Hoot'n'Toot Armament Manufacturing

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"Just point'n'shoot with Hoot'n'Toot!"
"You always need more Dakka"

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Hoot'n'Toot Armaments (abbreviated HT) is an arms manufacturer based in Gruvania, Ihazon. Since their beginnings they have been providing small arms to VERN and the civilian market, and currently stand for the majority of small arms sales in Ihazon.

History of Products

During its industrial boom in the early 1900s, Ihazon saw increasing attempts at capitalising on the expanding industrial market, also in the weapons market. Two such individuals were Horace Othmar and Thomas Otford, who, unlike consensus at the time, believed fully automatic weapons to be the future.
During their studies in industrial design and production, they spent their spare time in a makeshift workshop located in Otford's mother's garage, where the two young men experimented on miniaturising machine gun technology into something that the average Joe could use without issue. In 1912 they presented the first prototype machine pistol of what would become known as the "Typewriter"; however, due to its high cost of production, it never progressed past the prototype stage.

After Langenthal Steelworks opened in 1916 however, Ihazon had a sudden influx in the availability of steel, drastically reducing the cost of mass manufactured steel products. Otford and Othmar took this opportunity to dust off their prototype weapon, and two years after, they had perfected their original design: the SMG-1. While still expensive, the drastically reduced production cost made the machine pistol an immediate success, both at the civilian and military market, and it would quickly be collectively known as the "Typewriter" due to the iconic piston-like sound it made.
In light of the success, the two brothers quit their jobs and bought a large, empty warehouse in Gruvania. Taking the first two letters of each of their name, they officially founded Hoot and Toot Armaments in summer 1918.

Demand for firearms continued to increase in the next decades, and the two now partners worked on multiple concept firearms, most of which either never saw the light of day or had limited success.

File:HTmachinepistols1.png

Sketch versions of some of HT's popular open bolt machine pistols.

First in the early 1950s they were approached by the Ihazonan military, which was looking to upgrade their standard issue weapons. This caused the two men to go back to the drawing board and some of their old concept weaponry. Eventually they would find a design for an infantry rifle that had the stopping power of a traditional sharpshooter rifle while also allowing automatic fire, all while being light enough for standard infantry to carry. The final result was the "Heavy Assault Rifle", shortened HAR-3, chambered in the large 8.5x70mm SR calibre, which served as the Ihazonan military's primary rifle from 1955 until the aftermath of the Thoirazon War.

File:HTheavyrifles1.png

HT's oldest and 'newest' heavy rifle compared side by side. Earlier versions of the DMR-11 were actually seen in use as early as the Thoirazon war, but due to a lack of commercial success were taken off the market and rebranded several decades later.

HT would later face heavy criticism when it turned out that a multitude of HAR-3s had ended up in the hands of what would become the Front for an Established Thoiria. Many speculated if the massive amounts of casualties during the 1960 Parliament Coup was at least part of the extremely lethal rifle, used equally much on both sides of the conflict. HT shrugged off the criticism, stating that they "don't discriminate when it comes to the sale of [their] firearms".
This escalated into the eventual death of Horace Othmar, who in 1961 was gunned down in the street by an assailant armed with a Typewriter. After a shoot-out with law enforcement, the shooter would lose his life before he could testify his reasons for the murder. This was, however, enough to completely change the media's picture of HT.

Now alone, Otford would continue miniaturising their firearms, leading to the aptly named "Welder" in 1968 and the "MP-10" in 1972, both highly compact machine pistols. Neither were huge success at their conception, and Otford would pass away before the end of 1972.
The company remained largely in the background until the Thoirazon War broke out in 1982 and the MP-10 was seen widely used at the Thoirian side due to its efficient and compact design. It quickly got the nickname "Klotz"--meaning "box" in Thoirian--for its distinctive look, and would be a frequent media topic throughout the war.
The Klotz also ended up becoming a huge success in the criminal underworld, due to its easily concealable nature, and would even see widespread use in Radosis.

File:HTlightrifles1.png

The debut rifle with HT's rebrand, the ACR, together with their newest light rifle, the ABR-2.

The company went on to struggle financially after the war and the disbandment of the Ihazonan military. They would stay afloat mostly because of a deal they landed with the newly established VERN in 1992 for a machine pistol variant of the HAR-3--the UMP--which ended up becoming a success in law enforcement due to its customisability and light polymer frame.

After being taken over by Otford's grandson, Tony, HT would see a relatively large "rebrand" with the launch of the "Advanced Combat Rifle", the ACR, in 2002, with what they described as a "return back to [their] roots". In this time period, they would go on to release several experimental, ultra-modern weapons, such as the "Wektor" in 2008, the "DMR-11" in 2011, and the "ABR-2" in 2020. While these firearms were all too expensive for widespread adoption, they would feature frequently in popular video game titles as well as movies, causing a surge of interest in the brand among the civilian market.

Criticism

File:HTsmgs2.1.png

The UMP-12. While originally designed as the successor of the popular Typewriter design, it garnered little use outside of law enforcement, where its 10mm variant is still commonly seen used.

Despite facing some criticism about freely available firearms breeding a 'violent society', Hoot'n'Toot Armaments have brushed this off in press releases. "Guns are great, for both self-defence and sports," Hoot'n'Toot Armaments' current Chairman Tony Otford stated. "A safer society only breeds nicer people. Besides, it's not like guns have ever killed anybody!"