German firearms and accessories manufacturer Hera Arms has released a pump-action rifle chambered in .223 Remington. The new rifle is called VRB which stands for Vorderschaftrepetierbüchse and literally means pump-action rifle. Let’s take a look at the design and features of the new Hera Arms VRB rifle.

What immediately jumps out when you first look at this rifle is the rather futuristic look of the polymer lower receiver / stock. The lower receiver is compatible with AR-15 triggers, has a push-button safety, AR-15 style magazine release, bolt hold open mechanism and takes AR-15 magazines. The stock features two sling loops inside the cutout and QD sling swivel sockets right behind the wrist. Judging by the amount of drop this stock has, it should work best with scopes and sights in low profile mounts (AR-height sights will probably be excessively high for this gun even with the cheek riser installed).

The upper receiver of Hera Arms VRB rifle is made of aluminum, has a top Picatinny rail and a dust cover of the ejection port. The rifle is equipped with a 16-3/4″ barrel that has a 1:9″ twist rate. The muzzle is threaded with the 5/8×24 thread pitch and comes with a birdcage style flash hider installed. The overall length of the rifle is 38″ and it weighs in at about 6.8 lbs.

The Picatinny rail section at the bottom portion of the KeyMod handguard, which is shown with an angled foregrip attached to it, is the part that slides back and forth to cycle the action. You can also see that there is a spring around the barrel. Hera Arms VRB is a spring-assisted pump-action firearm meaning that while pulling the slide back you are also compressing that coil spring which then starts extending on the forward stroke assisting the forward motion of your hand. The spring-assisted design will also send the bolt and sliding forearm forward when you hit the bolt release.

The action type and stock design should make this gun especially interesting for people living in states and countries with restrictive firearms legislation that limits or prohibits the use of semi-auto rifles or certain features such as pistol grips. The MSRP of Hera Arms VRB rifle in Germany is €1,598 which is about $1,800. Right now it is not listed on the Hera USA website. We’ll make sure to let you guys know if/when this rifle hits the US market.

German YouTube channel Low Ready Media has published a video telling about this new rifle. If you speak German, then enjoy the video which you can find below, if you don’t, it’s still worth watching to see closeup views and the function of the action.

UPDATE: The video now has English subtitles.

Images by Hera Arms, www.hera-arms.de