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Reviews
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Views
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Date of last review
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1
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1805
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21/6/09
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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100% of reviewers
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£105.00
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8.0
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Author
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Ranger_Captain
Registered: July 2005
Location: West Point, New York
Posts: 759
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Review Date: 21/6/09
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: £105.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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HK Trademarks, Strong Build, Solid Build, Nice Finish on RAS, Good Feel, With minor part replacement has very nice performance, HK Trademarks (yep, it’s that important to me :D )
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Cons:
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Poor quality paint used on receiver, Wrong Length Stock or Stock tube, Minor Mag catch issue, Hopup is crap and needs replacing
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D Boys H&K 416
Introduction
Heckler and Koch, to airsofters and gun lovers alike it’s a name that brings out all sorts of emotions, some good, some not so good. Love them or hate them though, the fact is a significant number of their designs are found in regular use by soldier and airsofter alike and one of the most coveted designs in both worlds is that of the H&K Model 416.
With M-type guns dime a dozen in the airsoft world one more, so called “slightly” innovative design shouldn’t make that big of a swell, as when one version of an M series comes out, forty other companies do their rendition. The HK416 isn’t much different in this respect, but there is however a much greater difference between the versions. There doesn’t seem to be a real true middle ground on price or quality. You’ve either got the low end AGM and JG guns, which aren’t terrible but need work in many areas, or you have the overzealous $450-$1000 VFC and HurricanE kits. Well it seems the DBoys is trying to fill this space in the middle with their version of the HK416. At roughly $120-$130 in price and coming with a full metal body, rail kit (not sure if one can actually call this a true RAS, but it’s definitely not a RIS http://www.quarterbore.com/kac/kacrisras.html ) steel body, FULL H&K trademarks (this is an issue for those Stateside however), adaptor for both 10 and 14.5 inch length barrels, vert grip, and a pretty decent looking PEQ battery box, this is a pretty decent package, but no airsoft gun should be graded just by its cover so let’s look deeper into this newest player in the HK416 series.
Real Steel History
*Taken from Modern Firearms a.k.a. world.guns.ru
“Following the revision of the OICW Block 1 / XM8 program, the Heckler & Koch company decided to enter the US military and law enforcement markets with the alternative design, which, in fact, looks quite promising. Based on the experience, gained during successful upgrade program of the British SA80 / L85A1 program, HK decided to cure the existing M16 rifles and M4 carbines from most of their problems, inherent to this 40-years old design. The key improvements, made by HK, are their patented short-stroke gas piston system, borrowed from HK G36 rifle. This system replaced the direct gas system of standard M16 rifle, so no powder residue will remain in the receiver even after long shooting sessions. The "new" gas system also is self-regulating and will work reliably with any barrel length. Other improvements include new buffer assembly, improved bolt, and a cold hammer forged barrel, as well as free-floating handguard with integral Picatinny-type rails. Originally developed as a "drop-in" upper receiver assembly for any standard M16/M4 type lower receiver, HK416 is also available as a complete weapon, with HK-made lower receivers. Current (late 2005) models include carbines with 10.5" and 14.5" barrels, and 16.5" barreled carbine and 20" barreled rifle will be added later.”
Personally I love the H&K 416, and really any piston driven M-Series. Having shot the M16A2, M4A1, Bushmaster with modified piston, and the H&K 416 itself, I can say that there is an absolute difference; the H&K is deserving of its “throne.” Firing the weapon feels the same as an M4; a .223 is a .223, that’s not going to change, and military loads (5.56 NATO) are heavier than their civilian counterparts (.223 Remington, and yes, there is a distinction between the two despite appearing to be the “same,” green tips are considerably stronger and will cause a civilian rifle’s chamber to wear twice as fast if not break right away), I’ve never felt any real difference between AR’s. The reliability is noticeable after a few mags (with no SPORTS) though and the cold bolt is really cool (oh yeah I shotgunned it and did the future weapons thing). Also the fact that the barrel feels twice as heavy as a normal M4’s is interesting (I found the HK416 to be much more barrel heavy than my M4A1), but probably a nice feature in the long run. Now because HK famously will only distribute the weapon to the military, and to VERY few units at that has somewhat slanted this guns image, don’t pass it off straight on. There is a damn good reason why this weapon is gaining more and more favor in the military community.
Anyway on to the toy, which, in its own way, has its own black mark attached to it thanks to the piety of the VFC users who pedestal the gun and its manufacturer above all others. It would appear at first glance that this Boyi HK416 will be a fair middle ground between the VFC and Chinese MPEG’s.
Oh and btw its gona be in Terminator 4 in the hands of Bale, so that’ll be kickass…
First Impressions
Living in the US sucks if you like to have trademarks on your airsoft guns, and as I’ve said countless times, “What’s the point of buying a replica without the real trades?” Well searching around I found one Chinese store that would ship the gun as is, RSOV. I asked in the buying instructions to place black electrical tape over the trades which they claimed they would do for no extra charge.
I purchased the gun and a dual autowinding M16 mag (it was $30, I couldn’t resist) for almost exactly $200 shipped (the gun itself was $108) which turned out to be an Odyssey of itself. The shipping tracker never seemed to update and it appeared that the gun was stuck “Awaiting Custom’s Inspection” for upwards of a week and a half. Despite this the gun arrived
Tearing through to the box I held my breath, praying that the trades were intact. Low and behold they were. Covered by masking tape (w/e) the trades on both sides of the receiver were indeed fine.
 
With that heart attack done away with I was able to look over the rest of the gun. Nice. That’s the best description I can use. It’s not perfect. A trained eye can spot some basic issues, but it is pretty nice.
Tucked into the Styrofoam packing is the rifle itself, battery, battery box, charger, flip up sight, 14.5 inch barrel extension, vertical grip, cleaning rod, manual, and magazine. Additional mounted on the gun there is the H&K RIS front and rear sight.
Appearance
Well, what can I say? The trades make a huge difference here to me. I can’t help but find myself looking at them right away and just loving it.
On each side of the receiver, the front, and the barrel, there are HK markings and trademarks.
The right side:
Heckler & Koch GmbH
Made in Germany
Heckler & Koch
Defense Inc.
Sterling VA
The left side:
HK
HK 416 D
Cal. 5.56mmx45
Additionally on the left side there’s an HK symbol under the top rail with various manufacture symbols after it, plus a serial number on by the fire selector.
And on the front of the receiver:
Warning:
Read
operators
manual
before
use
There are additional markings on the gun including ones on the barrel:
Might be hard to see but it says HK 5.56mm x 45
Some better pictures:
The stock:
The bolt cover (nice touch IMO):
And the magazine, which has:
5.56mm x 45
RESTRICTED LAW ENFORCEMENT
GOVERNMENT US ONLY 10-94
Heckler & Koch GmbH Heckler & Koch Defense
Made in Germany Sterling VA
Also there’s an HK symbol on the bottom of the magazine, which is the correct SA-80 advanced type; AKA, no dogleg.
Moving along the rifle though you find a few other things to look at, namely the finish on the rifle itself. While the RIS, outer barrel, and magazine have an absolutely beautiful finish on them, the receiver is… well it’s pretty damn rough. Not bad, don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen FAR worse, but not the best I’ve seen either. It’s very rough in both feel and looks, and fails my “scratch test” (switch blade) terribly. Personally I don’t mind this THAT much as I like the weathered look on some guns, so as long the areas around the trademarks stays intact, I’m happy.
The same metal used on the receiver is used on the stock tube, the RIS sights, the gas block, and the rotating front sight.
A word on the stock tube, it’s too short. That or the LE stock is too long. Either way there is a space at the end of the tube with the stock fully retracted. A strange oversight that doesn’t really detract from the appearance of the gun but will confuse you at first.
This is a comparison pic between the stock tube on a CA M15A4 (OLD “proline”)
Clearly the CA is longer but I will say this; upon testing the CA’s old CAR type stock on the Dboy I found that the tube did sit flush with the end of the stock so if this is something that bothers you I would advise either switch the LE stock for a CAR type or some form of CRANE (possibly a 417 type).
The plastics used have a very nice matt color. Additionally the textured pistol grip replicates the HK416 look quite well. Thus I’d say overall the Boyi HK416 has quite a nice look to it. Personally I prefer the 145RS (14.5 inch) over the 10RS (10 inch barrel) so I plan to keep it in this configuration and replace in the inner barrel to match.
Another realism point is the lipped mag well, a trademark for the 416 type weapon.
Look Grade: 9/10
If not for the cheap paint used on the receiver (and therefore having a very unfinished metal look) I would give this a 10/10, although there is something to be said of this look, as the real HK416 has a slightly lighter finish on it than the standard M4A1.
Looking over the accessories, the PEQ-2 is a pretty good looking replica to be honest. They did a pretty good job replicating the VFC version and it comes out quite nice. Complete with clear plastic lenses under the caps the battery box has its own say in form and function.
Feel/Aesthetic
It’s fun to hold, no other way to say it. I’ve held the VFC HK416 and the HurricanE kit as well as a JG HK416, and out of the three I’d say for sure this is a clone of the VFC, and a damn good one at that. The metal body has, as mentioned, a very rough texture. It feels okay, somewhat like the VFC, but just a little cheaper, which given a $108.00 price tag, isn’t that bad of a trade off. Although I worry that the word “rough” will put some people off. A fair comparison would be the feel of unpainted aluminum siding, which actually might be what this thing is made of. Another fair comparison would be the metal used in many bolt covers in even high end M-types.
On the forums Darklight and others mentioned an issue with the mag catch, being too closely copied of the VFC and therefore taking the stock mag and very few others. On mine this seemed to be kinda true as well, but to be honest I switched the mag catch out with one from my CA M15A4 and to be honest I found that the stock one was nicer. I think the trick is to not be a wuss about slapping that magazine into the gun. You really gota push it in there with some force for the catch to engage. Once it does its fine. I would however, as Darklight suggested, switch the hopup chamber out, something that’s wise to do on any airsoft gun, but on this one the hopup feels and looks like crud. Functionality I’ll cover later.
Another note on feel; this gun is VERY solid. There is 0 play anywhere in this gun barring the actual stock (not the tube) itself. The RAS is held on with the same single pin retention screw as the real steel and has the interlocking nub on top of the receiver that keeps it and anything towards the barrel, feeling very solid and 0 wobble. Complete with correct numbering the goes all the way to end of the top of the receiver makes for a nice, appreciable detail.
Additionally the forward sight post, which comes unattached, is very strong. A word to the wise; decide whether or not you want the sight post attached or not as a permanent idea, because I’ve found once it’s one there, it’s next to impossible to take off. It’s held in place by a two sided pin which once it has its head attached really can’t be removed without serious work. This may bother some users but to be honest I prefer the look of the forward sight and it is foldable should you choose another optic system.
A nice copy over from the VFC: functional bolt catch.
This is a fun one to play with and makes hopup adjustment much easier, and while yes, this feature is apparently becoming more and more common among airsoft replicas, it’s still a fun thing to play with when you slap in your first mag.
The modifiable outer barrel is a nice touch, giving the user the option of changing the weapon between the D145RS with a 14.5 inch outer barrel and the D10RS with a 10 inch outer barrel. The change out is very quick and easy and the aluminum outer barrel extension has a nice sturdy thread on it that should stand up to a fair amount of switching. A word of advice would be to buy a 363mm barrel for when you put the longer barrel on to take advantage of the additional space afforded by the extended outer barrel.
I like the look of the 14 inch model better. Plus the advantages of having an extra long barrel are always a nice thing in a match.
The plastics have a nice feel to them. Strong and sturdy, no bend in the stock and the pistol grip feels like it will remain firmly in place with no issues.
As mentioned the RAS is rather nice and removal is very simple by unscrewing the retention bolt holding the RAS in place. With a little jimmying it comes right off, revealing the forward wiring.
When I took mine off I switched the wiring to the right side of the gun because that’s where I prefer to have my PEQ placed and is easy to do so. A note on the wiring, the “fuse” used is a design I’ve never seen before as is the wires which are very different from the CA and TM that I’ve worked with in the past.
Feel Grade: 9/10
Aesthetics: 9/10
It feels good. If not for the somewhat unfinished texture of the receiver I would say it’s perfect. The feel of the RAS and plastics is solid enough though that you don’t really care about the receiver, which you rarely touch anyway.
Aesthetics wise the only reason it doesn’t get a 10 is the stock tube thing. It’s a rather confusing oversight that I’m pretty amazed wasn’t noticed. It doesn’t really detract from the gun but it is something that should have not existed.
Shooting
Well I had an issue here at first. The gun does come with a battery and charger, but they’re both pretty junky, the charger not working on American outlets anyway. Also, recently, I had switched to LiPoly batteries and I have to say their a true dream, but unfortunately I had no LiPolys on hand and as such I wasn’t sure if it was fair to the gun to use the subpar battery. Luckily I found one NiMh battery that was at least a higher discharge rate than the norm.
Loading up the included highcap I took it out back for a few quick shots. First impressions? Well all I can say is wow, but not in the good way. When the gun first came out there was much to say about the less than decent quality hopup chamber but this device does something I’ve never seen an AEG, or airsoft gun for that matter, do. Can you say shotgun? On the first shot about 10-15 bb came out at once in a nice huge spray pattern that went a collective 3 feet. That only happened once but needless to say was a bit… disconcerting. After that the gun only would double or triple feed on every shot, averaging a “range” of about 80 feet. Needless to say I was not impressed.
Bottom of the Hopup chamber
I suspect that the hole for the feeding is either larger (diameter that is) or shorter which (don’t ask me how) causes these horrid feeding issues that make the gun more or less useless.
All was not lost though! As mentioned anticipating such an issue had caused me to buy an Element Plastic hopup chamber and Systema bucking which I promptly installed with little/no issue. Disassembly with this gun I found was easier than any other TM derived M-Type and involves simply disconnecting the wires and sliding the halves apart. No messing with the charging handle or wiggling.
Upon testing it with the new hopup installed I was much more impressed. Averaging about 165-170 feet with .20 with no adjustments to the hopup is exactly what I like to see and I think it’s a safe bet that with .25’s and some meager hopup adjustments you could push 180.
FPS isn’t something I usually care much about and in this gun it’s hanging around the 360-365 mark so personally I plan to put a 363 tight bore in but reduce the spring to an M110 or M100, pending on which gets me closer to an exact 350.
Accuracy is about average for such a short barred gun (I have not yet put a 363mm barrel in it yet so there is easy and clear room for improvement and I would say hitting a man sized target at 150 shouldn’t take that much skill or practice.
Trigger response is good and the gun has a nice smooth sound to it. A word on the box, these guns seem to vary a lot in that some are shipped with a black box while some have an unpainted basic metal one. I can’t confirm a difference in either of them but it may have something to do with what country the guns are shipped to originally (seems one sent to the UK are black while those sent to China/HK are the unpainted variant).
Anyway I used my 416 at a recent large match at the Camp Blanding MOUT facility and I have to say it made a definite impression. I found, even in the 14D configuration, to be very comfortable when cornering and easy to move around in and up buildings with. Similarly I rarely had an issue with shooting distance and no reliability issues. While I don’t know if I will use it at future matches, as I don’t want to damage the externals, I wouldn’t hesitate to do so out of any ability or reliability issues.
A few pics of me and my new toy:
And “kind of” (very kind of :D ) T4 impression:
Shooting Grade
Accuracy Grade: 7
Range Grade: 7
Power Grade: 8
Use Grade: 8
So overall shooting grade is a 7, a very average (I am a tough critic though :P and I would say that a CYMA is way BELOW average while a TM/CA M4 is average as well and a Star or King Arms M4 is a bit above average) Keep in mind this grade is based off of replacing those shoddy parts that are preinstalled and REQUIRE replacement.
Conclusion
Pros:
HK Trademarks
Strong Build
Solid Build
Nice Finish on RAS
Good Feel
With minor part replacement has very nice performance
HK Trademarks (yep, it’s that important to me :D )
Cons:
Poor quality paint used on receiver
Wrong Length Stock or Stock tube
Minor Mag catch issue
Hopup is crap and needs replacing
DBoy’s seems to be attempting to shift gears in how they develop and manufacture their AEG line and this new addition seems to show that they are making strides in the right direction. I may have come off hard on this gun in the review but don’t misunderstand me, this is a very nice and well made gun. I held it to somewhat harsh criticisms because, since it comes off in many ways as a high end, very well made gun, I held what mistakes there are in a more demanding light.
The issues with the stock tube is a bit strange and personally I think the hopup problem is absolutely inappropriate and should be addressed by the factory. But other than that I can say I was thougholy happy with this product.
Overall Grade: 8/10
I give it such a high ranking because visually, this thing is a beauty. I love the HK416 look and this rendition has it in spades. Additionally with the minor internal work it is a decent performer and proved itself to me in the most classic of environments. Thus I would advise this gun to anyone interested in a 416.
Credits:
http://world.guns.ru/assault/as75-e.htm
http://rsov.com/index.php?target=products&product_id=3516
http://www.hk-usa.com/
 ------------------------------ Never argue with a gun, it may argue back... United States Corps of Cadets, USMA Cadet, United States Army 2012 "For More Than Ourselves"
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