Category Archives: Collecting

Collecting Category

Chinese B3 underlever: Part 6

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

B3
The B3 underlever from China.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • Pre-work baseline
  • RWS Hobby
  • Harsh firing cycle
  • Rifle is breaking in
  • Air Arms Falcon
  • Sig Match Ballistic Alloy
  • RWS Hobby again
  • Discussion
  • Cocking effort
  • Trigger pull
  • Summary

Today I will test the velocity of the B3 underlever that we cleaned and lubed on Friday. This will be a fantastic learning lesson for all airgunners, because the results are most informative!

Pre-work baseline

If you have been following this report you know I discovered in Part 2 that the rifle wasn’t performing to expectations. In Part 3 I replaced the breech seal and tested the velocity. That gave us a baseline we can use today for a before and after comparison. Let me get to the tests right now.

RWS Hobby

The first pellet to be tested was the RWS Hobby. In Part 3 Hobbys gave an average 617 f.p.s. with a 24 f.p.s. spread. read more

Chinese B3 underlever: Part 5

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

B3
The B3 underlever from China.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • Remove the stock
  • Anti-beartrap
  • The piston and sliding compression chamber
  • Removing the mainspring
  • Removing the anti-beartrap device
  • Compression chamber and piston out
  • Cleaning
  • Assembly
  • The trigger
  • Lubrication
  • Does it work?
  • Next
  • Summary

Today I take the Chinese B3 underlever rifle apart and we see inside. This will be a good one.

Remove the stock

The first step is to remove the stock. That’s two forearm screws and one in the triggerguard. Once out, I could see this rifle is very rusty. It’s so rusty that it will take many hours to clean. I don’t have that kind of time so I’m going to clean only what needs to be cleaned.

B3 action
With the action out of the stock you can see rust everywhere! Notice the flat bar in front of the trigger housing. That’s the anti-beartrap. read more

Chinese B3 underlever: Part 4

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

B3
The B3 underlever from China.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

A history of airguns

This report covers:

  • The test
  • RWS Superdomes
  • Sig Match Ballistic Alloy
  • Firing behavior
  • RWS Meisterkugeln
  • Qiang Yuan Training pellets
  • Trigger
  • Summary

This is accuracy day! Today we will learn how accurate my new/old Chinese B3 underlever spring-piston air rifle is. This is the rifle with the replaced breech seal that we learned in Part 3 is such an easy fix. Today we see whether it matters.

The test

I shot at 10 meters off a sandbag rest. I used the classic artillery hold with the off hand next to the front of the triggerguard and rested on the sandbag.

I resolved to shoot just 5 shots, unless the pellet looked like it might group. If it did I would go to 10 shots.

RWS Superdomes

First up was the RWS Superdome. The first shot hit the target at the lower edge of the bull, but shot two hit above the 10-ring. I shot the next three shots and then looked at the group and decided this is not the right pellet for this rifle. The 5-shot group later measured 1.37-inches between centers. read more

Umarex Legends Ace in the Hole pellet revolver: Part 1

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Legends Ace revolver
Umarex Legends Ace in the Hole revolver.

  • History of the Colt Single Action Army (SAA) revolver
  • Buntline Special
  • Sheriff’s model
  • The Shopkeeper’s model
  • Ace in the Hole
  • Fanning hammer
  • Don’t fan!
  • Removable front sight
  • Weathered finish
  • Pellet pistol
  • Heavy
  • Safety
  • Evaluation

Today we begin our look at the Umarex-Legends-Ace-in-the-Hole-revolver. This Legends airgun is different from all others because it does not attempt to copy the firearm exactly. It takes the kind of license you would expect from a person who wanted to customize his sidearm. To appreciate today’s report we’re gonna need to know some history of the Colt single action.

History of the Colt Single Action Army (SAA) revolver

The SAA came into being in 1873, two years after the expiration of S&W’s patent on revolver cylinders that were bored though, front to back. Colt started by modifying their 1860 Army cap and ball revolver to become the Colt 1871/72 open top cartridge revolver, but in late 1872 they began producing what would become the most famous revolver of all time, the 1873 Single Action Army. read more

Chinese B3 underlever: Part 3

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

B3
The B3 underlever from China.

Part 1
Part 2

A history of airguns

  • The washers
  • Installing the washer
  • Velocity
  • RWS Hobby
  • Air Arms Falcon
  • Sig Match Ballistic Alloy
  • Cocking effort
  • Trigger pull
  • Evaluation
  • Next

Today we find out how the makeshift faucet washer fix does fixing the B3 breech seal. Before I get on with the test, here’s a word about the piston seal.

The older B3s often have leather piston seals, but as the years passed the Chinese started putting synthetic piston seals in them. From what I have learned, you have to look at yours to be sure, because owners can replace the leather with synthetic.

Given a choice, I would choose leather, just because in a rifle of this power leather should last a long time, and as we know, the Chinese synthetics are not that reliable. I can’t see any advantage for power with either material. Now let’s test the gun and see what happened. read more

Old versus new

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

A history of airguns

  • Wait
  • Old airguns
  • Pistols?
  • Broomhandle Mauser M712
  • Lookalikes
  • Get it?
  • The moral

Are old airguns better than new ones? “Yes!” says the guy who likes them for their wood and steel. He doesn’t want any plastic on his guns. It bothers him that the firearm handguns of today are made from as much plastic as steel.

Wait

Hold on, brother! That plastic Glock that offends you so much has been test-fired 30,000 shots without a major failure. The 1911 you love so dearly was praised in 1910 for shooting 6,000 shots  with the same results. The Glock endured 5 times the punishment as your venerable Browning design.

The Glock is also built for ease of manufacture. It’s so simple that a guy can build one in his workshop, starting with a plastic frame that’s 80 percent finished. All it takes is a file, a drill and some time. Oh, and a lot of money! When it’s finished he will have about as much tied up as if he had bought the gun over the counter. But it is possible. read more

Chinese B3 underlever: Part 1

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by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

B3
The B3 underlever from China

A history of airguns

  • Chinese B3
  • The B3
  • The rifle
  • How can you tell?
  • Who cares?
  • The Compasseco connection
  • Next

Today was supposed to be Part 2 of the FLZ Luftpistole. However, as sometimes happens, fate had a different plan.

I started to chronograph the pistol with RWS Hobby pellets. I said I thought the gun would be slow, but I had no idea how slow! The first pellet didn’t leave the barrel. I cocked and fired again and it registered 67 f.p.s.

I tried deep seating the pellet and got one at 144 f.p.s. That was followed by two pellets sticking in the barrel. Obviously this pistol isn’t ready to shoot! If I had planned it I would have taken it apart today, but I had a couple errands that kept me from having the time, so I decided to move on to the B3 underlever I picked up in Weatherford Pawn shop a couple weeks ago. That was at the same time that I got the Benjamin 392 that I tested for you already. read more