Springfield Armory Hellion (Rebranded HS Produkt VHS2)

[Evil_Ed]

Big bullpup fan. I'm on my 3rd AUG, the first two were pre-bans; a 901 or 902SA, and the last was one of the few green 906SAs imported with much of the later improvements (bolt roller, etc). My current AUG is a super early Sabre-made A3; replaced the factory short rail with the "military" rail, which is taller and designed for the Steyr scope (not the classic one, but this one). The first photo on that page shows the military rail; subsequent photos show the shorter 'civilian' rail most of them were imported/sold with.

It wasn't until recently that Steyr finally started bringing in suppressor gas plugs for the AUG...which makes it so much more flexible IMO. AUGs are very over-gassed normally (honestly, most piston guns are)...that plug fixes some things and actually makes it so running one with a can won't beat it to death or break parts. Plus my AUG is early enough in the A3 series to still have the Steyr 13x1LH threading I think it was...I was able to pick up an AAC 51t mount for the thread pattern to mount my M4-2k to it, before AAC went away. That was another gotcha of the AUG...

Anyway!

I'd love to get my hands on and try the VHS/Hellion. The adjustable LOP, the quickly tunable gas plug from the factory, reversable ejection without needing a new bolt and to strip the stock to reconfigure the ejection ports, it even comes with backup sights...and the charging handle doesn't seem like it would strip your hand of it's skin if you grab it the wrong way, like an AUG with a top rail or scope nuts on the left side will. Plus, it uses AR-pattern mags. Even though AUG mags are arguably better in most every way...except price. Fortunately I have a ton of both AUG and AR mags anyway...

Yeah, it's expensive, but variety is the spice of life. AUG parts aren't getting cheaper, and while being able to swap barrels is awesome....try finding a 16" 1/7 barrel these days. They were a short run/imported item and now command stupid prices if you can find one. I have an original AUG 14" "Commando" barrel squirreled away somewhere and those are worth easily 3-5x what I paid for it when they were imported back in 2002 or 2003 or so.

Then again...every time I think about picking up another piston-driven gun, or another bullpup, my mind goes "wait - you spent a whole wad of money on an AUG, which is probably better than that thing...and you should use it more, anyway..."

[Andy T]

Big bullpup fan. I'm on my 3rd AUG, the first two were pre-bans; a 901 or 902SA, and the last was one of the few green 906SAs imported with much of the later improvements (bolt roller, etc). My current AUG is a super early Sabre-made A3; replaced the factory short rail with the "military" rail, which is taller and designed for the Steyr scope (not the classic one, but this one). The first photo on that page shows the military rail; subsequent photos show the shorter 'civilian' rail most of them were imported/sold with.

It wasn't until recently that Steyr finally started bringing in suppressor gas plugs for the AUG...which makes it so much more flexible IMO. AUGs are very over-gassed normally (honestly, most piston guns are)...that plug fixes some things and actually makes it so running one with a can won't beat it to death or break parts. Plus my AUG is early enough in the A3 series to still have the Steyr 13x1LH threading I think it was...I was able to pick up an AAC 51t mount for the thread pattern to mount my M4-2k to it, before AAC went away. That was another gotcha of the AUG...

Anyway!

I'd love to get my hands on and try the VHS/Hellion. The adjustable LOP, the quickly tunable gas plug from the factory, reversable ejection without needing a new bolt and to strip the stock to reconfigure the ejection ports, it even comes with backup sights...and the charging handle doesn't seem like it would strip your hand of it's skin if you grab it the wrong way, like an AUG with a top rail or scope nuts on the left side will. Plus, it uses AR-pattern mags. Even though AUG mags are arguably better in most every way...except price. Fortunately I have a ton of both AUG and AR mags anyway...

Yeah, it's expensive, but variety is the spice of life. AUG parts aren't getting cheaper, and while being able to swap barrels is awesome....try finding a 16" 1/7 barrel these days. They were a short run/imported item and now command stupid prices if you can find one. I have an original AUG 14" "Commando" barrel squirreled away somewhere and those are worth easily 3-5x what I paid for it when they were imported back in 2002 or 2003 or so.

Then again...every time I think about picking up another piston-driven gun, or another bullpup, my mind goes "wait - you spent a whole wad of money on an AUG, which is probably better than that thing...and you should use it more, anyway..."

Off topic, but what benefits do you envision from the 1/7" barrel? My first AUG came with one. I sold it and got a more recent production AUG with 1/9" and US threads. For the type of shooting I do, there was no difference. Except my original AUG with the 1/7 didn't run with cheap steel case. The new one, runs cheap steel case without any issues.

Keep in mind that VHS's LOP is already excessive. They only allow to make it longer, which non-sensical.

[spyderco monkey]

I've been thinking about picking one up but at $1800 I'm not about to fork over all that in cash. Would anyone consider trading a Colt 6721 towards one of these VHSs? Assuming the 6721 was not your only AR?

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I would make the trade, purely on the fact that theres a whole lot of Colts / AR15s on the market, but very few VHS-2s.

The VHS I suspect will become quite the collectors item in the future should importation be halted for any reason.

[Evil_Ed]

Off topic, but what benefits do you envision from the 1/7" barrel? My first AUG came with one. I sold it and got a more recent production AUG with 1/9" and US threads. For the type of shooting I do, there was no difference. Except my original AUG with the 1/7 didn't run with cheap steel case. The new one, runs cheap steel case without any issues.

Keep in mind that VHS's LOP is already excessive. They only allow to make it longer, which non-sensical.

You can shoot/stabilize > 62 grain in 1/7, plus it's what's actually issued in the various parts of the world that issue AUGs as general service weapons. Not that 1/9 is bad or anything, but it's not "correct", if you decide to go down that rabbit hole. Originally it was 1/12, then as SS109/62gr became the norm, it was changed to 1/7. As far as I know, 1/9 is a US/civilian market thing.

Does it really, really matter? ...no, but if given a choice between 1/7 and 1/9, I'd choose 1/7 in a second. It gives more flexibility as to what weights you can shoot and expect reasonable results without keyholing.

[Flashman]

I can only speak to one thing after examining one at the LGS: very heavy.

[4RNR]

I can only speak to one thing after examining one at the LGS: very heavy.

8lbs, per website specs

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[Mrgunsngear]

I can only speak to one thing after examining one at the LGS: very heavy.

Balances well in the shoulder which helps

[GlockenSpiel]

I would make the trade, purely on the fact that theres a whole lot of Colts / AR15s on the market, but very few VHS-2s.

The VHS I suspect will become quite the collectors item in the future should importation be halted for any reason.

I was thinking about this with the desirability of AR70s or FNCs. People were meh on them before they were import banned, and now they're extremely desirable. We are in some ways spoiled that we can get this extremely cool new import rifle, regardless of what name Springfield stuck on the side.

I also agree the VHS is really tail-heavy; compared to an AUG it just feels like the back end of it wants to swing out when you move around. The build quality seems better than the current AUGs though, which look a little rough to me. I also am pretty annoyed by the lack of improvements to the AUG in comparison; that charging handle angle hasn't made sense since they switched to the top rail IMO. VHS is remarkably squared away out of the box.

[MountainRaven]

Springfield has announced they are now importing 18- and 20-inch barrel variants:

[The Rat]

Some thread necromancy here to highlight the new Manticore Arms buttpad (1" shorter, with the toe being 1" longer) and Lunartech extended bolt release.

I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite bullpup on the citadel!