HK SL8/243/G36 FAQ, Mods, And Info

Give Alberta Tactical a call. They told me it likely wouldn't be a problem although they did ask if I could send them just the barrel. No idea what they'd charge.
 
Came across a post by the guy from Battlefield Vegas, a range in Nevada who rent out full auto guns. Their guns get a lot of abuse and some have tens of thousands, even hundred thousand+ rounds on them. I've read his post from AR15com about the longevity and durability before, but I never came across this archived thread where he discusses the HK guns and specifically one post about the G36. It further solidified the fact that the G36 platform is one of the most unjustly maligned designs out there and unfortunately it will never really get the development and iterations that it deserves.

Here's his post:
I completely forgot to mention the G36's in that original post. As in my other posts, where I assumed the Gun Gospel was true about barrel life, I also assumed the same was true about G36's melting. We have yet to lose a single G36 receiver after a few rifles have reached the 200,000+ round count. We haven't experienced any cracked, melted or warped receivers to this point.

We have both factory G36's as well as SL8-6's that have been converted. Our conversions have been configured in E, K and C models. These weapons are like SCAR's but in polymer receivers. The barrels and bolts last just as long SCAR's but we have yet to lose any internal rails.

Here are some notes of our experience that really impress me about the G36 series.

- The bolt carrier is likely to fail where the ambi charging handle sits. The spring that keeps it in place will also fail but this doesn't usually happen until the 100,000 round mark. It will fail at the tig-welded portion which is nice because we just sandblast the surface and re-weld it. Losing the spring is a pain because the charging handle will just flop around.

- The factory SL8 barrels can be profiled into a military profile and they last just as long. They have German proof marks throughout and they are cold hammer forged and chrome-lined.

- Gas rings on the on the piston will slowly erode away but last MONTHS longer than the AR platform. They aren't as easy to find but again, they do last quite awhile.

- You do have to cut out a portion of the receiver on the SL8 conversion in order to use a thirty-round magazine. This initially made feel the receiver would fail even faster than a G36 (from all the Gospel online) but that is not the case. We have yet to have any receiver fail or crack, especially in the area where it's been cut out.

- Bolts will last 70,000-90,000 rounds before cracking. You can't use the SL8 bolts when doing the conversion and bolts are a scare item. We try to keep a bench stock of 2-3 bolts at all times because they just aren't readily available.

- We ditched all of our factory magazines and only use Magpul versions. The originals don't hold up to the abuse of being thrown into buckets and all of the abuse that magazines experience during the loading process. We have some Magpul magazines that have been on the line for 2+ years and still function flawlessly.

The biggest downfall to this platform is the availability of spare parts. The best source of parts is from weapons that have been purchased and demilled from police departments around the country. Tom Bostic, who makes unbelievable "clones" of G36's from demilled kits on SL8's, has the same issues that we do. He's been by Battlefield a few times and even offered to put some of his works of art in our vault but I can bring myself to let him do such quality work to just get beat up. During our conversations, it always ends up about getting spare parts. He is working on providing a solution for that but I will get permission from him to speak about and see what his progress is.

The one thing I can say about OUR experience in these weapons not melting down is that maybe we handle our weapons differently? Though the weapons get shot in full-auto everyday, the staff have a different mind set than the average GI. The staff knows that we don't have the Government willing and able to give us more if we break ours and we don't have a supply chain that has as many bolts, carriers and rifles that we can gobble up.

Hope this helps out some.

V/R
Ron
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A lot of this is quite outstanding. If you read his original posts you'd notice that he says the stamped AK receivers last about 100,000 shots before they begin cracking and have to have be fixed. The polymer G36 receiver are all fully functional at 200,000+ rounds and according to Tom Bostic were only retired at 420,000 rounds fired.

The fact that he said it had similar longevity to the SCAR was high praise because according to him the SCAR is the most durable rifle out of all and barely ever have any components break. The bolt has a life of 70,000 to 90,000 rounds as compared to the 20,000 to 30,000 rounds for an AR-15 bolt. This makes sense because the G36 and SCAR both use very similar bolt heads and bolt carriers. Both their bolts use the 6 lug design as opposed to the AR15/AR18's 7 lug design. From rudimentary research it is said that the AR15's bolt lugs shear because they load is not balanced between each lug which is why lugs tend to shear off at high round counts. The 6 lug is both beefier and balances the load better between lugs. It is no wonder that the G36/SCAR boltheads last so much longer.

Of course our new SL8s no longer have chrome lined barrels so the point about barrel durability is not applicable unfortunately if you have one of the new production SL8s.
 
Frank2368 said:
Came across a post by the guy from Battlefield Vegas... It further solidified the fact that the G36 platform is one of the most unjustly maligned designs out there and unfortunately it will never really get the development and iterations that it deserves.
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The alleged problem with the G36s "melting" wasn't that the gun itself would fail, but that they would significantly lose zero and become ineffective at distance. Seeing as battlefield vegas just shoots every rifle at about 15 meters until the barrel starts keyholing rounds, I don't think they're going to encounter the actual reported issues.

What is pretty damning is those enormous, overbuilt magazines are apparently more fragile than a PMAG.
 
Jarvy said:
The alleged problem with the G36s "melting" wasn't that the gun itself would fail, but that they would significantly lose zero and become ineffective at distance. Seeing as battlefield vegas just shoots every rifle at about 15 meters until the barrel starts keyholing rounds, I don't think they're going to encounter the actual reported issues.

What is pretty damning is those enormous, overbuilt magazines are apparently more fragile than a PMAG.
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Even if the POI shift thing was true, and I see more evidence that it's not than it is, I still think as a platform it is solid enough for further development. At the end of the day even if there was truth to it, the controversy was still mostly politically driven. The consequences is not just the G36 but basically the entire idea of a polymer receiver for any stressful parts, aside from the lower receivers or parts that receive no stress, is dead. If anyone wants to make a rifle with polymer they'll probably just be reminded how bad the G36 turned out. And I'm not saying polymer is a better material than other materials but it is definitely more than what people give it credit for.
 
SteelFlint said:
https://www.steyr-arms.com/en/military-law-enforcement/steyr-arms-g36-upgrade/
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I'm aware of this and whilst it's somewhat interesting, can't say I'm a huge fan (not that it matters because they only seem to sell to LE/military AFAIK.)They basically just slapped a steel receiver in place of polymer. It's a bit like the HK416. DI sucks and piston is better right? In this case polymer sucks so steel must be better. But maybe have they considered that DI or polymer don't actually suck?
 
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Has anyone had trouble installing the HK magwell conversion? I bought one from AA but when I try to fit it, it just won't work. I tried taking the existing mag release off and even took the Hera kit off so there was nothing in the way. I thought it was supposed to be a drop in upgrade but so far all it's done is raise my blood pressure.
 
MisterJ said:
Has anyone had trouble installing the HK magwell conversion? I bought one from AA but when I try to fit it, it just won't work. I tried taking the existing mag release off and even took the Hera kit off so there was nothing in the way. I thought it was supposed to be a drop in upgrade but so far all it's done is raise my blood pressure.
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Who is AA? Who is the manufacturer? There are at least 4 of them. Maybe you can point out? I have some knowledge about the magwell in the SL8.

Do you have problems getting the magwell in or getting the AR magazines in?

Pictures would also help.
 
fritzhanzel said:
Who is AA? Who is the manufacturer? There are at least 4 of them. Maybe you can point out? I have some knowledge about the magwell in the SL8.

Do you have problems getting the magwell in or getting the AR magazines in?

Pictures would also help.
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AA is ##### Armory. I think you are not allowed to mention it here. The magwell is the genuine HK one. There is a picture of it on the first page of this thread. The problem is getting the magwell to fit into the rifle. I even took the rifle apart so there is definitely nothing else in the way.
 
I bought one from AA too - but the tommy built one. It was terrible, don't recommend. I am trying to remember - but there are a couple of parts that had to come off to fit it too. Did you contact AA for help?
 
MisterJ said:
AA is ##### Armory. I think you are not allowed to mention it here. The magwell is the genuine HK one. There is a picture of it on the first page of this thread. The problem is getting the magwell to fit into the rifle. I even took the rifle apart so there is definitely nothing else in the way.
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Do you have the SL8-4 or 5? This should be a drop in for those but not for the SL8-1 and 6 models which were also sold in Canada by IRG and TNA, maybe also Wolverine, not sure. You also wrote that you tried to take the mag release off. Did you take it off? It has to come off for this installation.

I suspect that you have to mill our the 2 tabs inside the receiver. It is actually not so hard but you have to take everything off and do it in very good light conditions. I did it on my SL8 in order to use the PMAG magazines without having to modify them. There is also a picture on the first page showing the tabs.
 
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JL1138 said:
I bought one from AA too - but the tommy built one. It was terrible, don't recommend. I am trying to remember - but there are a couple of parts that had to come off to fit it too. Did you contact AA for help?
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I haven't contacted them yet. I looked at the original order and it said that it is for a G36 to AR magwell conversion. I thought it would be exactly the same as the sl8. Maybe I'm wrong
 
fritzhanzel said:
Do you have the SL8-4 or 5? This should be a drop in for those but not for the SL8-1 and 6 models which were also sold in Canada by IRG and TNA, maybe also Wolverine, not sure. You also wrote that you tried to take the mag release off. Did you take it off? It has to come off for this installation.

I suspect that you have to mill our the 2 tabs inside the receiver. It is actually not so hard but you have to take everything off and do it in very good light conditions. I did it on my SL8 in order to use the PMAG magazines without having to modify them. There is also a picture on the first page showing the tabs.
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I have the sl8-5 I stripped the receiver to try to get it to work but it just wouldn't slot in place. I don't think it is even touching the tabs.. It's almost as if the plastic is too thick to go in smoothly and is binding against the side of the receiver before it is fully in place.
 
@MisterJ:

"Do G36 Magazines fit in my SL8 Magwell?
If you have a -4/-5, then yes. However there are tabs inside your receive that prevent fitment. Those tabs can be removed, Refer to Post 3 for diagram."

Ah never mind. Just re-read this is the reverse of your issue. Perhaps that part be out of spec. Hope you find a way but I wouldn't mess with the receiver too much.
 
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My spuhr magwell won't lock gen3 pmags. Anyone experience this? I have some steel mags that fit but are a bastard to remove.

Edit: when the magwell is separated from the rifle, the mags seat in perfectly. Seems like the are blocked by some internal piece
 
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