BIGBC Posted May 13, 2010 Report Share Posted May 13, 2010 Before getting stuck into the review I feel it would be beneficial to explain my background a little bit as I fear the combination of my low post count and the subject of this review will turn people away somewhat. Ive only been skirmishing for 5 months now, but have had a year and a half's experience with messing about with airsoft weapons including repairing and upgrading them. I have worked on TM, Ares/Star, ICS and WE and played with a few others. I still have a lot to learn and look forward to it. Heres mine and my housemates current collection of RIFs: My intentions for this gun are to be used as a backup rifle, CQB rifle and a project gun to help push my knowledge/experience forwards. This is mainly why I chose the AGM - I want to push the internals to breaking point and replace them so wanted something relatively inexpensive but still skirmish able. HK416 by AGM -Packaging and contents The rifle was reasonably packaged, the box came slightly damaged but it would appear to be down to the shop I bought it from not damaged in transit. Note: the AFG and rail guards were not included. Package contents: AGM HK416 AEG 300rd high-cap mag 1500mAh 8.4V crane stock battery Euro 2 pin charger barrel extension cleaning rod sling sample pack of BBs Allen key and other tool Orange muzzle tip Specs of the gun: Length - 792/729mm Barrel length - 369mm Weight - 3820g ROF - 500 to 1000 shots per minute Muzzle velocity - 420fps I was quick to get the gun out of the box and get a feel for it. Whacked the battery on to charge and played about with some accessories I had about. Initial impressions: The weight of the gun surprised me, its heavier than I had expected and Im used to running around all day with an L86 with ACOG. The gun is full metal and certainly feels rock solid, externals are pretty well finished and make it a nice gun to hold. It feels nice and compact, great for CQB as I intend to use it. Iron sights are solid, the front flip up has a nice crisp action to it which will last if used properly. Rear sight was mounted incorrectly with the RIS gripping side plate on upside down making it a little wobbly but this was quickly fixed. When shouldered the sights line up well and are pleasant to use. There looks to be a decent scope of adjustability on them. The crane stock has a pretty standard range of adjustability on it. Im comfortable using it on its shortest setting which keeps me happy for my CQB use. There was the usual amount of play in the stock so I added some insulation tape padding to the buffer tube to help reduce this. To access the battery area the butt plate is simply pushed down and slots off. This mechanism doesnt require as much force as I would like it to and I wont be surprised if I accidentally knock it loose mid-game. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BIGBC Posted May 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2010 (edited) This reveals the mini-tamiya connector on a 'pig tail' cable which keeps excess out of the way quite nicely. The battery is a good fit in the stock and being well padded by the cables stops any rattle. I then cleaned the barrel out expecting the usual china-copy gunk but there was very little. The top rail where the receiver meets the hand guard doesnt line up correctly. I have attempted to fix this but simply cant figure out how the outer barrel assembly is fixed to the upper receiver so cant get it off to realign it. It is only a small difference but enough to annoy me. Its also worth noting that the rails seem to be a tad wider than normal, making getting the AFG and other accessories on a real PITA. Markings on the receiver arent true to the HK, instead they have some AGM insignia and are all white. This personally doesnt annoy me too much especially as I go on to spray the receiver anyway but others seem to get hung up on this. The markings are pretty decent quality anyway, scribed into the metal work and finished neatly. Shooting: After the battery fully charged I loaded up the mag and popped outside to give the gun a few shots. I did some quick semi through the chronograph and got readings of 408, 412, 411, 411 and 413. Considerably hotter than I had been expecting as the shop I bought from claimed a suitable 330. I then proceeded to put the usual 1000 shots through it to settle the spring and test the gun. The first 10 or so on semi went fine, on switching to full auto I found the trigger to be jammed stiff. I went back to semi to check and fired another 10 shots succesfully. Back on full and the trigger was rock solid. Put another 50 odd shots on semi to find that the trigger jammed up there too but there was a little play in it - carefully pulled through the stiffness and the gun fired again. Switched to auto and did the same and the gun was off as expected. After disassembling the rifle I found the selector plate to be clogged with stiff grease which I guess set since assembly. After 1000 shots using a mix of different mags with no feed issues or noticeable fliers I chronoed again and got 385, 391, 389, 390, 389. Still way above anything I could use it for. Although I didnt have sufficient range to test it properly the hop seemed to have two settings - off and straight up with only the slightest rotation between them. Hopefully further testing will show otherwise. Internals to follow ... Edited May 13, 2010 by BIGBC Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BIGBC Posted May 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2010 I managed to find a spare stock TM spring which I set about installing to at least make this skirmishable until I can source a better spring. Disassembling this gun isnt easy. This is where it really begins to stick out from other manufacturers as its just less thought out. Unlike normal M4 like rifles it doesnt pivot about the front pin, but instead this is the only one that needs removing to release the upper receiver. Took me a while to figure this out. Unscrewing the motor and pistol grip is the normal affair. The hopup unit and barrel float freely inside the upper receiver, just being pressed against the gearbox and receiver when assembled. This didnt seem a problematic design but leaves me wondering what aftermarket replacements would be compatible. If anyone has any ideas please do share. Now to get the gearbox out of the lower receiver you need to tap a small pin out, unscrew a free floating screw and pin (requires pliers and is still relatively awkward), undo the buffer tube screw and unscrew the mag feed tube. The gearbox is then loose in the receiver but requires some force and wiggling to get free. Now with the gearbox free the pictures become more informative than I can hope to be: After swapping the springs out and reassembling everything I retested the gun, firing another 400+ rounds through it with no issues. With this weaker spring the ROF of the gun seemed to double which may make up for the sub-par speed: 291, 289, 290, 290, 291. And now some pictures to round things off: I will be taking it out on Sunday to game test it. Will give a follow up post then. (these pictures have reminded me, the sling is cheap as they come. I dont expect it to last long) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BIGBC Posted May 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2010 Well I skirmished it yesterday, had some issues at the start of the day with it not firing whenever we tried to chrono it. It was odd as it would fire quite happily whenever I was just testing it. At lunch I got chance to have a play and it seems the mags I was using werent quite lining up correctly or something. I have 2 ICS, 4 Marui and now 1 AGM. All of which work in my ICS L86 without issues but only the AGM and ICS will work in this 416. I dont really understand what is going on with it though as after putting a Marui mag in, turning the gun upside down and removing the mag you can see that the BBs have found there way into the Hop and the usual 5 will fall out when you flip the gun back over. Anyway, with that figured out I set the hop (which works great) and compare the range to some of the other guns about. It was on par with our TM AUG, STAR SCAR-L and an M4 of a friend (CA I think). This surprised me as it is only shooting 290fps and has a tiny barrel. I then worked on comparing accuracy by working up along the tree line until I found a bush I could not hit 10/10 times with each of the guns - a makeshift test I know but at least gave some comparison. The 416, M4 and SCAR-L were all on par with each other with the AUG doing a bit better. I used the gun for about 2 hours of play and I was pleased by its performance. There were no real problems with it and I noticed no fliers or miss-feeds. The butt plate did fall off although it was relatively easy to find being a large black chunk of plastic, I will be looking at ways of securing it better. The hop kept its position throughout the game through about 900 shots. Im now looking into upgrade parts. If anyone knows of a hop that will work or has other suggestions Id appreciate it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
G.D. Posted May 24, 2010 Report Share Posted May 24, 2010 Really awesome AEG, i just get a Jing Gong H&K 416: and for the price, is really good, but right now, it looks like this: I made it tons of upgrades... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BIGBC Posted May 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2010 I like that solid stock on it. Have just finished a host of upgrades on mine today, not had chance to shoot it in properly yet though. Unfortunately the M100 spring I got has pushed it over limits again . . . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
master_titled Posted May 25, 2010 Report Share Posted May 25, 2010 Nice review. I recently picked up an AGM too and love it! Unfortunately, I haven't been able to play with it yet... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Unit 318 Posted June 7, 2010 Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 I had an AGM HK416 for a while, mine was the first one in the US. You need to get the Madbull RIS Fix to keep the RIS lined up with the upper receiver. It was amazing until the wires broke, but oh well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BIGBC Posted June 7, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 The RIS being missaligned doesnt really annoy me too greatly. If I could get the outer barrel out of the upper receiver I would try re machining it, but I cant get them apart for some reason. Ive now got the fps sorted, a tight-bore barrel, Prometheus rubber and nub in there and its performing great. Very pleased. Will have to get some updated pics up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BIGBC Posted June 9, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2010 some pic updates on my setup now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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