What is with the hate of the SL8?

WAREWOLF

WAREWOLF

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Lately I have been hearing a lot of people comPlaining about the SL8/g36

Being Tupperware and plastic

What is the problem

I mean polymers have shown to out perform aluminum and so on Time and time again. I am no expert don't get me wrong

But if the Glock can have polymer love what's the problem with the H&k SL8
Being made of the material

It has been around a long time and a proven platform in my opinnion.

Put in your thoughts
Cheers
 
It's over priced for what you get, and it'll never be as popular as the AR15 in North America. I don't think people "hate" the SL8, but it's true that it doesn't get any love. That said, if the SL8 was a $1000 rifle, I wouldn't be surprised to see upwards of 10x as many of them around.
 
cancer said:
It's over priced for what you get, and it'll never be as popular as the AR15 in North America. I don't think people "hate" the SL8, but it's true that it doesn't get any love. That said, if the SL8 was a $1000 rifle, I wouldn't be surprised to see upwards of 10x as many of them around.
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To be fair, it's an HK.. it's like buying a Prada jacket that costs maybe $50 in material and $1450 in branding.

They're completely functional rifles though, nothing wrong with em.
 
No hate for it here at all.

I was considering getting one (and still may at some point) but lack of AR mag comparability without modification and a lackluster trigger were concerns given the price point.

Unlike some, I actually really like the look right out of the box.
 
cancer said:
It's over priced for what you get, and it'll never be as popular as the AR15 in North America. I don't think people "hate" the SL8, but it's true that it doesn't get any love. That said, if the SL8 was a $1000 rifle, I wouldn't be surprised to see upwards of 10x as many of them around.
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Yup. Plus it's a bastardized "civilianized" version of the real G36 firearm. The thumbhole stock isn't as good as a pistol grip. It's a bit bulky although not heavy and still handles decently. The rail going over the charging handle, especially if it's polymer has a few concerns too. But there are aftermarket additions for that.

Bottom line, the price is too high. I would buy one if it were a good deal. Overall I like the rifle but not at it's current price point and modifications get expensive very quickly. It's a much better rifle if you have the skill to cut the thumbhole and turn it into a pistol grip.

Edit: Almost forgot about the former cracking issue. Originally the HK SL8 lost a lot of support due to this. As mentioned below by Cr5.
 
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I don't like them because mine was a piece of crap.
I had an early SL8-4 and I hear they corrected the problems I was having but I couldn't take it any more and sold it.

Mine got the crack in front of the bolt catch twice. Both times the complete lower was changed for free but I was waiting for 3 or 4 months the first time and a little longer the second time.
They tried to blame dry firing it with the upper and lower seperated but I know that was not the cause. I never dropped the hammer while it was seperated. The first time was after around 400 rounds and the second time it only took just over 200 rounds to crack again.

I didn't like the price of spare mags and didn't like the idea of having to buy an adapter.

The rifle did shoot well but the 1:7 twist was not very good with 55 grain FMJ. It did however like anything 62 grain or heavier and my best groups were with 77gr BlackHills match ammo.

I won't buy another HK. But that is based mostly on the terrible customer service I got from FN Sports when I had problems with my USP Tactical.

My .02
YMMV
 
The SL8's most redeeming quality is probably that it's non-restricted, and with the AR adapter can accept LAR-15 magazines. You can run a different lower on it with an ACR folding/collapsible stock, so that's kind of a neat (and cheaper) option than the standard G36 folding stock conversion. From what I understand the trigger and barrel are pretty decent (better than the G36 apparently), so the standard SL8 stock seems to be the biggest "yuck".

In terms of overall value, does it offer any less value than an XCR, Tavor or FS2000? I think beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and you either love it or hate it (not unlike the XCR, Tavor or FS2000). It's not really fair to compare the SL8 to an AR-15 because components for an AR-15 are produced in such mass quantity that the price to an AR-15 will never be on par.

I've yet to own, fondle or shoot an SL8 - and while it doesn't necessarily hold a great deal of appeal for me - I'd certainly like to try one someday.
 
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The ones I have handled shot very well, but handling was poor .... not a bad choice for bench shooting but I wouldn't get one for action shooting.
 
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The price point, plus the price of all the options to get it tactical and STANAG-mag compatible, take it out of its competitors league for no obvious benefit.

I'd love one but for 3 grand the Tavor or XCR doesn't require mods.
 
To add to my previous post.

I replaced mine with an Armalite AR180-B and was much happier with that rifle. 100% reliable from day one, easy to clean with no tools required to strip it, accurate enough even though not as good as the HK, classed as non restricted, and used AR mags.
Only one I regret selling is the AR180. Don't miss the SL8 at all.

I didn't have any problems with the thumbhole stock and didn't feel there was any need to G36 it either. If HK had made it take AR mags it would have helped it's North American sales alot (or made their mags less expensive).
It was pretty cool to own back when I had mine because no one had ever seen one before so it got a lot of attention at the range.

If they fixed the problems with the lower receiver cracking on the newer ones the only complaints I would have with one now is the need for tools to strip it for cleaning, the hard to find expensive mags and the terrible HK customer service we get in Canada.
 
blaxsun said:
The SL8's most redeeming quality is probably that it's non-restricted, and with the AR adapter can accept LAR-15 magazines. You can run a different lower on it with an ACR folding/collapsible stock, so that's kind of a neat (and cheaper) option than the standard G36 folding stock conversion. From what I understand the trigger and barrel are pretty decent (better than the G36 apparently), so the standard SL8 stock seems to be the biggest "yuck".

In terms of overall value, does it offer any less value than an XCR, Tavor or FS2000? I think beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and you either love it or hate it (not unlike the XCR, Tavor or FS2000). It's not really fair to compare this to an SL8 because components for an AR-15 are produced in such mass quantity that the price to an AR-15 will never be on par.

I've yet to own, fondle or shoot an SL8 - and while it doesn't necessarily hold a great deal of appeal for me - I'd certainly like to try one someday.
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I think it offers less value than the Tavor, FS2000 and ACR. Unless you have the ability like fireball did to unthumhole the stock.

The ACR when they get them cheaper and are available is a SL8 killer. It offers everything the SL8 should only out of the box. It's just too bad that Bushmaster didn't realize they had a potential Grand Slam on their hands and instead bunted. I really liked that Questar offered these with an accurate bull barrel. This opens up the option as a target and varminter rifle to sport shooters. The PE-90 was the main competition for the SL8 and although more expensive it was actually less than the SL8 when you added the features the SL8 should have come with. The PE-90 will remain a much liked and wanted firearm due primarily to it's military heritage and excellent quality.

The Tavor right now is the best value of the modern 21st century military style rifles.

It really goes to show you how badly we were screwed by the antis with the AR being restricted. Heck we were "lucky" it wasn't prohibited. Let's face it for sport shooters the AR platform offers it all. It's pretty amazing how a late 1960s designed rifle is still the baseline to compare all modern firearm.
 
Epoxy7 said:
The ACR when they get them cheaper and are available is a SL8 killer. It offers everything the SL8 should only out of the box. It's just too bad that Bushmaster didn't realize they had a potential Grand Slam on their hands and instead bunted. I really liked that Questar offered these with an accurate bull barrel. This opens up the option as a target and varminter rifle to sport shooters. The PE-90 was the main competition for the SL8 and although more expensive it was actually less than the SL8 when you added the features the SL8 should have come with. The PE-90 will remain a much liked and wanted firearm due primarily to it's military heritage and excellent quality.

The Tavor right now is the best value of the modern 21st century military style rifles.
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I agree the the ACR2 is a potential AR-slayer. Here's hoping Remington starts offering that commercially... I've never been a big fan of the PE90 simply due to the sheer weight. The Tavor and FS2000 are my personal favourites, with the FS2000 being the more accurate out of the two.

Epoxy7 said:
It really goes to show you how badly we were screwed by the antis with the AR being restricted. Heck we were "lucky" it wasn't prohibited. Let's face it for sport shooters the AR platform offers it all. It's pretty amazing how a late 1960s designed rifle is still the baseline to compare all modern firearm.
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Indeed it does...
 
blaxsun said:
... I've never been a big fan of the PE90 simply due to the sheer weight. The Tavor and FS2000 are my personal favourites, with the FS2000 being the more accurate out of the two.
...
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I found a new technique to deal with the weight. I hold my HS50 while standing and on target. I can't do it for long. After that everything feels light!! :p

I have my PE-90 set up as a varmint/target rifle. The Tavor is my free hand shooting rifle.
 
I don't think the Questar NR ACR is a Bull Barrel, I don't even think it was a heavy. I'd actually be interested to know the contour, my comments stem from observations and comments Questar made about the weight.
 
I find the cost of the SL8 to be pretty much inline with the other ACR,XCR,Tavor

All end up being around 3000 bucks after taxes give or take 100 bucks

And you can spend about the same amount of money outfitting any of these rifles to your likening with grips, rails, triggers ect

:popCorn:cou:
 
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