Another Heckler and Koch Purchase

[DRM]

Bros,

My good friend who owns a local gun store met me at the range today to try out what quickly became my latest purchase: an HK SL8-6 Sporting Rifle. The EOTech was just a temporary addition and I'll outfit her with a Schmidt and Bender fixed 6x scope and a bipod in the future. Also, that stock is going to be replaced with an adjustable PSG-style one from Tom Bostic.

I would never consider .223 Remington to be a "tack driver" caliber, but I had 3-shot groups touching at 100m with just the EOTech. This is an insanely accurate rifle. Literally no felt recoil (it's .223...), extremely smooth bolt cycling, and the piston system keeps everything internally clean as a whistle shot after shot. So long as you keep debris away from the bolt carrier, the only thing you will ever have to clean is the piston op rod every 5,000 rounds. And even then, all it takes is a quick swipe with a steel wool pad, wipe it down real quick, and you're done.





Once my build is complete and I get my stamp approved to transfer my UMP .45 SBR, I'll be sure to get a photo of my HK family all together the next time I'm on leave.

[Jayster]

Congrats, nice score!

[Vass]

Very cool. I guess they throw the thumbhole on their to get around the import issues. Easily remedied.

Having spent plenty of time with a brush & AR-15 bolt carriers the operating system on the HK sounds pretty good.

Is it a moly barrel or steel? That could help it a bit too.

How far back is the center of gravity? Looks like it would lay over a sandbag nicely. Does it accept AR mags?

[DRM]

Is it a moly barrel or steel? That could help it a bit too.

How far back is the center of gravity? Looks like it would lay over a sandbag nicely. Does it accept AR mags?

It's cold hammer forged steel. Barrel life is expected to be around 25,000 rounds. But we have MP5's in our arms room with close to 30,000 and the barrel is still kicking.

All of the weight is centered directly at the ejection port. It's made of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (fancy way of saying "really hard plastic") so the rifle feels almost weightless.

You can change out the magwell by removing a single pin and replacing it with the AR-spec one. They have them all over the internet and it's a very common replacement. Also, all of the internals are interchangable with the G36, so people buy this rifle and convert it all the time. I'm going to pick up a second one of these and build a G36C SBR, but that will come in time.

[Vass]

It's cold hammer forged steel. Barrel life is expected to be around 25,000 rounds. But we have MP5's in our arms room with close to 30,000 and the barrel is still kicking.

All of the weight is centered directly at the ejection port. It's made of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (fancy way of saying "really hard plastic") so the rifle feels almost weightless.

You can change out the magwell by removing a single pin and replacing it with the AR-spec one. They have them all over the internet and it's a very common replacement. Also, all of the internals are interchangable with the G36, so people buy this rifle and convert it all the time. I'm going to pick up a second one of these and build a G36C SBR, but that will come in time.

Very cool, thanks for the reply. I think the steel might be part of what's tightening up your groups. Most AR's have the moly chrome lining like the M's to cut down on maintainence. Supposedly this sacrifices a bit of accuracy. I have a floated moly barrel that shoots extremely straight, but have also shot steel barrels that are just "standard" bull barrels (think it was a Rock River) and that one shot just as flat as the floated, but without as much weight- even being a bull.

I guess it's just kind of silly now that I think about it to compare the two of them now that I think about it, focusing on barrel lining...the op system & just about everything else about it is different too. Guess it just goes to show how tight the .223 can be given half the chance.

I've dealt only with HK's pistols. Even if you didn't know what premium they came at price wise, you'd know the quality just by picking it up.

Hah- Jacksons & HK's...buy nice or buy twice!


Just saw your post below- I'd like that, thanks.

[DRM]

Having spent plenty of time with a brush & AR-15 bolt carriers the operating system on the HK sounds pretty good.

My 416 has the same op system as this rifle, but breaks down like an AR. I'll get a nice collection of photos together to show you the major differences between a standard AR15 and the HK416.

[DRM]

Hah- Jacksons & HK's...buy nice or buy twice!

Ain't that the truth!

First, here's the complete rifle.


To remove the rails, all you have to do is remove one screw and the entire assembly slides off. This takes about 5 seconds and no changes will be made to your point of impact zero during this process. Also, the barrel is polygonal rifled, cold-hammer forged (HK trademark) and is a machine gun profile. Imagine a bull barrel on steroids.








Next up is the bolt carrier group. It's similar to one found in an M16 spec wise, but that's where the similarities end. All moving parts are coated in NP3 silicon nitrate, which is self lubricating with movement. All surfaces inside the upper receiver that the BCG rides on are also coated in NP3. This aids with reliability and consistant performance of the rifle. Unlike an AR, the only parts you have to lubricate (very, very lightly, I might add) are the rails the BCG rides on. That's it.

There's also a firing pin safety that was added to the recent 416's. Because this rifle cycles faster and with more force than a standard M4 (mostly due to the tungsten buffer spring) HK added a "safety", a small lever with a spring that holds the firing pin and bolt head forward until a deliberate strike of the hammer takes place. This prevents slam firing and is yet another tool to aid consistancy.







This picture is to demonstrate how the bolt head is pushed forward at all times. As I'm sure all AR users now, a standard bolt head would have rotated back and can be a PITA when re-assembling the rifle. Not with this.



These are all of the major components of the bolt carrier group laid out.



And the pic that really matters: 25 meter zero, prone unsupported. From a 10.4" barrel. 62g M855 FMJ used. ("Green Tip")
Yes, that's three shots in two holes.

[Vass]

Hot shooting.

So do they have some way that they're re-directing the gas so as to avoid the fouling ala AR-15's? I like the way they designed for the slam fire issue-I have never experienced it and have always believed that it happened mostly with dirty weapons or in some cases with guys who replaced their firing pin with the titanium one (it slaps forward a little faster than the steel). Do you still get the little dimples on primers on unfired rounds? I guess not with that design.


Love to see that little cotter pin- I was always told that if you left that sucka out you'd get a nice "kaboom" out of the rifle. That may or may not be true, but it does induce me to be super careful with my cleaning, because the weapon will go back together and operate (up until the trigger pull at least) without that little pin in it.

Super cool. Looks like they took alot of the "problems" of AR's and fixed them.

For the SBR do you need 2 stamps if you want to take it to select fire land or can you just not do that at all? I can't remember what the "rules" are... No making new ones, right? Only ones made in the 80's or something? I guess I'm answering my own questions but it's a long time since I thought about messing with NFA stuff.

Excellent description & photos by the way. Thank you.

[DRM]

My 416 is 1 stamp...just for the SBR. I can not manufacture a machine gun since I do not pay the SOT class to do so. However, if you were to pay for a Class III license and keep it renewed, you can purchase new machine guns as "Law Enforcement Demo Models" if you have a letter from your local law enforcement sheriff for them to stop by and demo the weapons. The easiest way to do that is say, "Hey, who wants to go shooting? Just sign this."

For instance: a complete HK416 from the factory is an $800 rifle. However, because they are so rare in civilian hands, you'll be lucky to find a 10.5" 416 upper for less than $4,000. If you find one for a sweet price, snag it. They only go up in value.

However, if you want to get into the world of select fire, HK is the company to do it with. Without having to have any kind of license or pay anything other than a transfer fee, you can purchase a registered sear and install it in an HK trigger pack. A registered sear will run you close to $10,000 though, and then you have to feed a machine gun...it's a very expensive world to step in to. But if you could find an M16 lower receiver that's registered as a machine gun, you could drop this upper on it and have a full auto 416. But with HK's, almost all of their lower receivers are interchangable within models and with one sear you could have as many machine guns as you wanted, so long as you HAVE A REGISTERED SEAR. I don't like registered trigger packs because you're limited to the caliber it's registered in, ie 5.56mm or 7.62mm. That limits what you can mate it with. But with a reg sear, you can drop it in anything and take off to the range. Just don't forget your paperwork!

All the carbon and heat focuses solely on the piston op rod. None of it comes back to the bolt carrier at all. Check out YouTube for the Future Weapons episode that has the HK416 in it. They dump 30 rounds full auto down the pipe and immediately remove the bolt carrier. It's completely cold. I didn't really believe that until I took mine out and put 400 rounds through it. When I removed the bolt carrier, it was completely clean and also the same temperature as it would be sitting in its case. It's something you have to hold in your hands to believe.

[Jayster]

Gun pron, it needs it's own thread!!!
Maybe this weekend when I have some more time, I'll add(unfortunately no HK's).

[atomic charvel guy]

dude, you should definitely bring that 6 Flags, you'll get on the all the rides for free.
tell me, how hard is your rod when you fire something like that? it can't suck in any way i would think. i had a BB rifle growing up, that's it, i'm intrigued.

[DRM]

tell me, how hard is your rod when you fire something like that? it can't suck in any way i would think. i had a BB rifle growing up, that's it, i'm intrigued.

To be perfectly honest, after spending a year in Afghanistan with all kinds of fun toys, shooting my personal rifles isn't anywhere near as satisfying.

On the 8th day, God created semi-auto. And He saw that it kicked ass.

Owning a weapon can be a very rewarding purchase so long as you do it legally and with respect to what you're purchasing. Don't get something because it's "cool", just think about what you're going to need it for and how you're going to use it. I'm a big preacher of firearms safety as well as responsible ownership, so I won't even get into that stuff here. But in my opinion, picking up a rifle like a Bushmaster XM15 (just a standard AR15, but Bushmaster have excellent quality control and are very nice products in their own right) and respecting what you own as well as practicing is one of the most enjoyable aspects of being an adult.

But if you're like me and are a smug asshole, then HK is the ONLY thing that will ever scratch your itch.

[DRM]

Gun pron, it needs it's own thread!!!
Maybe this weekend when I have some more time, I'll add(unfortunately no HK's).

Dude, it needs its own sticky.

And there's nothing wrong with not owning an HK. My checking account is the only thing that's unfortunate.

[Hellbat]

It's too much of a pain in the ass to own a gun in Canada but if I owned one I would want an SL8 in .223 as well. All that good stuff comes from Germany.

[Robert Burns]

Thats the 22nd century rifle there! Enjoy..its bad ass!