The link has several stock photos.

https://www.militarytimes.com/...Early%20Bird%20Brief

Heckler & Koch — maker of the Marine Corps M27 — is in dire straits

For decades, German arms giant Heckler & Koch has served as the gold standard for military and civilian weapons manufacturing — building revolutionary and oftentimes game-changing rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers, submachine guns and pistols for a variety of customers including special operations forces, conventional infantry units and law enforcement agencies.

After a lackluster 2018, reports indicate that H&K is now struggling to keep its head above water, with the hopes that boosting sales in FY2019 buys the company at least another year to come out of the red and fix the situation it’s in.

The Tactical Wire recently reported that German business journals have already predicted the end for what was once one of the most powerful arms manufacturers in the world.

In fact, the situation is so bad that, as The Firearm Blog reported just last month, H&K employees jointly voted to increase weekly work hours without paid overtime, as well as nixed a one-off payment of 400 Euros per head for the month of July, so as to provide their beleaguered company some form of relief.

H&K’s financial woes stem primarily from diminishing sales, so much so that FY2018 would have seen the company tank had it not been for “two bridging loans from an unnamed major shareholder.”

As the company’s preexisting contracts with various international buyers are fulfilled, it has faced immeasurable difficulty generating new large-scale contracts with any of its products.

According to Neue Zürcher Zeitung, after KPMG conducted an audit of H&K in 2018, it was forced to insert a red flag warning that: “the lack of liquidity endangers the continued existence of Heckler & Koch." KPMG went on to state that the only way H&K would survive going forward is to generate a considerable bump in revenue over previous years, or face bankruptcy.

Earlier this year, H&K completed production and delivery of the M27 IAR (a derivative of the HK416) to the US Marine Corps. However, contracts with countries in the process of revamping their small arms arsenals, such as Portugal, have failed to materialize with these countries opting for weapons from other manufacturers.

2019 has also seen the imposition of a multi-million dollar fine on H&K by a German court after it was discovered that the company violated Germany’s War Weapons Control Act through the illegal sales of rifles to Mexican states affected considerably by drug-trade violence.

H&K’s hopes more than likely rest in securing a massive contract yet to be tendered by the German government for the long-term replacement of the German army’s G36 assault rifles, another H&K product though one which didn’t necessarily live up to the next-generation hype that earlier surrounded it.

Whether or not H&K will win the contract is a completely different question altogether, as it’s also standard German defense procurement procedure to take into account the fiscal health and economic well being of the companies which have bid for larger contracts... and that’s not looking too good for H&K.

It should also be noted that H&K is currently in the process of reequipping the French army with HK416 rifles to replace the FAMAS bullpup rifle platform with an overall mass order of over 93,000 units. The Norwegian government also contracted the company to supply HK416s to the Norwegian Armed Forces earlier this year.

However, that might not be enough to save H&K.

Should H&K lose out on the German G36 replacement contract, this could spell the end for the 71 year-old German small arms producer, and a potentially new beginning for a restructured company in its place.

And yet I have at least 10 people wanting a P30L and havent seen them for months.

quote:

Originally posted by WARPIG602:
And yet I have at least 10 people wanting a P30L and havent seen them for months.

It's funny, because I was also looking for a P30L and settled on a P30 because I haven't been able to get one for months.

Problem with HK right now is that their stuff is in demand and there is next to no supply other than some VP9s

Be glad to help them out, why don’t they decide to import some USP Elite 9mm’s ??? Some of the new A2-5 MR556 and MR762’s that other countries enjoy! They could sell us a factory RAL8000 MR models. Keep parts in inventory on their web store!

HK Ag

Wile its getting better, HK seems to be like 5 years behind the "trending" curve. On the bright side, at least when their products are released, they are usually without major issues.

The Vp9 was really late but still managed to get market share, myself included. Dropping an SK was a good move. Now with the long slide kits theyre finally getting it(although to proive my point about the trends, the long slide kit has no optic cut). The VP9-B was a good move as well. I feel like HK is finally starting to listen to customers than rely on contracts but perhaps its too little too late.

What they need now is a small single stack option.

Plenty of clone builders eating their lunch. If they were smart they would look at making a modern P7 with a fixed base for red dots.

They need some working the BizDev, Production, and Media department.

Then again, they always have needed work but have limped along regardless.

quote:

As the company’s preexisting contracts with various international buyers are fulfilled, it has faced immeasurable difficulty generating new large-scale contracts with any of its products.

Actually, HK is having problems fulfilling preexisting contracts too.

To the point that some of their major customers are actively looking elsewhere for product to replace the HK lines in their armories.

The blood has been in the water for awhile...

So what's the real problem with HK?

Comments?

quote:

Originally posted by 3/4Flap:
So what's the real problem with HK?

Comments?

Most of the problem is the German socialist government. They have restrictive export laws and hate HK for selling “weapons of war”, and blame HK for problems with the G36. Plus, there probably is the usual financial mismanagement.

quote:

Originally posted by 3/4Flap:
So what's the real problem with HK?

Comments?

Not the first time they've had financial issues, more like the 4th or 5th. Not the only major defense supplier of small arms that operates in the red, either.

quote:

Originally posted by PGT:

quote:

Originally posted by 3/4Flap:
So what's the real problem with HK?

Comments?

Not the first time they've had financial issues, more like the 4th or 5th. Not the only major defense supplier of small arms that operates in the red, either.

Indeed, almost every gun maker has been red-inked into oblivion and rebought {repeat} so HK's issues really aren't singular in the general sense.

I'm just not knowlegeable about the specifics with HK, or if there has been a really unique set of circumstances affecting them, etc, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Voshterkoff:
Plenty of clone builders eating their lunch. If they were smart they would look at making a modern P7 with a fixed base for red dots.

And an affordable MP5. If the Turks can make reliable clones and sell them for under 2 grand, so can HK.

In fact, their whole lineup. AR’s that approach 3 grand? They aren’t magic, they’re rifles. And when an average one runs less than $500, they’re pricing themselves out of the civilian market.

I have various HK's in handgun and carbines, and have carried them in the past for a few years at a time. I like HK. However, I had a P2000SK that rode around on an ankle holster for about three years, and at one point I had three separate magazines fail. The springs lost their spring completely. I enquired with an HK representative at an NRA show, and was told that the spring failure was my fault because "you're not supposed to leave the magazine loaded."

When I asked about carrying a magazine with rounds in the mag, I was told that magazines should only be loaded long enough to shoot, then kept unloaded.

Obviously this is utter horseshit. That was HK's answer, however, and with an attitude and approach like that, it's little wonder that they earned the reputation they did for customer service. I know others who have had the opposite experience.

It's rare you'll see their weapons in competitions where people run them hard and a lot. I don't believe that has much to do with initial price. With few aftermarket options, parts that have never been made easy to get, little support outside of HK, zero innovation or development, limited capacity, no effort to serve the civil world, and resting on their laurals for a long, long time now, they can only rely on the brand so much.

I carried an HK45C because I liked it, but was very aware that it was limited compared to other competitive handguns, many of which cost half as much, have far better support, less expensive and more available parts, and a much longer, much more proven, broader track record.

I have two USC's that are still sitting in my safe awaiting a "UMP conversion;" I hope that HK doesn't roll under before I get those done, or what parts are out there will go sky high.

quote:

Originally posted by 3/4Flap:
So what's the real problem with HK?

Comments?

HK's problem has always been that they are too German.

That means a couple things:

1) Their products tend to be over-engineered.
2) Their economic model relies on German socialism: i.e. we don't need to take economic risks because the German government will always buy from us.
3) Because of #2 they never saw America as a primary market.
4) They don't understand the American consumer at the gov't or consumer level.

I can give you two examples of 4). I spoke with someone who was deeply connected in the American special forces community. Navy specifically. He told me of a story in which he sat in a meeting between HK and members of his unit. The HK engineers asked for feedback on the MP7. Members of this unit proceeded to explain how they'd modified their MP7s to do a better job in the field and the HK engineers were appalled. How dare these uncouth rednecks dirty the sacred cow with their pragmatic paws?

I once called HK to get an MSG90 stock to put on my HK91. The MSG90 stock had a better buffer, and more adjust-ability than the standard HK91 stock, but cost and weighed less than the fantastically expensive PSG-1 stock.

When I called HK, the person who picked up the phone said "We don't sell those because we don't want people putting them on HK91s."



There is absolutely no reason to have this attitude other than you don't want to make money. I already had the HK91, and the HK91 operating system is the same as the MSG90s, so there is no technical disconnect or additional legal liability.

[The MSG90 was never imported for civilians before 1989, and may not have even existed at the time the import ban came down, therefore there were never any factory MSG90s for Americans to put MSG90 stocks on.]

I've always heard that HK was risk averse in terms of litigation, but I'm not sure that's the root cause. I think it's more that they don't think it's worth taking either technical or legal risks in an American marketplace because America isn't where they see their bacon coming from.

If they were a small company struggling to survive without the guaranteed backing of the German government, they might have put more emphasis on the American market. That would mean innovation, product development, setting up a factory here, etc. Kind of like Sig Sauer did. But they don't, so they didn't.

I haven't seen a H&K product introduced after 1985 that I thought was worth it with the exception of the VP9, which is too little, too late for the intended market. I have a 91 and a P7M8, and don't see myself buying anything else H&K unless a VP9-B pops up extremely cheaply.

When we ran MP-5's at work, spare parts were a pain in the ass to get, and armorer certifications required out of state trips. Eventually, no matter how awesome your stuff is, people get tired of the nonsense and go with something that isn't a pain in the ass to support.

The G36 debacle really hurt them too, ja?

Eh, they can at least argue about the polymer composition of the G36 - the story making the rounds is that the Spanish have adhered to HK's polymer recipe religiously and have had no problem in the desert. There's a recent blurb in TFB about the Guardia Civil picking up more G36s.

Still, there are still P30s of various configurations at reasonably sane prices floating around with (as others have pointed out) availability apparently being the bear in the woods. Will we see relatively cheap USPs next?

The decades-long running memes of "H&K. Because you suck, and we hate you." exist for solid reasons. LDD's post outlines it very well. They shunned, ignored, and spited the American civilian market for decades among many other business-harming practices. Zero sympathy here.

Thanks guys.

LDD, very interesting assessment.

I've only ever owned one HK, a VP70Z!

In truth I really liked it for all the wrong reasons, but I've never been interested in anything they offered. I don't know why. Just a hunch.

Maybe seeing all those memes had something to do with it.