Dropping a few thoughts now:
From the looks of xdman's thread, there seems to be a little confusion about details on facts regarding history, as well as operating+conversion procedure. Here's to hoping that this sort of thing doesn't start causing problems with misuse and avoidable reliability problems, and a subsequent undeserved reputation from not being completely idiot-friendly.
I'm somewhat in agreement with HansGruber about price. The VHS-2 is relatively unknown in the North American industry, and pricing to follow that trend would make
much more sense, rather than assuming that the luxury boom economy will provide for those import sales numbers. Sure, SA will net
a lot of the people who are looking for the exclusivity of something so unique now, but that's a short-term boost only. Down the road, people are going to walk into the bullpups on display at their LGS and compare it with the X95, you know, the one that's not that AUG but is also a service rifle and sells for far less.
Unless the Hellion trumps up a reputation for being perfect and totally unbreakable and completely brainless to use (never the case since most people come from ARs), it's not going to justify itself for the completely higher tier of premium it presumes to command.
TL;DR: "presume" is about right. That's a really presumptuous price.
It also doesn't help that whichever marketing manager green-lighted the Hellion name obviously had a totally different idea of who the bullpup ought to be sold to. People who will shell out $2000+ for an imported service rifle aren't going to care about whatever extra flavor Springfield Armory has added to the mix, aside from the necessary AR15 mag compatibility. They want the
VHS-2, and a lot of shops are billing it that way anyways.
The only real benefit of the Hellion name is it's slightly easier to search for on the Internet. Which I guess is the only thing that matters????????
I was chuckling and shaking my head at the Armory Life video article trying to put the Hellion in the same line as the 1903+M1+M14. Not a very well-executed appeal to authority there...
Okay, now as for me?
I think I want to find out if this is a one-and-done deal, or if there's been more preparation to bring the 19.7-inch barrel -D version over as well. That one would also be more feasibly converted into a California-legal version, as well legal for Canada (assuming approval). The carry handle with its integrated optic would also be a curious thing to try out, but it's not going to be a high priority for anyone.
I'd be coming over from a Desert Tech MDR to this as my 5.56 driver, so there's a slightly different manual of arms and optics setup as obstacles for me. I'd certainly appreciate things like a less intense recoil impulse from not having to operate a complex ejector, as well as service from a larger manufacturer working with notes already learned by HS Produkt. However, time is on my side, and there is that Senex Arms MBLR-15 that's getting featured at SHOT which advertises a little bit of potential next year...
