Both Elephant SL8

[Daddy NS]

Both Elephant SWAT SL8
By: Night Stalker


http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_004.jpg

The SL8 Series
The Ugly Cousin of the G36
according 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? ;D therefore I need not introduce to you the now respectable brand, Both Elephant.

The Gun
Back 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.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/G36C-K/G36CKConversion12.jpg

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 today Thursday 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.


http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_034.jpg
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?


http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_016-1.jpg
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.


http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_025.jpg

http://www.hkpro.com/sl8proto.jpg
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...


http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_017.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_018butt.jpg

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!


http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_027pack.jpg
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....

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_031-1.jpg
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.


http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0916_001.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0916_005.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0916_006.jpg
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.


http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_030.jpg
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...


More...

[Daddy NS]

..... Continued

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_014.jpg
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...


http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_015.jpg
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!

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_006.jpg
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.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_012.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_011.jpg
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..

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_007.jpg
Another comparative shot of the hanguard and the front barrel assembly.


http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_008.jpg
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.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_010.jpg
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.


http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_019.jpg
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.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_020.jpg
Voila! there you go! Ready to modify! But in this section I maintained to keep the gun in stock condition...mods come in later.


http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_028.jpg
Taking off the gearbox is just a pin away! but be careful not to loose that pin... or else you're ruined..

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_026.jpg
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.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_029.jpg
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...

More....

[Daddy NS]

....continued

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_023-2.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0914_022hop-1.jpg
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.


http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0915_001.jpg

The hi-cap magazine is again... Very Similar To TM!!


Here is the accuracy test I did.. pardon me I'm a lousy shooter ;D

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:
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/1226_002.jpg


At 1 foot away
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/1226_003.jpg


At 20-25 feet away
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/1226_006.jpg


At 35-40 feet away
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/1226_007.jpg

View from the red-dot scope
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/1230_006.jpg

Review Updated

Accuracy Report

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/1230_001b.jpg
;D

And the results of my lousy aiming. 0.20bb used.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/1226_009.jpg


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
http://www.hkpro.com/sl8right.jpg

[MSG Bates]

Nice Review, I wish I could re-print this on our blog...

[terminusx]

ask lang sir ^_^...
medyo interested kasi ako sa SL8... san po kau naka bili and kano? and ilan FPS wekekek! ^_^

[Daddy NS]

ask lang sir ^_^...
medyo interested kasi ako sa SL8... san po kau naka bili and kano? and ilan FPS wekekek! ^_^

Ask some leading ACM dealers listed in the For Sale Thread, I am sure one of them still has some in-stock.

It was about 330 fps out of the box.

[terminusx]

ah..ok thx..

pero ask ko ? san mo po nabili sainyo? baka dun nadin ako bibili :)
salamat po

[Daddy NS]

Miss ko na SL8 ko...

[psycho_chimp]

astig na gun yan sir!!! and noww i know what rifle was used in the game F.E.A.R.. thank you very much sir nightstalker!!1

[Daddy NS]

Here are some pics I haven't posted:


http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/1012_003.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/1012_006.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/1005_002.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/1005_001.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0920_002.jpg

[kuya_pau]

Sir nightstalker is it true na kaya ng sl8 yung sp120 without changing gears?? how much po yung sl8??

[Daddy NS]

Sir nightstalker is it true na kaya ng sl8 yung sp120 without changing gears?? how much po yung sl8??

Yes sir, I even tried an M130 and an SP130 just for the heck of it, surprisingly kayang kaya niya, provided ang battery mo ay ganito:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0916_006.jpg

I got mine for 4.6k at that time a year ago, i think.

[kuya_pau]

Yes sir, I even tried an M130 and an SP130 just for the heck of it, surprisingly kayang kaya niya, provided ang battery mo ay ganito:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/Dongskie/Airsoft/BOTH%20ELEPHANT/SL8%20SWAT/0916_006.jpg

I got mine for 4.6k at that time a year ago, i think.

so spring and bushings lang papalitan ko sir? kung 2000mah batt gamitin ko kaya po ba icrank yung spring?? yung gears din po ba ng BE g36k kaya din sp120?tnx sir

[Technics]

I cannot find extra magazines for my BE SL8. i bought it from hobbytron and it didnt work, so i sent it back to get a new one, but i need to know more about it, like if i wanna upgrade the gear box, how do i do it and where to find the mags for it?

[10xkarma]

magkano kaya to ngayo! nagagandahan ako sa gun na to! pwede sniper!

[Daddy NS]

magkano kaya to ngayo! nagagandahan ako sa gun na to! pwede sniper!

Mura na lang yan for sure.... baka ibigay na lang ng 3k+

[moonlightz]

hirap mag hanap ng LS8...

balak ko sanang bumili >.< gandang project gun nyan eh

[bnj26]

sir benta niyo po ba yan magkano?

[Daddy NS]

sir bnj26 naibenta ko na po 2 years ago... :D as it is...

[Ochie]

if i'm not mistaken parang may nakita ako sa airsoft armory niyan a couple of months back.. try niyo tawagan mga sirs..

[ady101]

hirap namn hanapin nito.

[Daddy NS]

I cannot find extra magazines for my BE SL8. i bought it from hobbytron and it didnt work, so i sent it back to get a new one, but i need to know more about it, like if i wanna upgrade the gear box, how do i do it and where to find the mags for it?

Try Jing Gong G36C magazines.. :)

[Daddy NS]

This is a CLASSIC! Perfect for Sniper SET-UP.

[kuya_pau]

may nakita ako sl8 sa AA last sem.. hehe.. sarap gamiting sniper chaka pang porma.. hehe very sexy gun..:)

[koda]

sAW 1 LAST SAT SA SONIC BOOM, ASTIG ANG DATING. WANTED 1 TOO!!!