Words: Tim Parfett

Pics: Tim Parfett & Roar Stene

I’m Tim Parfett also known as C-10. I’m a member of Task Force Trident here in the UK.

I’ve always been more of a rifle length person, not really favouring CQB weapons. Since maybe 2014/15 the Norwegian model of the HK416 – the HK416N – has been on my mind. The real catalyst in making the ‘N’ a reality was reading a blog on The Reptile House, featuring Berserkir Mechanised B79’s incredible build:

(Three pics above, by B79 – Roar Stene).

I was further pointed in the direction of the Norwegian airsoft pages by Berserkir Mechanised. They are seriously great guys.

In late 2016 I sold my Systema PTW after playing a game with a TM Recoil. The Recoil gave me back the bug I had when I first started airsoft. It was affordable, had amazing performance and was just stupidly fun. James – a close friend since I started airsoft – who’s great at making me spend money, sold me his TM Next Generation Recoil Shock HK416.

The project was finally on. The ‘in the wild’ reference pictures I had collected over the years; the B79 Reptile House blogs that had inspired me; the pages I’d bookmarked – depicting the RS rifle and the Norway-specific mods HK made – would finally come in use.

In addition to the HK416N, I’ve always loved Norwegian camouflage – Nkamo. After sourcing some, I was amazed at how well it blended into my local environment and how different it looked – unique. It bestowed a sense of individuality which I’d lost in recent years.

I was now fully committed to the impression. I was really enjoying sourcing the parts and talking to more and more people outside the UK; and realising how huge the community actually is.

Now back to the gun. Scroll down to see the parts list, but there’s a story to tell…

I had the base gun and some spare cash – to get the look down and add some personality. The gun came with some internal mods I wish I could fully remember, but it functioned flawlessly. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. So the internals would sit on the back burner for now.

The first part I sourced was from the wonderful people at HAO Industries (I know you read the blog HAO – please do some TM NGRS receiver kits!)

This part was the barrel extension. It was beautifully machined and parkerised, and added a nice bit of weight to the rifle – which improved the rifle’s handling. It truly changed the look, in that one little modification.

The rear sight is VFC. Nothing special – but it does the job, looks the part and is a relatively decent replica. The Aimpoint clone, on the other hand, is awful. Truly crap. It barely holds zero and it is rubbish in most light conditions; but it looks good enough while my bank account refills in order to afford the RS version. An RS rail is 100% on the cards and possibly a HAO gas block.

Gas Block

Now, a detail often overlooked with N builds is the gas block. The Norwegian-spec 416 has a long, adjustable gas regulator with no sling loops. It does not feature a bayonet lug; that’s further down the barrel. I decided (prior to HAO releasing their N-correct gas block) to remove the sling loops and bayonet lug on the milling machine my father and I created out of an old pillar drill.

I rounded it all off, trying to replicate how the real one looks. After some time and a little patience, between milling and finishing with a file, I was quite pleased with how it turned out. Some basic black spray paint, as well as a sand between layers of paint, helped with the look – and make it more “grey”.

I followed several pictures I found from the interwebs for this mod. This thread explains all the changes HK had made for the HK416N. It features extremely detailed photos of the gas block and other items.

Stock Modification

The RS stock I sourced from German Gun Works (GGW). It’s a Slimline stock. You can read a review here, on The Reptile House. A friend of mine – Dave – linked me to GGW’s website.

I’d seen from B79’s Reptile House write up how he’d modified his stock of the same kind, to accept a battery. So with that inspiration I got busy with Dremel and files.

It’s not the cleanest of jobs, but it fits my 1000mah 7.4v stick lipos nicely. Thank you B79 for sharing that within your write up! It really makes the rifle something special.

Adding More RS

The use of RS items I’ve always loved and I try to use them where I can. RS adds another level to your impression, and it’s highly dependable kit – rock solid. Once you buy your first item and feel the quality, there’s no turning back.

The RS HK vertical grip I got really lucky with, as I found it on a UK airsoft Facebook page for a really good price.

The Insight 7500 Laser unit I was fortunate enough to be able to swap for some RS optics I no longer used; once again with Dave. He really helped me out with the swap.

The 7500 looks like a PEQ2 but has a visible laser – which for me is great – as I’m still a ‘carrot for night vision’ peasant. But when I do play with people who are using NV, the IR illuminator is perfect and I can still help out the team.

The front BUIS I found on a US page, at some ridiculous time in the morning. With some gentle persuasion and probably paying way too much, it was shipped to me.

Paint

The paint took way too long to achieve.

First off I went gung ho and tried to replicate the look from photos…with Halfords spray paint. It went horrendously wrong. I stripped it and went back to the drawing board.

Looking at ‘in the wild’ reference pics and doing some reading, I knew the masked-off trades would need to be done. I also masked the rails as I felt it looked cooler – but not all reference photos feature this. I also masked the barrel right down to the barrel nut.

I noticed within the reference pics that a lot of the colours used in paint jobs matched Nkamo, so I turned to Humbrol spray paint and purchased the colours that best matched. In synergy with the reference pics, I re-watched a few video tutorials – the obvious one was featured in Paint Like a Berserkir – again featured on The Reptile House. You can’t do a Norwegian 416 build without looking at B79’s paintwork – it’s the benchmark.

I starting lightest to darkest colour-wise and added my own personal touches: staying a bit closer to tan, but with some lighter browns and olive drab to blend the layers; with some dark green stripes to more closely match the UK’s greenery thrown in.

It feels like this works really well with Nkamo, as well as the varied colours in UK woodland; plus more open, grassy areas that sit on the more yellow side in summer.

NGRS

I have really fallen in love with Tokyo Marui’s Next Generation Recoil Shock platform. It’s a great performer, it’s reliable and most of my team uses NGRS – so swapping STANAG mags during a game adds a degree of flexibility and teamwork. The recoil itself adds a different level of fun with each shot, and when a cheeky bit of full auto is needed it’s so satisfying.

I do miss the PTW platform, but being more conscious of what I spend nowadays, NGRS is pretty much the perfect solution.

Next Steps

The gun is currently awaiting a BTC Spectre, eDGI Inner barrel, R-Hop, Kingdom of Airsoft-modded motor, full gearbox polish, and overhaul with Prometheus parts. Full tune-up being done by a close friend.

Future parts list for this year as follows:

RS Aimpoint Comp M4

RS HK416 Quad Rail

RS Folding Rear BUIS (in the post somewhere)

HAO Gas Block

RS Insight M3X

I’m also on the search for someone to laser-engrave the correct trades way down the line. This is a forever evolving project that I’ll probably never be done with.

Lastly

I’d like to thank Rich from The Reptile House for encouraging me to write this blog and for his kind comments about my build. I’d also like to thank B79 and the rest of Berserkir Mechanised for a lot of the inspiration and details they’ve shared. Great team and I would love to travel to Norway to do an event with them.

Thanks also to the friends that I’ve mentioned in this article, who’ve helped me source parts and made me spend my money!

C-10 out.

Part List as of February 2018

HAO Steel HK416N Barrel Extension

HAO Steel Birdcage Flash Hider

TM Gas Block – modified

RS Flip-up front BUIS

RS Insight Laser Unit 7500

RS HK Vertical Grip

RS HK Slimline Stock – modified

Clone Aimpoint Comp M4 (AWFUL)

VFC Folding Rear BUID

Paintwork by me