HMG Stg-44 Replica

[raftman]

It's been quite the story with this gun. For those not in the know, a small manufacturer called Hill and Mac Gunworks, was just one of many outfits producing reactive targets, selling parts kits, and maybe the occasional parts kit build. They took the gun community by storm several years ago by promising relatively affordable ($1800) Stg-44 clones in 8mm kurz, 7.62x39, 5.56, and possibly also .300 blk. If I'm not mistaken the original ETA was something like 4/2016. They took many full-price pre-orders, but to date there have been no deliveries. Repeated delays were cited as excuses, often attributed to outside suppliers not meeting standards. The latest update on their site comes from 10/2018 and says they have almost all of the kinks worked out.

I myself didn't buy in. Didn't really want to be a beta-tester, especially for something I really didn't see much need for, but have been genuinely interested in getting one "eventually." I did expect there to be delays but certainly not for it take several years and counting.

I'm wondering: Did anyone here actually pre-order one? Are you still waiting/holding out hope? Did you cancel/get your money back? Has HMG been more communicative to customers than the general public? Anyone have any insight or speculation as to whether these will ever see the light of day?

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[JuglansRegia]

I don't have any direct knowledge of this outfit and their scheme, but they are not alone, another company is doing the same thing trying to bring back the original Automag pistols.

 

[JD42]

Sorry they are out off business. Could not get funding. Not sure what there status is. I really was hopeing for one in 8mm.

 

[CountryGent]

Sorry they are out off business. Could not get funding. Not sure what there status is. I really was hopeing for one in 8mm.

Source of the news? I'm not seeing it on their website or Facebook page. Just curious.

As to the original questions; I dig the idea, but would never put money down (particularly full price) on a firearm that is not complete. I've seen too many horror stories of companies folding and their product remaining vaporware. (I remember something like that with a company that was going to produce reproduction Merwin & Hulbert revolvers not all that long ago.)

 

[JD42]

Hill and Mack had a few out there. The news came from AR15.com I was interested. But some people pre ordered and after 2 years nothing.

 

[raftman]

It's kind of a shame the project hasn't become a success story. If it would have, I think it could have precipitated a small renaissance of replicas of historic/interesting firearms being made. Another failure certainly doesn't help.

 

[Goosebrown]

I preordered and after a year needed the money back. They gladly sent it back to me. I don't think they were a scam but a real small shop with big vision. I hope they pull something out of it.

I liked them, they were good guys

Their phone still works but they're closed now. Being Saturday.

 

[Boboclown]

Their kit builds were pretty good, but I figured this is how their STG-44 replica would have turned out. To be honest, its such a niche rifle there'd been no point. Even in 5.56 or 7.62x39 the only people who were gonna be interested were the ones who wanted one to begin with.

It didn't help it wasn't going to be like the original, just sort of close to it in appearance (even then not really). I was hoping they'd be able to work with it anyways, but it is what it is.

 

[raftman]

I could see the need for some change to the original design, the original did have its issues in same way as that other niche maker that sells FG-42 clones had to address that the original evidently had an estimated lifespan of a meager 5000 rounds or so.

But it's true that any changes beyond that sort were entirely wasteful. How many people would really have wanted a suppressable .300 blk Stg-44 clone that could also accept modern optics? Or one with the modularity to switch between 4 calibers? Stg-44's weigh like 10-12 pounds (varies depending on source) ; they could never compete as a modern firearm so why try? If the goal were strictly to make a fairly faithful semi-auto clone with improved quality for folks that can't or won't spend $30,000 on an original, I suspect they would be out already.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Replica firearms are tricky...
Often the replica firearm falls short in someways ...this can be from the original design itself....as in the original design has flaws or does not lend itself to modern manufacturing methods and cost...
Or the materials , and "look" of the replica , just ain't quite right...

Now that last bit can be overcome with some work...case in point Uberti and Pietta black powder revolvers.
Both of these companies make a excellent copy of a Colt or Remington BP revolver...are they exact copies of those...Nope...but for the cost of a Uberti or Pietta clone...you get a damn good looking and fine shooting revolver...that closely mimics the original....at a "doable" price.

If someone could do this with some rare WWII firearms , that might make for a hot selling firearm.
Andy

 

[raftman]

It certainly has been done viably, for example those AO M-1 Carbines have been on the market for years and supposedly they're so close to the original that 95% of the parts will interchange. Sure their reputation for reliability is a bit mixed (to be fair, this is also true of the original), but most people don't treat them as an AR/AK substitute so it doesn't matter all that much.

 

[raftman]

A thought occurred to me recently (I know, there's a rare phenomenon!) which gives hope that the project may not be dead after all.

Sure it's been about 3 years (and counting), but 3 years of development isn't actually that unusual for these types of upstart-ish projects.

The Kalashnikov USA KR-9 9mm AK and the Desert Tech MDR took about that long also between when they were first announced and when they finally shipped... but they did finally ship.

I don't really know the MDR story, but I have read about and been looking forward to the KR-9.

Of course, there's 2 big differences to consider:

1. Kalashnikov USA didn't have anyone do any full-price preorders, they just made promises that took longer than expected to fulfill. No would-be customers personally invested.

2. They also made a fairly exact copy of an original existing design with only minor modifications, instead of fundamental redesign that fires 3 additional calibers and so on.

 

[GWS]

A few years back, iirc, ATI brought out an STG clone in 22lr. I liked it enough to buy one and I enjoy shooting it and talking about it as it always draws looks and gets conversations going.. it fulfilled my STG needs for way less than $30K.

 

[raftman]

The most predictable update to this saga. Have it on good authority (a preorder customer showed me their emails from HMG) that the updated delivery date was supposed mid-September. It being October, it appears they've missed the mark again.

 

[tac]

I recall an FG42 replication from a few years back that DID make it into production, at something like $8K, but was woefully badly made with all kinds of problems in the gas system.

Anybody else remember this?