Words: Ben – Cobalt’s C02
Pics: Guy Butler and C02
The last time my CAG-inspired HK416D was featured on The Reptile House Blog was way back in August 2013. You can read about that iteration here.
My main influences originally were the first CAG 416s in the wild, that Tom Spooner etc were spotted with; back in the day of Smoke Green, AOR1 and 2002 CAG kits.
After that, I just kind of upgraded the parts from there. I wanna swap a few bits: all the black pieces changed to tan, the EXPS3 for an XPS3 and a Wilcox riser.
I’d like to get the HAO CAG kit as well, but I just can’t be bothered with trying to sell my current 416 in order to pay for the tanodized one.
In any case I’m loving this build at the moment. I love running it, especially the mass of the thing in the hand; really takes the realism further. I think it weighs 6 kilos with all the ancillaries at the moment…
The build was more or less the same up until I broke it in 2014. I basically snapped the VFC GBBR upper in two, but then it was more or less based on the aforementioned Tom Spooner era kits.
But then I decided to change up to the 2013 and beyond era guns, as I replaced the broken upper and the rest with the receiver set with the HAO HK416D kit.
I was meant to be getting an SGT 416 kit but it never materialised, so I went with the V2.0 HAO. It hit all the benchmarks established by SGT – like being composed of super strong and realistic CNC 7075T6 – but at a much better price.
After breaking the VFC upper, I wanted the strongest one out there and that is – and still remains – the HAO. As a team, Cobalt doesn’t pussyfoot about.
You can see us in action here:
The hardest things to sourced were the Geissele HK SMR and especially the Blue Force Gear Redi-mod, which is quite rare now I believe.
I think BFG only made 120 of them, since they’re essentially modded Boonie Packer Mk2 Redi-mags.
I was originally looking for just a regular Redi-mag, but a guy messaged me saying he had something a little different and I was shocked to see It was a Redi-mod – so it was a pretty awesome find.
I’ve gone for more or less all the correct parts, but set them up in a way that works for me. Like you can see in the picture of my switch setup; and I’m not sure how prevalent Redi-mags are at the moment but I still like using mine!
I’ll maybe get one of those HAO suppressors, but I’m not sure how badly I want a mock suppressor; especially at that price point.
Not really sure what’s next. I’ve been thinking about a second build for ages, but may wait to see what the DAS guns are about as I’ve heard good things about them.
Would love if they did an SR25. I’d be sold on that for sure 🙂
Parts List
- Systema PTW 2012 MAX II – Tac Modded
- Tac Modded New Gen EL-003
- Tac Modded New Gen Kumi 490 Motor
- Tac Modded Systema Hop and Inner barrel
- HAO Gen 2 HK416D upper*
- HAO Gen 2 HK416D Lower*
- HAO HK416D alloy barrel*
- HAO HK416 Takedown pins*
- HAO Surefire SFCT Flashhider*
- Geissele Automatics 416 SMR 9.5″ DDC
- KAC Front Sight
- KAC 600M Micro Rear Sight
- BCM Gunfighter foregrip (direct mounted)
- Surefire M600U Direct mounted + Tac Op LP
- EoTech EXPS3-3
- EoTech G33 + Tac Op LP
- Hogue Overmoulded Pistol Grip
- CQD Forward Sling mount
- CQD Rear Sling plate
- Magpul Ind. Trigger Gaurd
- LI-PO Modded Colt Buffer Tube
- LMT SOPMOD Stock
- Heckler & Koch 416 charging Handle
- BFG Redi-Mod
- BFG VCAS sling
- 7x Systema Steel Stanag mags with Magpuls
- Savage Paint job
*Repro
The Reptile House 