Croatian soldiers practice tactical maneuvers with their 5.56mm VHS-D bullpup rifles, which have seen combat deployments in Afghanistan and peacekeeping missions. A Croatian operator fires a VHS-K variant with a 16.4-inch barrel, making it ideal for urban operations. The VHS rifles use durable polymer magazines that allow viewing ammunition levels and can be coupled together. By all accounts, Croatian soldiers and European civilian shooters like the well-designed VHS rifles, which have proven effective in real-world combat in the Middle East and Africa.

1. CroatiaMoDPhoto
FOREIGNFIREPOWER
(continued from page 56)
LEFT: Croatian soldiers practice tactical maneuvering with their 5.56mm VHS-D bullpup rifles, which have been used during combat
deployments in Afghanistan and on peacekeeping missions in the Golan Heights and Sierra Leone.
RIGHT: A Croatian operator fires a VHS-K rifle with the aid of an Aimpoint red-dot sight and 3X magnifier. The VHS-K variant features
a 16.4-inch barrel and a total length of just 26.5 inches, making it an ideal choice for military or police operations in urban areas.
magazine constructed of extremely
durable polymer to feed the VHS rifle. The
polymer material is translucent, allowing
the shooter to monitor ammunition levels
visually. To facilitate rapid reloading in
combat, the magazines can be coupled
together using a pair of mounting lugs
molded into the sides of the magazines.
The magazine is inserted or removed from
the rifle by a simple straight up and down
motion. The magazine release, located
at the rear of the magazine well, is easily
manipulated by the shooter’s weak-hand
thumb. An alternate magazine well
assembly that accepts M16-type maga-
zines is also available from HS Produkt.
In another step to make it ambidextrous,
shooters can configure the VHS-D2 and
VHS-K2 to eject spent cartridge casings
to either the left or right sides.
By all accounts, the VHS rifle is well
liked by Croatian soldiers and civilian
shooters in European nations that allow
ownership of select-fire rifles. Operations
conducted in the Middle East and Africa
have proven that the design works in
real-world combat scenarios. Due to the
well-thought-out design features of the
second-generation VHS-D2 and VHS-K2,
they will probably gain much attention
from military and police customers
around the world. A semi-automatic-only
version, should it ever be offered, would
undoubtedly be of great interest to the
civilian shooting market. Current and
future generations of the VHS rifle will
probably enjoy a long production run, no
matter what. For more information, visit
hs-produkt.hr/en/. SW
Croatia’sCombatPistols
By Christian Shepherd
roatian firearms manufacturer HS
Produkt has earned a reputation for
producing cutting-edge semi-automatic
pistols since its founding in 1991. In
the beginning, the company produced
the PHP and HS95 pistols for the newly
formed government of Croatia for use by
its military and police forces. Soon, the
definitive HS2000 pistol followed, and
the design became a phenomenal suc-
cess. Among its features were a polymer
frame, excellent ergonom-
ics and outstanding safety
features. Three separate
safeties consisting of a
about the status of the pistol.
Produkt and Springfield Armory entered
into a long-term agreement to market
the HS family of pistols in North America.
In the United States, these pistols,
known as the Springfield XD series,
havebecomeaverypopularchoice
with both law enforcement and civilian
.40 S&W and .45 ACP. Numerous options
inmagazinecapacity,finishandsights
arealsoavailable.Formoreinformation
on HS Produkt, visit hs-produkt.hr/en/.
For more information on Springfield
Armory, visit springfield-armory.com or
call 800-680-6866.
114 SPECIAL WEAPONS /APRIL/MAY 2015 SPECIAL-WEAPONS-MAGAZINE.com