USR-11 - ArniesAirsoft - Review Archive

Author

MDK_Marshal

You think you're awesome, badly drawn Mel Gibson?

Registered: February 2005
Location: A small hole in a muddy field, wondering where my artillery support is.
Posts: 5,031

Review Date: 30/5/06

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �85.00 | Rating: 8

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Cheap, Accurate, Easily Upgradable
Cons:	Cheap finish, lots of the gun appears to be pot metal

UPDATE - Took this to be chrono'd at Airsoft Warehouse yesterday, along with some of my other guns. The result was a bit of a shock to me - it chucks out around 370 fps with a 0.2g BB. Yep, 370. And All I did was take the piston weights out!

Appologies in advance for any odd erros in this review, and any huge images; I wrote this in MS word, and copied it straight across. I'm not even sure if the pictures will link correctley... If they don't, then they're all visible at the top of the page, with the basic product information.

EDIT - Okay, I've removed the images as they were huge. You should be able to figure out which image should go where, though Wink

Also, sorry about the quality of a couple of the images. My camera is naff.

That said, Enjoy!

Background

I�ve been a big fan of bolt-action rifles for ages. Never had one, just loved them. After having a play with a friend�s G-Spec (Venmoch�s, to be exact), I realised I had to get myself a bolt-action rifle. I can shoot fairly well, so it would have some purpose, rather than just something to play with.

I would have loved a G-Spec of my own � but, I�m a notoriously cheap person, and didn�t have that much money anyway, so that option was out. After lots of searching for something more affordable, I came across the HFC USR-11 at AirsoftScotland, and immediately decided I wanted one, especially with the price tag: a mere �85.

Last Sunday, I ordered one. My longing for a bolt-action outweighed my nagging parents and general lack of money. After much faffing around with Citylink (Guaranteed next day my arse�), It arrived on Saturday. After �acquiring� the rifle from my parents (they�d decided not to let me have it, so I liberated it!), I immediately had a little play with it. So, When I got it up to my room (a safe haven from my parents � mostly), I was presented with this:

A Shiny new rifle! Literally rather shiny, but that�s what you get for eighty-five quid. Anywhoo, onto the meat of the review! And yes, my feet are in the shot ^_^

Look & Feel

Well, a lot has been said about the USR�s looks. It�s noticeably more shiny than the VSR rifles that it�s based on, and there are some VERY noticeable seam lines, as can be seen in this picture:

That Picture is from the bottom of the grip � the screw on the right is the one at the back of the trigger guard. You can�t tell from the picture (as It�s rubbish quality) but there is a huge seam line � the stock looks like it wasn�t put together properly, as there�s a gap between the two halves. I plan to fix this at some point � details are at the end of the review, in the �Upgrades� Bit.

Not only does the stock look plasticky, it feels it too. Granted, it�s high-quality and is finished well, but it just seems to be lacking something. There�s no creaking, however, and a lot of the gun is made of metal � it seems that only the Stock and trigger guard are made from plastic.

The Bolt Handle is pretty good � all metal, and finished fairly well. The bolt handle itself isn�t great � the moulding looks a bit iffy, and looks textured, but doesn�t really feel textured, which is a bit of a let-down. Below you can see the Bolt handle locked back, as it�ll be before you push it back after cocking the rifle.

The pins in the back of the cylinder don�t look too hot � brass circles on a shining aluminium cylinder. Not too great, and they�re not perfectly flush to the rest of the assembly, but they�re passable.

The barrel assembly, on the other hand, is rather good. Made entirely out of metal (I�m guessing aluminium, but I�m not really sure), its solid and painted a flatter, more matt black than the receiver. It�s still a bit shiny, but better than the stock. Still not as good as the TM guns, but, again, it�s not a TM gun.

Performance

Unfortunately, due to the fact that my parents will forcibly evict me from the house if they find I gave this rifle at the moment, I have been unable to test it to any great extent. The Real-Shock effect gives a reasonable shudder � nothing major, just what you�d expect from a heavy piston slamming forwards. It�s not even comparable to a lot of GBB�s, but you notice it.

I�ve only managed one shot at any kind of range, and that was out of my window into the garden, maybe 20 metres at the most. The lone shot was deadly accurate � it hit exactly where I aimed, which was unsurprising, as this is a sniper rifle. I expect that the accuracy will be similar to that of the TM VSR�s, with the exception of the G-Spec, with its pseudo-tightbore.

The Bolt action leaves a bit to be desired � There�s a fair amount of resistance drawing the bolt back, mainly from friction between the cylinder and receiver, rather than the strength of the spring. There was initially quite a bit of resistance when pushing the bolt back in, however, which I couldn�t find a reason for. After lubricating the cylinder and putting a bit of grease in the receiver, it seemed to go away, which is good. Better a cheap, effective fix than an expensive and effective one!

Okay, This bit here is kind of an update on the feel of the rifle, as a couple of thing happened since I stopped writing last. Mainly, my parents discovered I had the rifle, and took it back. But, I have it again, so all is well.

After a bit of use, I�ve discovered a couple of slightly irritating things about this gun. Well, one thing. Sometimes, when you�re returning the bolt, you get a LOT of resistance. I think this is something to do with the way the cylinder mounts to the gun � I�m going to take it apart and see if there�s anything I can do about it. I think that this is my fault, though, rather than anything HFC did wrong when making the gun � I�ve taken it to bits quite a few times now.

I�ve taken the weights off the piston now (and done a wee bit of damage to the cylinder head, too, which I�m going to have to fix), and I think it�s worth it. The gun is quieter, and seems that little bit more accurate. I can�t tell if it�s more powerful or not, as I never chrono�d the gun in its stock form. My experiences with getting the cylinder open will be in the upgrades bit, rather than cluttering up this section here.

Takedown

I�d normally post a lot of pictures showing how you do this, but I�m afraid that I�ve lost my set of allen keys (Or Hex wrenches, whichever you prefer), and so can�t actually take the blumming thing apart to take pictures of it. I can give you a guide to taking it apart, though.

First of all, you�ve got to take the magazine out. That�s nice and simple, just pres the button and take it out, as you do on all VSR riles.

Next, undo the two hex bolts on either side of the magwell. One�s in front, one�s behind.

Grab the barrel (anywhere will do, but close to the stock is best) and pull it upwards. The gubbins of the gun should lift free of the stock fairly easily � you�ll have to rotate them towards the end of the stock a bit � IE, lift them in a big arc.

To get at the cylinder, lift the bolt handle up (as if you were going to cock it), and then look on the right hand side of the trigger area � there�s a grey tab that you can pull down. It�s just in front of the trigger, on the right hand side. It takes a bit of force, but it comes down. Once it�s down, pull the bolt handle back and the cylinder slides out.

Getting into the cylinder is great fun � you have to drill a pin out to get into it. I won�t go into it here, mainly because it�s a tedious procedure that takes a lot of pictures, and it�s well documented elsewhere anyway.

Getting into the hop unit is also self-explanatory, so I won�t go over that. The only thing you need to know is that the outer barrel screws off, it doesn�t slide off. That caught me out when I was trying to get at the hop.

Upgrades

Okay, enough about what the gun is like in stock form. What can we do to this gun? Not much, surely? I mean, for Eighty-five quid it�s got to be un-upgradeable, right?

Wrong. It�s a pretty damned good clone of the TM guns, so every upgrade part will fit. Well, as far as I know. I�m FAR too poor to upgrade this rifle yet, so I don�t know first hand.

But, what would be some good upgrades to get this gun shooting like a REAL sniper rifle? And looking like one, too! Well, not much. I plan on spending as little as I can on this, mainly as I�m poor, but also because it�s a good gun already. What I want to do is the following:

> Fill the mould lines with something � wood filler, epoxy or milliput, probably

> Spray the rifle with ultra-flat black krylon, or maybe olive green � haven�t decided yet.

> Get a bearing spring guide

> Sort out the damage I did to the cylinder head, or get a new one

> Get a silencer adapter and Silencer

And that�s it. It shouldn�t cost me more than about �50, and should make it everything I want. I do plan on adding a scope to it at some point, but that�ll be a fair bit later � I�m pretty accurate aiming on instinct, and not even using the iron sights. So a scope will probably just be something that lets me use it at a slightly longer range.

If I wanted, I could upgrade the sears, spring guide stopper, etc, etc, and have it firing at about 500 fps for the price of a TM VSR. But, I don�t want to. I�m happy with this rifle as it is.

Hope that this has been useful, and that nobody�s made a review of it while I took my time doing this one ;-)

------------------------------
I HAVE COME FROM THE YEAR 1988 TO SAY... DOES ANYBODY HAVE AN AGM MP40 FOR SALE?

{Engineering and Demolitions} {Weaponsmith} {Navigation 'Expert'} {Minigun Wanabe} {Dedicated} {Suppression Fire Specialist} {Pyromaniac} {Customizer} {Hippie} {Discard after use - 5 times} {Drill Sergeant} {Rock with your Glock} {I mean business} {Silicon mouth}

Salty6924

Registered: June 2005
Location: Warwick RI USA
Posts: 182

Review Date: 22/6/06

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 9

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Price, reliabiltiy, Quality, Upgradability
Cons:	Magazine Compatibility problem with 50rd Highcap

HFC USR-11 REVIEW

A no nonsense review by Salty6924

Stock Specifications

Model
HFC USR-11

FPS
277.4 AVG

Length:
HFC USR-11:

Weight:
HFC USR-11:

Ammo capacity:
HFC USR-11: 25 std - 50 HiCap

General Background

The HFC USR-11 was one of 2005s most anticipated releases. A Strong and sturdy Replica of the Tokyo Marui VSR-10, Its Real World Counterpart is the Remington 700 VS. Details of this Real-Steel Rifle can be found Here

For this review we have calculated the FPS Average by Calculating the average of 10 shots at room temperature with the hop up off. we use a Velocity Chronograph

_______________________________________________________________________________________

HFC USR-11 Review

1: General Impressions

This Rifle When First Handled is rock solid, no creaks or rattling of any kind. The Bolt is Pulled back with ease and can be done so with moderate force using just your pinky. The action of the bolt is smooth and silent and is almost as if it is running on bearings of some sort, although this is most likely not the case.

One thing that some people may not like about this rifle is its lack of a scope mount. this must be purchased separately and can be acquired for around 10$ USD. Fortunately for those people who hate scopes or can just do without them, this gun comes standard with completely adjustable Iron Sights which are extremely functional, practical, and not to shabby looking on top of that.

2: Upgrade Potential

The USR-11 takes every single upgrade that the vsr-10 would take, among these upgrades are Power Springs, Reinforcement parts, Tight bore barrels, Silencers, Full Wood stocks, and even full conversion kits. The guns internals are solid and Well put together, as well as simple. upgrading this gun would not be a problem.

3: Performance

The performance of this weapon was something to be skeptical about due to the fact that it is a copy of an already existing model. Copies such as these are often less sturdy and are sometimes slightly changed for the worse due to copyright laws. But this was not the case, This rifle shoots 273 FPS Low 286 FPS High and an Average of 277.4 FPS. It is dead accurate to about 36 meters or 120 feet with a maximum range of about 48 meters or 160 feet. Another neat future of this gun is that it is based of Tokyo Marui�s VSR-10 Real Shock which means it has recoil for every shot you take. not only is the recoil fairly strong but gives you a great confidence boost. The rifle is also Pretty quiet in spring gun standards and TONS quieter then an AEG, it is very difficult to tell where you are being shot at from with this rifle on the field. another thing about this rifle...which depending on your point of view can be good or bad, is its lightness. Unscoped this guns weight is a mere 5lbs, that's extremely light for a replica bolt action rifle.

4: Value

Is this Rifle Worth its price may you ask. oh yeah, With a price of about 99$ USD the same I paid for the infamous UHC Super 9, It is most definitely worth the price. When this gun is showed to friends, they all say they are getting one and almost have 200 bucks " how much more is it" they ask. At that point me and Khyron each begin to laugh and go for that Amount, you can buy two!.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

6 Month Run In

This gun after 6 months of Being Skirmished in our harsh playing field has been used in downpours, been filled with desert sand, dropped in a 20 foot dune of cow dung, set through a blizzard �Where my hands froze to the rifle� and the only part of it that failed was the magazine. The VSR-10 50 RD magazines are a tight fit and do not feed properly but the standard mags work just fine and can be purchased for about $10 USD. This is definitely a rifle worth investing in.

I hope this review was helpful, it was 6 months in the making

------------------------------

Team Site with Image and video Gallery

cl_metal_snake

Registered: November 2005
Posts: 233

Review Date: 4/8/06

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 9

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	100% compatible with any VSR 10 parts
Cons:	Poor quality magazine, below average piston.

I have had my USR 11 for about 4 months.
And i LOVE IT, apart from the magazine which keeps misfeeding, but after buying tm vsr mags, problem solved.
I do plan to upgrade this thing, new spring, sears, piston, and inner barrel.
A great first time spring bolt action sniper for anyone.
Thanks
cl_metal_snake

------------------------------

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b388/Cameron37/Sig-VSRUSP.gif

Trotsky

Registered: August 2005
Location: Norfolk, the flat English one... famous for Admiral Nelson and real friendly locals...
Posts: 45

Review Date: 9/1/07

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �85.00 | Rating: 9

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Cheap, reliable, easily upgraded, easy to use, powerful without piston weight, lightweight and manouverable
Cons:	Finish is a bit disappointing, HOP dial can be knocked about very easily,

First Impressions

I've been in love with bolt actions for a long time, so when I saw this on Airsoft World I payed up as fast as I could, adding the piston weight removal, a spare magazine and a 20mm rail. Straight out of the box the rifle feels brilliant, if a little on the light side for my taste. The finish on the stock is less than awe inspiring, but is passable considering the price, however, the barrel and cylinder are fine with the paint being flat and mark free. The gun came with a tub of .20g BB's in a bottle and an infinitely useful speedloader which makes filling the magazines (which seem to last forever compared to automatics) less arduous.
Having loaded up both magazines, I gleefully stuck the business end out of my bedroom window and took aim at the telephone pole 30m away. The first shot was pleasingly accurate considering the HOP was still unadjusted. After a little fiddling with the tab next to the barrel, the BB's were pinging off the pole with pleasing accuracy and was already outshooting my G3. The power of a stock USR-11 is somewhere in the
260-270 fps range, but with the piston weights removed (thanks to the gentlemen from Scotland) it shoots at an alleged 370 fps. I cannot back this up, but it clearly shoots hard, very hard.

Combat Experience

My first skirmish rolled around mercifully quickly and I finally had a chance to test the USR in combat. After some HOP rejiggering to cope with .25g BB's and a little sight reallignment, the gun was shooting dead straight and ready for the first game. Despite my lack of scope and/or snipers mentality, the USR quickly proved itself to be incredibly useful, both in attack and defence, its low profile making it surprisingly manouverable and its power giving an edge over AEGs.

The final game of the day however truly proved that the USR-11 is a capable weapon. I was urged (at gunpoint) to climb a tree and act as our team's designated marksman for the duration of our defence. Within a few minutes of making myself semi-comfortable, the first of the other team nosed their way down our left, he was quickly spotted and after some major correction for wind, I landed a shot at 30m, the remainder of the opposing side came in dribs and drabs for another ten minutes or so, during which time the USR racked up a further 8 kills, often at ranges exceeding 35m.
Despite being in stock form and hardly broken in, the USR-11 performed very well and I decided that a few upgrades might be in order, both internal and cosmetic.

Upgrades

Having got hold of two cans of Krylon, OD and Black, I made a Tigerstripe-esque pattern on the stock and sprayed the barrel and reciever assembly Black to beef it up. The results are very pleasing, the rifle still shoots brilliantly but looks less like the shiney black Merc it used to and more like a real rifle. Bunging a bit of scrim over the barrel finished it and now it really does look the balls.

I have yet to faddle with the internals too much, but if I ever get round to it, I would certainly put in a tightbore barrel.

Conclusion

The only faults I have managed to find with the USR are:
-Seam lines on the stock
-VERY shiney finish, remedied with Krylon
-Occasional bolt resistance, remedied with a little grease
-BB's roll out of the barrel if the HOP is set to minumum
-HOP tab can be knocked very easily, thereby throwing of your HOP (readjusting mid-firefight is NOT fun)

All in all, the USR-11 is a fantastic gun, it offers massive upgradability in a very cheap package whose performance equals or betters that of a TM VSR-10 once the piston weight is removed, it is incredibly easy to use and is perfect for someone new to sniping to practise with.

A very well deserved 9/10

Trotsky

[Edit]
I'm writing this many months since I got the rifle, so it's had time to develop its own little quirks and faults.

The rifle underwent a horrendous change of character after about 6 months of having it, the bolt lost all desire to lock into the sear and would very annoyingly fly back into the reciever. At first I thought this was merely a one off, but it got worse and worse, to the point where the rifle was totally unusable.
Having learned how to crack the bugger open, it became apparent that there was something very wrong with the piston, namely that it had been worn away where it locked into the piston sear.

N.B
---If I'm being totally honest, this is almost entirely due to the fact that I can cock this thing faster than a very fast thing on a fast day, i.e. very VERY fast indeed. This almost certainly placed a lot of undue stress on sears and whatnot, thereby leading to catastrophic bolt failure and a lot of swearing---

The result was that there was nothing to hold the spring in a cocked position... bad times indeed.
To make matters worse, the sear itself had fractured and offered no grippy grip to the piston, regardless of its condition. By this stage I was cursing the exotic Ho Feng Corporation to the grave for selling me this crooked tit of a weapon, but all hope was not lost.

'How to fix her'

Get hold of a replacement sear set and piston assembly. This can be costly but is inestimably useful. Luckily someone at my site took pity on me and donated the discarded entrails of their enviably superb G-Spec, this allowed me to completely replace not only the dodgy piston section, but the hop unit and trigger assembly as well.
Essentially, I now had TM internals in all the high wear areas of my rifle, I had replaced the s**t-soft piston and spring guide, which not only resolved my longevity woes, but the airbrake on the new piston turned my USR from Chris Moyles into Marcel Marceau.
I dropped in the new TM hop unit (while I kept my nicely seated hop rubber) which was infinitely more useful and stopped the gun's annoying habit of losing hop setting at the slightest sign of impact.

Finally, and admitedly this is a bit of cheating, I replaced the entire trigger assembly, thereby sidestepping the issue of broken sears and instantly getting improved trigger response.

(However, it wasn't quite so simple as I've just made out)

Unfortunately, I have the mechanical skills of a man with no hands, so I badly funked the re-assembly of my baby and it sat unoperational and forlorn in a corner for a few weeks. Luckily I decided to give it another shot and stripped and re-assembled it, this time actually mounting the hop unit the right way round (my bad) and screwing the trigger unit into the reciever properly.

The result?

Simply the finest gun in my arsenal, preposterous accuracy, eye-watering FPS and silly range coupled with top notch internals and a very smexy (yep, I said smexy) paint job... think Tigerstripe but on the wonk.

Yes, we've had our problems since then, namely the bolt being a bit iffy as before, but this has been totally resolved by simply tightening the trigger unit screws, an action which I will now emphasise with judicious use of the Shift key.

"ALWAYS tighten your trigger unit screws, ALWAYS"

And with that I end an Edit which may well outsize the initial review, but hey, you gotta admit it was fun to read....