Range report-Hesse H-91 (HK-91 post-ban clone)-long & bad news
Richard Davis
time or risk your money.
I checked around on the internet, and at that time all the comments I found
suggested avoiding aluminum receivers. Two recommended the stamped steel
receivers.
I ordered a steel receiver H-91 from Federal Arms in Fridley, MN. It arrived
a week or two later, and right out of the box it didn’t look “right”. The
cocking tube appeared slightly canted to the left. The bolt carrier hung up
when it was fully retracted, but with a light bump with my hand it would
close. At the time I attributed this to break-in. The bolt carrier was
unfinished and had become a dull grey color, internally it was dated
mid-1960’s. The bolt head had a little rust pitting that had been cleaned
off, but the pitting remained.
The front sight pin had been bent over about 10-12 degrees. Five minutes
with a non-marking plastic arbor fixed that.
The handguard fit was poor, someone had stuffed three pieces of clear
elastic tubing under the front handguard where it rests against the receiver
to “fill” the gap. This appeared to be a band-aid measure for either a worn
handguard or a missing handguard mount, I’m uncertain which. One piece of
tubing had fallen out by the third day, causing the front handguard to
rattle and shift.
The stock and handguard were painted with a black speckle-textured paint.
Some deep gouges were still visible under the paint in the buttstock, but
nothing that would affect operation.
Also, the rear sight had a peculiar habit of locking in the 200 m setting,
requiring a small prying tool to turn it to any other setting from 200 m.
When it was turned to 400 m, it would bind severely. There was evidence of a
previous impact on the rear sight drum, like the gun had fallen and the rear
sight was the first thing that met concrete. Rear sight disassembly,
cleaning and lubrication failed to remedy any part of this symptom. This was
the first sign that no one had checked this gun for operation before it was
shipped.
At the range it couldn’t hit an 8x11 target at 50 yards. The fourth shot was
a duster; that is, to see where the bullet impact was by the dust cloud in
the dirt. It looked about 12-15 feet high at 100 yards, but I couldn’t tell
for certain. There was no fifth or subsequent shot. When the H91 tried to
close on the 5th round, the receiver collapsed inward at the cocking tube,
jamming the bolt carrier open. That annoying little bolt carrier hang-up was
the carrier bouncing off a misaligned cocking tube, and it only took four
shots before the bolt carrier smashed the cocking tube shut.
I called Federal and they agreed to send a replacement after mine came back.
So, H91 serial number G001773 went back.
When G001773 arrived, Federal sat on it for a week before I called them.
Since I didn’t specify in writing that I wanted a replacement, they sat on
their hands. About a week later G001727 arrived. Serial number G001727
looked like a winner, at first. The front handguard fit was perfect — no
surgical tubing, no wiggling or looseness. The rear sight operation was
crisp, the way you’d expect a German gun to be. The bolt carrier was
recently re-phosphated to match the gun, so this gun looked great. The
cocking tube wasn’t pointed around corners, either.
But,
The cocking tube did appear slightly uptilted (uh-oh…..). I made up 20
rounds of dummy ammo. Some was steel cased ChiCom .308, others assorted
brass cased milsurp .308. I filled the magazine with the dummy rounds and
put it in the gun. The carrier required a heck of a lot of force before it
would retract to the rear. When I released the carrier, it closed only
half-way. The 91 lacks a positive bolt closure-assist device, so I tried
bumping various places with the palm of my hand. Nothing budged. I tried the
next round, and the next. No change. Steel cases, brass cases, full mag, one
or two rounds in the mag. No change. This H91 stubbornly refused to chamber
any .308 I put in it. The mag had worked fine in another 91, so I wasn’t
suspecting trouble there. The ammo cycled through two other guns no problem,
and mic’ed out fine. I suspect the bolt carrier was dragging on something
internally, causing low closing force. I lubricated the bolt and carrier,
and it didn’t make any difference (except make everything slippery to hold).
Since it wouldn’t chamber, it never went to the range. I was too worried
about what would happen if it fired out of battery. So, G001727 went back
too.
I asked someone in customer service whether they were experiencing a lot of
returns on these rifles and she said they weren’t. But, in the very next
issue in Shotgun News they were on sale for $495. That’s quite a drop from
the original price of $775. Hmmmm…
One important point: Federal Arms was quick to remedy the situation. I’ve
ordered from them before and they’ve always delivered on time. They refunded
my money, but I’m still out the shipping (about $20).
Is it me, or are we experiencing a period of poor quality?
Richard Davis = dav...@rcn.com
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Bill
sent it back and ask for a full refund. (Glad you did that too)
Why waste your (to everyone looking at buying a surplus parts gun) time ? Why
risk your life to an inferior weapon (And I'm being nice calling this a
weapon). IF you must have a parts gun find a local gunsmith you know and trust
and pay him for his skills and knowledge. Order the parts yourself, have your
gunsmith order a receiver and build one up locally.
These rifles are made from USED parts on highly suspect receivers. Why pay that
much for a parts gun made from old and worn parts some foreign country rejected
as serviceable? You are just asking for trouble, big time. You can't possible
want a H&K clone that bad do you?
Why do these 'scab - shops' send these stuff out the door, don't then even test
fire them before then ship them to a paying customer?
okay mistakes can and do happen, but they should have at least check the second
rifle inside and out since they knew they had screwed up on the first one. Are
12 year old kids putting these together in a garage? No respectable Gunsmith
would ever ship a rifle like the first one described below, very few if any
would have shipped the second one too.
You people buying this stuff, stand up and demand what you paid for.
Bill
Richard Davis wrote:
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