laststandonzombieisland

Shrinking the size of their rifle game, Springfield Armory hit the market Friday with the Hellion bullpup 5.56 NATO platform.

An evolution of the proven HS Produkt-made VHS-2 rifle system, the Hellion has an overall length of just 28.25-inches while still possessing a carbine-length 16-inch CMV barrel with a 1:7 twist. The rifle uses a 2-position adjustable short-stroke gas piston operating system. It also has fully ambidextrous controls and a reversible ejection system that can be swapped without using special tools.

While the HS Produkt name is vague on the U.S. market, the Croatian gun maker is known for variants of its HS-2000 pistol, which has been imported to this side of the Atlantic for decades as the Springfield XD series. The VHS series rifle was first introduced in 2005– an evolution of a bullpup prototyped during the Croatian War of Independence in 1992– and today is the standard rifle of the Croatian military and police, as well as in use in other countries around the globe.

More in my column at Guns.com.