U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)-The VRBP-100-A is Rock Island Armory Imports’ latest entry into the bullpup shotgun market.
Unlike most Rock Island Armory guns that they produce in the Philippines, RIA imports the VRBP-100-A from Turkey. Derya Arms is the actual producers of the shotgun. In Turkey, they sell it under the name of the Derya Bullpup N-100.
In fact, the first time I saw the VRBP-100-A was at SHOT Show in 2018. At the time it was being marketed as the Derya Arms MK-12. It was overlooked by a lot of journalists because Derya Arms launched their bullpup shotgun at the same time as IWI unveiled their bullpup. The MK-12 was lost in the noise.
The VRBP-100-A is a semi-automatic shotgun with a charging handle in a similar place as a CZ Scorpion. By moving the action of the gun behind the trigger group, it allowed Rock Island Armory to reduce the total length of the long gun to 32 inches including a 42CrMo4 stainless steel 20-inch barrel.
Putting the VRBP-100-A into battery with the charging handle is simple. The handle is large enough to be able to grab even under extreme stress. In a home defense situation, the large handle will save you time and might save your life.
While it isn’t as short as the KelTec KSG bullpup pump action shotgun, which measures 26.1 inches, it is still shorter than most semi-automatic shotguns on the market. If Rock Island Armory made the gun any shorter, it would have sacrificed the accuracy of the shotgun.
The VRBP-100-A is a mostly polymer semi-automatic shotgun. The Upper receiver is made up of 7075 T6 aluminum though. The upper receiver is where all the pressure builds up when firing the gun and needs more strength than polymer can provide. By using a polymer where it could, RIA cut down on the overall weight of the gun.
The polymer stock with a rubber butt comes with removable spacers. These spacers allow the shooter to adjust the length of the pull, making it more comfortable for the individual user. I I didn’t need to adjust the stock length. The length out of the box seemed to work best for me.
With a total weight of 7.9lbs unloaded and 8.82lbs loaded the VRBP-100-A has a pretty manageable weight. It isn’t too heavy, but at the same time, it does have some weight to it, so it doesn’t feel like a toy in the hands of a shooter.
Even though Derya Arms added a complete rail on top of the VRBP-100-A to make it optic ready I chose only to use the included front and rear flip up sights. The quality of the backup irons is better than I thought they would be and are pretty good.
The best part about the VRBP-100-A is its accuracy. Derya Arms made it a tack driver when compared to other semi-automatic shotguns on the market.
Derya Arms also included rails on the side of the VRBP-100-A. These rails make it easy to add a light or laser on the side. Being able to add accessories to the side of the shotgun makes this a great choice for home defense.
If the shooter doesn’t have any accessories to mount on the side of their shotgun, Derya Arms made it so the user can remove the unused rails. This flexibility is a little touch that allows the shooter to make the VRBP-100-A their own.
Derya Arms designed the VRBP-100-A to be able to use three inch and 2 ¾-inch shells. I would be using only 2 ¾-inch shells for my testing. The reason for choosing this shell size is that Rock Island Imports supplied me with shells and I just happened to have other 2 ¾-inch shotgun shells at home.
Rock Island Armory supplied me with a few boxes of Fiocchi 2 ¾-inch 12-gauge birdshot loads to use with the shotgun. I tried to use these Fiocchi shells in conjunction with the VRBP-100-A. They did not work out well. It seemed like I was getting a lot of light primer strikes. I wasn’t sure if it was the Fiocchi shells or the shotgun itself.
On my second trip to a range switched to Remington 2 ¾-inch shotgun slugs. I didn’t have a single failure. The shotgun ran fine with the Remington shells. I started to suspect it was just bad Fiocchi shells, but I wanted to see if it would be able to run other loads in addition to slugs.
I took the VRBP-100-A out to a friend’s property since my home range only allows slugs. I used Winchester Waterfowl loads, and the shotgun once again performed well without any issues. At this point, the success of the Winchester and Remington shells convinced me that the Fiocchi shotgun shells I received from Rock Island Armory Imports were defective.
The VRBP-100’s recoil management is what you would expect from a bullpup shotgun. It does have more kick than the standard semi-automatic, but it isn’t as bad my KelTec KSG pump action shotgun. It was manageable even for the new shooter I brought with me when we were shooting slugs.
Rock Island Armory Imports sent me several of their magazines for use in the VRBP-100-A. I received a five-round, a nine-round, and a massive 19rd magazine. The VRBP-100-A comes standard with the five-round magazine.
The other magazines are available for an additional charge. The five-round magazine worked great. The 19rd magazine also worked great even though it looks ridiculous. The large magazine turns a lot of heads on the range and at my FFL. One thing to note is that that the 19rd magazine is only capable of handling 2 ¾-inch shells.
I had issues with the VRBP-100-A’s nine-round magazine. I could only get a single shell to load into the magazine. These T&E (test and evaluation) guns go through a lot of hands, and another reviewer could have damaged the magazine in their testing.
The grip on the VRBP-100-A has an excellent ergonomic shape and it was very comfortable in my hands. It was also easy to use the AR-15 like selector switch. The magazine release is easy to use, but the magazines don’t drop free as I would like. I had to pull the magazine out before inserting another.
The trigger that Derya Arms used on the VRBP-100-A is the one downfall on the shotgun. The trigger on the VRBP-100-A is very tough to handle. I feel the pull weight is way too high. The break is also sloppy. Derya Arms just needs to redo their trigger.
Even though I usually give shotgun triggers a little more leniency on triggers than I do for rifles it is just that bad. The sloppiness of the trigger isn’t by any means a deal breaker, but I would have liked to have seen Derya Arms pay a little closer attention to the trigger.
I can imagine aftermarket triggers hitting the shelves to fix the trigger issue, but I would have liked to seen Derya Arms use a better trigger for their Bullpup. That is the only major complaint I have about the VRBP-100-A.
Rock Island Armory Imports claims that the VRBP-100-A is excellent for home defense, hunting, and competition shooting. I can’t see shooter using this bullpup shotgun for hunting or competition shooting. I think that RIA needs to concentrate on the home defense market.
Online retailers are selling the Rock Island Armory VRBP-100-A for a street price of around $600 to $670. Most retailers are currently sold out of the bullpup. Even with the VRBP-100-A trigger problem, I do think it is a good value for a bullpup semi-automatic shotgun.
Readers can find Rock Island Armory at https://armscor.com/
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on leftist deplatforming methods and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, on Facebook at realjohncrump, or at www.crumpy.com.
Very poorly written article! Doesn’t anyone edit these articles? This wouldn’t get a passing grade in a junior high school. Ammoland should be embarrassed to allow this kind of writing to be published under their masthead.
What’s with that Concorde buttstock? Going super-sonic? Someone needs to come up with a drum magazine for that thing. That ridiculous magazine abortion isn’t going to get it, even at the range. As I look at the photos, I have to say that I wouldn’t one of these ugly things as a gift. Seriously.
The gun looks like it has potential for gamers, and neighborhood defense. Now, if only RIA would ask the manufacturer to use a drum mag, and decent butt stock. RIA is infamous for zero customer support, and zero logical design input. With the monster mag, it might as well come attached to a carnival sign that say no one under 4’8″ may ride this gin!
I’ve read plenty of glowing test reports of sample guns that work perfectly for gun writers, but the ones that reach the public through regular commercial channels are unreliable junk. Now, if a sample gun has issues for an industry REVIEWER, I just have to wonder how bad the one for sale at my local gun shop will be. I’ll pass on this one.
I didn’t see where it was a poorly written article, no grammar errors or misspelled words and I read it twice just to make sure I wasn’t missing something. But each to their own opinion, that’s why we have the first amendment.. On the other hand I think the shotgun is more of an item that a collector would buy as I’ll stick to my Mossberg 500 pump, not that I’d use that for home defense. I have several hand guns that work just fine for home defense, one being a Canik TP9SA that is made in Turkey. This pistol… Read more »
Nope, sorry- not giving Erdogan or any of his flunkies my money.
I would not buy this or any other firearm made in Turkey no matter how great it is.
Convert it to auto and it could come in handy for the 2020 election grid down that DHS says is going to last 6 months. Lefty, Nazi/Muslim cities across the US are already beginning to refuse calls. Trump gets sued now by Dems for emoluents clause as the ship begins sinking. No big deal. Everything is going to be just fine. Things can’t happen in America. We have rights. (Sarcasm)