Extensive EMG SAI BLU Review + Super Upgrades

[AK47frizzle]

Airsoft Glocks. Boring block of bricks. And yet, everyone has one. Why?

 

• Performance
• Plethora of upgrade parts
• Variety of different sizes to fit all
• Cheap

 

Most people get one of these as their first gun/pistol as it is low risk and easy to replace parts if they break. But, that's also the reason why many avoid them because everyone has one. Me? Kinda half and half: one half of me dislikes the fact that most people have one; the other half genuinely dislikes the plain look of them.

 

My first pistol was a WE G-FORCE G18c: "reliable", sort of stylish for a glock, and FULL AUTO BABY. However, jesus fucking christ: the relentless desire for a full auto pistol turned out to be a never-ending nightmare of buying spare parts. But, on semi auto, it was a good pistol - on co2 too. So from my experience with that pistol, I knew airsoft glocks were very good in terms of performance... just not the g18c on auto. However, their aesthetics lacked a bit.

 

 

I went on a GBB pistol frenzy, trying to find "the one" perfect sidearm for my sniper rifle that would match the performance of a glock with better aesthetics. I didn't find one. Well, the TM HK45 was very close. It's truly a remarkable piece of engineering. However, me and green gas just don't get along. It's just too sensitive to temperature and nowhere near as consistent as co2. I decided to go back to a glock. But, this time, I wanted a glock that actually looked good.

 

So what was a recently made, hot glock design? Whelp. It was the EMG SAI BLU. But, specifically with a gold outer barrel for that BLING BLING. Or just for a more classy look to it.

 

JKARMY, SEND ME THE GOODS:

 

 

 

 

I bought a co2 mag EMG SAI BLU, 2 extra co2 mags and a gold sai barrel. Very good looking gun indeed. When I first held it,  the immediate response was that it just felt incredibly pointable, more so than the TM HK45 that I will be comparing it to. The straight grip and the beaver tail does the gun wonders. I can throw the thing about in my grip and the sights will still be lined up.

 

First thing I did to it? Stripped that shit and cleaned up the factory garbage, as per usual.

 

 

Standard shitty WE hop chamber with red accents. DA FAQ OUTTA HERE. From my previous G18c build, I transplanted a spare maple leaf glock chamber with 50 degree hop, I key and 97mm 6.04 crazy jet barrel.

 

 

Comparing the stock barrel combo with the new set: The stock sai blu barrel has a rough texture to it, the kind that gives you huge shivers when you scratch your fingernail over a chalkboard. The gold barrel is completely smooth. I could already tell without testing that the gold barrel would be so much better at cycling the slide than the stock black one due to the smoothness. The gold barrel does have a thread adapter at the end of it. But, I don't like the look of the nut style barrel protector, so that shit staying off. The gold barrel + maple leaf set = DOUBLE BLING BLING

 

Here it looks with both shoved in.

 

 

This is how the full gun looks:

 

 

There is a small problem with the gold barrel, however:

 

 

It does have some bubbles/dimples leftover from its manufacturing process. It does deter the look of it. But, I'm personally not too bothered by it. Maybe it was just my copy.

 

Comparing to TM HK45

 

 

They are both roughly around the same size; the sai blu is just ever so slightly shorter when both have their barrel protectors removed. I also prefer the aesthetics of the black and gold furniture. Nice and classy. Can't say i'm a huge fan of the blu's magwell. But, it'll stay there for now as I will be concentrating on the poerformance first.

 

Comparing to WE G18c grip.

 

 

I was not fond of how the g18c grip felt as it angled my wrist in such an awkward way that it made it hard to line up the sights when I need to in games. The sai blu's grip completely eliminates that problem.

 

I then proceeded to test the stock gas performance of the pistol. And my god, this thing is incredibly snappy with co2:

 

 

Stock performance wise, the sai blu just destroys the HK45 in cycling speed, mainly due to co2. This probably isn't a fair test, but I'm a co2 man, so this is how it will be done.

 

Safe to say, I'm already won over by the blu: its ergonomics, efficiency and cycling speed are better than the HK45. Plus, it's also metal. As much as I love the HK45, there's just something about metal slides that you can't replace with a plastic pistol. Metal slides just have a superior feel.

 

Fps wise, it shot around 360-370 fps to start off with, even with the crazy jet barrel. But, it then calmed down around 330 with 0.2gs. With stock parts, it can do over 3 mags with one co2 capsule at ambient room temperature. It can probably finish 4 or more if I gave it more time to warm up between reloads.

 

So. This gun reigns over my TM HK45 as my new sniper sidearm. More pointable, more efficient, higher fps, faster cycling, and more resistant to temperature due to co2. All that I wanted. RIGHT?????????

 

MODIFICATIONS:

 

You thought I was done right? You thought wrong. I am an avid chaser of efficiency and optimization in anything and everything. So naturally, I wanted my sai blu to be even better than it is: even if it is perfectly fine stock; even if it better than the HK45. I wanted to see what was currently possible to maximize the effiency of the metal slide pistol on co2. So, I purchased upgrades for the sai blu beforehand, weeks before I even got the pistol itself  The calculated purchases theoretically should work.

 

What was my plan? Well you see, TM pistols are efficient because they have plastic slides. And plastic slides are significantly lighter than metal ones. I knew from my g18c that stock metal slides are not too heavy, but still something to consider. If I can't change the metal slide on the sai blu, then what could I change? The blowback unit. My g18c BBU is heavy af and I can imagine the sai blu's stock BBU to be similar in weight. However, the blu is WE spec and there are no explicitly stated WE spec lightweight BBUs on the market. So, I had to dig around for information. To see if some TM spec BBUs would fit into WE slides. And luckily I found some. I have no sources to cite, but I read from multiple places, even including reddit, that Guarder BBUs for g17 should fit in we g17 slides and have been reported to work wonders. SO? I TOOK A GAMBLE.

 

I purchased a Guarder G17 lightweight BBU (20g advertised), a Guarder g17 piston head that is cup-shaped and a Guarder enhanced g17 nozzle with internals. I bought the g17 nozzle to pair with the BBU because I was not sure that the stock blu's nozzle would fit.

 

Next calculated problem? Well, TM nozzles are different from WE nozzles: TM mag lips are concave; WE map lips are flat. This meant that I needed to buy TM glock mag lips to fit onto the co2 sai blu mags. My next purchase was 2x Nineball TM g17 mag lips.

 

When everything all arrived, including the pistol. IT WAS TIME TO MOD.

 

First thing I did:

 

 

This was a trivial one. Fits in nice and perfectly.

 

Disassembling the slides:

 

 

Here I wanted to compare both sai blu's slide and HK45. They actually aren't too far in terms of weight just by judging with my hands. The HK45's BBU is pretty bulky which is the main contributor to its heft.

 

When I stripped the sai blu's BBU, it wasn't as heavy as when comparing it to the g18c. However, when I compared it to the 20g Guarder housing, the difference was night and day:

 

 

The middle is the we g18c housing which just a solid block of garbage. The assembled piece on the left is the Guarder BBU housing and it weighs almost nothing compared to the stock sai blu's BBU.

 

I immediately installed the Guarder BBU into the sai slide and my fucking god, it is an extremely tight fit:

 

 

 

The back plate was not a perfect fit. Some of it did protrude out the back of the slide. But, it was a secure fit, so I left it there.

 

So, the people on the internet were right: it did fit inside a WE spec slide. The entire assembled slide felt significantly lighter than before. This was it. Perfect performance was waiting for me. The nozzle was free and it seemed ready to go. WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

 

 

Apparently, everything.

 

Everything went wrong. It didn't feed or shoot. It just straight up vented 100% of the time. Why? Probably due to tolerances from WE and TM specs. The lips probably didn't reach the nozzle. It never fired once with this configuration.

 

When I reinstalled the stock BBU and mag lips, it worked fine, sadly. But, I wasn't about to give up there. I was determined to create value out of my purchases.

 

The one thing that did stay was the Guarder g17 piston head. The stock piston head wobbled about, even when tightened down to the max. So this piston head will give it some more consistency over the stock. 

 

The next thing I tried was installing the stock nozzle into the Guarder lightweight BBU. I then noticed that the Guarder nozzle was actually smaller than the sai nozzle. For a good while, I couldn't actually fit the nozzle into the Guarder housing. I thought it was over. However, I kept trying and eventually, it did fit in:

 

 

The Guarder BBU is not smooth. It has a very rough texture, exactly like a chalkboard as I described the stock barrel earlier. Since the stock nozzle is larger, you really have to squeeze and angle it into the BBU. The nozzle does have full motion, but there's quite a bit of friction. Unfortunately, there's not much I could about it apart from praying for it to work. And of course, lots of oil ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

There's also one more thing to note: the valve inside the sai nozzle does not fit into the Guarder nozzle. I actually tried installing the Guarder valve inside the sai nozzle. But, it would not fire. Most likely due to the tolerances.

 

After fitting everything back together, it was time for the moment of truth:

 

 

HOT DAMN. It works. It fucking works. It's just so incredibly snappy.

 

I should also mention that I did fit a 150% spring that was leftover from the g18c build. I wasn't sure if I should've kept it on or not. But, it did help with cycling as sometimes it catches on something halfways when manually cycling:

 

 

This is further alleviated with this mod:

 

 

An 8mm hammer bearing. This allows the slide to roll over the hammer much better than the stock bearing. The chance of it getting stuck halfway is significantly reduced.

 

Onto the efficiency and fps test:

 

With the stock nozzle, lightweight BBU and 150% spring, it churned out 94 shots: one shot per second, starting out 360 fps, 308 by the end of the 3rd mag, and 278 at its lowest before running out. I gave 2 min between each mag because realistically, you're not going to immediately reload the same mag again on the field.

 

With the stock nozzle, lightweight BBU and a 100% spring, it churned out 100 shots, with the lowest fps being 273. So it does get a little more shots. However, not conclusive enough because it did stop cycling sometimes near the end of the co2 bulb. The 100% spring couldn't push the slide forwards at times.

 

I then decided to try something radical:

 

 

A stock WE G18c nozzle into the Guarder BBU. With the 100% spring, it gave 91 confirmed shots on the chrono. I say "confirmed", because it fired like 10-15 times without a BB coming out. It started out at 330 fps and ended at 274. It was very consistent around the 308 mark for a good while. But again, not conclusive enough. Too many feeding issues with this setup.

 

I then decided to try the stock g18c nozzle valve in the stock sai valve. Churned out 95 confirmed shots but it stopped cycling 2 times. It was time to ditch the 100% spring.

 

I just didn't understand: my g18c managed 5+ mags, and this was struggling to get 4. 

 

I tired it with the g18 valve one more time and BBs just kept rolling out the barrel 😕

 

And at this point, the gold barrel broke:

 

 

But tbh, I'm not sure what that part does as the gun still worked fine.

 

So here we are, at current time. I decided to go back to original setup: lightweight bbu, guarder piston head, stock sai nozzle and 150% spring. I'm fine with this setup.

 

But, I simply just don't understand. I just don't: why did my we g18c gets 5+ mags with it's original slide before it broke? I simply just don't understand at all. It easily got 4 mags on one co2 bulb too. Do I need to get another we g18c?

 

18/04/19 update:

 

I rebuilt my previous G18c with the super heavy SRU 18 slide:

 

 

Everything is stock, except for the sru slide.

 

Ran it through the chrono with a co2 mag. It netted 106 shots. 106. No signs of dying until near the end of the 3rd mag. It started at 350 fps and consistently hovered around 320 until it died at 301. 106 shot. Stock. With a heavy ass slide. Just over 4 mags. With a damn heavy slide.

 

It's hard to believe. But, it's real. I don't understand how. But, g18c on semi is better than g17 on semi in terms of efficiency. It must be the way the G18c BBU and the trigger unit mesh together. 

 

That concludes this review and test. I am going back to a G18c to get 5+ mags of co2 efficiency.

 

5 HOURS LATER UPDATE:

 

LOOK WHAT I DID AHAHAHHAH

 

 

Since I don't like the stock g18c's body, I decided to transfer everything to the sai blu's body. And my fucking god, I just created a franken-pistol. Ergonomics of the blu's body + the performance of the g18c. 

I think I just created the best outcome of what I currently have. Though, I will need a lighter, black slide so that I can achieve the 5 mags as I did before. 

 

Has this just become a g18c build thread instead of a sai blu review? 

 

xd

 

[Guest]

Awesome review, for an awesome pistol, cheers mate.

 

I blacked out my BLU, not a fan of the bling, but I might try another recoil spring and bbu, despite only running green gas

 

rdb

[Immortal]

Interesting review and cool that you tested more than just the stock pistol. Thank you.

[AK47frizzle]

Whelp. I updated it the review at the bottom. Going back to G18c. Sad times.

[AK47frizzle]

Another update: created a franken-pistol

[apexpredator]

Great review @AK47frizzle!

 

I love(d) my SAI BLU - had pretty much the same setup as you (Gold outer barrel, ML Hop up, G&P Gold trigger, Guns Modify 150% spring) but it wasn't to last. Think it was March of this year when I was playing and had a massive cool down issue, so bad that the inside rail of the slide broke off and destroyed it.

 

Will be looking to pickup another one though, because when it did work, it was a beast! Deadly accurate and very consistent on the FPS.

[AK47frizzle]

 

 

 

2

15 minutes ago, apexpredator said:

Great review @AK47frizzle!

 

I love(d) my SAI BLU - had pretty much the same setup as you (Gold outer barrel, ML Hop up, G&P Gold trigger, Guns Modify 150% spring) but it wasn't to last. Think it was March of this year when I was playing and had a massive cool down issue, so bad that the inside rail of the slide broke off and destroyed it.

 

Will be looking to pickup another one though, because when it did work, it was a beast! Deadly accurate and very consistent on the FPS.

Ye, unfortunately, it's still we pot metal which is quite brittle. Reason why I stick to my sru g18c slide now as that thing just doesn't scratch nor break. Might look into their g17 mustang slide. They're actually not that much heavier than a pot metal we slide too. 

 

Though, I'm currently looking at the secutor gladius acta non verba stone grey atm. Solely because of the rmr + it's cheaper than a super expensive rmr slide that isn't as strong as the sru slides.

[A Random Airsofter]

Hi! I am sort of a noob to teching, but I got a Green Gas SAI Blu from an evike box of awesomeness. Now, I like it and all, but as you mentioned, the slide gets stuck halfway. At first, it was barely noticeable, but now, I can barely get it to shoot 2 rounds without it getting stuck. I keep it well lubricated, and have cleaned it well. I have only maybe put 20 mags through it at all anyway, so IDK what the problem is. I was wondering what upgrades I should do to prevent this, and/or any other good upgrades (that are preferably budget friendly/safe). Thank you, and sorry for asking so late.

[Guest]

Roller bearing in the hammer. I made my own

 

[A Random Airsofter]

@rocketdogbert That is interesting, but as I  mentioned I doubt I would be able to recreate something like that. Is there a YouTube video or something I can look at to do that? Also, does that affect performance or anything else. Thanks for the quick reply!

 

(Is that just a bearing inserted in the slide?)

[Guest]

1 minute ago, A Random Airsofter said:

@rocketdogbert That is interesting, but as I  mentioned I doubt I would be able to recreate something like that. Is there a YouTube video or something I can look at to do that? Also, does that affect performance or anything else. Thanks for the quick reply!

 

(Is that just a bearing inserted in the slide?)

 

Where are you based? Rainbow8 sell them, ten minute job to install. Or sell me your BLU 😂😂

[AK47frizzle]

45 minutes ago, A Random Airsofter said:

@rocketdogbert That is interesting, but as I  mentioned I doubt I would be able to recreate something like that. Is there a YouTube video or something I can look at to do that? Also, does that affect performance or anything else. Thanks for the quick reply!

 

(Is that just a bearing inserted in the slide?)

http://www.boomarms.com/shop/item.cfm?id=BM-BEARING-8MM

 

Or this: http://www.boomarms.com/shop/item.cfm?id=AT-BEARING-9MM&curr_code=USD

 

I'd say buy both 8mm and 9mm because weird shit happens with tolerances. For example, mixing a we slide and tm frame requires a 9mm bearing because the distance between the slide and frame and slightly higher.

[A Random Airsofter]

@AK47frizzle @rocketdogbert So Im in the Northern KY/ Cinci area. My SAI Blu is completely stock. Also, @AK47frizzle, what other upgrades/changes should I so/make to it, or that you recommend I do first. Thank you both for being helpful.

[AK47frizzle]

9 hours ago, A Random Airsofter said:

@AK47frizzle @rocketdogbert So Im in the Northern KY/ Cinci area. My SAI Blu is completely stock. Also, @AK47frizzle, what other upgrades/changes should I so/make to it, or that you recommend I do first. Thank you both for being helpful.

Depends if you are running gas or co2. With gas, most aluminium upgrades like the maple leaf hop chamber are excellent and will last.

 

If co2, the outer barrel and hop chamber will need to be steel as those will snap (snapped 3 aluminium barrels and 1 maple leaf chamber).

 

But ye, the first thing most people do is to get a maple leaf set: https://www.skirmshop.nl/en/maple-leaf-glock-hopup-unit-and-autobotcrazy-jet-b.html

 

This pretty much covers most things and you don't really need anything else.

[A Random Airsofter]

@AK47frizzle I use green gas, and I will definitely look on to that. So you think I can install that myself or if I should bring it to a pro shop. About the bearings, what/how should I do that? Thanks again.

[AK47frizzle]

1 hour ago, A Random Airsofter said:

@AK47frizzle I use green gas, and I will definitely look on to that. So you think I can install that myself or if I should bring it to a pro shop. About the bearings, what/how should I do that? Thanks again.

The hop up assembly is a literal drop-in, so no pro shop required. Bearings are a bit more complicated but just use youtube videos. There isn't that much to take apart and you'll easily figure it out. GBB pistols are pretty simple.

[A Random Airsofter]

1 hour ago, AK47frizzle said:

The hop up assembly is a literal drop-in, so no pro shop required. Bearings are a bit more complicated but just use youtube videos. There isn't that much to take apart and you'll easily figure it out. GBB pistols are pretty simple.

Wonderful, I think I'll be able to figure it out, but I cant seem to find any videos or anything that deals with the hammer bearing, If you could tell me what to search or send me a link, that would be great. Thank you. Also, is this the same thing? https://shop.jkarmy.com/maple-leaf-g-series-97mm-crazy-jet-aerodynamic-6-04mm-inner-barrel-w-hop-up-chamber-set-kit-for-we-tm-vfc.html

[Hamlet]

On 17/04/2019 at 05:22, AK47frizzle said:

And at this point, the gold barrel broke

That barrel is not made of aluminum? Or it just broke for what reason?, I'm planning to buy this barrel for my g17.

Btw this barrel comes with a thread adapter? Or i get that wrong?

[AK47frizzle]

12 hours ago, Hamlet said:

That barrel is not made of aluminum? Or it just broke for what reason?, I'm planning to buy this barrel for my g17.

Btw this barrel comes with a thread adapter? Or i get that wrong?

Probably mostly aluminium. However, I use co2 exclusively and it did not handle that.

 

I think there are thread in it, but it doesnt give you an adapter.

[Hamlet]

11 hours ago, AK47frizzle said:

Probably mostly aluminium. However, I use co2 exclusively and it did not handle that.

 

I think there are thread in it, but it doesnt give you an adapter.

Do you recommend that barrel? My g17 is running green gas

 

Even it's broken is still working??

[AK47frizzle]

It will work but it will wobble. Wouldn't recommend it tbh. The gold paint scratches off too very easily. I'd recommend a silver steel barrel even though gold is the theme; there just aren't any good gold barrels.

[Hamlet]

On 07/10/2019 at 02:20, AK47frizzle said:

It will work but it will wobble. Wouldn't recommend it tbh. The gold paint scratches off too very easily. I'd recommend a silver steel barrel even though gold is the theme; there just aren't any good gold barrels.

It is painted in gold colour? Is not anodized aluminum?, you can scratch it with your finger nails?