Hey friends!
Welcome back to the blog! I’m back with another review and in this one, we’ll be looking at the G&G Armament Piranha MK I’s longer counterpart, the G&G Pirahna SL, also from Extreme Airsoft! Both the Piranha MK1 and the Pirahna SL are in-house pistol designs, built and made by G&G that feature their new Gas System to increase gas efficiency. I recently reviewed the MK1 and whilst they are internally very similar, I wanted to chat about the differences in appearance!
As always, let’s chat about the build first and foremost - the SL also has a full alloy slide that is ported, but the SL’s ported slide reveals a silver fluted outer barrel that sits on top of the polymer frame. The slide is also longer. Like the MK1, its frame also has a wide trigger guard and a textured pistol grip to make it more comfortable for the end-user and on this variant, there is also (albeit a longer) lower front rail that can be used for attachments such as torches or lasers. It still features the split slide design, where only the rear half of the slide moves backwards so less force is required to cycle the pistol as the weight of the moving parts has been heavily reduced. Other features include a large magazine release, an ambidextrous slide release and a trigger lock push-button safety on the trigger itself. Out of the two pistols, aesthetically I do prefer the SL - as I like the longer slide. The colour scheme of the pistol is really eye-catching - black with silver accents and silver fluted outer barrel. The markings on the pistol, from the G&G logo to the laser-etched (I think) Pirahna branding on the pistol grip makes this pistol a very good looking secondary.
Internally, it is the same as the MK 1 - it features an advanced hop-up system that is part of G&G Armament's new gas system. The hop-up unit and the inner barrel are an all one drop in unit and you can adjust the hop-up without having to split the pistol - instead, it’s adjusted from the front of the pistol. Simply pop the hop-up adjustment tool (which is included in the case) down the barrel and twist. It has a positive click so you’ll know it has securely locked into place. To improve gas efficiency, it has G&G’s new Ceramic Whirl Valve - in a nutshell, this means that less gas is wasted and more is transferred to the BB!
Additional features of the Pirahna include a threaded outer barrel which gives you the option of running mock suppressors and tracer units. The outer barrel is also locked into place to reduce slide and trigger wobble increasing the accuracy of your shots.
So what is included in the box? The Pirahna SL comes in a pistol carry case and in the case along with a 24rnd Green Gas Magazine, a 20 rnd decorative magazine (which has fake bullets in to really look the part), a transparent speed loader, and the Hop-Up 'Rip Round' adjustment tool can be found.
Like the MK1, the SL feels nice in your hand - it sits comfortably and feels ‘grippy’ thanks to the textured pistol grip. The 24 rnd gas mag when inserted gives it a good weight and this is also the case with the 20 rnd mag too however with this one inserted, it looks more balanced. Whichever mag you use, the weight feels evenly distributed. The split ported slide makes this pistol look really quite spicy.
In terms of performance, the mags are easy to load with a speedloader and easy to gas up. I won’t be able to put this through a skirmish until May at the earliest so I also tested this on the speed course at Extreme Airsoft to get a feel of what it’s like to run with. The split slide design allows the pistol to cycle quicker so I did get to shoot more rounds in a shorter time frame and the mags (both the decorative and regular 24 rnd mag) for the SL did seem to perform better on a cold day when I tried them than the MK1 did, however, I’m not a huge fan of the decorative magazine simply because it’s a lot longer yet doesn’t have as many shots? Surely a longer extended looking mag should have MORE shots. It looks cool for sure, but I prefer having more shots, especially during a skirmish.
The G&G Armament Pirahna SL retails at Extreme Airsoft for £219.99 and with my code ‘femmefatale’ you can grab 5% off!
Kydex Holsters for the Pirahna range of G&G pistols are available from Deadly Customs (Use code ‘femmefatale’ for 10% off!)
Post sponsored by Extreme Airsoft