One of the most interesting modern guns from a design and manufacturing point of view is certainly the HS Produkt Springfield Hellion rifle in .223 Remington caliber, the civilian version of the Croatian HS2 assault rifle. This semi-automatic rifle is characterised by a bullpup configuration in which the action is located behind the pistol grip and trigger. Thanks to this construction layout, the Hellion has an overall length of only 72 centimeters, despite having a 16"/40.64 cm long barrel. In addition to the benefits in terms of manoeuvrability and portability, the center of mass moved to the rear results in a more comfortable swinging. The Hellion's ergonomics are geared towards maximum versatility and include an ambidextrous selector and, above all, a charging handle that can be operated from either side of the weapon, without the need for modifications. In addition, the charging handle doesn't move during firing. The cartridge case ejection can also be easily reversed to meet the needs of left-handed shooters. The US MSRP for the Hellion rifle is around $2,000.
Shooting impressions with the HS Produkt Springfield Hellion
During our shooting tests, the Hellion performed very well, being comfortable, accurate and reliable. Much of the credit goes to the bullpup layout, which allows a 16" barrel to be housed in a gun with an overall length of just 28.25" (717.5 mm).
The polymer receiver completes the picture, taking care of reducing the already modest vibrations and making the shot even more comfortable.
What surprised us was the trigger, unexpectedly clean for a military weapon: the Springfield Armory Hellion is manufactured by Hs Produkt and is none other than the civil version of the service rifle adopted by the Croatian army.
With a few excellent exceptions, bullpup rifles have always struggled to gain a foothold in the market, which is more tied to rifles of traditional design. Many factors weigh heavily on the choices made by armies, not least the cost of the training required to transfer personnel to a new platform, but from the point of view of us civilian enthusiasts, it is a pity: the Hellion is a demonstration of how this layout makes for excellent ergonomics. Left-handers cannot complain either, as the rifle can be quickly converted to eject cartridge cases from the preferred side.
The grip and safety selector will be familiar to those accustomed to the AR platform, while it will take time to get used to the other controls, such as the charging handle, which is ambidextrous and non-reciprocating, but above all the bolt release, which is excellently positioned once you get used to it, but which you will inevitably end up missing or confusing with the magazine release at first.
The stock is very comfortable: the weak hand easily finds an ideal position and the buttstock can be adjusted in length, similar to how we would do on an M4 carbine. A comfortable cheek rest puts the shooter in an ideal position to take advantage of the sights mounted on the long upper Picatinny rail, whether they be optical systems or the mechanical back-up ones that come as standard. Still about sights, we found the combination with a red dot with no magnification to be totally inadequate: the gun has such intrinsic precision that it would at least require the red dot to be combined with a flip-to-side magnifier or even, in the case of sporting use, a DMR-type variable optic.
Photo gallery HS Produkt Springfield Hellion
