I know, it's been a little while since I did join ranks of those who enjoy the Liberal-scaring evil black guns. And this being my first "assessment" put in this kind of setting, please bear with me.
My first black gun, if I don't count my polymer-stocked Savage .22 or my Remington 870 is a H&K SL-8, which I've purchased from another Gunnut.
Now, my first impression of the SL-8: baby, where have you been all my life?
Despite what I have heard some people say about the factory stock, I find it quite comfortable once I've played with the spacers for the cheek rest and length of pull. It's light, easy to use (the swiveling cocking handle for lefty use is a stroke of genius).
The iron sights, while the front post is a bit wide for my taste, are excellent and the rail system is extremely ingenious. A very good design if you ask me.
But most importantly, it's devilishly accurate. I swear, even with cheap bulk Winchester white-box ammunition it shoots better than I do. And while all I have on it right now is a red-dot, I fully intend to fit her with proper optics so I can truly do justice to this piece of fine German engineering.
And speaking of optics, anyone have any suggestions as to what works well with that thing?
Now, the few things I don't really care for on the SL-8. First, I don't much like the way it ejects. Oh, the casing deflector does a great job at not getting hot metal in the face if I'm shooting from the left shoulder. But regardless it's got a pretty potent extractor and it really flings the casings away and finding all of them after a shooting session is a bit of a pain. And as a courtesy, taking the rightmost firing position is usually a good idea. And the basic disassembly requiring tools isn't the best thing I've ever seen. I'd much rather see a pin system for the whole thing instead of a mix and match of pins and screws. However, removing the handguards or the mag well is extremely easy and intuitive.
Speaking of taking it apart, let's go towards the guts of that thing. The bolt carrier assembly is also a very nice system that is easy to break down for cleaning and easy to put back together. And thanks to the gas piston system it makes for something that requires very little cleaning even after a lot of shooting.
All in all, I find the SL-8 to be an excellent design and a wonderful rifle. And what makes it even better, for all of it's black, rapid-fire semi-automatic baby-eating and puppy-killing assault rifle goodness is that it is completely non-restricted.
My first black gun, if I don't count my polymer-stocked Savage .22 or my Remington 870 is a H&K SL-8, which I've purchased from another Gunnut.
Now, my first impression of the SL-8: baby, where have you been all my life?
Despite what I have heard some people say about the factory stock, I find it quite comfortable once I've played with the spacers for the cheek rest and length of pull. It's light, easy to use (the swiveling cocking handle for lefty use is a stroke of genius).
The iron sights, while the front post is a bit wide for my taste, are excellent and the rail system is extremely ingenious. A very good design if you ask me.
But most importantly, it's devilishly accurate. I swear, even with cheap bulk Winchester white-box ammunition it shoots better than I do. And while all I have on it right now is a red-dot, I fully intend to fit her with proper optics so I can truly do justice to this piece of fine German engineering.
And speaking of optics, anyone have any suggestions as to what works well with that thing?
Now, the few things I don't really care for on the SL-8. First, I don't much like the way it ejects. Oh, the casing deflector does a great job at not getting hot metal in the face if I'm shooting from the left shoulder. But regardless it's got a pretty potent extractor and it really flings the casings away and finding all of them after a shooting session is a bit of a pain. And as a courtesy, taking the rightmost firing position is usually a good idea. And the basic disassembly requiring tools isn't the best thing I've ever seen. I'd much rather see a pin system for the whole thing instead of a mix and match of pins and screws. However, removing the handguards or the mag well is extremely easy and intuitive.
Speaking of taking it apart, let's go towards the guts of that thing. The bolt carrier assembly is also a very nice system that is easy to break down for cleaning and easy to put back together. And thanks to the gas piston system it makes for something that requires very little cleaning even after a lot of shooting.
All in all, I find the SL-8 to be an excellent design and a wonderful rifle. And what makes it even better, for all of it's black, rapid-fire semi-automatic baby-eating and puppy-killing assault rifle goodness is that it is completely non-restricted.
