The VFC / Umarex HK416 Owners Thread

[CrackCommandoUnit1972]

Just an update on the new mags being a tight squeeze.

 

I found that if the top two screws that attach the plastic top to the mag body are too tight, it will deform the plastic part a little and will result in the mag needing to be forced into the mag well.

[RostokMcSpoons]

Well I've taken the mag apart again a couple of times, but I can't make it even as good as it was originally (and it's sometimes a lot worse), however much I tighten the screws / bolts / valves. 
I'm going to send it back for LandWarrior to fix or replace.

 

Ho hum, this airsofting lark is never entirely easy!


On a different note, my stock sometimes decides to a bit askew.  I've tightened the nut down as much as I can with my AR tool, but obviously it's easy to apply quite a lot of twisting force on the stock itself which loosens it off a tad, allowing the stock to move.
I can see as part of the receiver there's a little spring, but that doesn't seem to do much, especially as it's got trapped and bent in half whilst trying to escape at some point in its life...



There's the small hole in the sling plate that looks like a detente catch or locking pin could go into - but that doesn't line up with the spring - so I'm at a loss.
I do have some Loctite thread lock knocking around somewhere - should I use a tiny bit of that to keep the nut in place?

 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by RostokMcSpoons

[Krisz]

11 minutes ago, RostokMcSpoons said:

Well I've taken the mag apart again a couple of times, but I can't make it even as good as it was originally (and it's sometimes a lot worse), however much I tighten the screws / bolts / valves. 
I'm going to send it back for LandWarrior to fix or replace.

 

Ho hum, this airsofting lark is never entirely easy!


On a different note, my stock sometimes decides to a bit askew.  I've tightened the nut down as much as I can with my AR tool, but obviously it's easy to apply quite a lot of twisting force on the stock itself which loosens it off a tad, allowing the stock to move.
I can see as part of the receiver there's a little spring, but that doesn't seem to do much, especially as it's got trapped and bent in half whilst trying to escape at some point in its life...



There's the small hole in the sling plate that looks like a detente catch or locking pin could go into - but that doesn't line up with the spring - so I'm at a loss.
I do have some Loctite thread lock knocking around somewhere - should I use a tiny bit of that to keep the nut in place?

 

 

 

 

You should try to run your gun on HPA if you've got a chance in the near future. It's not for everyone though I know.

Edited May 9, 2023 by Krisz

[Wavey_Gravey]

That spring retains your rear takedown pin. You can easily unfuck that.

 

Loctite the castle nut as you say, should sort it but honestly shouldn’t undo that easy. Are you putting the gun in a vice or bedroom teching it and holding it with your hands?

Edited May 9, 2023 by Wavey_Gravey

[RostokMcSpoons]

Haha take a wild guess Wavey
 

Akshully... I'm technically not holding it with my hands... it's between my knees, and I'm using my hands With Realistic Gripping Fingers (tm)(c) to do up the nut.  But I appreciate there's quite a difference in the amount of torque I can apply.

[Wavey_Gravey]

Yeah if your not using a vice it can be pretty difficult to get it to lock down tight enough but give it your max effort!

 

For the retaining spring, just make sure your rear pin is actually in the outward position, helps it seat.

[Ajaxiasty]

On Friday one of my mags developed a leak. I was sure it's from the valve, but that was wrong. It was a top leak due to the gasket being Factory damaged  (pics from Redit as i did not make pictures of my damage but this is the same ) Nothing was helping . I assembled and disassembled the mag 100 times.

Then I just picked up a different mag and changed the whole top. Surprise no leaks.

 

Hope it helps.

 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2023 by Ajaxiasty

[RostokMcSpoons]

Thanks, mine are now back at Land Warrior.  I'll send them the information as I asked for a fix or repair to be done as quickly as possible

 

I'm active in the comments on the YouTube video linked earlier... Complaints that all the new mags are leaking.  One chap got 6 that all leak.  I wonder if they've all been over tightened at the factory, that has caused the issue with the mags being tight in the well and damaged the seal...?  

 

 

Hmmm, it's the screw inside the mag that would affect that seal isn't it?  Mine didn't seem overly tight when I first dismantled it

Edited May 16, 2023 by RostokMcSpoons

[Ajaxiasty]

Definitely check the seals. I got some on order just in case. Got mags from https://www.davescustomairsoft.co.uk/ got 6 and just 2 were leaking. Seems to be a common top seal problem. Always check them underwater, so you don't fix the Valve 10 00000000 times    

 

Use lube, not silicon oil. More durable, and allows the usage of propane without silicon oil.

 

Maybe they are factory too tight. I don't have much experience with gbbr so can't tell 

[RostokMcSpoons]

Land Warrior have just emailed me to say they've fixed the mags and they're on their way back to me... should be here in time for Saturday's skirmish - so fingers are crossed they really fixed them!

[CrackCommandoUnit1972]

Played on Sunday just gone. I had six mags on me, all leak free. That is until I topped one mag up, then I could hear it starting to leak!

 

Still I had a great day and was just about able to compete with the AEG guys with my five working mags.

 

I decided for the final game to give my CYMA AK47 AEG a run out as we usually finish off with a very quick capture the village style game. My AK is a good gun but it really felt like a toy compared to the 416 as the lack of recoil really stood out after a day on the GBB.

[RostokMcSpoons]

My mags have come back from Land Warrior, and with a squirt of gas in each they seem good!   I have no hint as to what they did to fix 'em, so I'll give them a call on Monday because it might have been down to the grease / oil choice, or maybe they replaced a gasket or o-ring.   Whatever it was, it seems to be useful info!

[Davet]

Slight hijack, and appreciate this is the GBB forum, but…

 

AEG version owner here, just wondering if anyone’s done the ambi to single sided mag release catch conversion? Can’t seem to find anything easily with a Google search. Ambi safety is great but I find the body side mag catch constantly gets caught on kit, not lost any mags yet fortunately.

 

(As much as I would like to go for a bit more realism with GBB, I don’t play enough to justify the extra commitment. I do use low caps though so please forgive me… 🙏)

[RostokMcSpoons]

You're forgiven 😋

I've not had any problems with my mag catch, hopefully someone else can help though

[Ajaxiasty]

I have spend the weekend fielding the HK.

Just to be clear , I was around 24h in total with no safe zone just some minor brakes for food and reloads in the forest.

So here's a couple of things that I want to share.

 

Grease don't oil .

Over the span of 3 days I got some dirt etc in the system. But as the grease did not run and stayed in place there where no jams ,bolt stops or any other issues. 

And it was a delight to clean.

Just wiped the old grease applied new lovely jobly.

 

Inconsisten accuracy.

Most of the time I think it is due to soiling the barrel with dust and oil.

 

Shot .3 as I don't see any improvement adding the weight.  Would say .4 are to heavy for this hop so would need a new bucking and a hot gun to fully utilise this ammo 

 

Need to change the hop bucking and test.

Also I will transfer to pure propane and see if this is the way forward .

 

Other then that no issues, miss feeds and leaks. 

6 mags in 6mags out . One one of the mags vented for no reason that's about it .

 

On 20/05/2023 at 22:30, Davet said:

Slight hijack, and appreciate this is the GBB forum, but…

 

AEG version owner here, just wondering if anyone’s done the ambi to single sided mag release catch conversion? Can’t seem to find anything easily with a Google search. Ambi safety is great but I find the body side mag catch constantly gets caught on kit, not lost any mags yet fortunately.

 

(As much as I would like to go for a bit more realism with GBB, I don’t play enough to justify the extra commitment. I do use low caps though so please forgive me… 🙏)

I did not encounter this issue, maybe the mag realese is more loose on an AEG. 

I shot from all the stances and was running like a mad man constantly doing something not a single accidental mag realise.

 

Hope that helps 

[RostokMcSpoons]

I used mine for the whole skirmish on Saturday, I did use 0.40g because I had a bag of 3000 I've bought for it, and the leafy vegetation is coming in properly now.  It seemed sensible to have the extra weight so it could hit through a couple of leaves and twigs on the way, and indeed I did seem to get a get a couple of hits when I was intentionally shooting at people behind light cover.  Maybe I was just lucky and hit nothing but air on the way... But it gave the confidence to try it I suppose.

 

Range seemed excellent, though I can only judge in 'airsoft metres' 😉.  I'd say 50-60.  The hop (which I've not replaced, so I assume is stock) can lift em fine.

 

Accuracy was good at 20-30m, but naturally enough a bit more inconsistent beyond that.  I run my gun with an LPVO and most of the time it's cranked to 5X so I was effectively sniping,  tracking my shots through the scope.  I was hitting heads and limbs showing out from cover, and main mass hits at long ranges.  I could probably have got more with my DE (and its higher volume of fire), but each hit was all the more satisfying for the small added difficulty.

 

Mine ran like a trooper too, I didn't bother using my Double Eagle AEG for the first since I bought it, a high recommendation!

 

I had two small issues:

 

1.  The hop seemed to unwind.  I realised part way through a game that my BB's had no apparent hop.  I wound on some, and all good, but maybe I was just about empty on gas and it was down to lack of oomph. I had to tweak the hop later, so that's possible, but I will keep an eye on it in future.  I might want to find a way to stop the adjuster from rotating (if that's what it's doing)

 

2.  Two embarrassing de-gasses, which both were my fault.  Both occurred the same way, when I realised I was about to double load a BB into the barrel to cock the gun.  I tried to drop the mag out one-handed, but the mag didn't drop properly (presumably one of the new ones), so when I released the bolt handle it 'did something' and vented the mag quite noisily 😬

Purely down to me trying to do it one handed.  Embarrassing because I did the exact same thing again.   Both times during the pre-round brief 😄

 

At some point I'm going to run out of 0.40s and return to using the big stock of 0.28s I've bought for my AEGs.  I'll try to do some comparitive long range shooting next time I'm at the site. 

 

 

I love this gun ❤️

Edited May 22, 2023 by RostokMcSpoons

[Ajaxiasty]

I did not have any issues with the hop . Stayed in place . Mine is rock solid at the moment. 

Tempted to run it on .32 

 

 

Changed the hop bucking for Maple Leaf Autobot 2021.

And I think I can see improvement.

There is the occasional stray shot but 8 out of 10 are in the beer Can at 40m.

 

Think of getting the inner Barrel changed for the Crazy jet . 🤔 

Any one has some experience with those ?

 

Question. Is your fake piston rod moving freely so it kind of rattles when you run ?.

 

I swer that there is something that I assembled wrong as I did not noticed that .

 

[RostokMcSpoons]

Nope, not got an issue with anything rattling, just with two parts of my gun wanting to disassociate themselves from the rest of the gnu:

 

The stock nut, as previously mentioned. I've not yet stuck the gun in a vice to brutally torque that in to place, but I will as...

 

The outer barrel is also happy to unwind itself.. usually when I'm taking the suppressor off (it looks cool, but sometimes a short barrel is much more effective at using cover in close quarters)

 

 

I'm wary of using the Loctite thread lock glue, as it seems to need quite a bit of heat applied to get it to unlock, would a small amount of PTFE plumber's tape achieve the same thing?

Edited May 28, 2023 by RostokMcSpoons

[Ajaxiasty]

Mystery solved . There is a spring in the gas block wich I lost and found  😉 

Use blue loctide and just a small amount . It's going to be fine . Make sure you use good quality screwdrivers and you will be fine .

I totally disassembled mine with no issues and no damage .

[RostokMcSpoons]

I have a made a bit of a boo-boo.   Given this is some minor league tech'ing, it's amazing how easily I've managed to bugger it up - I now need some help, please!

I was intent on trying to tighten my stock nut, but I thought I'd also straighten the little spring under the sling plate at the same time.  So I loosened off the nut, and fixed the spring. Great stuff.

The problem is I've loosened off the buffer tube and it won't screw in.   It also won't unscrew completely off. 

I can't fully cock the gun, because the tube is almost off. 

And I can't pull the trigger to release the bolt from it's partial cocking.   

Most worryingly of all I now can't open the upper receiver because of the bolt / recoil buffer position, so my options to 'get to things' is now enormously limited.

I basically seem to have tied the thing into a Gordian knot of interlocking bits that are in the wrong position.  How do I sort it?

 

 

Edit: Well thankfully the buffer tube has unscrewed, it was very 'sticky' at certain points in the rotation, but a bit of extra force got it all the way undone.   So the recoil buffer and spring are now out, but the bolt carrier(?) won't go all the way in to let me open the upper receiver.   I think I can figure that bit out now, hopefully!

 

Edit2:   Now I've managed to get the buffer screwed back into place, but I've stupidly pushed the sprung pin from the receiver down, so the tube could screw in.  But should that still be up, to retain the buffer and spring?   The tube is now screwed in too far to close the receiver, and it won't budge either way beyond a few degrees of rotation.   I think the tip of the pin broke against the thread, and it's now wedging it 

 

(pic below was taken from a disassembly video I should've watched first - it shows the pin in its normal location)

 

I guess that particular part isn't crucial and I don't think I have much choice but to brute force the tube to unwind a couple of turns, so the whole thing will re-assemble.  Is there a better approach?

 

 

Edit3:   :Phew:    All back together and working again.   The pin that retains the recoil buffer wasn't broken.  I pushed the pin holder (which I could still get to) down a bit more and that allowed me to unscrew the tube.  I had a concern that the receiver still wouldn't close, but backing the tube out one more turn from its apparent natural / best location (where the pin fitted directly into a relief notch) did the trick.

I have learned how the springs, pins and tubes all work together, but I think I'll leave well alone for the moment.   And I'll leave this post as a testimony to how even a stock tube has enough components to trip up an idiot ;D

 

Here's a link to the video that I got the pic from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BautCSmpOmk

 

 

Edited May 28, 2023 by RostokMcSpoons

[RostokMcSpoons]

Another day out at Spec Ops, running the '416 for most of the day.

 

I didn't seem to get many kills for much of the morning.  I'd tuned the hop at the start of the day, but it seems even with help of my LPVO I still can't spot when my BB's start to go awry... And awry they were - mostly over-hopping when I prefer a flat-flat-drop trajectory (as I find it easier to compensate when I'm running out of range for a long shot)

 

The hop adjuster doesn't seem to have crept around, so the problem is internal, I guess.   

Edit:  Problem may also be related to having silicone oil on the hop rubber, firstly from the Abbey Maintenance gas I used to try to cure the leaking mags, and secondly from the Ultrair I used, which I thought was 'dry'... but isn't!

 

Looks like it's time to try a new hop rubber, and check the hop unit and nub.  If that doesn't help (and it probably won't stop the creep) I might well spring for that fancy hop unit and barrel combo.

 

I also did an accuracy test and range test against my stalwart Double Eagle 906.  0.40g Geoff's BB's in the VFC, 0.28g War heads in the DE

Both were hitting a narrower than torso width tree trunk at 45 long paces (I'll measure my long paces with a tape tomorrow   edit: 1 long pace slightly longer than 1m) about 50-60% of the time once the hop was set correctly on the VFC. 

 

Looked like there was still a fair bit of range left in both guns past that target. 

 

Which was nice.

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by RostokMcSpoons
Gas with lube causing loss of accuracy?

[RostokMcSpoons]

On 28/05/2023 at 10:32, Ajaxiasty said:

 

Changed the hop bucking for Maple Leaf Autobot 2021.

And I think I can see improvement.

There is the occasional stray shot but 8 out of 10 are in the beer Can at 40m.

 

Think of getting the inner Barrel changed for the Crazy jet . 🤔

 

 

@Ajaxiasty I just bought a 60 yellow Autobot off Amazon (country sports) for £11.  Did you change the nub too?

Edited May 30, 2023 by RostokMcSpoons

[Ajaxiasty]

There is no nub to my knowledge. 

I got the maple leaf omega one but there is no space for it. 

The way the Hop unit is designed it's just a lever with a little arm that pushes the hop down . Maybe I am wrong. If you take your one apart check it.

 

Edit:

Definitely no nub  

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by Ajaxiasty

[CrackCommandoUnit1972]

On 28/05/2023 at 21:08, RostokMcSpoons said:

I have a made a bit of a boo-boo.   Given this is some minor league tech'ing, it's amazing how easily I've managed to bugger it up - I now need some help, please!

I was intent on trying to tighten my stock nut, but I thought I'd also straighten the little spring under the sling plate at the same time.  So I loosened off the nut, and fixed the spring. Great stuff.

The problem is I've loosened off the buffer tube and it won't screw in.   It also won't unscrew completely off. 

I can't fully cock the gun, because the tube is almost off. 

And I can't pull the trigger to release the bolt from it's partial cocking.   

Most worryingly of all I now can't open the upper receiver because of the bolt / recoil buffer position, so my options to 'get to things' is now enormously limited.

I basically seem to have tied the thing into a Gordian knot of interlocking bits that are in the wrong position.  How do I sort it?

 

 

Edit: Well thankfully the buffer tube has unscrewed, it was very 'sticky' at certain points in the rotation, but a bit of extra force got it all the way undone.   So the recoil buffer and spring are now out, but the bolt carrier(?) won't go all the way in to let me open the upper receiver.   I think I can figure that bit out now, hopefully!

 

Edit2:   Now I've managed to get the buffer screwed back into place, but I've stupidly pushed the sprung pin from the receiver down, so the tube could screw in.  But should that still be up, to retain the buffer and spring?   The tube is now screwed in too far to close the receiver, and it won't budge either way beyond a few degrees of rotation.   I think the tip of the pin broke against the thread, and it's now wedging it 

 

(pic below was taken from a disassembly video I should've watched first - it shows the pin in its normal location)

 

I guess that particular part isn't crucial and I don't think I have much choice but to brute force the tube to unwind a couple of turns, so the whole thing will re-assemble.  Is there a better approach?

 

 

Edit3:   :Phew:    All back together and working again.   The pin that retains the recoil buffer wasn't broken.  I pushed the pin holder (which I could still get to) down a bit more and that allowed me to unscrew the tube.  I had a concern that the receiver still wouldn't close, but backing the tube out one more turn from its apparent natural / best location (where the pin fitted directly into a relief notch) did the trick.

I have learned how the springs, pins and tubes all work together, but I think I'll leave well alone for the moment.   And I'll leave this post as a testimony to how even a stock tube has enough components to trip up an idiot ;D

 

Here's a link to the video that I got the pic from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BautCSmpOmk

 

 

You need to stop touching stuff.

[RostokMcSpoons]

1 hour ago, CrackCommandoUnit1972 said:

You need to stop touching stuff.

 

 

When it comes to this gun, it's not so much 'touching' as 'fondling'  😋

 

 

 

On Friday my new hop rubber will arrive - I'm thinking I might take the chance, while the barrel / forward hand guard assembly is in bits, that I might address the small amount of vertical play in the outer barrel.   Not that it seems to make much difference to my grouping (it's as tight vertically as horizontally  (yub yub, wibble, fnarr etc))

 

1) Is it just mine that has that?

2) Is it intentional and I should therefore leave it alone?

3) Is there a good way to sort it if I need to?   (I'll find a way to pack it with tape and bits of plastic if there isn't an 'approved method')

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by RostokMcSpoons