HK 416 choices

[Esoterick]

Hi guys, In just over a fortnight I will have my UKARA sorted and am looking at getting a HK 416. I've recently got back into airsoft after a 10 year or so break, back then I owned a TM Spas 12 till it jammed and apparently had to be sent away to the manufacturer so I part exchanged for a TM XM177E2 which I was never very impressed with and sold.

Anyway, I've narrowed my list down to one of the following:

G&G TR4-18(gen 3) - Seems like a fairly decent gun all round the only thing I have found confusing in reviews is some say that battery fits into the stock whilst others say it is in the foregrip and needs converting by routing the wire through to the rear. The site I went to as a teenager required you to take the battery out of the gun before entering the safe zone and assuming(I have no idea, my local doesn't) others do the same a foregrip battery is a bit offputting.

VFC 416 - The consensus is that the external build quality is excellent but reviews on the internals are a bit mixed.

TM 416 Recoil Shock - This gun seems pretty solid all round but it is the most expensive by a reasonable margin and uses a proprietary SOPMOD battery that apparently lasts half a day. I've read it can be modded to accept regular LIPOs but I am a bit daunted about screwing around with the wiring on a half a grand gun. Also I'm struggling to find anywhere round the Bucks sort of area that sells them.

It would be appreciated if anyone could steer me in the right direction or has experience with any of the above versions of the 416. I'm leaning towards the G&G version provided I can get the battery housing sorted, although I have the budget for any of them so want what is best overall out of the 3.

 

[Baz JJ]

The G&G needs a stick battery in the stock. Its not in the front.

 

[M_P]

Definitely, definitely go for the TM. There's an adapter you can get to use normal lipos instead of the TM specific batteries that just plugs in (no need to do any wiring etc)

If it is too expensive then get the VFC/Umarex, it's still a great gun but the TM with recoil and bolt lock is much more fun to use.

 

[Rock-climby-Dave]

Tm will be the most special to shoot, the recoil series just feel magic to shoot. they've got an 'X-factor' so to speak. They're awesome and I have had a great idea to counteract the battery running out at lunch:

wait for it...

no really, it's clever this....

Buy two batteries.

oh shhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttttttttttt I didn't know how much of a genius I was until now!

VFC over the G&G any day, they do a couple of variants, CQB, standard and the M27 (slightly longer, somewhere between M4 and M16 length)

the G&G is a perfectly acceptable rifle, it just isn't as good as the other two, and if you've got the cash to spend, I'd always say do it, you won't be disappointed

 

[jcheeseright]

another vote for the TM HK416D, best AEG I've ever owned by a country mile, the proprietary batteries aren't brilliant for capacity but unless you're spraying like a crazy man they definitely last more than half a day! Admittedly, I don't fire all that often and rarely come off semi auto (btw, the TM 416 shoots far enough accurately that you don't need to hose on full auto!) but I still get a whole day from one battery. I have two, just in case, but I've never had to change mid-game.

There are other concerns with the TM though, the magazines also are proprietary and aren't compatible with other manufacturer's guns, this doesn't bother me as I'm fully invested in the recoil shock system but it may be a factor for you. The TM also has comparatively low FPS; approx 290fps with a 0.20g BB, 250 ish with 0.25g. This isn't an issue with range, far from it, mine shoots further than any other AEG I have ever seen, including my SCAR-L which shoots at 320fps. But it does mean that your shots take marginally longer to get to their target, when I say marginally, I mean maybe 1 second slower at the extreme end of your range (which is further than most other people's anyway).

Outside of those 2 minor points it's pretty much the perfect AEG in my eyes, the bolt stop function is brilliant in that it lets you know when you're out of ammo, the recoil effect makes the whole thing more fun (you won't want to go back to a standard AEG ever again) and the noise it makes is just awesome.

If you have a choice of retailer, I'd recommend Fire-support.co.uk, get them to put a tightbore barrel in it and fit a receiver sling plate (it doesn't come with one as standard). Whole thing came to just over £600 for me including labour, extra battery was a bit more and I already had the magazines. I'd expect that from nothing you'd be looking at £750 for a full setup of gun, magazines and batteries.

 

[Esoterick]

Thanks for all the advice guys. The other thing i've noticed is that all the retailers seem to be out of stock of the TM version. Do the restocks normally take a long time as I understand they are job lots(I might be mistaken) from a Japanese reseller?

This might not be something anyone can answer but in my experience shops like to tell you new stock is coming next week 6 times in a row rather than saying new stock will be here in a month.

 

[jcheeseright]

Fire support have always been completely honest with me regarding order times for Japanese products. You may not like the answer though, could be a few weeks before they get any more!

 

[MacBones]

I own the G&G gen 3 t4-18 and use a lipo 7.4v 2200mah cranestock battery which just slots into the end of the stock, you just take off the rubber butt and a little cover inside and just slide them in. Proairsoftsupplies switched the wiring to Deans for me when I ordered it which was cool. The build quality is fantastic and it looks and feels so good, and using it is a joy.

 

[Baz JJ]

I own the G&G gen 3 t4-18 and use a lipo 7.4v 2200mah cranestock battery which just slots into the end of the stock, you just take off the rubber butt and a little cover inside and just slide them in. Proairsoftsupplies switched the wiring to Deans for me when I ordered it which was cool. The build quality is fantastic and it looks and feels so good, and using it is a joy.

I also have this rifle as my primary weapon. The only gripe I have is that the standard butt has a little play in it whereas the rest of the gun is as solid as a rock. Otherise I fully agree with you. At about £300 it also left a lot of headroom for optics, a grenade launcher and other peripherals.

 

[Esoterick]

Bit of a necro post as I have basically taken ages to get my UKARA sorted.

Basically my only concern(still) is the battery in the TM version, Charlieairsoft mentioned the SOPMOD batteries aren't great in cold weather and whilst I could get a Baton adapter I have seen some talk on another forum about the small Lipos the single buffer tube takes not being adequate(i.e. will lose charge quickly and as such are more prone to being damaged from a full discharge) and recommending modding it by wiring straight onto the contact bar. Also the Eagle6 site says the buffer tubes only take up to 100mm Lipos in length and most seem to be longer than that.

I'm really just trying to get a general consensus on the best setup here and how much of what I have written above is correct? I'm a bit apprehensive about dropping a large sum of money on the TM 416 if I could run into issues with batteries.

Hopefully this doesn't come across as trying to dispute what anyone here has said, I just want a good idea of what to expect - The contact bar conversion may look simple to a lot of people on here but it is pretty daunting to me lol. Generally I won't use 3000 BBs in a days skirmishing if this is worth mentioning in terms of battery life.

Merry Christmas and thanks in advance.

 

[Tariq]

Hi guys, In just over a fortnight I will have my UKARA sorted and am looking at getting a HK 416. I've recently got back into airsoft after a 10 year or so break, back then I owned a TM Spas 12 till it jammed and apparently had to be sent away to the manufacturer so I part exchanged for a TM XM177E2 which I was never very impressed with and sold.

Did the Spas 12 have the folding stock back then? If so you're in for bad news. They're worth a lot of money now.

 

[jcheeseright]

I personally use 2 of the marui NiMh batteries, haven't had any issues thus far and in a day's play I haven't had one die on me yet. Like you though I'm not exactly trigger happy. If I go through 2,000 BBs in a day it's been a heavy one.

If you need to, it's a simple enough job to swap out the cells on the marui batteries and increase them to 9.6v. Failing that there's the baton lipo adapter and the solder method, both are effective and you can get a fairly large 2 cell split pack lipo in the stock.

 

[Esoterick]

Did the Spas 12 have the folding stock back then? If so you're in for bad news. They're worth a lot of money now.

No it was the pistol grip version and it jammed leading to the shop I bought it from saying it needed to be RMAed.

 

[Esoterick]

I personally use 2 of the marui NiMh batteries, haven't had any issues thus far and in a day's play I haven't had one die on me yet. Like you though I'm not exactly trigger happy. If I go through 2,000 BBs in a day it's been a heavy one.

If you need to, it's a simple enough job to swap out the cells on the marui batteries and increase them to 9.6v. Failing that there's the baton lipo adapter and the solder method, both are effective and you can get a fairly large 2 cell split pack lipo in the stock.

Thanks for the info, i'd be more inclined to use the SOPMOD batteries over the aftermarket options if like you say they get the job done. Also I'm curious to know, does the bolt stop function work with the high cap mags or just the lower capacity ones?

 

[jcheeseright]

Just the 82 round ones, magpul pts made pmags for it too which are 120, they're out of production now though, I think fire support have a few left.