Note: B&T USA did not review this post before it went live.
In a somewhat random r/gundeals post about an SPC9 last week, I discovered that B&T USA is 10 minutes away from my home. I happened to connect with them and asked if they offer tours of their facility. They said they’d be happy to have me over, so I made the visit.
I’m a recreational shooter, low-key collector, and casual competitor. I’m just a desk jockey who really likes this sport/hobby. I have 36 NFA items, fairly evenly split between cans and SBRs. Eight of those are B&T items. Naturally, I was excited to see the HQ of one of my favorite brands.
The facility in Herriman, Utah is in a new, large industrial building. Despite the immense space, they’ve filled it up a decent amount. There’s a lot of room to grow though.
They walked me through the suppressor manufacturing process and I saw the nine printers in action (see picture). We went through a variety of other stations and it was really fascinating to see how cans are made, step-by-step.
I won’t bore you with all the details of my little field trip though. I walked away with a few key learnings:
—Their suppressor warranty is no questions asked - I didn’t realize that. And, yes, they still honor the warranty for all products.
—They’re collaborating with a variety of other brands beyond white-labeling suppressors. I know the whole Rare Breed thing is a losing proposition on Reddit, sure, but there are some other partnerships that sounded intriguing. I also love it when 2A companies do what they can to innovate together.
—We chatted about the whole thing with B&T AG. I’ve loosely followed it and was able to learn a bit more. My summary is that the situation largely stemmed from a perfect storm - they were looking to invest in their suppressor operations and made a boatload of capital expenditures. This resulted in a need to relocate the company to make room for expanded operations, which slowed down production in the short-term. This led to a constriction in cash flow and overall profitability, which alarmed the Swiss. My view is that this was an aggressive capitalist move to meet surging demand and sometimes that road has bumps - risk/reward, etc.
—The people there were professional, polite, and generally down-to-earth. I didn’t get any odd vibes or the feeling that they were going overboard to prove themselves. Just a methodical, pragmatic motion to run a business.
tl;dr B&T USA is doing just fine and that’s really great for 2A consumers