SPRINGFIELD HELLION RIFLE: THE MOST PRACTICAL BULLPUP ON THE MARKET
Over the years, I have owned the IWI Tavor SAR and the Steyr AUG, both of which are widely regarded as serious, battle-proven rifles with a premium military pedigree. That said, I always felt those rifles lacked a certain flair and modern touch that some newer designs bring to the table. In my opinion, if you are going to get a rifle, get a Springfield Hellion. And if you are going to get a Springfield Hellion, just get the 20” variety.
MILITARY PEDIGREE
Many people hate the name of this rifle. They have no issue with the Croatian nomenclature (VHS 2). In fact, many people are just calling it the VHS 2 in rebellion. I personally don’t really get too salty about the name, but I do understand that there is a legitimate reason to dislike the current naming. The term is a bit outrageous, and it is a bit extreme, but I think they were wanting a catchy name that was going to be memorable. It obviously worked because people will remember the Hellion and at least remember the rifle by it’s name.
The funny thing is that the Hellion rifle was bought and paid for by the proceeds made by the Springfield XD line. HS Produkt was able to completely fund their R&D thanks to the relationship they have with Springfield Armory and their other global sales. As much as we made fun of the XD for being cheap, the guns were undoubtably a good investment and helped create this phenomenal combat rifle. The VHS rifle that the Croatian military is given right now is the same rifle we are getting in the Springfield Armory Hellion, more or less. of course there is a bit of difference in the rifles for the sake of import restrictions and the ridiculous ATF “point” system.
The Springfield Armory Hellion handguard, pistol grip, and trigger guard is a bit different, as well as the trigger system being semi-auto only. One other interesting detail is the fact that the magazine well is made for STANAG magazines while the real VHS2 rifle is made to operate with G36 magazines. In theory you COULD email the HS Produkt sales group and try to purchase the G36 magazine well, but then you’d have to spend a buttload getting those magazines through Magpul or some other outrageous means.
But the rifle is pretty much about as close as you can get to a legitimate military rifle. It uses the same parts, finish, rail, built in diopter sights, trigger, internals, etc. To me, this is exciting that I can get my hands on a minimally watered down rifle that was designed from the ground up to be a military fighting rifle.
BASIC MILITARY 20-INCH VERSION
The 20” version of the Hellion is the closest I will get to having the kind of rifle that is used in the Croatian military and Iraq. Granted, I do not have access to the diopter rear sight that the military does, but the flip up sights seem to also be used in the Croatian military lately, and HS Produkt shows their current flat top rifles with these flip-up style sights.
There is something cozy about sticking with iron sights, so I think I will do just fine with this version. Not to mention the 20” barrel features a ribbed barrel and a bayonet lug, so it is the full deal for me. I have the SOG bayonet, the Extrema Ratio Fulcrum Bayonet, the M9 bayonet by OKC (Ontario Knife Company), and the classic M7 bayonet.
THE RIBBED BARREL WAS A DESIGN FEATURE INFLUENCED BY THE AESTHETICS OF THE FAMAS RIFLE, WHICH THE CROATIAN MILITARY APPRECIATED AND LIKED.
This is a photo of me testing the Springfield Hellion 20” with the bayonet attached to see if it played with the accuracy at range while attached.
The safety lever on the 20” variant is much improved over the 16” version. No longer do you have to hook your thumb up to access the safety lever like on the original model. Now the safety level rests at 3 ‘0’ clock and it very easy to deactivate. Even Springfields website shows the difference when they show their 20” rifles versus their 16” variants. Perhaps this is going to be a feature only seen on the 20” versions, which will be interesting.
SLING ATTACHMENT OPTIONS
The Hellion has numerous methods you can use to attach a sling. To be precise, there are three QD attachment points on each side, and two solid attachment points on each side as well. I personally have toyed with all sorts of sling configurations and found that I like to use 550 cord through the front and rear attachment loop and then attach a Magpul sling to them. This allows the sling to be free and even adds to the flexibility of the sling system. The front eyelet sling attachment spins freely, much as a QD swivel would. The rear attachment is stationary and pretty solid.
MANUAL OF ARMS
The Hellion is a rifle that has a controversial manual of arms. Though it gets credit for being mostly ambidextrous, there is no bolt hold open lever that can be accessed from the outside of the rifle. You either have to run the action on an empty magazine or manually push up on the bolt hold open through the bottom of the magwell. This has not been an issue because rarely do you have the need to lock the bolt to the rear in order to clear stoppages. Normally, stripping the magazine and running the charging handle is enough.
To reload the rifle, the magazine release is ideally placed to help the shooter manually extract the magazine for storage, or to let it fall.
The magazine release is a thick piece of stamped steel and the bolt release is a textured polymer lever that is to ge pinched or slid back until the bolt drops.
The bolt release behind the magazine well is designed to be pinched rearward, but I have found it quite easy to use my thumb and release the bolt. As soon as I secure the magazine, i make an “L” with my hand and put my thumb tight under the bolt release and push back hard until the bolt releases. I have never had an issue with this, and I have found I am still faster than 95% of people running any other rifle.
SALTY WISDOM
Fancy and convenient controls mean nothing if you don’t train with it often. Plus, in all my time in combat, and from combat vets in conventional wars past and present, speed of reload is not as important as other things like communication and awareness. If you stare at you gun while reloading, you are training to be a liability.
The charging handle on the rifle is very much like the one found on the G36, and it is very easy to manipulate quickly under pressure. There is very little reason for you to have to run the charging handle, aside from correcting a stoppage or initially loading a magazine.
I have found quite a few reviewers claim that the Hellion lacks a forward assist, but this is simply not true. The little piece of sheet metal pointing rearward intersects with a hole in the top of the bolt operating rod. You simply use your thumb to push this lever down and then drive the bolt forward. It is not as simple as the forward assist on the AR platform that just requires you to smack it, but this will work for any stubborn ammunition. Realistically, if you need help going into battery, pulling the charging handle back an inch and then slingshotting it should be more efficient.
ACCESSORIZING
The rifle does not have too much room to accessorize, but you can definitely attach a light, sights, and a laser sight system. The issue will be running tape switches and setting everything up in a way that will work with the charging handle and not interfere with it. If you are going to deck out this rifle, you can find a way. Either by adding a bunch of rail tracks on the handguard, or by running tape switches from the flat top rail, you can find a way.
SIGHTS
I am keeping the 20” version stock and plain, just like the Croatian infantry typically has it. I really wish I could have the diopter rear sight or the built in 1.5x sighting system that I have seen on other versions of the rifle, but I doubt they are actually available to civilians in the US. I see on the HS Produkt website that the new version of the rifle made for the military has the same flip up sights that we get here in the US. I have seen a few photos of Croatian military members using the flip up sights, and it gives me confidence that I can trust them to hold up against a reasonable amount of abuse.
The technique for using this iron sight system is very much the same as using the MP5 or G3 family of sights. You will use the round rear sight to match the round front sight ring as perfectly as possible. This flush sight picture is much easier to get an accurate sighting across various shooters because instead of hovering the tip of the front sight wherever you think the center of the rear peep sight is, you are basing it off the actual lineup of the two circles/rings.
What I also found out is that the adjustable stock actually is instrumental in getting this sight picture just right. The stock fully collapsed will typically have my natural head position so close that I can easily see the whole front sight ring. Adjusting the stock back one click actually made the sight picture perfect with the ‘1-2’, ‘3’, ‘4’, and ‘5’ sight settings. The 0 setting is the CQB setting that will be wide open, allowing you to easily acquire your sights and engage.
SHOOTING
I have probably put over 5,000 rounds through my 16” Hellion rifle with maybe one or two malfunctions that were ammunition related, such as steel-cased ammo getting stuck in the chamber during extraction. I have heard in reviews that the rifle is “over-gassed, but I found the rifle to be relatively pleasant to shoot. In the stock, there is a nylon buffer, much like you see in the G36. This buffer helps tame the recoil and it seems to prevent the rifle from jumping too much. All I know is the rifle seems to handle recoil a helluva lot better than the AUG did. The 20” version of the rifle has a bit less recoil, and it is probably due to the added length of barrel allowing more gas to burn in the barrel and slightly more weight (~5 ounces).
I heard on a couple of videos that the suppressed gas setting on the rifles would be sufficient because the rifle in its normal gas setting is ‘over-gassed’. I always felt like the recoil of the rifle was tame compared to the AUG and similar to the recoil I have experienced on the M16. However, trusting that the claims may be valid, I figured it was worth a shot to try the suppressed setting and compare it to the normal setting. The brass will normally eject a good few feet and slightly forward while chewing up the brass deflector in the ejection port after a few thousand rounds.
I switched my gas system on the 20” rifle to the “S” setting, and the recoil fell by about half, and the ejection was to the right and only a few feet away. The recoil immediately reminded me of the recoil I experienced when I shot the G36. It was little more than a slight vibration, and had a light push, very similar to the recoil I get on my M16 rifles. This will be the way I set up my 16” variant of this rifle as well.
I understand that the Hellion is basically a military rifle and is designed to run reliably in any environment. The rifle gas system is very similar to the G36 and needs to compensate for a long service life and having the ability to defeat fouling and other issues that a little more gas can be instrumental in overcoming.
The trigger on the Hellion rifle is interesting and deceiving. As a bullpup, the trigger is not going to be a hair trigger or tickle the fancy of target shooters. With that said, the rifle is still pretty easy to shoot well at range. It is often considered “long and spongy, but surprisingly responsive” by reviewers. I would take this critique with a grain of salt because the primary concern of this rifle is to have a reliable and safe ignition system.
The hammer hits hard and the hammer is well secure from slam-fires from being dropped, like the AR. The trigger bar is a long thin rod that rides the inside of the rifle on the left side and is spring tensioned. The trigger bar engages a lever that has slight travel before beginning the release process on the hammer. This chain of tension adds to the trigger overall weight of pull, but also adds to the safety.
Despite the weight of the trigger initially, with enough dry fire and live fire, I have found that I can easily shoot as fast as I can get my sights on target. I am not slowed down by the trigger by any notable degree. Yes, I may not be able to bump-fire this trigger easily, but that is probably half the reason the trigger is the way it is. You need to mean to pull the trigger in order for it to release.
WRAPUP
The Springfield Hellion 20” rifle is a premium firearm built for serious shooters who want a rugged tool for fighting and hard use. It’s not intended to be festooned with gadgets and fancy electronics, but it withstands rough handling exceptionally well and can be run reliably under demanding conditions, even though the trigger is widely regarded as a bit long and spongy. For those wanting a dependable rifle that performs straight out of the box without needing additional investments or extensive upgrades, the Hellion is an excellent choice.