"Bought this a little before christmas and have loved it. Much like me it's huge, heavy and impractical, but a real head turner and awesome performer.
First off, yes, it's big and heavy, but the performance it has totally stock is well worth it. Using .36's, I'm reaching out way farther than I ever could with my upgraded vsr10, and easily pacing with the Novritsch guns that show up to my field. Another great thing about it is it fires relatively quietly. Compared to a TM VSR10, SSG24, and Striker, the HTI may as well be silent. Add a foam filled suppressor and it's as quiet as a TM mk.23 just about.
The bolt pull is surprisingly light for how huge the spring is. Cocking a bullpup bolt sniper takes some getting used to, but once you have it down, you can reload just as quick as a normal bolt action. Just make sure to grease the piston head once in awhile to keep it smooth.
The adjustable trigger is very welcomed. You'll likely have to adjust it to fit your trigger finger/hand, but once you do it's nice. Also, despite being bullpup, the trigger pull and break is surprisingly crisp.
The weight, while heavy, is perfectly balanced at the pistol grip (with a mag inserted). I can shoulder it and aim without any real problem, and the balance helps keep you on a swivel if you're a more aggressive sniper.
Now, unfortunately, we come to the 2 real negatives I have:
1: The magazines
2: The rail
The magazines themselves aren't bad. They may be big, but they are modeled after a .50bmg mag, so deal with it. It's how you load them into the rifle that's annoying. It's ak/m14 style where you put the front end in first and then rock the back in. It may just be my HTI or mag, but it's an incredibly tight fit and sometimes fails to lock the front end in resulting in not feeding the bbs.
The rail, much like the mags, isn't bad. It's a full length looooong rail with plenty of space to mount pretty much every rail attachment and still have space to park your car. The issue comes with how low the rail sits in comparison to the flat body. If you don't use tall scope rings, a rail riser or both, good luck aiming with a full face or mesh lower.
All in all, I'm very happy with the HTI. I knew before hand that this was going to be a large and impractical purchase, but I wanted it and have no regrets really. Well, I do have one regret. I got rifle serial #13, and should have asked the Evike employee to find the lowest serial numbered HTI they had. Kind of selfish, but hey, oh well.
Would recommend, but not to anyone who doesn't really know what they're doing. If you've been sniping for awhile, go for it. If not, go with something cheaper (literally anything else lol) and come back later if you enjoy the playstyle.
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