HERA block SL8 conversion

I wanted to share some photos of my latest SL8 conversion project. I replaced the butt stock with the new HERA BCK gen II block (you can order them at LAN world). Really nice aluminum block and it is fun to lift your trigger group from the SL8 stock in the the HERA block. On the block you can attach either an ACR stock or an AR-15 compatible stock, but I chose the ACR stock because it is foldable (and it clears the ejection port so you can shoot it folded). Tom Bostic widened up the magwell so it can accept G36 magazines, and he shortened and threaded the barrel to 16.5 inches, and I attached a Vortex flash hider.

So, this weekend I went to a defensive rifle course to put the gun to test (with a Trijicon RX30 red-dot sight), and during the weekend I shot about 550 rounds, doing fast fire, malfunction drills, shooting prone etc -- and no malfunction of any kind; the gun works just great. Tom did an awesome job on the magazine conversion; you cannot tell there is new piece of plastic there. The one thing that was troublesome is that the HERA block trigger guard is a bit sharp and it really rubbed my finger during the exercises where you hold the gun 'at ready' lots of the time -- I need to find a way to round the trigger guard edges a bit. Also, the converted SL8 is still quite heavy compared to a better AR-15 due to the bull barrel -- but many of the other participants had quite a few malfunctions during the training weekend: broken butt stock, a POF that had continuous FTF's, and various other smaller problems. We also put in some some dummy .40 rounds in our magazines as a malfunction drill and interestingly the SL8 just ejects them on a rack, while the AR15's do a double feed at the point. Bad things about the SL8: the safety switch sits too high to manipulate with the thumb, and the magazine ejection button cannot be pushed with the trigger hand (which means you have to pull out a magazine first which can be slightly slower)

Anyways, here are some pics of my new beauty:








btw. some 922(r) info for those that want to do this too: the nice thing about the HERA is that it gives you a USA made Magpull pistol grip and Bushmaster ACR stock. I also use a HDPS piston and piston rod, and Magpull G36 magazines (3 parts), so I have 7 USA made parts. (as an aside: That is in principle one too many, but I am not sure if the the HERA block itself counts as a german made 'trigger housing', so just to be on the safe side I like to use at least 7 parts)