The Haenel ‘Not416’ is coming soon from B&T

Haenel, the company who won, then had their win revoked, then was sued for infringement by H&K, and at last known appearance had been caught with a suspicious number of allegedly cross compatible parts between the H&K 416 and their own submitted rifle, has entered a partnership with the Swiss B&T to bring the rifle to the US as the B&T-15.

This is highly curious. I wonder, quite honestly, if this isn’t a way to recoup on the loss of the German Bundeswehr contract after getting slapped down and hedge their legal fees. I don’t know enough about the case between the two German arms entities to know if this would be some sort of violation, or if H&K could shut this down with an S&D letter, or if they would even want to do that because it would or would not be in their overall best interest.

I just know that the B&T-15 is the H&K that isn’t an H&K but was sued for being an H&K and the suit produced a severe reversal of contract after the investigation.

H&K never stated the rifle didn’t run. They never stated that it didn’t match their submissions in performance. They said Haenel copied their homework, in so many words. They allege that Haenel made the HK416 to compete against the HK416, just with Haenel’s name on it and a couple superficial changes.

So, is this Haenel cutting their loss and dumping quality H&K clone stuff onto a hungry US Market?

I don’t know… but I bet they run.

Keith Finch
Keith is the former Editor-in-Chief of GAT Marketing Agency, Inc. He got told there was a mountain of other things that needed doing, so he does those now and writes here when he can. editor@gatdaily.com A USMC Infantry Veteran and Small Arms and Artillery Technician, Keith covers the evolving training and technology from across the shooting industry. Teaching since 2009, he covers local concealed carry courses, intermediate and advanced rifle courses, handgun, red dot handgun, bullpups, AKs, and home defense courses for civilians, military client requests, and law enforcement client requests.