What Really Happened to the Hill & Mac Gunworks Sturmgewehr
It is hard to believe, but Hill & Mac Gunworks still exists. On June 12th they filed to renew their trademark at a cost of nearly $2000. And, thanks to a lawsuit, we now know the real reason for the last two years of delays in the production of the Sturmgewehr.
Background
At SHOT Show 2016, Hill & Mac Gunworks (HMG) announced that they were creating a replica of the German WWII Sturmgewehr, or StG 44. Since at least 2017 they have been claiming they are close to shipping. In October 2018, after more than a year of additional delays, HMG posted an update on their website promising that “this time is different” and that they “hoped” to be shipping around March 2019. Then in December, they posted a video on Facebook revealing that they had “made some partnerships”. They also claimed that “if you have a pre-order as of today, you will have it in your hands, no matter when you ordered, no later than March”.
When March came, they said they had been delayed by quality control issues but had worked through them and were waiting on parts. Finally, in June of 2019, they posted that they were still waiting on the parts for testing. They have made no public statements since then.
The Lawsuit
Contrary to what you might expect at this point, HMG is not being sued. Rather, HMG has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against a Utah based machine shop named True Position, Inc.
HMG was introduced to True Position in mid 2018 and sought to have them produce the StG. In January 2019 the two companies signed a contract, agreeing to split the net sales fifty-fifty. HMG is now suing and alleging the following:
- Breach of contract for failure to manufacture firearms,
- Breach of contract for posting a video on Vimeo in violation of the confidentiality agreement,
- Failing to deliver on promised delivery dates on which HMG had relied (Promissory Estoppel),
- Taking “machines, materials, parts, tools, and training” from HMG and not compensating them (Unjust Enrichment),
- Holding parts that they had made hostage, thereby preventing HMG from delivering to customers (Interference with performance of a contract),
- Negligent misrepresentation in claiming that they could produce the StG,
- And failing to return the machines, parts, and tools (Conversion).
For the first two, HMG is asking for $2 million, for the rest they are asking for $950,000, $523,991.20, $250,000, $950,000, and $493,991.20. They are also asking for an injunction to have their property returned and punitive damages of an additional $1 million.
Sturmgewehr Sales, Refunds, and Vimeo
The lawsuit states that HMG has had 671 preorders with over $1.2 million in revenue from them. The lawsuit does not say how many refunds were requested but it does request $250,000 for interfering with the contract. It is possible that some portion of that is due to refunds that had to be issued when HMG failed to deliver on the agreed upon schedule.
As for the Vimeo video, the lawsuit states that it was a 24 minute video posted by True Position on May 4th, 2020 in order to “[demonstrate] some of the problems we are trying to describe”. Neither link nor title can be found in the court documents (yet).
Would You Like to Know More?
If you want to see all the details and of the lawsuit and the troubled relationship between HMG and True Position, you can download the court documents from RECAP. At press time, HMG has not responded to a request for comment.
If you would like to support independent journalists then you can do your own research and share it instead of relying on me. I have a job and this ain’t it.
