Introduction -
Quote – “350 worldwide…”, “limited edition…”, “once in a lifetime…”, as an airsoft collector, quotes like these easily made my mouth drool! When I found out it was for the HK 417 SNIPER, my heart skipped a beat!!! As many of my friends know, I have a serious soft spot for Austrian and German made firearms, for me they are the epitome of firearms engineering to the extreme, some may clamor for Mercedes, Audi or BMW, but give me Glock, Steyr, or Hk any day of the week!
Umarex have outdone themselves this time around sourcing from VFC a limited worldwide run of only 350 units for the HK417 Sniper rifle. Truth be told the unit was pricey @ $699 USD but I decided to try my luck on Evike.com and try out their 20% off coupon and lo and behold, the coupon worked, even for a pre-order. So the $700 Sniper became a $560 VFC AEG with FULL HK trades, metal bipod, integrated front sights into RAIL w/ pop up rear and a full 2 year warranty. Sold! Did I forget to mention the unit comes with a snazzy HK hard case???!?
As with my GBBR review of the HK416 M27 IAR see thread in GBBR section, I make the following disclaimers
• I have been shooting airsoft since 1996
• Mostly Tokyo Marui based *STOCK* guns (including: Desert Eagles Hard Kick2, MK23 SOCOMM Non blow back, PSG-1, Aug Steyr Military. etc...)
• GBB pistos includes (KSC G17, Maruzen P99, WE Baby Hi Cappa, KSC MK23, etc...)
Inital Impressions -
The unit is heavy, very solid with no discernable wobble unlike. Are they any AEGs this day and age that still exhibit barrel wobble??! But I digress, full length FLAT top picatany weaver rail along the full length of the gun. The trade marks on the gun are superb down to the HK trademarks on the Magazine. The metal bipod is nice, but on my other rifles, I have full HARRIS bipods and this unit pales to the real deal. I’m not knocking it because the bipod came with the unit but IF I had to buy the bipod seperately, I would have definitely picked up something else. The unit feels great in my arms the adjustable stock is the new HK stock same as the M27 IAR with the adjustment lever hidden FLUSH with the stock. My only gripe is that if this were a true sniper package an upgraded/different stock that includes check rest would have made the gun that much better. I would have preferred that over the included bipod. Rounding off the impression section, I’ve got to hand it to HK with their new styled pistol grips on both this unit and the HK416 M27 IAR, the units a JOY to hold! If you can find these grips on sale as a hop up, buy them ASAP, they are that good!
Operation -
To be honest, until this review, I haven’t spent much time on this unit as I was giving my attention to the M27, but after putting a few magazines through this unit, it’s beginning to grow on me. The unit shoots like a standard AEG, so nothing new there, but here are the specs:
Tested using 9.6v nuchuck battery in butt stock:
• 10.92 RPS
• 390~400 FPS using 0.25 BBS
Sorry tree is still down from Hurricane Sandy to fully test grouping but will do so at a later date.
Concerns -
It’s a VFC AEG with 2 year warranty so at this time, I don’t think I have any concerns.
Pictures -
Here are the pictures
www.dpreview.com/galleries/1405459357/albums/hk417-sniper
Conclusion -
Let’s be honest, while the HK417 Sniper is a great gun it no way near worth the $700 that they are charging for this unit, BUT, if it still available at one of the larger airsoft retails with 20% off, it will be well worth owning a small piece of limited edition VFC AEG goodness!!!
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