Among the variety of firearms, very rarely someone pays attention to those samples that are created by small countries. Nevertheless, such weapons are sometimes quite interesting, and the solutions that are used in them are very unusual and not very common. One of the striking examples of this is the Croatian VHS machine gun, which, although it lost most of its unique features during mass production, was originally a weapon that was not entirely ordinary.
In the early 2000s, the Croatian army was in dire need of replacing the machine gun, which at that time was in service. The reason for this was that the Zastava M70, which was one of the many clones of the AKM, was very outdated, in addition, it did not fit the requirements of the weapons of NATO countries, primarily because of the ammunition. Instead of getting along with "little blood" and creating a weapon based on AK chambered for 5, 56x45, as others did, it was decided to start work on creating our own model of weapons, namely the VHS assault rifle. The work on the project of the new machine was headed by Marko Vukovic, known for the HS 2000 pistol.
Already in 2005, the first result of the work, which could shoot, was presented. The weapon was made in a bullpup layout with extensive use of plastic and light alloys. The appearance of the machine was similar to the Israeli Tavor machine gun, although this similarity was, in fact, only in the layout of the weapon and the safety bracket, which completely covered all the shooter's fingers and could act as an additional handle when held. Inside the weapon there was a rather interesting recoil damping system when firing, which worked on powder gases discharged from the barrel. So when fired, in addition to the fact that the powder gases pushed the bolt carrier, they were also diverted to the gas buffer behind the bolt group, which made it possible to smoothly stop the bolt carrier and the bolt of the weapon, reducing the recoil when firing. As it turned out later, such a recoil damping system, although it was quite effective, but reduced the number of weapon shots without cleaning, and also negatively affected the reliability of the machine. It should be noted that when using high-quality ammunition, such a system worked like a clock.
Since high-quality ammunition costs money, it was decided to greatly simplify and rework the design of the weapon. Of course, no one refused from the bullpup layout, but the braking of the bolt group with the help of powder gases disappeared, and the appearance of the weapon has undergone some changes. The updated sample was demonstrated in 2008, however, and the demonstrated sample was different from the production samples.
On the basis of this sample, two versions of the weapon were created: VHS-D and VHS-K with a 500 mm barrel and a 400 mm barrel, respectively. The body of the weapon is made of impact-resistant plastic, for ease of aiming, the sights are placed high up on the handle for carrying the weapon, which reduced the length of the aiming line, and, accordingly, made it difficult to shoot at the maximum distances for weapons. This disadvantage is compensated by the fact that you can additionally screw on the picatinny-type mounting straps on the handle for carrying the weapon and install additional sights. A folding bolt handle is located under the handle for transportation, which remains stationary when firing and can be bent to the left or right. The translator of fire modes and the fuse switch, which is located in front of the trigger, are made quite interestingly. It is difficult to judge how convenient it is, but the fact that with such an arrangement of this element is achieved the maximum switching speed is indisputable. At the bottom of the weapon on the fore-end, there is a mounting bar for an underbarrel grenade launcher.
The automatic equipment of the Croatian machine gun is built according to the scheme with the removal of powder gases from the barrel bore, the barrel bore is locked by turning the bolt. The ejection of the spent cartridge case is carried out only to the right side, which causes certain inconveniences when firing from the left shoulder. The weight of the weapon in the compact version is 2, 8 kilograms, the standard version weighs 3 kilograms. The total length is respectively 660 millimeters and 760 millimeters. The machine is powered by detachable box magazines with a capacity of 30 rounds. The rate of fire is 750 rounds per minute.
In 2009, the weapon successfully passed all tests and was purchased for arming the Croatian army. However, as time has shown, the weapon does not fully meet the requirements for it. This was the reason for the further rapid development of the machine and the emergence of VHS2 and VHS DO2, which were presented quite recently.
The main distinguishing feature of the new weapon options is the increased ergonomics. So, the butt of the assault rifle became adjustable in length, which is a very rare occurrence for a bullpup layout, in addition to this, a cheek rest appeared on the butt. The handle for carrying the weapon was changed and became a fairly long seat in the form of a picatinny rail, while the sights became removable, and the distance between them increased significantly. The fire mode translator and the fuse switch were also changed and became a rotary element located above the weapon handle on both sides. The handle itself also changed its shape, as well as the safety clip. Changes to these elements are aimed at making the weapon more comfortable when using warm thick gloves, but at the same time so that the machine does not lose its convenience in the warm season. But the most important difference from previous models is that the ejection of the spent cartridge case can be carried out both on the left and on the right side, which significantly increased the convenience of using the weapon.
