The heated and thus liquefied lead was poured over a sieve in the upper part of the towers.
During the fall down in the tower, the lead cooled and fell, essentially as a finished shot, into a water vat at the bottom of the tower.
After a roundness check, in which the shot ran over an inclined plane, the shot were sorted according to their dimensions using a sieve in a sorting machine.
In 1838 the business had expanded with the opening of a lead foundry and a rolling mill for the production of rolled lead. In the next decades this was to be continuously expended to lead pipes, lead seals, and lead wire, as well as tin foil and tin foil capsules for bottle closures.
Now we’re back at the start. This is the birthday of H&N! In 1825, Johann Georg Haendler and his brother-in-law, Friedrich August Natermann, set-up a freight forwarder company named “Haendler & Natermann”. Johann Georg Haendler was to retire from the company in 1835. But Friedrich August Natermann continued to run the company alone, retaining the company name.
I hope that you have enjoyed this history of Haendler & Natermann Sport. I would like to thank Jörg Siemens, the Head of Sales and Marketing at the company, for his HUGE help in putting-together this story. It couldn’t have been done without him!
Most of the illustrations used in this history come from the H&N company archives and are reproduced with permission.
The post Haendler & Natermann Sport: A 200-Year Tradition Of Quality appeared first on Hard Air Magazine.
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. The Hornets are exceptionally well made too and are the most accurate pointed pellet i have tried. Oh, and the screw top cans and prices are excellent indeed.... Keep up the good work H&N!
