Hey gangsters.

Finally took the RFB I bought a while back out to the "range," i.e. the hood of my truck, some sandbags, and a big patch of open ground here in MT.   The winter has been really long, and today was FINALLY a nice day where I had a bit of spare time.

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I love bullpups, and, for the TL;DR crowd, I am happy with this one.  You will notice there are a LOT of things hanging off the rifle in the pic.  It will get trimmed down when I decide what I want.  Besides the Vortex Viper 2.5-10x FFP and AAC SDN-6 suppressor, I put on a Hera front grip (because it looks cool) and a cheap-ass UTG bipod.  The Hera was a PITA, because I needed a rail height extension off the normal rail, AND it is a piece of airsoft junk.  If you tighten it down at all, the thin plastic begins to spread away from the rail.  I DO like the ergonomics of it, but it DEFINITELY needs to be made of thicker material.  I have tightened down other VFG's and AFG's to the point I thought I might strip the threads, and they never did this crap.  The UTG bipod held up ok, and I love having a bipod, so it will eventually get replaced with a good one, maybe an Atlas.  But this isn't about accessories, so...

Started with one round each in a few different Thermold mags, just as the manual says, to test the LRBHO and the gas system.  Unlike the manual says, I was unable to back the gas system off as much as it recommends...the rail section accessory from Kel-Tec interferes with the gas adjustment as you get close to the end.  Still, it made it most of the way, then I clicked it in one turn so it wasn't actually riding on the accessory.

Turned out to be pretty much perfect.  Every mag fired the one round, ejected fine, and held open.  Recoil was surprisingly mild.  I have bruises on my shoulder, but they are from lifting up the buttstock while "settling in," and then pinching flesh in between the buttstock and the sandbag as I relaxed back down.  I must be outright stupid, because I did it a lot.    But the recoil was on par with my Remington 700 in a heavy stock, which I can shoot all day.

So, I loaded up the mags.  54 rounds (the remainder of one box plus 2 more) of Federal M80 147 gr ball, and 40 rounds of 168gr FGGM.  For all of that, I had one FTF, on the last round of a mag, so I can't guarantee it wasn't a mag problem as opposed to the rifle.  It cleared easily by dropping the mag.  Then I reloaded and shot it.

I dinked around with it at 30 yards to make sure it was on paper, then took it back to 100 yards to zero it with the FGGM.

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The right hand target is 2 5-round groups (one at the bullseye, one at the lower inverted V), both of which are about 1.5".  Bear in mind, this is off the cheap bipod and the hood of my truck, with my hands permanently set on vibrate and a heart with AFib, so I am not a precision shooter.  Out of a good rest or with a skilled shooter, it might be better.  The left target is 10 rounds of me shooting quickly, i.e. every time I could get it on target.

The 147 gr M80 was not quite as good.    More like "minute of torso" at a few hundred yards.  Still...not bad though.

Overall, I am VERY happy with my RFB.

Pros:
Acceptable accuracy
Mild-ish recoil
Reliable (so far)
SUPER easy to collect the brass (but...see below)
Cool as hell

Cons:
FN/FAL mags instead of things Magpul makes (I knew what I was getting into, so not really a complaint)
Not the easiest to disassemble/clean  (ditto)
Accessories, particularly the forward rail addition, are poorly designed

So, the brass...I noticed that every single case...EVERY ONE...looks like this:

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Notice the flat spot on each neck?  Not sure what is causing that.  Considering the rifle worked fine, I am ok with it, since I am not a reloader, but it does make me wonder if all RFB's do this, or if there is an issue.  Anyone have any insight?

Ok...now I need to get an RDB to continue my bullpup fanboy-ism...  

ETA:  One more con...the mags need to be pulled out.  They don't drop free by any stretch of the imagination.

Regarding the Hera front grip,  have you looked into the possibility of making a little dam out of Plasticine clay and reinforcing the halves with some poured in epoxy/bedding mix?

I'm sure you could.  But, honestly, that's not the point.  The point is, it should have been made properly, out of thicker polymer, in the first place.  It's a very cool looking item.  It is great, ergonomically, IMO.  It's not something I would recommend to a person who would actually be using it to...well...you know.  Defend something.  A home, a person, a country.  It shouldn't have to be glued together with epoxy to keep it from breaking.  

Thanks for the review and pictures.

Wasn’t really into this gun in the past but your picture makes it a little cooler.

You bet.

Like I mentioned, I have a soft spot (in my head?) for bullpups. I could drop a lot of money on them, if I had it.  Building a house right now though, so money is tight. Shooting has become a bit of a luxury both time and money wise.