Robert Hillberg

Robert Hillberg was a firearm designer. He was the former head of High Standard Manufacturing Company. His designs included the folding shotgun stock, the Whitney Wolverine, the Wildey .45 gas-operated pistol, and the four-shot COP 357 Derringer. Hillberg developed a variety of insurgency weapons, primarily multiple barrel shotguns, which could be covertly distributed to partisan forces fighting in the United States' national interests.

Gun Digest editors have described Hillberg as a "national treasure".

History
Hillberg worked initially at Colt's Manufacturing Company where he began to learn about how firearms are designed. He moved on to Pratt & Whitney and later Republic Aviation. During World War II he worked on adapting weapons designed for use on the ground to aircraft use, with all the challenges inherent in that problem. While at Republic Hillberg designed several automatic pistols, including for the first time in the gun industry solving the problem of having interchangeable barrels for multiple calibers in the same gun.

After the war Hillberg went to work for High Standard as head of research and development.

Guns

 * Browning BPS shotgun
 * COP 357 Derringer
 * Colt Defender Mark I
 * Modern pepper-box rifle
 * Winchester Liberator

Partial list of patents
Hillberg holds numerous patents for firearms, including:
 * 1974 for a folding gun stock
 * 1980 for a firearm grip assembly
 * 1980 for a firearm hammer block safety mechanism
 * 1981 for a firearm magazine safety mechanism
 * 1982 US patent #D262567 for a new break-action rifle design.
 * 1983 for a handgun strut assembly
 * 1983 for a multi-barrel handgun firing mechanism