If you’ve been following Stewbacca’s personal exploits and journey through all things gas blowback since arriving in Taiwan, you’ll no doubt have noticed his ever increasing enthusiasm for VegaForce Company’s (VFC) more recent products, not only in terms of his ever-growing licensed Walther, Glock and SIG pistol collection, but also their H&K submachine guns! More recently it’s been their FN pattern systems, especially his much-loved ‘LAR’ FAL incarnation, and now they seem to have really put the icing on the cake with their release of its ‘little brother’ the somewhat more niche FNC GBBR.
Like undoubtedly many of you die-hard GBBR fans the last few years have consisted of VFC ensuring they repeatedly abuse me and my personal finances with an apparently never-ending cavalcade of “ooh, that’s awesome and I must have one”, especially in 2024 with it seemingly like a new gun a month dropping thus far… some of which I still haven’t even had chance to get hands on with despite their excellent staff’s attempts at their VegaForce Pentagon Service Centre (VPSC) to send me home with more than one review gun at a time! With my desire to give each gun a month or so of gaming experience to ensure everything gets a reasonably fair shake in different environments and use cases, it’s just difficult to fit everything in at times… and of course there ARE other companies and releases I must honour too!
Nonetheless, MOA 2023 was yet another announcement of a wallet-beating to come, with various shiny new models all dropping simultaneously; of course as we’ve mentioned before, Bill, Anny and I were given a bit of an inside track on some new things, some of which are still unannounced and just the other day I got hands on even more exciting stuff they know they can show me without me spilling early! Test firing the FNC GBBR around the same time as our good Kiwi friends Nonocat and Thunderspear who were also in-country sharing antics with us, we’d seen the prototypes of it and other [redacted goodness] which I’m also excited for the release of at their headquarters, and then had the privilege of test firing them all at VPSC among numerous other funtimes to be had, so we knew before the official announcement that I’d be having a very busy, expensive, but also extremely exciting, year!
Having eagerly snapped up my own FAL off the bat prior to reviewing it, after waiting so long since its fairly early announcement and being very impressed with the handling and user experience, I was equally keen to get my mitts on the next FN offering, the FNC, this one being fully-licensed by Fabrique Nationale through Cybergun, markings, trimmings and all, albeit in a somewhat idiosyncratic presentation as it’s once again another fan favourite drawn from a movie setting, the same love of Michael Mann’s epic heist-thriller HEAT which brought us the Cybergun-licensed Colt M733 of Val Kilmer’s character way back in Issue 122. This is not exactly a replica of the service rifle as such, but of the gun in the movie which was customised by the armourer from a no-doubt more civilianised version, but regardless it just oozes aesthetic appeal and the stamped steel construction is suitable hefty, yet feels slightly handier and better balanced than its longer and slightly nose heavier FAL bigger brother.
Building on the success of their Version 3 GBBR AR platform which already gave us the aforementioned M733, as well as the T91 SOC Taiwanese service rifle I reviewed in Issue 161, as well as their excellent rendition of the M16A1 Vietnam-era US service rifle that started it all so to speak (which I’ve had on hand for longer and finished the review of already to follow in another upcoming issue for reasons that will become clear when it does finally drop!), the FNC GBBR uses the same excellent magazines allowing you to maximise your commonality across your collection, although I was informed that older variants may not actuate the dead trigger on empty system. As with the majority of real FNC variants, as well as the later F2000 and many European platforms such as the pre G36 / 1990s range of H&K rifles, as well as AK systems and derivatives, the FNC lacks a stop on empty in terms of a bolt lock back feature, the doctrine of European powers at the time being “keep the bolt shut as much as possible and keep the muck out of the action” unlike AR15s and other follow on systems based off the AR18 which the bolt stops rearward after the last round is fired.
TESTING TIMES
In my own testing all of the latest magazines I had (the black variant the FNC ships with, the T91 specific variant with round counter markings and over-insertion stop wings, and the standard grey) the AR mags all worked flawlessly with the exception of the short 20 BB Vietnam-style box magazine supplied with the M16A1; this seems to move around within the magazine well a little more than all the other relatively tight fitting 30 BB equivalents, and this movement allows it to rock back and forth slightly lessening the effectiveness of the rear red ‘shoe’ or lever around the outlet valve which lifts up with the follower as the last round feeds to lock open the AR systems. In the case of the FNC’s system it acts on a small lever on the left side of the gas feed and striker mechanism to actually move the striker out of alignment with the outlet valve on the rear of the magazines enough for it to interface with a corresponding cut-out in the front of the hammer body preventing it from being struck forwards, giving you the ‘dead click’ trigger where the hammer drops as usual but no ‘dry fire’ empty chamber shot goes off. This also requires you to manually depress the red follower ‘shoe’ after loading BBs into your magazines; normally in the AR platform guns the resistance from the bolt hold-open system is enough to displace this on insertion, but not so with the FNC due to the very softly sprung system… if you fail to press the rear magazine parts down manually they’ll dead click on loading like the HK53 and G3/PSG-1 magazines with the manually reset side-swinging levers.
Besides this idiosyncrasy of the operating system to get used to, along with the slightly awkward folding stock release mechanism (a bit of a three hand job to slide the retention button sideways out away from the receiver while pulling the stock downwards and beginning to swing it closed, or open), the out of the box experience of the Cybergun-licensed VFC FN FNC GBBR has been possibly the best to date, even compared to my love of the PSG-1, FAL, HK53, T91 SOC and M16A1! VegaForceCompany have clearly been improving things progressively and the first fielding in anger the other week saw me almost single-handedly wipe an opposing team out with single shots or double taps as they advanced on my hilltop position while the rest of my five-man squad displaced and repositioned to cover me off; I was having a whale of a time throwing my usual chonkeh boi .48g BLS BBs out to daft ranges with near laser accuracy, and only using iron sights!
I’d initially taken it out to a range day with other friends at the same Xindian site where we have an 85m flare field to use and as with the T91 SOC and M16A1 I’d spent some time putting BBs out to the back berm straight out of the box, a few weeks prior to official release in mid-May. Unfortunately I’d forgotten to take the specific allen key supplied in the small accessory bag along with the small speed loader; this is a ~2.4mm across flats tool which interfaces with the convenient HOP adjustment grub screw in a similar setup to the FAL just ahead of the magazine well on the underside of the receiver. Nonetheless I was still able to fling BBs to extreme ranges albeit it less straight than after I’d had chance to properly adjust it on the following skirmish game day.
Everyone who handled and fired it on both days commented on the comfortable profile and natural aiming capability as well as the good balance around the centre of the magazine well. It not only feels, but looks, the part, with the flat black paint-job all over and chunky controls like the somewhat stiff left-hand-side four position selector lever… yes, FOUR position, because like the T91 SOC this features VFC’s latest three round burst mode, which is also extremely consistent and fun to use on distant paper or metal targets as I found with its forebear. The fire selector lever is admittedly not the most ergonomic of features for those of you used to easy flippy AR selectors, and even for me and with my bear mitts requires a bit of breaking the firing hand grip and force of the thumb to get it down into the semi-auto position or back up into safe; definitely not the easiest to use for ‘tactical shooting’ drills out of the box with the constant need to safe and off safe it between movements, although it does wear in a little bit after a few days of use.
The cadence in three round burst or full auto is fairly controllable and satisfying, allowing you to put BBs on target with relative ease, with only around 300g of mass in the bolt carrier group and a fairly hefty gun overall at 3500g the recoil is snappy but not overly stout compared to some other platforms; it’s certainly enjoyable to shoot and adds to the experience, along with its distinctive charging and cycling sound, but aftermarket or customised bolt carrier groups with more steel and mass will no doubt better serve those discerning recoil enjoyers. However, for the skirmishers or those seeking performance it certainly doesn’t disappoint out of the box, with great range and consistency on offer as well as an extremely fun and refreshing overall shooting experience. The chunky front handguard did make me reminisce somewhat of my L85 real-steel and airsoft experiences, and your hand seems to naturally wrap around it comfortably and the tubular butt stock seems surprisingly comfortable to cheekweld on, giving you line of sight on the fairly low mounted front and rear iron sights, the rear of which has a smaller and wider aperture setting on a flip over ‘L’ shaped unit as is fairly typical.
The pistol grip is the same familiar fairly highly angled FAL-esque affair which suits me just fine, but might be an acquired taste compared to those youngsters and their more vertical AR grips they’re used to; the whole platform just feels like it belongs in my hands, and really looks distinctive in both its outline and general aesthetic. The stamped steel, ported and vented body with the chunky foregrip and fixed charging handle jutting out of its right side along with the sprung loaded charging handle slot-cover and classic-style drop stock and low sights make it something very different from what most will carry onto the field, and even in terms of real steel counterpart, it was never as widely adopted and recognisable as it’s “right arm of the free world” FAL sibling.
HOME TEAM ADVANTAGE
While the FAL served in over 90 countries armed forces, basically any western bloc country that didn’t adopt the H&K G3 or something more obscure, the FNC was never the success it was hoped to be. As a 5.56mm downsized and economised stamped variation of the 7.62 milled-receiver FAL that had carved out a path of popularity and acclaim for Fabrique Nationale, by the time of its release at the turn of the 1980s other systems like the AR15 and its derivatives had taken hold and neared their operational perfection and become trusted by many, with H&K alternatives filling the needs of many other second tier militaries who didn’t adopt AR15/AR18 pattern derivatives.
The somewhat AK-system-based FNC fell by the wayside to a much greater degree than it perhaps should, of course being adopted by its native Belgian armed forces; I’ve seen some in the flesh myself during European travels just after the Paris attacks which put military forces and heavily armed police units on the streets of France, Belgium and Luxembourg; a good excuse for gun spotting that was, despite the unfortunate context.
Besides the “home team” adoption advantage, it really only saw any predominant service in African nations along with some smaller Asia Pacific and South American use, making it much more niche than its larger-calibred and legendary forerunner; thus it seems a somewhat odd choice to replicate, but, as we established, the folks at VFC are wont to replicate movie classics, and everyone looking to scratch their Al Pacino fix can get their hands on this “big ass cold war masterpiece” for themselves; I’ve been told it looks at home in a jungle environment and pairs nicely with a beret during my Heavy Recoil Discord preambles regarding my own experiences and comparing notes with the likes of Catgut and the rest of the excellent “Explosive Enterprises” youtube channel review team in the US.
Three of their number secured examples early like myself for reviewing ahead of the curve a little, between our four examples all have been functioning excellently, although my example and one of theirs had a slightly tight rear receiver when it came to disassembly and getting the bolt carrier group and recoil assemblies out of the rear end… it can take a bit of a swift thwack to get the bolt carrier through the last very rear section of the upper receiver, and do be aware when disassembling that the recoil spring and rod assembly must be rotated 90 degrees to safely remove it from the bolt, lest you incur damage to its front retention cross-pin that holds the front end of the spring on if you try and force it straight out.
The internal fire control group mechanism is fairly typical AR-componentry including the three round burst functionality drum which is isolated unless in burst mode, preventing undue wear on it or adverse effects upon the trigger pull. This is crossed with heavy utilitarian FAL-style spring systems and general takedown; the receiver retainer pins, it should be noted, are also pretty tight and required some soft mallet action on my part to unseat when I first decided to get inside my example, at least it isn’t going to pull a SpaceX on you and perform a “spontaneous unplanned disassembly” during even the most rough handling games, I suppose. The trigger itself is also very utilitarian with an exposed butterfly spring leg resting behind it from inside the fire control group and giving a reasonably crisp average pull of 2.2kg (4.8 lbs) allowing for fairly rapid follow up shots with the usual very tactile and positive reset I’ve come to love on VFC’s GBBR offerings as of late.
While the FNC lacks an automatic last-round hold-open function, the reciprocating charging handle can be pulled out slightly at the rear of travel and latched into the receiver to manually hold the bolt open for inspection during unloading or troubleshooting; given the right-hand-side position of it compared to the FAL, I did experiment with using the firing hand to lock it open, remove the mag, insert a fresh one and then “FNC slap” the charging handle to release the bolt on a fresh mag. I guess whatever way you operate it is a bit of a cludge, and opinions vary on whether canting the rifle outward to remove and replace the mag and then flipping it to draw your hand back along the top right edge like with the Galil is better than finger-hooking the charging handle underhand like an AK, but the latter was my go to once I’d fitted an obstructing ELCAN replica optic to the new VFC picatinny rail.
This picatinny mount rail is a very simple and rigid part and installation in itself; the front end of the rail seats nicely into the top of the front trunnion with its “tongue” section, then the rear-end rests on the rear sight block atop an included additional wedge piece that is then bolted to the main rail above to pinch the rear sight block with angled surfaces and force it forwards against the trunnion and make it solid for mounting an optic reliably.
Gas-performance-wise with just a 360mm inner barrel (as seems to be one of the new standard lengths even for longer offerings like the FAL, T91 SOC and M16A1) the muzzle energy comes out at around 110m/s on the typical .20g BBs, with a consistent energy of around 1.2J and reducing muzzle velocity down to 85m/s with .30g, and 70m/s – 1.1J with .48g BBs respectively; again, the heaviest BBs might get there marginally slower, but I always think it’s worth the added expense for the consistency and sheer reach they give you carrying that muzzle energy out to the nearing 100m mark with much greater ease, and with a CLPD made NPAS adjustable nozzle added you could tweak the velocity to suit your needs.
FULLY-BLOODED
Having already “blooded”’ my own example at its first outing in anger I was already very impressed with the in theatre performance beyond just slapping tree trunks or IPSC paper targets and metal plates out to the 60m mark on the range day, so prior to the Team Taiji-exclusive MilSim the following weekend towards the end of May I went back to VPSC to purchase their own optics mounting rail along with a trio of additional magazines to bring my total on hand up to six thirty rounders to give me a decent combat loadout for the weekender event. I fitted the scope rail with ease as it’s a single countersunk hex bolt job, the front end protrusion slips under the lip of the corresponding opening at the rear of the trunnion at the front of the receiver, while the rear end is held down by a shoe which has angled surfaces that interact with the rear sight mount and work to force the whole rail forwards as it’s tightened down against the shoe giving you a very slimline but rigid and simplistic solution. I decided to throw my ELCAN hardened 4x optical sight on it as it already had a very thick scope protector installed from its prior use on my L85A2, and it seems to suit the aesthetic with the outer ribbed surface looking similar to the handguard and overall rifle’s external look; apparently it was genuinely used and loved in Belgian service with this setup, so I stumbled on a real-use-case in my haste to prepare it for the weekend.
Then the major test came, it was off to our team’s own MilSim in the hills of Sanxia further south of Taipei than we usually play. I took it out to zero the ELCAN after we arrived on site and got camp set up, only to find it needed no adjustment and the BBs were flying dead straight for the most part just above the obelisk style aiming post; it continued performing excellently throughout the whole event, albeit being a bit heavy to lug around and clamber up slippery muddy jungle hills among the foliage, aside from planting the muzzle in the dirt a few times while falling over, and one instance where I forgot about the reciprocating charging handle on the right side. I posted up on some thick bamboo as cover and engaged an enemy sniper across the gully, incurring a stoppage as the handle came back and smacked the tree I was resting against.
We spent some of our time off the field in the camp area tuning our rifles and pistols and I was consistently pummelling a head-sized empty water bottle stuck to a tree 40m from the table and chairs we were working from; everyone who handled it loved the recoil feel and especially the surprisingly good out-of-the-box range and accuracy, as well as the sheer noise and fun shooting experience of something a little different.
So there you have it fellow shooters, another in a long and seemingly ever-growing line of VFC’s excellent recent GBBR platforms; it really feels like they’ve knocked it out of the ballpark with this offering, taking all the lessons of previous systems and amalgamating them into a brilliantly executed finished product! Granted it won’t be their cheapest and will come to market in the 17,000NT (GB£425) price range in Taiwan, and purportedly GB£800 or similar in Europe, fairly similar to its FAL predecessor, but, if you want something a little different that looks epic and works brilliantly, can you really say no to yourself?
Many thanks as always to VFC and their VPSC team for facilitating my habit, although again they’re likely to help themselves to more of my wallet filling as they won’t be getting this back either, and I already bought the scope rail anyway so now I guess I have to keep it eh? Woe is me… on to the next financial ruin in the name of shootyfuntimes, fellow shooters!
