Bada Bing Posted April 10, 2014 Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 Hey fellas. Here we go again. My second attempt at building a gas blow back XM8. A couple of years ago I started a thread on here about the project I was undertaking. http://arniesairsoft.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/201998-hk-xm8-gbbr/ Long story short it didn't turn out so well, so I shelved the project and went along to do other things. A couple of months ago I turned my attention back to the XM8 after seeing the parts in the junk bin. I had then conjured several ideas and then chose to pursue the idea of a gas fish gun once more, however keeping the emphasis of simplicity. Instead of my previous disaster, I wanted to keep the donor WE G36 as untouched as possible to secure its ability to operate and merely modify the furniture to fit the externals. So up first was the attachment of the handguard. With some trial and major error, I destroyed my original GWS (aeg kit) handguards. I was under the impression that I was a fairly clever individual (this was not the case) and inspired by the home DIY kydex custom holsters, I took it upon myself to stick the handguards in the oven to mould over the G36. Big mistake! After I wiped the tears from my cheeks and content that I was an idiot, I then had to search for a spare XM8 handguard. When I couldn't locate one without buying an entire new/second hand gun, I turned to some advice given to me by a forum member (who I'm not sure is still around here HJA1512). He once told me that the company Smart Parts made a XM8 style paintball gun with both carbine length and compact length handguards. Which is fantastic as no airsoft brand has released a compact variant, only the thing was, that particular paintball gun had been discontiunued. Following a couple of weeks of research and joining a paintball forum, I managed to pick up a second hand SP8, complete with both handguards, retractable stock and stock cap. Great So now I had the pieces and choosing to fit the compact handguard first, I got to work. First I had decide how I was going to pin the handguard in place, seeing as the G36 barrel locking nut was going to be in the way of the pin securing the handguard to the rifle. The only way to do it was to utilise the original G36 foregrip pin hole. Firmly set on this plan, I went onto plan how the handguard was going to slide into place. Seeing as the G36 was too wide where the foregrip is located for the XM8 handguard slip on, material had to come off. Now in removing the fins that the G36 has, it would make the rifle flexible in this area. To combat this, I used the metal reinforcement rail that hides within the G36C carry handle to reinforce the area. With that part cut in half and some small holes drilled into the G36 receiver, the reinforced rails were then screwed in and gave it the rigidity it needs. Unfortunately I may have drilled a little too far as four little dimples appeared in the upper receiver. Seeing as the screws didn't go through and they're not sharp, I shrugged and decided that it was fine. The fins were then taken off and as I expected it didn't make it any weaker due to my reinforcement. :-) As you can see from the pictures I dremeled away some material just past the barrel trunnion so the handguard can slip on easily. I was going to follow the same design that the G36 uses with the lugs either side of the rifle next to the magwell to interface with the handguard. The SP8 handguards then had to be modified. Because they were from a paintball gun, there was a ton of gunk and dried goo inside! The general build quality of the SP8 furniture is fantastic. The plastic is tough, durable and vastly superior to the GWS kit I had originally. I cut out slots on the compact handguard very similar to the G36 so it could mount in the same fashion. Also I had a hole drilled to allow for the pin to go through and lock it in place. The next task was to fit the carry handle. I used the same technique from the first version. Cutting a T shape into the upper receiver and necessary mods to the carry handle. While it may look rather shallow on the rear end, the carry handle does not move. The handguard is the other point of contact for the carry handle to lock into. So it remains sturdy and can be used for it's intended purpose. Picatinny scope mount. This was quite and easy job. As you can see there are already moulded holes in the upper which I used for the screw threads. They just needed a few mm drilled out and then I tapped in the screw threads. I also used the same picatinny rail from the first version but drilled out another hole for it to screw into place. Compact handguard Done Carry handle Done ZISM Red dot and rail Done Buttstock? (kinda, I'll report back once it's finished, along with details) Also unseen is the mod to correct the bolt lock, instead of the WE G36 "bolt release" it's now a bolt catch. Voila: What's left to do: Buttstock Stock Cap Modify and fit Carbine length handguard Material from the original g36 carry handle mounting to be filed away Whether to modify the receiver further for the GWS trademarked XM8 receiver panels to fit?(as pictured ^) And that's all I can think of for now. If you've made it this far, thank you very much for reading. Check out the Youtube video for some more info and a bit of shooting Link to post Share on other sites
Griff762 Posted April 10, 2014 Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 Looks awesome buddy! Looking very ARMA 2 PMC. Link to post Share on other sites
Krydel Posted April 10, 2014 Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 This is fantastic! I'd better follow this thread. I remember V1 and wondered what ever became of it. I would give my left arm for one of these if it turns out well, but to be honest, it looks pretty good as is! Modifying the receiver for the panels would be good, but i'd start with the easier bits first. Link to post Share on other sites
Murdoc Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 Looks great XM8 is the only G36 variant I'll ever like... Link to post Share on other sites
Gigueand Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 This is awesome. I really enjoy the fact that you stripped an SP8 to get the correct parts! Link to post Share on other sites
Bada Bing Posted April 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 This is fantastic! I'd better follow this thread. I remember V1 and wondered what ever became of it. I would give my left arm for one of these if it turns out well, but to be honest, it looks pretty good as is! Modifying the receiver for the panels would be good, but i'd start with the easier bits first. Cheers. Yeah, I'm stuck with where to go next. I could get some XM8 decal logos made up and have that instead. But then I'd still have the ghastly G36 ID plate recession sat there on the left side just mocking me. This is awesome. I really enjoy the fact that you stripped an SP8 to get the correct parts! Yeah I asked the guy if I could just have the shell and he could keep the rest but he wasn't having any of it. Apparently the SP8 worked, but I had no way to test it. The paintball mechanism is totally alien to me. Thanks for the kind words fellas :-) Link to post Share on other sites
ollie_ty Posted April 13, 2014 Report Share Posted April 13, 2014 I think it looks really good with the receiver mate! Link to post Share on other sites
Bada Bing Posted April 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2014 I think it looks really good with the receiver mate! The way it is or the XM8 panel attached? Update: I need to shave off a couple of areas in the foregrip so I can have the mock gas piston installed however it's on there nice and solid. Second video will be up as soon as I've sorted out the buttstock. Link to post Share on other sites
ollie_ty Posted April 18, 2014 Report Share Posted April 18, 2014 The way it is now! Link to post Share on other sites
uscmCorps Posted April 25, 2014 Report Share Posted April 25, 2014 Bloody well done. I prefer the shorty version personally, but it's great to have options to keep it interesting and fresh. Offer up the remainder of the SP8 for parts on the paintball forum. It wouldn't surprise me if someone needed the leftover components as back up. Especially since the gun is discontinued. Link to post Share on other sites
Bada Bing Posted April 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2014 Thanks very much. Yeah I'll see if I can shift the SP8 parts. Speaking of the compact, here it is with the end cap fitted. Requires fine tuning but it'll get there. Edit:RS comparison. The XM8 retractable stock needs some more attention, well not the stock itself but the remains of the cut down G36 stock it's pinned onto. Link to post Share on other sites
Bada Bing Posted April 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2014 Oops. Dead link. Link to post Share on other sites
stryker20000 Posted July 3, 2014 Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 Sorry for an old reply, but I too wondered what happened to this project of yours. It looks amazing and that's one hell of a job. The extended barrel variant is my favorite design. I thought of something like this with the SRC XM8 and the WE inners, but I'm not good with details. Any more updates on this bad boy? Link to post Share on other sites
Bada Bing Posted July 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 Sorry for an old reply, but I too wondered what happened to this project of yours. It looks amazing and that's one hell of a job. The extended barrel variant is my favorite design. I thought of something like this with the SRC XM8 and the WE inners, but I'm not good with details. Any more updates on this bad boy?Hi. Yeah I've been busy with other things at the moment so I haven't had time to address the stock movement issues but the carbine length kit is installed and hopefully will do a part 2 video of that tomorrow. Updates wise, the holes I drilled into the upper were just slightly too large for the threads that the rail screws into. Because of this the sight was shaking all over the place. So I've e poxed the threads in place along with the rail panel to hopefully stop it moving and lock it down. Yes, by all means give it a try, if you take it slow and easy you'll be able to do it. The tricky thing is having a pin securing the foregrip, as the XM8 foregrip has the pin hole which would interfere with the G36 barrel nut. So you would have to relocate this. If you check out the picture of the carbine above. I placed the pin through the ventilation slot and have the foregrip slide back far enough to wedge the pin through the grip and rested up against the G36 upper.. If that makes sense? Cheap bodied up way to do it, however it left me with little other options. My original GWS XM8 handguard was quite thin and narrow, so I had issues with trying to make it fit. The SP8 foregrip appeared to be wider and robust, so this was fairly easy to modify. The buttstock is possibly the worst thing to get fitted. One of the reasons why I left much of the G36 receiver intact, I utilised the G36 stock interface, cut the stock down into a stump and fitted the XM8 stock over the top and drilled a new pin hole. Downside is I took too much material off and now it anchors forward. Link to post Share on other sites
Bada Bing Posted March 31, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 Took me a while but here is a new video in the carbine length version. Link to post Share on other sites
paranoiddroid Posted March 31, 2015 Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 The idz stock would look awesome on that imo. Link to post Share on other sites
Bada Bing Posted April 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 I know right? Thanks. I'll look into picking one up for it. Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.