The Hellion

History and Features

Another meaningful point is the fact the Hellion is essentially the justly famous VHS-2 bullpup service rifle designed in Croatia and used by their armed forces. Proven in battle, this platform has been modified slightly in a few key areas to make it appropriate for the U.S. market. The key parts of the Hellion are manufactured at HS Produkt, Karlovac, Croatia (that has also made the XD series for Springfield over the years). The rifles are then imported to the U.S. where Springfield does final assembly with the American-made parts added.

The Hellion is, of course, semi-auto while the VHS-2 is full auto. The Hellion feeds from AR-pattern magazines as opposed to the proprietary mag for the VHS-2. The Hellion also uses replaceable AR-style pistol grips, has M-Lok slots and six QD mounting points for slings — all features Americans generally look for.

There are some other qualities adding to the user-friendliness of this design, which might not be obvious at first glance. The Picatinny rail on the top is about 13″ long — longer than I’ve ever seen on a rifle like this. It allows a red dot, an optic, night vision/IR, laser, light, etc., especially if you use an off-set mount or two. The rail also has built-in flip-up sights of excellent design, with aperture choices allowing for almost instant ranging options from 100 to 500 meters. There are scads of possibilities there.

A 5-position adjustable buttstock manipulates easily and surely. The carrying handle is handy — once you learn to make use of it. Hey, it’s there, use it! The ability to customize the grip and use one of your favorite shooting styles fitting the AR can help make the rifle even more comfortable. It comes stock with the BCMGunfighter Mod 3 grip but swapping it out is easy.

The action itself is surprisingly conventional in design. Think classic rotating multi-lug bolt run by a short-stroke gas piston. Reliable and robust, it’s also easy to keep clean. The Hellion also has an adjustable gas block for normal or suppressor use. No tools are needed for adjusting the gas block and that’s handy.

Speaking of no tools, you honestly can take this rifle completely apart without any tool other than a cartridge tip to depress a few plungers or pins. Most are fingertip friendly and take-down is about one minute or so. The action comes out the back, very simply, including the trigger group. The forend slips right off as well as the gas assembly. Access for cleaning is among the best I’ve ever seen on any sort of semi-auto rifle of any kind.