Researching the various Arminius revolvers imported into the United States over the past five decades can be confusing since the various importers often renamed the models to make them more marketable to U.S. The most well known of the United States importers would probably be Firearms Import & Export (F.I.E.) of Hialeah/Miami, Florida. Over the past fifty years the various models have been imported into the United States by different companies. These revolvers were named after the chief of the Germanic Cherusci tribe, Arminius (latinized name) who led Teutonic warriors during the later stages of Roman Emperor Augustus' reign.
The name 'Arminius' refers to a line of revolvers manufactured by the German firm Weihrauch since 1960 (first model was HW-3, since 1962 was produced HW-4 and since 1965 HW-5).