ARMOURY: VFC HK PSG-1 GBBR

PINNACLE

OF PERFECTION

WITH SUCH AN EVER INCREASING ARRAY OF CONTINUALLY IMPROVING REPLICA GUNS AND TECHNOLOGIES SUPPORTING THEM, AND WITH HIS GROWING PERSONAL COLLECTION OF ENTIRELY GAS BLOWBACK GUNS IN TAIWAN, STEWBACCA IS MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME IN THE UK WHERE HE COULD ONLY EVER AFFORD AND MAKE USE OF PISTOLS AS SUCH! IT CAN BE INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TO GET EXCITED ABOUT NEW GUNS IN SUCH A SATURATED AND DIVERSE MARKET, BUT THE NEW VFC/HK COLLABORATION HAS CERTAINLY GOT HIM GOING!

VegaForceCompany (VFC) have really been upping their game over the past year or two having already made deep inroads into Glock and SIG AIR market domination. Their strengthening collaborations with real steel manufacturers such as the impressive BCM AIR Clarence Lai Project Design tuned custom MCMR GBBR I got hands on with for our previous issue, and their much awaited FN FAL/ LAR GBBR (that I and no doubt many other Airsoft Action / Red Cell and UK players in general are lusting after!) have shown this fully!

VFC have already released a plethora of other Umarex licensed Heckler & Koch products, as well as their impressive Walther PPQ NPA Taiwan police issue sidearm I was using for the shoot when I grabbed all the field notes and action shots for this review! However, this article is one I have been looking forward to the opportunity to write like few others; very few firearms, be they real steel or replica evoke such an

emotional or nostalgic response beside the Lee Enfield or L1A1 SLR/FAL, in comparison to my latest personal acquisition which really rounds off my Heckler & Koch GBB collection very nicely and leaves me struggling to find anything to add to my Xmas list!

I first laid eyes, and shortly thereafter, hands on the Umarex VFC HK PSG-1 GBBR almost exactly a year prior to writing this first look review, and having handled it on the MOA2020 show floor and taken some obligatory photos of it and me handling it (many of which were soon floating around other social media channels further afield due to the lack of other foreign media presence because of obvious reasons) I later had the pleasure of introducing it alongside Ray Chang of VFC and our own “Wild Bill” during our Airsoft Action livestream among the myriad other outstanding releases announced; the PSG-1 was probably the dark horse and most surprising of the bunch!

I was immediately impressed on first look and handling of the PSG-1 back then at the show, and along with the LAR/FAL GBBR I was somewhat reluctant to hand it back to Ray after we were done showing it off to the wider world. Now I get to keep hold of one of my own, after quite the long wait, and it’s almost become an emotional journey for me as such.

So prevalent in video games, pop culture, and other media stemming from my childhood, not long after VFC’s announced release I found myself taking a trip down memory lane when I happened upon the ‘Silent Scope’ arcade game in a Taichung shopping center during a holiday trip… and once again I was a teenager yearning for a PSG-1, and I just had to have one to fill the top slot and heaviest calibre in my collection.

I managed to miss the initial release of the PSG-1 GBBR due to lockdown-related financial restrictions thanks to me having been hit in the wallet with reduced working hours this year; thankfully I managed to track one down (once again through the fine gents at KIC Airsoft which is my typical first port of call for all things airsoft gun related in Taipei) after it seems someone reserved it but never paid up the final sum to secure it, so once they realised I’d finally managed to set aside the somewhat significant stack

of blue notes they

contacted me to let me

know as soon as it

had been released back into stock. I gleefully raced there after work the next night to collect it from them, along with a second long magazine, a custom 5 round short magazine just for the purist looks, and a very nice Vortex riflescope.

VISUAL AND TACTILE IMPACT

The PSG-1 doesn’t really require an unboxing like many other RIFs as such, as it is supplied complete with a very sturdy and awesome looking carrying case, foam lined and quadruple clasp locked, which hides the rifle nicely, aside from the label on the lid which you might want to cover like I have to avoid all the normal people on public transport having their obvious suspicions about the contents of such a huge and heavy container being confirmed.

Once inside the case you are immediately impressed by the aesthetic impact of the undeniably epic rifle, the contrast of the dark grey-black receiver and plastic furniture with the pleasant wooden effect pistol grip which you can replace with genuine wooden custom aftermarket grips from the likes of RATech/Airsoft Taiwan if you have deep pockets and are an absolute purist and wish to round off the visual and tactile perfection of the PSG-1 experience.

The VFC offering follows on from its real steel predecessor; having first released their GBBR G3A3 battle rifle, the operating system and general appearance were then modified to create the accurised shooting rifle derivative that is the PSG-1 – or Präzisions(Scharf)SchützenGewehr in its native German parlance, with the Scharf (Sharp) being included or omitted sometimes depending on your source and translating as the Precision (Sharp) Shooting Rifle. With development and production being expedited following the infamous events of the Munich 1972 Olympic terror incident (where Palestinian extremists kidnapped Israeli athletes). Unfortunately due to post World War II restrictions on German military development and the continued separation of East and West Germany at the time, which limited the financial and legal support for military deployments in country or paramilitary police capabilities, this meant that the civilian police response was woefully unprepared to deal with the long range marksmanship requirements of the engagements that could have resolved the situation in a less catastrophic fashion, the aftermath leading to the immediate creation of GrenzSchutzGruppe 9 – GSG 9 – Germany’s answer to domestic situations that require paramilitary level responses, as well as of course their adoption of the PSG-1 among other platforms to ensure their capabilities and that the authorities were never left wanting for a pertinent response again.

Having only had my own personal model a matter of weeks at this point and only having chronographed it at home and fielded it for the first time this morning to test different ammunition weights and dial in the hop for a flat shooting

“VERY FEW FIREARMS, BE THEY REAL STEEL OR REPLICA EVOKE SUCH AN EMOTIONAL OR NOSTALGIC RESPONSE BESIDE THE LEE ENFIELD OR L1A1 SLR/FAL, IN COMPARISON TO MY LATEST PERSONAL ACQUISITION WHICH REALLY ROUNDS OFF MY HECKLER & KOCH GBB COLLECTION VERY NICELY AND LEAVES ME STRUGGLING TO FIND ANYTHING TO ADD TO MY XMAS LIST!”

trajectory which I then zeroed the Vortex 2-7 x 32mm riflescope onto nicely, I don’t have the operational time behind the gun to share my usual full thoughts. Again, like last issue’s loaned CLPD VFC BCM MCMR GBBR Armoury feature, this will be a first look, first shots review and no doubt followed by a later ‘Reloaded’ feature once I’ve thoroughly fielded it and found out any of the bugs it may (but hopefully does not!) possess. For now though, it’s looking and feeling like a very good start!

Upon initial handling of the VFC PSG-1 GBBR its general heft and build quality become immediately obvious, with little or no movement in anything besides the parts which should move. The surface finish of the realistic stamped and welded steel receiver, the barrel, and the plastic foregrip and adjustable stock are flawless and pleasing both aesthetically and in their textures and handling; I especially like the adjustable palm support ring around the base of the pistol grip along with its nicely contoured finger grooves on the front as well as the comfortable palm swell on its rear. In fact, despite weighing in at 6.5kg with the scope and the short 5 round magazine fitted, the PSG-1 is actually somewhat easier to wield than my recently sold LCT LK33 AEG that weighs about a quarter less but doesn’t have the rear weight distribution of the PSG1. I can in fact, almost comfortably single handedly support it when shouldered or if I am carrying it in a high port position, especially with the large stock being nicely tucked underarm.

The operating mechanism is extremely solid in its movements, with the folding charging handle eliciting a very visceral racking sound on retraction and locking upward into its retention slot. In terms of loading, as with MP5 platforms, it is usually wise to lock open the action before fitting a fully loaded magazine, as the pressure of the top round and the magazine spring tend to prevent it being inserted fully on a closed bolt. The typical “HK slap” sends the heavy bolt careening forward and results in a very strong auditory and tactile response, likewise upon firing the bolt’s long travel, due to the real steel rifle’s 7.62 x 51mm chambering, coupled with the large internal cylinder volume give one of the strongest recoil impulses you are likely to encounter…so much so I managed to see around a thee mildot jump through the scope during my dry firing assessment and live fire chrono-graphing efforts at home!

Performance wise, the stock gun out of the box clocked around the 125m/s (1.48 Joule/400fps) using 0.2g BLS BBs, having clocked around 100 rounds and averaging out the performance, which was actually fairly consistent for such a large gas operated mechanism. This is again a testament to VFC’s ever improving design and manufacturing output and its quality, they really seem to be churning out a hell of a lot of top tier products in conjunction with the leading real steel names!

HANDLING THE BEAST

Of course being VFC it also includes their now fairly signature and standard integral NPAS (Null Pressure Air System) adjustable floating nozzle valve (which can be tweaked with an Allen key through the front of the firing nozzle when the bolt is removed from the receiver) which allows the spring loaded vane

of the valve and its relative openings front and back (barrel and cylinder feeds respectively) to be opened and closed to tweak the amount of gas allowed to enter the chamber and 650mm inner barrel before the BB exits the muzzle and the back pressure drops.

This then allows the floating valve to shuttle forward, blocking off the barrel and diverting the gas flow from the magazine to the main chamber and piston that operate the action and give you the somewhat impressive recoil force. As yet I haven’t even touched this or had the rifle apart at all and given the propensity for joule creep in GBBR platforms, I imagine the 0.4g BBs I found it ran effectively on at range will push the muzzle energy up a bit compared to the 0.2g – with the 0.2g and 0.3g BBs of my initial tests; I saw around 7-10 m/s variance and related Joule readings climbing towards 2J muzzle energy, very much worth bearing in mind with regards to local laws and power restrictions. Remember that Taiwan is somewhat the Wild West, out East, compared to my UK experiences, although again, people tend to be largely responsible and more MilSim and precision oriented with lower volumes of fire and longer engagement ranges outside of truly CQB environments, where such a large and obviously dedicated DMR/Sniper rifle has questionable utility in all honesty. Many of the GBB setups in Taiwan are allowed to run into the 150m/s range with local rules to allow a range advantage to offset the limited ammunition capacity, and of course with minimum engagement ranges to be followed.

The trigger features the adjustable ‘shoe’ that can be loosened by means of a rear grub screw to allow it to be moved up or down along the trigger body’s length to provide the most comfortable position and travel for the individual shooter and their hand size in conjunction with the aforementioned adjustable height and angle palm support ring. The trigger itself has a very pleasant pull weight and feel to it, with very little slack or slop as such, just a progressive pull to a short wall where it breaks quite nicely and cleanly and resets with a similar feel. The fire selector is quite long and has a wide thumb rest surface to allow comfortable actuation by a right-handed shooter, with around a 30-degree downward throw from the white ‘0’ safe to the red ‘1’ fire marking – of course, if you were somehow unaware, this is a semi-auto only platform. Not that you really need all that much ammunition when we consider the output results and range testing and tuning, I’ve already undertaken and just how well it sends heavier weight BBs down range.

The polymer butt stock features a much larger profile than that of the standard G3, with a club foot lower end that allows you to wrap your support arm around and put pressure on its front face for a cradling freehand or sitting stance holding the heft of the PSG-1 steady. The cheek piece and rear rubberised buttpad can be adjusted by way of the included thumbscrew unlocking tool, the cheek piece then being free to rise atop its spring loading force and you to settle on it and get a comfortable sight picture, while the buttpad itself can be rotated on its axis and winds out on a coarse ACME thread style. At present I have just left this closed and the length of pull is fairly comfortable even with my Kermit arms! Below the cheek piece is the fairly typical sling loop insert that also features the retention holes for the two takedown pins to be stored in during field stripping to avoid them wandering off as tends to occur with non-captives.

Heading back towards the business end of things, the magazines seat nicely into the well just ahead of the trigger guard, with a rock and lock action which is surprisingly stable and repeatable, much easier to achieve consistently when compared to my experience of AK platforms, the only minor caveat being with the short 5 BB magazine, as you have less bulk and therefore leverage you have to gingerly pull the front edge down into the shelf and rotate the rear face back up and into position against the overinsertion stops on the magazine outer wall. This took a little getting used to for me at first, and is definitely less of a problem with the longer 20 BB magazines, but, I had to have a 5 rounder for the perfect look!

The magazine release is only by way of the side button on the right face of the magazine well, perfectly accessible by way of my long index finger, but for many others it’s likely to be a man-handling task to release and remove the magazines during reloading or unloading. There is no much beloved convenient ambidextrous paddle release of the MP5 or G36 platforms, I am afraid, but one would hope that aside from range work you aren’t having to master rapid reloads under fire all that often given the ridiculous range and power advantage the PSG-1 affords you.

Personally I need to acquire some 7.62 sized magazine pouches like my 5.56mm TMC Scorpion FASTMag equivalents for more convenient belt or

plate carrier mounting; at least for my first shoot the two long magazines fit nicely in my 5.11 flex tactical trousers, but that’s hardly the most convenient or practical solution. In terms of operation, the magazines have a sideways swinging valve pin in the rear face of the magazine which is acted upon by the valve striker in the fire control group; once the magazine feeds the last BB into the chamber and it is fired, the follower will lift up far enough during the reloading cycle to actuate the internal mechanism this sweeps this arm off to the right, out of engagement with the striker, so that on the next trigger pull on a now empty chamber, you get a dead click. And thus, a cue to reload. This feature can be over-ridden by holding the swinging bar centrally and depressing the sliding tab on the right edge of the rear face of the magazine, and then pulling the knurled slider tab on the top face - to the side of the gas outlet port - backward to lock it in the central position and allow dry firing with gas entering the action to cycle it without BBs feeding and firing, for maintenance, training and testing purposes.

It’s also important, as with WE MP5 magazines that I have and operate, it’s important to check the position of these valve arms before loading the magazines into the IF; during testing I had a few hilarious ‘there’s nothing louder than a click that should have been a bang’ moments as the arms will rest in the disabled mode to the right even when BBs are freshly loaded; you have to manually reposition them to the central enabled position prior to loading.

Further forwards the free floated handguard can easily be removed by using a flathead screwdriver to rotate the retaining drum at the top of the front face above the barrel, this releases the retainer and allows you to slide the handguard off to the front along and off the outer barrel. This then reveals the wide hop adjustment drum at the root of the barrel where it meets the receiver; working it from a shouldered perspective and firing while adjusting, a counterclockwise movement will increase the hop-up effect.

Having seen the likes of Redwolf TV’s review video as well as watching Badabing’s review and talking to him direct about his own PSG-1 back in the UK I was aware that the gun really only works on heavy ammunition, I chronographed on 0.2g and 0.3g BLS BBs for the familiarity and science reasons, but knew these would be massively over-hopped thanks to the other guys reviews, so range testing began at 0.36g BBs and moved up to 0.4g which then seemed to settle quite nicely once the hop unit was dialed in.Thereafter I zeroed the scope in once the trajectory was reasonably flat and consistent, as usual the hop rubber will need to bed for a few hundred rounds or so before I’m totally happy, and I’ll re-chrono using the ammunition I’ll be fielding to work out what the muzzle energy is and how appropriate it is to use for gameplay. Thus far it’s been very consistent on metal, paper and plastic at least, and it’s been many years since I used a telescopic scope so I’m getting back into the swing of actually following my rounds out instead of relying on a consistent close range red-dot zero.

The only downside I suppose is the restricted availability or even the capability if you can find them, of the original telescopic sights the real rifles were supplied with. VFC supply a picatinny rail for mounting whatever scope you can find that’s closest to the look of the original, or whatever works best for you and your needs; as it is mine rides quite high in the scope rings on top of the rail atop the original mounts, I may try and get something lower profile, machined rings that mount straight to the welded plinths the rail is bolted onto, but for now I’ll focus on tuning and fielding the gun itself and get comfortable handling and using it. A screen protector might be a further thing I have to add, and I’m contemplating 3D printing one that functions as a protector and something that ups the size of the lens to make it look closer to the original scope.

Finally there is a screw retained bipod mount under the front of the handguard which allows you to mount a variety of support options which can then be adjusted front or rearward, for now I will probably free-hand it for at least a few games to work out how best to field the PSG-1, then look into a bipod for use in more urban style sights or for more static use in woodland environments.

Despite only touching on the capabilities briefly, thus far I’m already very impressed with the operation, appearance and performance of the VFC HK PSG-1 GBBR and look forward to fielding it more in the future.Despite it being a bit of a mare to carry around to and from sites and on the field, the advantages it gives you really make up for the shortcomings to my mind, and the fact it’s such a cultural icon make it a real head turner and people were literally queuing up to let off a few rounds during my testing day due to the fact there are reportedly less than 3-500 in existence worldwide to the best of my knowledge. AA