Review: Hurricane HK416 Conversion kit

[Jugglez]

Review: Hurricane HK416 Carbine Conversion Kit


More pics here:http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=29616

I was lucky enough to source this kit from Hurricane's first production run, and it took nearly 2 months to get this kit in from my source in Asia so I was pretty excited when the postman dropped it off. New toy!


Now I won't go much into the installation in this review, because it pretty much comes together like any M4/M16.

Inside the package: (refer to pic above)

Main Body: the kit comes with a 10" steel barrel integrated into the upper receiver, and separate steel barrel extensions for 14.5" (M4 length) and 16.5" (AK length) applications. The window on the upper reciever for the ejection port cover has the notch in it to lock the port cover closed. The inside of the upper reciever has "AIRSOFT USE ONLY" casted into it, just so there's no confusion.

Lower Receiver: the lower reciever accepts typical m4/m16 furniture, trademarks are very well done, and the finish is a nice deep black.


Stock: a nice bonus in this kit is the HK417 style stock which holds a 9.6V Large custom battery. The battery installs by removing the butt plate and sliding the battery into the rear. Much easier than a crane stock and no tabs which can be possibly lost after a game or two. Fully retractable, 5 positions, smooth rubber butt plate. The retractable battery connector wiring is nice too. Note: this stock will NOT take a crane stock battery, the configuration of the wiring is different. One bad thing to note it there's some noticeable wobble in the main body of the stock. I would say slightly more wobble than a crane stock... not a huge deal but worht pointing out.


Free Floating Rail System: well crafted from 6061T6 Aluminum. It is a one-piece system and secured with only one screw on the right side of the RAS. I'm not sure if this is good or bad. It certainly makes installation/removal alot simpler, but may lead to wobble over time, especially if alot of accessories are mounted onto the rails. Seems very stable after it was installed but I guess only time will tell.


Flip-Up Front sight and Rear sight: H&K style sights complete the look.


Battle grip: grip is pretty plain but does closely resemble the real steel version. The threads for the motor plate screws are metal reinforced. Another nice bonus. The motor plate is included too and uses a big adjustment dial which can be adjusted with a penny or dime while on the field. Nice!


Hop-up Unit: hurricane includes a one-piece metal hop up unit with all required hardware. Very nice finish. The inside of the hop-up does not need any porting/polishing like some other metal hop-up brands. It would've been nicer if they included a set of hop-up rubbers, though.


Body Pins: another neat addition is a set of steel locking pins. SCORE! No worrying about lost pins with this kit.

Flash hider: not much to say here. It's steel and looks like a plain old M4 flash hider.





My original plan was to go with just the short barrel for CQB games, but decided to make an outdoor gun instead and go with the full length 16.5". I have a spare hop-up unit with 285mm barrel on standby if ever feel like swapping it in for a CQB game.


Setup:

Systema M120 Complete Gearbox for M16A2/SR16-M4
Systema 6.04mm AK length Precision Barrel
Systema Hop-up rubbers
Systema Genuine Long motor
Hurricane M16 Steel Accessories Set





As mentioned earlier it comes together like any airsoft armalite.

Get the accessories fitted to the body, insert hop-up/inner barrel assembly, fit the mechbox into the upper receiver, then mate the lower.
Install body pins, mechbox pin, and mag release.
Install grip, motor, plate.
Install stock and battery.
Install front section, barrel extention, flash hider.
Done.

Some installation notes:
Mechbox pin isn't included with the kit or the steel accessories set so I had to dig into my parts bin and luckily found a pin the right size.
I had to cut off the rear connector on the systema mechbox and solder the retractable wiring for the stock directly to it. There's not alot of clearance on the stock spacer so keeping the wiring as thin as possible made fitment a whole lot easier.
Tolerances in the upper reciever are pretty tight, I was just barely able to squeeze the sliding cover in when fitting the mechbox. It sits a bit to the left but not a big deal (you can still see the H&K logo ). The charging handle has a bit of a stiff pull due to the tight fit, but it works, pulling it opens the cover for easy access to the hop-up dial.


Everything else fits together well.

Upper and lower mated.




Assembled with H&K Sights



Assembled with short range illuminated scope






Hero shot



Now onto magazine testing (work in progress).

King Arms M4/M16 68round metal - does no catch completely, if held in by hand it feeds well.
Classic Army Hi-Cap Metal - very nice fit, feeds well
Classic Army standard metal - TBD
G&P 130round mid-cap metal - TBD
MAG 100round mid-cap plastic - little wobble, feeds well
MAG 100round H&K M4 mags plastic - little wobble, feeds well.
Star M16 locap plastic - TBD
Marui 68round standard metal - TBD



Note MAG brand makes a plastic magazine with HK trademarks, which should match the HK416 perfectly. http://www.uncompany.com/pageproduct...sp?prodid=7779

I'll update as soon as I have the others tested. SO far the classic army fits prefectly while the KA mags are having problems mating with the mag catch.
Perhaps a bit of a break-in period is needed, either way I'll update later.


Shooting Tests

I set up a target at 50 feet, and here are the results with Airsoft Elite .20g BB's with the hop-up set all the way off, and using the H&K iron sights for targetting.


4-cm grouping. Shots were fired from a standing position with no support for the rifle. I should be able to get even more accurate by playing with the hop-up and using heavier BB's (like KSCs new .30g BB's)


Chrony tests


After emptying a hi-cap through the 416 I recharged the battery to full juice and ran off 20 shots into my Guarder Speeder Chrony. Here are the numbers with Guarder .20g BB's.


390
384
393
404
400
401
386
383
379
397
398
398
399
400
401
404
376
389
396
399

AVG. 393.85 fps

I was very happy with the chrony results. Got the exact numbers I was hoping for. :angel:




Summary

Pros:
Quality build and material.
Barrel extentions included for different applications.
One piece RAS, easy to install.
H&K style sights
H&K trademarks and logos
Easy installation of battery in stock
Smooth rubber buttstock pad
Locking pins.
Retractable connector wire.
Easy motor plate adjustment
Metal threads in the grip.
Functioning charging handle opens ejection port cover



Cons:

Tight spaces in the upper reciever
No hop-up rubbers or barrel ring included.
No mechbox pin included.
Only one screw securing RAS.




Conclusion

This was a very pricy kit, but it's one of the more complete kits out there. Quality comes at a price, and with the Hurricane HK416 kit you get what you pay for. Overall I'm very happy with the finished product, and hope to be making it's debut at EOTEC in late-August :tup:





Here's a short video of the gun in action (gun is not visible in the video), 50 feet, full auto burst.

HK416 Custom 5.39 MB




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[stokes]

I hate you duy! I HATE YOU LOTS!




*** just kidding***

[Yuu]

Great gun, but you can't say One screw piece for RAS is con because HK made it that way lol

[Ghost Snake]

Very nice review man, awesome. Nicest airsoft gun I've ever seen. Well, besides my SG-1 of course :cheers: . So the outer barrel is completely free floated? Cool that they did that, although I dont think it will have the same benefits as a free floated real steel gun. Very nice though, I wonder how this kit will compare to the VFC.

[Raygis LasVegas]

Great review and very nice gun!

Why is the carbine always pointing to the left side for all your pictures? :lol:

[Jugglez]

I have a disorder since childhood, I can't point right.

[Lakonian]

I think I might just pick up the VFC... those cons are Kinda big. Proper fit is a must for me. Very nice work. Never doubted ya for a second.

[surebet]

Would it be impolite to ask the total project cost?

[attack-beaver]

well i'm going to wait and see the VFC to depending on how it turns out will show me where to go. cause i want to mount a AG36 short on the front (416 with AG36 ) and if your worrid about over loading it with to many toys well i may put myself in that problem so i'll wait a see the VFC.

[Kuraitenshi]

Very nice mod, but one screw securing the RAS seems a bit weak. and what about us poor fools who don't have extra mech box pins kicking around?

[Jugglez]

You can pick up a similar sized dowel pin at any hardware store... or you can just buy them from me for $3 each.


The one screw thing has been a non-issue thus far, the gun is rock solid. Time and field use will tell if that is indeed a pro or a con.

[Red Ghost]

Although I do not know the specific details about the KA mag catch problem, may I suggest slightly enlarging the catch slot with a file.

Very sweet kit by the way.

[Jugglez]

Thanks but I'm not fixated on using the KA mags with this gun. I've been using the MAG brand H&K style M16 mags they've fit and perform flawlessly in the Hurricane body.

My KA mags are reserved for my other M4 rifles... oddly they work great in every body except the Hurricane bodies.

[KaOz]

ME WANTS!!!

[E-Dub]

Very sexy!