HS VHS-K bullpup rifle stripped photos
aquatrax has posted a detailed review of the HS VHS-K rifle at MP.net with lots of photos of the rifle field stripped ...
Build quality looks superb. Very few machining marks on the internals. Polymer parts looks well built and tough. There are steel reinforcements inside the housing where the Bolt group rides.
The BCG group is hefty with its massive carrier tube. It serves as the housing/guide for the recoil spring and also vents air to cool the internal chamber that house the barrel.
The VHS uses some sort of a combination of both short and long stroke piston system. Gas vented thru the barrel port goes thru a small chamber that houses a tappet piston. This tappet hits the massive carrier tube which is fixed to the bolt carrier group to drive it back to cycle the eject/feed operation. BOth tappet and tappet chamber are removable for easy cleaning. The tappet piston looks similar in design with the G36 piston. It also has the 3-piece piston ring. The difference is that the VHS' piston and push rod is one piece. WHile the G36 employ 2 separate pieces.
The tube that the large piston rides in is very big. It will suck in and blow out a lot of air as the gun cycles. They also seem to have shifted mass from the bolt carrier to the piston, which could, please correct me if I am wrong, help reducing felt recoil and/or muzzle rise.
[ Many thanks to Alex for posting the link on Facebook. ]
@ Mark
Well, VHS doesn’t host a flat rail on top of firearms: it host space for SIX (two on top. two left, two right side ) rails on its “antiquated” carring handle plus another three in the forward handguard.
This about the version aquatrax got: newest one has a redesigned carring handle or better three: one with the single flat rails you talked about, one the famas plus sixrails standard for croatian army and the last sport instead an integral sight with 1.5x or 3.0x plus red dot.
Real treat is however that you have not to choose one of them instead of another: you can put the famas on the flat rail and the integral sight over the famas one as each of them was an accessory of the former one.
For photo evidence let’s look at: http://therightofthepeople.org/hs-produkt-vhs-assault-rifle.html
id like to see the internal parts up close and in person. indicating by what ive seen here, it looks like a impressive rifle. the hybrid short-stroke,long stroke design is also very interesting.
@Buster:
“…but obviously draws inspiration from many designs.”
Like almost every autoloading rifle of the past century!
jdun1911:
The a-18 has a one piece short stroke op rod that is separate and impacts directly on the bolt carrier. The Stoner 63 (which the kel-tec su-16 is very similar to) has a one piece op rod like this, the only difference is (that I can see) is that this has a small short stroke tappet gas piston in addition to the long operating rod. Sorta like the m1 carbine and the like.
Ar-18 (op rod not shown as it’s a separate piece in the hand guard)
http://www.weaponeer.net/forum/uploads/blurrededge/images/2009-12-10_105332_AR-18_boltcarrier.JPG
su-16: system:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/heypete/Guns/KelTecSU16B/IMG_0467.jpg
Robsinson m96 (similar to Stoner 63) The op rod on this is long stroke but detachable like the Sig-55X series.
http://www.weaponeer.net/forum/uploads/blurrededge/images/2009-12-10_105503_M96bolt.jpg
Long story short, this VHS is identical to neither of these, but obviously draws inspiration from many designs.
Timo, more weight at the front in this case.
Lance: So if rifle basis is completely different, except some minor feature or just overall appearance, you think it’s knock off? Well, I guess we can’t reach agreement on that one.
How does increase of weight in moving parts decrease muzzle rise?
The Operation system might not be but trigger tand weapon layout is a BIG FA MAS clone.
Dosnt matter I dont see any body buying this crap.
In answer to your question…. Its built like an AK. The AK design has that much mass as well in the front for a better bolt to bolt carrier ratio. This will improve reliability when dirty because the larger carrier mass basically has more oomph to open the smaller bolt. Also yes muzzle rise will be less (in this type package). Bullpups being generally shorter have a more compact center of gravity anyway. They tacked on the goodies like a flashlight and vertical grip so muzzle rise will also be reduced further.
The FA MAS is the standerd French Army/Navy Assault Rufle.
Lance, the FAMAS uses lever delayed blowback, not a short stroke/long stroke hybrid.
I would absolutely buy one of these. I love Bullpups. Even with their serviceable triggers.
I know they can never be as good as a conventional trigger but then I’m never going to do any sniping so that doesn’t bother me in the least.
Can we all agree that placing ANYTHING other than a flat rail on the top of a firearm is an extremely antiquated design? Civilian shooters want to at least be able to use a T1 or ACOG and military folk are going to need even more rail to add a NVS or PEQ.
This design is non-starter despite how well it may function mechanically.
Lance, FAMAS is not even gas operated rifle, you can hardly call that knock off.
Is that a FAMAS?
/k/FTW
It more and more looks like a knock off of a FA MAS. Nothing too cool.
This rifle is nothing compared to the blu-ray rifle or even the dvd rifle; still, we don’t have many of these. Maybe when it gets state side I will trade in my AM/FM/cassette selector rifle for this one…
It’s an AR18 variant from the looks of it.
The problem I have with a bullpup such as this lies with the placement of the ejection port. While that may be fine for those who shoot right-handed, I shoot lefty. I’d be eating ejected casings were I to shoot this gun.
Think I’ve said this before, but, US civie model plz.
You could not swith the side of ejection & in plus croatia have buy many HK G36 in replacement of their AK
I didn’t notice much said about ambidexterity (apart from the cocking handle) – can it be quickly converted to left-hand use?
The bolt carrier assembly reminds me of the kel tec su 16, but it looks like it may use a more traditional recoil spring setup. the heavier carrier should help locking and unlocking in a fouled gun.
That’s a revelation… I always thought the VHS was a ‘licensed’ rehash of the FAMAS. I’m surprised to see a typical AR type multi-lugged rotary bolt.
Is it in a competition with the Betamax rifle?