AllOutdoor Review: Springfield Armory 20″ Hellion – Longer & Faster
Nicholas Chen 11.03.23
Hello, AllOutdoor reader! Springfield released two new variants of their Croatian Military styled bullpup rifle. One with a 18″ barrel and one with a 20″ barrel. Today we take a close look at the new Springfield 20″ Hellion.
Springfield Armory Hellion Coverage on AllOutdoor
- AllOutdoor Review: Springfield Armory Hellion 5.56mm NATO Bullpup Rifle
- TFBTV – VHS-2! NEW Springfield Hellion Bullpup Review & Mud Test
- New 18″ & 20″ Springfield Armory Hellion Models – Now Available
Springfield 20″ Hellion
The 20″ Hellion comes in the same soft rifle case as the 16″ Hellion. The rifle is mostly the same except for a couple of small changes.
As you can see in the photo above, the new 20″ Hellion is longer than the original 16″ Hellion that Springfield offered to the US Market. And here is the same Hellion compared to my M16 clone also with a 20″ barrel. Note that the Hellion stock is fully extended.
The 20″ barrel has some changes besides just length.
The 20″ Hellion has a bayonet lug, cooling fins on the barrel and a rifle grenade mount. See the split ring and circular section between the cooling fins and bayonet lug? That is for seating a rifle grenade. The inside of a rifle grenade shaft is 22mm in diameter. The split ring is just over that at 22.12mm and the barrel mount is slightly undersized at 21.89mm.
I purchased a used military surplus M31 practice rifle grenade and tested it on the 20″ Hellion.
It seated perfectly.
I tested launching the M31 practice grenade using the same 5.56 blanks I use. They did not go very far, about 10 yards. LOL. There are proper blanks called M195 blanks used solely for launching rifle grenades.
You can see the rifle grenade test video here.
The recoil from the M195 blank was a lot more stout that I had expected. It felt like shooting a single shot shotgun shooting a magnum load. The 20″ Hellion has the same gas block as the regular 16″ Hellion so it only has a gas setting for normal or suppressed. Even on suppressed there was enough gas pressure to cycle the gun and rechamber a fresh blank.
As mentioned earlier, the 20″ barrel has a bayonet lug. It is not just for launching rifle grenades. Here is a Rothco M9 bayonet on the 20″ barrel.
Springfield now offers the military issued Waffentechnik B2k bayonet, the same one issued to Croatian military but it is $299.99. I got the Rothco for $90 on Amazon. And I just got the new SOG BAR15T tango bayonet for under $80.
The other change for the 20″ Hellion is the safety selector. Springfield changed the geometry of the new safety selectors. See the photos below. The safety underneath is how the original 16″ Hellion came out. Safe had the selector lever at a high angle. The new 20″ Hellion has the safety lever at 90º like an AR style.
You pull both of the safeties down, but now the newer style safety is more ergonomic moving below 90º.
Shooting the Longer and Faster Hellion
UTG Of Leapers Inc, sent me two different bipods to try on the 20″ Hellion. They sent their MLOK mounting bipod. So I attached it to the handguard of the Hellion.
It works but since the handguard is tapered, the bipod mount does not sit perpendicular to the ground. So it causes the bipod legs to splay out even more. See the photo below.
One minor issue with the MLOK mounting bipod is when the legs are folded back. They sit directly over the safety selector and more importantly compromise my support hand grip on the handguard.
So I tried UTG’s Overbore bipod. This moves the bipod up to the top rail. Due to the height over bore for the top rail, the Overbore bipod legs need to be a lot longer than you think.
Both bipod styles work however the Overbore bipod legs can only be stored pointing forwards. You cannot swing them back to the shooter.
I choreographed the 20″ Hellion and was getting an average of 3,219 fps using 55gr 5.56 ammo.
I did not notice much improvement in accuracy. I was getting 2″ groups at 100 yards. One thing I was looking forward to trying was stretching out the 20″ Hellion so I shot it at an 800 yard target.
I managed to hit the 800 yard steel target four times. But I missed more than I hit.
Upgrading the Hellion
Not that it needs it but I bought some upgrades to try them out with the Hellion and I like them. Lunartech Designs makes 3D printed MJF flared magwells and extended bolt releases.
In order to install the Lunartech extended bolt release, you need to remove the factory one. It is held in place by this steel pin. Punch it out. It does not matter which side.
Once the pin is removed lift the bolt release up and out. Be careful there is a spring attached to the release lever. Remove the spring and reinstall it on the Lunartech bolt release.
You can see how much longer the Lunartech bolt release is compared to the factory one on the right.
The magwell is a simple clamshell design. Loosen the Torx screw and wrap the flared magwell over the factory magwell.
Due to the thickness of the Lunartech flared magwell, the magazine release is now almost flush with the magwell.
Final Thoughts On The 20″ Hellion
I really like the 20″ Hellion more than my 16″ Hellion. The higher muzzle velocity is great, I can attach a bayonet if I want and if I want to play around I can launch rifle grenades. The 20″ Hellion weighs just 6 oz more than the 16″ version. It has an MSRP of $2,031 which is just $32 more than the 16″ Hellion. There are very little downsides to the getting the longer and faster rifle. The upgraded safety selector is nicer than the original design. Unfortunately Springfield is not offering the barrel assembly separately so you cannot upgrade your 16″ to a 20″. Hopefully that will change in the future. If you are a fan of foreign military issued rifles, then the 20″ Hellion is as close as you can get to the VHS-D2.
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