Hi guys, thanks for tuning in to another video on ForgottenWeapons.com.
Today we are out at a two gun action challenge match with the Springfield Hellion.
So we have two stages today of rifle shooting.
And the first one (if I remember to disengage the safety),
is from our cool range prop of a Ford Bronco.
Where ... we have two targets downrange at about 100 yards.
And you have to engage them two hits on each target
first out the driver's side window, then through the windshield on the driver's side.
And then switch over to the passenger seat,
engage through the windshield and then out the window.
So the idea here was to create a setup that's going to really highlight
the shortness, the mobility, of bullpup rifles as well as test their ambidextrous handling.
Because pretty much everyone's going to have to shoot some left handed and some right handed.
So here's me switching to right handed.
You don't see the ejection because the rifle is still ejecting out the left side,
and it's ejecting just in front of my face, and I'm still able to make some good hits.
Now once we finish that, we're going to hop out of the truck,
and then we have to engage the targets once again from these two low ports on the VTAC.
And this is again a bit of a challenge, especially to the ambidextrous handling,
and really just the handling in general of the bullpups.
- Some sort of strange malfunction when there's no more bullets in the gun.
- Yes, weird, the gun stops shooting when the ammunition runs out.
This port was a little bit easier.
I am used to shooting this sort of thing with a red dot optic where there is no eye box.
Basically you can have your face anywhere behind the optic,
and as long as you're in line with the barrel you can see the dot.
Using this scope there actually is an eye box,
I have to have my face in a specific place to be able to see the reticle and make a hit.
There's also a relatively high height over bore with the Hellion here,
and that made things a little bit trickier for me.
It took me a couple of tries to get into the right position to be able to get a sight picture.
... It may not look like it, that's a very low port to be shooting through.
And I'll talk in a moment about the fact that I'm actually shooting this wrong handed,
I'm shooting this right handed because of the ejection port actually.
- Alright, I want to point something out on camera here.
It really was nice that I ... could shoot from either side,
because when I got under that port I realised
if I'm shooting this left handed with the ejection side down,
I'm going to bounce cases right off the ground and cause malfunctions.
So I was able to shoot it right handed under the barricade,
and not worry about eating the brass, but still give the brass a clear path up and out.
For a really low barricade shot like that, that actually worked really well.
- Yup, clear.
- Alright, our second stage.
We again have two targets set up, this time smaller targets at 50 metres.
And we have to engage them two hits each once again, as is pretty typical for two gun,
from a variety of positions here, so first off hand.
Then we are going to have to move and engage them under the barricade.
I give this a try from one knee, but I'm not quite low enough, can't quite do it.
So I went prone instead, that allowed me to get ... very easy shots really to get those four hits.
Then we actually move to a roof prop.
Now this stage required you to start with only 10 rounds in the gun,
and run it dry to force a reload, again to test reload handling on bullpup rifles.
From here through each of these three segments under the roof prop
you have to get two hits on each of the targets.
At this point double taps are allowed, before they were not.
So again this is to highlight the mobility of the short length of bullpup rifles.
Now if you're interested in seeing this course run with a bunch of different bullpups,
and with a couple of other people also shooting the Hellion,
go check out InRange Carl has posted.
We had six people shooting a total of four different bullpup rifles.
So you can check that out as well.
There was one stage that was also all pistol,
but I ended up actually taking 7th out of 25 on both of the rifle stages,
and took 6th in the match overall.
Alright, so the match was fun, but it was only two stages
and I wanted to get a little bit more shooting in.
So we've got a few targets set up out here today.
Got a plain steel target out there, and I've also got a Texas Star.
And I'm kind of curious if I can deal with a Texas Star with this thing.
Try off hand first, and if that doesn't work we'll adapt as necessary.
But start with a few shots on that little steel target.
The one thing I'm not a huge fan of with this rifle,
and it might actually be a little bit different
with the 20 inch barrel version, or an 18 inch barrel version even,
is it's back heavy. So it's not quite perfectly balanced at the grip.
The front's pretty light, and generally speaking like for handling that's a good thing,
it makes it easier to manoeuvre the rifle.
But for setting a more precise longer range shot, for keeping the muzzle stable
while you're trying to go through what is sort of a squishy trigger press,
you'd be better off with a little more weight forward than this currently has.
But let's see if that prevents me from getting the star.
Ah, missed it.
Ah, ran out of ammo.
That's hard, I mean that's a hard target.
That's one of MOA Targets not really ... super-huge stars, out at 60 yards probably.
There's one plate left on the bottom.
There we go.
So yeah, ... the muzzle's a little bit wobbly because it's rear balanced.
Again, it's all compromises. It's good for close in, it's not as great for long range.
I think that was over.
Just under it.
Another magazine empty. I think I spun it twice there.
It can be a little hard to tell, especially when you're exactly square on to a spinner.
One of the skill sets is getting to be able to learn if it's coming towards you, or going away from you.
And when you get it right up to the point where it's about to spin,
it can be really hard to tell, did it keep coming towards me and go over.
Or did it come just up to the top and fall back, who can say?
So kind of out of targets here.
I feel like I'll get a little bit better with this over time.
And I pointed this out in the match,
but one of the really nice things about the Hellion/VHS-2 here is that
while I have this set up to eject left handed,
it doesn't have to be in order to shoot right handed.
It doesn't have to be set up left handed to shoot left handed.
As long as you keep your face behind the ... cheek rest here, it'll work just fine either way.
Alright. Well that's a little more of what I wanted
to get on camera for you guys with the Hellion, we got it a little bit smoky now.
It's a really fun bullpup, it's a really good bullpup by modern standards.
It has all the ambidextrous features that one would want.
It's set up from the factory for any style of optical sight.
Still gives you a good cheek rest.
This scope ... frankly really it's actually a bit higher than it needs to be.
You could bring it down even, and have less height over bore and a tighter cheek weld.
But dropping something like a red dot on this,
you don't need a riser, it just goes right on the rail and you're good to go.
Anyway, hopefully you guys enjoyed the video.
Thanks for watching.