Just wanted to say Tom Bostic did an excellent job on getting my SL8/XM8 built as close to the real thing as he could. This started life as a Hk SL8-1 AA model so I wanted to keep the grey look as close to the original, went with Flecktarn Grey. The contrast between the grey and black looks good and ended up getting everything done that Tom offers plus he went out of his way doing extra contouring which took longer for him building up the receiver flush to the indention right above the serial number and making the curve indention like on the real XM8. I run cnc machines for a living so I took my barrel to work and cut it to 13.3 inches turned down the OD just on the front pasted the gas block and threaded to 15x1mm and pinned and welded the flash hidder bringing it to 16.1 inches. Also I took the cocking handle and milled the slots on both sides like the ones on the newer XM8's. So I think this is as close as I could get it to the real thing I'm happy with it and If you are contemplating doing a XM8 build just do it, you won't be let down by Tom Bostic.