Both Elephant SWAT SL8
By: Night Stalker
The SL8 Series
The Ugly Cousin of the G36according to HKPRO.com
Here I go again, got myself another Both Elephant automatic electric gun (AEG) with the metal gearbox version and now the ugly cousin of the G36 series, the SL8.
I'll skip the brand bashing this time as I previously did with my BE Steyr AUG review. We all know now about the ticklish Both Elephant brand of aeg's available in the market.. or 168 market?
therefore I need not introduce to you the now respectable brand, Both Elephant.
The GunBack in 2002 or 2003 was my first ever aeg from Tokyo Marui, and it was the G36C. Since so fascinated by the futuristic looks of the G36C, I searched the web to look for detailed photographs of the G36C and along with that search I found the SL8. Well I never hoped to convert my G36C into the SL8, but I almost did the G36K.
Anyway, going back to the subject at hand, when I saw that the SL8 was already available from the ACM brands, I immediately got in touch with my ACM supplier sir Mossad of Airsoft Planet. "Yes I have that strange looking aeg that looks the same as the G36K's front part." he answered even before I asked.
I got the gun on the month of september and was very excited to upgrade it's internals already, but I had to keep it stock for this review I am presenting. I will be focusing mainly on the external features of the aeg, considering most of us would base their choice on how the aeg looks like and feel while on hand.
Generally I can say that it's a masterpiece by BE. The plastic finish is again glossy and construction is still a bit thin but! nevertheless the detail is highly commendable this time, I mean yeah the detail is good, quality of work with plastic construction is yes beautiful, a whole lot better that my previous Steyr AUG. Yet most of the plastic finish is glossy, I really wonder why they can't make it like my old TM G36's finish?
This is interesting, being a sniper rifle the SL8 came with a cheek pad. A cheek pad with a fixed height and a non adjustable position, but honestly the fit was perfect on my cheek, but cannot say for now how will it fare in the gamesite when I'm already wearing my mask.. This cheek pad or cheek rest is held on by a pair of screws on top.. a few andjustments can be attained thru a little Pinoy engineuity.
This is the most eye-catching feature of the SL8. A big round hole at the end of the gun.. "What in the world is that?" Asked sir Mossad to himself.. The real steel SL8 and the prototype SL8 has different grip features, the prototype has a more G36 like looking grip thus making it small ad easy to hold, but the SL8 has smaller thum-grip hole which in reality is a better feature for a ergonomic holding position for the operator. Well I'm fine with this...
The battery compartment I assumed at first did'nt have enough room to accomodate a larger battery, but as soon as I disassembled the unit, I got the schock of my life!
A pair of screws holds an internal compartment to house your custom battery pack, when removed and extracted, a huge vacant lot inside the rear stock of the aeg will be discovered....
Now that's what I call compartment!! The place is so big, you can actually fit a pistol inside. There is a lot of potential for this gun, starting off with the battery compartment is a good start. I have assembled an 8.4v / 3300mah NiMh pack to power an SP120 or PDI150 spring in my future upgrade project.
My Battery Pack is configured inside the compartment case which you can open up to fit your desired battery configuration, in here I set up an 8.4v / 3300mah NiMh sub-c pack.
The hand grip is the most striking looks of this aeg. Somewhat taken from a space gun or laser gun, many people find this design weird and ugly, even H&K says so. Well for me I like it! It's unique and not like in any gamesite when everyone carries an M4 like a platoon of soldiers...
The bolt access lever again is a direct copy of TM's G36C... Hmmmmm these guys from BE are getting better... like I said before, a little more technical advise from an outsider will make this aeg's side-by-side with Maruis... Simple to operate, twist the lever handle and pull back to expose the hop adjust mechanism...
The hop assembly is another direct copy of Marui's design for the G36. My previous G36 has a great reputation for being precise and accurate even in minor adjustments. Talk about patents huh?
This is one of my expectations with BE's SL8, I haven't tried the gun thou, but I'm expecting a lot from this design...
Disassembling the gun is so very easy, it's like disassembling a Marui G36!
Taking off the handguard was as easy as removing the magazine, just a slide of a pin and there goes your very long front handguard, of which is I think as long as the G36K's handguard length.
This is the part I didn't like... The finish of the handguard was so disgusting! you can actually see finger prints in the paint finish... well off to the spray gun you are!
Another thing you'll notice on this handguard is the TONS of aluminum weights installed inside... I'm taking it off.. but if you prefer to keep it, I suggest you paint it flat black..
Another comparative shot of the hanguard and the front barrel assembly.
The Barrel extension is made of aluminum, but the length and thickness of this thing still adds weight to the nose of the gun... quite nice but lacks purpose because the inner barrel only tips to the end of the thread of the main barrel.
There it is when mounted and longer than any other outer barrels I have seen... by the way guys, as you have noticed the inner aluminum barrel is only 1 inch off the outer barrel... you might want to upgrade to a used TM barrel from an AK or M16 length.. I am changing to it to an M16 length... and or will have to do some cylinder vs. barrel volume water calculation.
To access the Gearbox is just a twist of 2 screws... in the photo are indicated which screws to remove using an allen driver to access the gearbox.. This is a great design becuase you can actually split the gun in two halves, the gearbox which is housed at the rear and the hop and barrel assembly which is in the front part along with the handguard.
Voila! there you go! Ready to modify! But in this section I maintained to keep the gun in stock condition...mods come in later.
Taking off the gearbox is just a pin away! but be careful not to loose that pin... or else you're ruined..
To complete the disassembly of the gearbox, you will have to open the bottom of the grip to gain access to the motor screw and pull the wires off from the rear stock.
There it is! I won't go further into opening the vesion 3 gearbox because that belongs to the technical section already, and I know you guys have you own ways with the gearbox topic...
The Hop-up assembly is so similar to Marui and performance should be the same... but lack of quality in the material and detail is very visible.Well I actually had time tinkering with it and here are my comments:
1. Hop housing is a bit soft in construction, maybe this is better than being brittle? but I find it too soft that it flexes when I twist off the hop housing assembly from the outer barrel system. (procedure when removing the hop housing and barrel is exactly similar ti Marui's G36 style)
2. The hop rubber bucking (if that's the right name for it), the round cylinder like rubber that pushes down the hop rubber is out of shape and solid unlike Marui's hollowed to give it some absorbing load, I replaced this with an old Marui one from my old parts lying around.
3. Hop rubber itself looks good.. No comments until I try it
4. The aluminum barrel is a piece of crap! but hey! the system is already similar to our Marui design of which there is a groove line at the bottom to hold the hop rubber in place and the hop bucking hole on top of the barrel.
I'll post some photos of this part on my next research and development review.
The hi-cap magazine is again... Very Similar To TM! even the fit is the same, TM and STAR magz fit as well, like a copy!
Here is the accuracy test I did.. pardon me I'm a lousy shooter
Please take note of the effect of the camera lens, it seems to make the images farther than the eyes see. I used a 20foot tape measure to measure the distances.
The New Target Paper:
At 1 foot away
At 20-25 feet away
At 35-40 feet away
View from the red-dot scope
An the results of my lousy aiming. 0.20bb used.
Did I miss anything else?I would like to thank the following who helped in this review:
Sir Mossad for the BE SWAT SL8
Pvt. Jep for the minor modifications
Action Hobbies RC for the tools and dremel
Sir Stingray for the comedy relief
And to everyone who browsed thru my review
and posted their lovely comments and difficult questions
The Real H&K SL8
