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HMG (StG44 replica guys) Q&A sessions? (Patreon)

Published:
2017-02-02 02:35:56
Edited:
2017-02-02 02:35:57
Imported:
2026-06

Content

HMG (the guys making the StG44 replica) threw out an idea we thought was pretty cool at SHOT Show: a recurring Q&A/discussion between Mac, their primary engineer, and InRangeTV.  

Essentially we'd solicit questions from you, the audience, curate to keep it a reasonable 15 minutes or so, and put a video out with them about those topics.

So, with that said, the floor is open!

This can be about anything:

History of the StG44?

How does the StG44 work?

Pressure over time curves in a 8mm kurz gas block?

Why the delays?

The firearms industry as a whole?

Etc?

Let me know what you'd like to hear about and we'll get this idea going.

Thanks!

~Karl

Comments

james Kachman

I'm hunting Cthulu, and only a 5.56 StG-44 will do. How hot of 5.56 can it handle? I *must* have superlative Elder God killing capability.

Michael Bagley

Considering the difficulty of bringing the StG44 to market and how well documented the original production is, how difficult would it be to do this for other less well known firearms?

Franklin S

1) What is the current estimated ship date? 2) What is the most likely reason that date will be missed? 3) What are you not already doing that could complete the STG-N before the heat death of the universe? 4) Why are you not doing those things? 5) Did the CA customers receive rifles before the Jan 1 ban?

Dillon Vires

At what production level would they have to be at in order to make the cost go down enough that more people could afford to buy them?

Scott

I'd be curious what everyone thinks of the historical side of the firearms hobby. It seems most enthusiasts in this hobby focus on the tacticool and modern weapons, but some of us enjoy the engineering and designs of yesteryear. The gun hobby as a whole seems to have grown in population extensively over the past decade with lots of younger people (myself included) being introduced to it. Is the market and demand for historical designs and DIY assembly (like the CETME L) growing significantly with this resurgence as well? I hear tales of the "golden days" of FAL and AK assembly parties, and I wonder if those are gone because of the lack of affordable parts kits, the low cost and availability of alternatives (AR15), or just because the current generation does not enjoy DIY projects like people did 20 years ago. As always there's no one answer but I'd love to hear everyone's take on it!

Tyler Martin

I'd imagine due to working with fairly limited original data, having to adapt the design to modern production, and having limited sets of original parts to go on, just getting it to run and stay together was a huge challenge. So what process was more difficult - figuring out tolerances for all the various parts, or material (ie metal grade/type) selection?

Alex S.

I curious as to what, if any, plans they have for the company after the launch of the StG44. That and what is involved in their testing regime.

Christopher Mees

I wonder if there were good drawings of the Stg44 or did they have to work off of samples to set up the original designs?

Ed G.

Possibility of a 6.5 Grendel barrel that could be used with the readily available Wolf steel case or other brass cased options? The 7.62x39 bolt should be able to be used could be used and 6.5 Grendel mags are STANAG. Availability of a reverse side magazine release? (So the button would actually be located in approximately the same position as the original and could be easily reached by the thumb on the left hand coming up rather than needing to reach around the gun as a right handed shooter)

Robert Drewry

Why have a barrel change option when it's wholly unpopular in the rifles that have it and only contributes to the disingenuousness of your claim that it's a replica?

Jonathan Hartley

How has the methods/tooling used for creating the various stampings of the StG44 changed/evolved in comparison to the H&K G3 (the next notable German stamped firearm)? And yes I know the StG45 is the more direct ancestor to the Hk G3, I am just asking about how the processes of fabricating stamped firearms has changed over time.

Scott Risolute

Do you have any plans to create an "uber" but historical version of the STG?In other words, you're already mashing up the best mechanical tech from multiple German firearm designs to create something the Germans had access to tech-wise but did not create. Have you thought about going further and combining historical optics technology into an "uber-optic" to complement the gun?

Duke VonMeep the 2nd

Any plans on short runs of collector versions like a "Steampunk" STG or German camo patterns?

Steven C Bindeman

Any plans to bring more unique weapons or weapons of historical significance to the market?

Jordan W

Did any of the calibers prove to be more challenging to get to function correctly? Of the calibers offered which do you enjoy shooting the most?

collin simpson

on the topic of recreated firearms. What firearm of which there are no functional examples in existence would you like to see remade to original specs or close to?

kyo

I think that’s a great idea for ya’ll to team up for a QA video! Here’s my question. Many replica firearms of old military rifles and pistols command a very high price. Is it true that older firearms are generally better in quality than the firearms of today and therefore, harder to manufacture?

Eric Beerbaum

It is my understanding that the HMG STANAG magazine is designed to work with all four calibers. Clearly the 5.56mm and 300 Blackout should be pretty interchangeable. However, I would expect feed angles and the stacking of the rounds in the magazine to be different in 8mm Kurz and especially 7.62x39mm. What engineering went into assuring proper feeding with all four calibers?

Frank Moonyoung Lee

MKb42 repro eventually? Closed-bolt of course. Also, any possibility of releasing a more accurate bolt carrier that we can swap into the gun so we can use the more historically correct recoil spring setup, with an appropriate repro stock of course, which also gives a more correct longer bolt travel? Front receiver pin going to be riveted in place or removable? Related to the previous question, any possibility of a more accurate looking lower receiver with all the little stamped bits? Ambi mag release, so that there would be a release on the correct side? Although honestly I would prefer left-side-only. Why did you choose the MP43/1 barrel profile and not the more prolific MP43/44 profile, which is slightly longer and has a different step? A comment related to this, but the front sight tower now looks like the MP43/44, and not the MP43/1, so there's a mismatch. Caliber conversion kits between 5.56 and 300blk that only involve the barrel assembly and thus cheaper? We certainly don't need another identical bolt, gas piston, gas tube, or a magazine for this. A receiver end cap with a more accurate profile in the future? The current one looks too boxy near the bottom and doesn't seem to mate well with the stock itself. My last question basically encapsulates most of the previous questions, but any possibility of a "premium edition" that more accurately copies the various visual features of the original StG? I would pay more for a more visually accurate replica. The mag release being on the wrong side is actually functional I guess; that one bothers me quite a bit.

Carl

I'm very interested in the magazines that mimic the STG-44 magazine apearence. With they be made in all calibers including 7.62x39mm? Will all guns come standard with replica magazines?

Jorge Gomez

CA customers more than like didn't get an STG. However, they can go featureless and still sell in CA. All they need is that goofy looking pistol fin.

Jorge Gomez

Would they consider making another run of CETME-L rifles to make more money if needed?

Jorge Gomez

Build parties stop because the ATF got butt hurt. Paying to use or rent equipment was somehow illegal, I might be wrong with this detail. There are still build parties out there but you have to keep an eye out.

Jake Martin

Great project and idea, I'm buying one for sure. Why is the bluing different on the metal on the stock and the gas block? It kinda stands out. Thanks! Keep up the good work.

John

Will there be replica optics options? How is the caliber change testing/optimization going? If we place an order now, are we charged now, at shipment, or partial up front/balance on shipment? Is the folding stock still a planned accessory? Any other planned accessories?

Molonious Prime

I picked up one of their CETME-L's and look forward to picking up an Stg. My HK-fu however is not as great as I'd like, when you say it takes HK trigger packs, are these semi-auto HK91 or HK43 trigger packs (is there a difference?). Also as someone else mentioned, if HMG ever does an Mkb42 repro, I'd be interested in one of those as well :D

Jake Martin

So are German engineers just mad geniuses or what lol. It sounds like that gun is wildly complex.

Ed G.

Yes they are. I was just trying to say they fit in a STANAG magwell.

Joseph Comey

Recent college grad here. How did Mac get into firearms design? And does he (or either of you) have any advice on how to get started in the gun industry?

Samuel K Harsha

Is there any way to continue to financially support the company while they are getting the bugs worked out of the STG44? I know their cetme-L builds are almost gone if not all gone. What else can we buy to keep them going?

Bruce Brodnax

223Rem doesn't come with nuclear pills, bro'. Not suited to elder diety eradication, strictly poodling applications. ;-)

Bruce Brodnax

I would imagine figuring out tolerances and heat treatment requirements were the tough parts, since the entire point of the original StG design was to make it out of as few critical materials as possible. Of course at the time, it was unlikely that it would survive combat long enough to fire 10k rounds through one, so if the originals fell apart at that point, who cares? Now, however, after someone pays up for one of these replicas, they're going to want to use it A LOT, and hand it down to their kids when they're through with this life, so materials selection definitely had to be more involved than it was for the Nazis back in WW2...

Philip

Sorry in advance about any typos or grammatical errors, english is not my first language. How much help did you guys get from original plans and drawings and how much had to be reverse engineered on the STG? Im especially interested in the stamping process. Did you have any plans or dimensions for the original tooling or did you have to make it up on your own?

Tom Loghrin

There are a lot of pictures out there of STG-44s in Syria. Do you know how they got there? Soviet aid to Syrian back in the day, maybe? And how do they keep them running after so many years? You guys have always said the STG-44 was designed to be stamped out cheaply, and wasn't made to last.

Kameron Rougeou

Will HMG's Sturmgewer be just as available in 8kurz just like the 7,62x39, 5.56, 300blkout versions? IE will the 8mm kurz version be just as produced as the previous said versions or will it be most likely unobtainium?

Drakin Kubala

Whats the largest caliber, in their opinion, is the HMG STG44 able to go? Any chances on a .308 variant? I know its getting away from intermediate rounds, but i can see it running up against a fal in a larger version.

Colburn Freml

I'm also interested in how old firearms blue prints and part drawings are attained. Do you have to go to German museums or archives? Or do you have to buy all the parts and reverse engineer?

Colburn Freml

We see in AR15's that they move the gas port for different calibers and barrel lengths (.300aac is pistol length gas for a 16" barrel while 5.56 is mid length for a 16" barrel). How are you going to accommodate all the calibers you intend to offer?

Colburn Freml

With the CETME L experience, I would guess it would have been easier to make a modernized STG45? Is that a wrong guess, or did you pick the 44 for other reasons? Were any other rifles like the SVT40 or Gewehr 43 considered?

John

With the backlog of orders, once production starts, how long until the people at the back of the line get theirs?

Terry Buchholz

First, I would like to thank Mac for waiting to release until they get it right, even though I'm just as anxious as everyone else who has pre-ordered. Now the questions. After the challenges of this offering; would they in the future think about other "historic" firearm interpretations such as MP40 or an M3 grease gun, etc.? Perhaps with a longer barrel to meet initial ATF rules, and also offer shorter easy change barrels for people that want to get a stamp?

Jay Richner

How does HMG's version compare to the reproductions done before, in particular the Dittrich ones?

Philip Straatsma

I would be curious if they have any plans to make a "modernized" version of the StG44. Modern scope mounts, polymer furniture, etc. I am sure someone would see this as a bastardization of this rifle. But to me it would be along the lines of a 50s AK vs a modernized AK.

Dithon1

Why change the receiver's strengthening divets? It looks nothing like the original.

Molonious Prime

It's been mentioned several times that the original Stg44 had a "service life" and would wear out and need to be replaced eventually. Is there any data on exactly what that service life may be? 10k rounds? 25k rounds? More? Less?

Angus Anderson

There is a lot of talk on how advanced German WW2 sheet metal stamping was compared to other contemporaries like the Soviet Union. To the layman (me) it looks like the STG44 used a lot of complex stamping. Do the required stampings for the STG44 still pose a challenge today, or does modern 21st century western manufacturing knowledge and outsourced production capital make that aspect of the gun no longer a drama?

Angus Anderson

It is my understanding WW2 Germany went hammer and tongs too late near the end of the war to rationalise designs and production methods, to make war material as cheap as possible yet still functional. Looking at the STG44, now with experience in producing them, could the design reasonably have been cheapened any more than it already was? i.e. lower quality metal without heat treatment for certain parts, surface finish reduced for certain assemblies, cheaper joining methods, etc. Or is it already as nasty as reasonably possible?

Jay Richner

-What was the biggest issue in the development? - Did they use 3d printers in the development phase or they use "real" metal parts directly? - Was it reverse engineered or did they have original blueprints?

Alan

Any chance for a "tactical" or "2017" version? (Full length top rail, rear peep sight, perhaps keymod handguard)

Koji Peterson

Gun specific questions: In gun design, from my very limited resources, there seems to be a minimum reciprocating mass (mass sent rearward then reciprocating forward with sufficient momentum to chamber a round from the magazine). For instance, the generally accepted weight of an AR style bolt appears to be around 11.5 oz (buffer excluded). Can HMG's engineer enlighten us on any specifics of this aspect of firearm design? What about non StG44 designs? What about other golden weights like firing pins and their springs? Patent/IP questions: Many believe they have a "new" or original "enough" firearm concept to patent. Working over the StG44 redesigns, has HMG found anything they absolutely sought to patent (I'd like to hear HMG's perspective on what they patented and why)? Especially when patenting anything in refreshing the Stg44, how does one carefully distinguish what is new, novel, and useful from the prior art? Does the patent office generally appear to understand nuance in this area? Can HMG or their engineer make any recommendations when considering or filing patents related to firearms? Can HMG divulge any of it's process when researching prior art and what responsibility the patent attorney is willing to absorb? Perhaps too specific for the show but: Is there a specific patent attorney they can recommend who is particularly helpful when dealing with firearm related technology? Business questions: From HMG's perspective, without being unnecessarily specific, are there any truly disruptive markets on the horizon for firearms? Examples (that I can't support) could include anything from anti-drone technology to replacements for the ageing SAW and MMG.

George Jefferies

Any chance for a full-auto version or are the regulations (including suppressing market interest) just too much of a pain in the arse?

Gabriel Arambula

The question that I would like Colonel Kasarda to ask is: what is the percentage of parts commonality between the reproduction and the original? If not 100%, then at what number should the line be drawn between "inspired by" and "reproduction"?

Dr Dan Corkery

Love this series, really interesting to hear about the engineering principles behind (re)creating a 70 year old firearm.