Initial impressions of the Tokyo Marui HK417

[arne71]

Echigoya delivered again. My TM 417 has arrived.

I´m sorry, but atm I`m not able to fire it since I haven`t got any recoil batteries. My intension is to keep it rear wired, but with a deans plug. As with most TM recoils, the battery compartment is in the stock.

I have previously owned a VFC 417. So I`ll make a few comparisons.

Just like the VFC, the gun feels rock solid. There is no stock or rail wobble. Though I find the angle of the pistol grip to be slightly awkward compared to the VFC. But it`s probably just a question of getting used to it.

The gun comes with standard iron sights. Unlike the VFC there is no integrated flip up sight on the rail. The color of the rifle is a bit more shiny black, compared to the VFC more grayish black.

The buffer tube is about as thick as the VFC. So no M4 dimensions here if you were worried about that.

Also noticed that there is a small and square hole on top of the stock. Have no idea why it`s there. But it`s not bothering me.

The outer barrel is attached with ccw threads. So my guess is that you can easily change it to a 20"er if you have the VFC 20" extension lying around.

 

My intention with this gun is to turn it into a dmr. Eagle6 M120 spring, r-hop with Orga Magnus barrel, and a full set of Prometheus internals (if this is the standard M4 recoil gear box). 

I also got the impression that the magazines are slightly lighter than the VFC mags, but I could be wrong. It would also be very interesting if anyone could check if the long VFC rail will fit this gun.

 

This rifle looks very promising. I expect the  internals (hop up) to be of the highest quality.

 

My guess is that the 12" will hit the stores in about 6 months time, and the 20" in about 12 months. But that`s just speculation on my part.

 

[Danke]

The hole is so you can mark your favored stock position.

[druid799]

Oh Arnie you git ! I'd just about persuaded my self I didn't need one !

[arne71]

But you do need one. A 20" HK417 is just what you need for your Norwegian kit. 

Hopefully a BTC new v.2 mosfet will fit in this gun as well.

[stewpidbear]

Of course he's going to buy one, willpower strength of wet toilet tissue! But by god it does look good!

[arne71]

Hopefully he does.   Will work well for his brit, yank and norgie load outs.

Placed an order with Eagle6. Battery adapter inbound, so no need for me to have the gun rewired. Happy days!

[druid799]

I'm booked in with the Chinese black market organ merchants next wk !

Have started saving already !

I'm sure it'll be as good if not better than the 416 (and that's the best AEG I've ever owned) and yes it WILL go down a treat with my norwegian load out good sir !

[arne71]

Get the 20" extension from VFC and you`re sorted.

And there is more good news for those wishing to build a recoil dmr. Richard from Eagle6 mentioned on Facebook that he probably will be running a test batch of Eagle6 M130 and M140 springs.

These springs will hopefully get the fps quite close to 450. Hopefully they won`t do too much damage to the gear box. But Richard usually knows what he is doing. My guess is that the M130 will give you about 410-430 fps, and the M140 will give you 430-450.

[druid799]

To be honest mate I've kept the 416 totaly stock and when I get a 417 (no point saying if ?) im going to be keeping it in the same state . I've already got a 450fps L96 I never use from when I thought I'd 'dable' in the sniper world , and didn't , so yes it'll be aiming at the 20inch but I'll be relying on the awesomeness of the TM build and some sneakyness to get close enuf to my targets !

Edited December 31, 2014 by druid799

[arne71]

That`s reasons good enough. But but if you choose the 20", you`ll need a new inner barrel I think. Just like on the recce, the stock inner barrel ends by the gas block. So already the inner barrel is about 10 cm too short for the 16". Ad another 10 cm for the 20" barrel, and there might be a problem. Maybe boost the fps a little by installing a bit longer 6.02 inner barrel?

Edited December 31, 2014 by arne71

[druid799]

Completely forgot about the inner length ! Yea I think that mite be the needed route to follow for optimum performance ?

[arne71]

Redwolf has done a review of the 417.

Nothing new really. But they confirm that the 417 has a heavier recoil unit than the M4.

Anyone opened up their 417s? 

[sacairsoftsn00py]

Trigger response is very snappy even with the proprietary 8.4v 1300mah nimh. I was getting between 309-313 FPS using marui .20g BBs. Hop had already been engaged and set for the said weight/brand of bb's prior to chronoing.

 

According to someone on fb, it's got a ported cylinder. Looking at how much space the extended outer barrel provides, it looks like the stock length outer barrel will accommodate up to 455mm inner barrel without sticking out of the muzzle/muzzle ports. This will require you to swap out the cylinder to a non ported one should you change the barrel length to that of an AK....or even G3 length inner barrel.

[arne71]

Very tempted to put Orga Magnus 433 mm barrel and cylinder in there.

[sharingan]

Can someone confirm that the gearbox of 417 is exactly the same as 416?

[Krawata]

Will open mine this week and confirm. I opened M4 SOPMOD, SCAR and AK (ALL NG) so have comparison. 

[Manxmadman]

A team mate has replaced every single part internally and fitted a BTC fet, so gearbox wise, yes it is entirely the same as the M4/416 line up, the differences coming with the recoil weight I believe, which is a larger size given the larger buffer tube etc.

[Krawata]

Ok opened mine, finally got some time to do it (came from Echigoya first week of January). Sorry for my english I may not use some tech terms properly. 

 

Opens similary to Sopmod (I didnt work on 416 thou)

 

Differences

 

- I desoldiererd the wires as I couldnt unscrew the tube with them like in my Sopmod.

- ejection port movement module is a little bit different then M4 I think

- the wires are screwed to the engine and new engine is much harder to turn manually then old one

- there is a funny connected double cog for fire selector (dont remeber that one in M4)

 

Piston has 100% airseal but ported cylinder for such a big weapon is a waste of potential. I come back to that later.

 

I changed the piston to Prommy one with Prommy cylinder head and Prommy nozzle. All for Sopmod. Changed the cylinder to full version with normal TM cylinderhead. Ah and Eagle6 M120 spring. Changed also spring guide to Lonex one. Then I put all back together, without messing with HOP and barrel. Chronoed 393-397 FPS so pretty cool and standard. 

Then I decided to try a longer barrel. I got an old prommy 455 from some scar build that was dusting itself.  Also got Firefly hopup rubber but didnt change the TM spacer. The HOP up unit has strange 2 pcs external fixing element that is different to Sopmod. Changing a barrel and rubber took 5 mins. Ok lets chrono I said to myself and now I was shocked. 0 hop 450 FPS, 50% hop 455 FPS. With my AK102 I got on same spring 380-390 FPS, so right barrel and cylinder is a big difference 

I couldnt check the range as its dark now will try to get some range shooting tomorrow.

Hope it helps.

Rafal 

All in all very happy so far. 

Edited January 25, 2015 by Krawata

[arne71]

Thank you Krawata! That`s more or less the route I intend to take. But I`ve decided to r-hop it and install an Orga Magnus barrel. So my guess is that I`ll need the up and coming Eagle6 M130 spring to reach 450 fps. Have you fired it? How is range and accuracy?

[Krawata]

Ok got some time to shoot the Hk417. Was rather windy, still I got constant hits on man size figure at range 70+ meters. With M120 spring It got a little bit lower ROF but the sound now is really cool. Like 7,62 mm shooting . Really cool. Was using scope to check the results.

K. 

[arne71]

Sounds very good!  

Which bb weight were you using?

[Krawata]

0,28 Madbull

[arne71]

Which after market parts are we likely to get for this gun?. So far I`ve noticed the front receiver pin and an ASAP like rear sling mount. Both from Laylax. 

The H&K rear sling mount and an enhanced lock ring for the buffer tube would be nice. Would also love to have the 20" barrel. The one from VFC is always "out of stock".

Laylax, are you reading?

[JackofBlades2448]

Saw this in the combat south shop and fell in love- same as my dad. Whopping pricetag though; I skimmed a review on it in AI mag and it said something about rare earth metals..

Edited April 12, 2015 by JackofBlades2448

[Krydel]

Ok got some time to shoot the Hk417. Was rather windy, still I got constant hits on man size figure at range 70+ meters. With M120 spring It got a little bit lower ROF but the sound now is really cool. Like 7,62 mm shooting . Really cool. Was using scope to check the results.

K. 

 

Interesting that you mention you have an m120 in it. Is that a standard spring, or one of the shorter ones supposedly designed for recoil gearboxes? I don't profess to know anything about springs and could well be being fed lies, but product descriptions for 'recoil-specific' springs say this:

 

Using a oversized aeg spring in one of these gearbox's will cause excess wear to your stock tube threads or poor cycling / reduced battery efficiency.

 

http://eagle6.co.uk/shop/catalog/product/view/id/584/s/eagle6-airsoft-m95-spring-for-next-generation-recoil-shock-series/