What happened to the B3 series ?

[Slavia]

Bedliner is good stuff if a natural wood finish isn't going to work out.  On metal I prime with a self-etching primer and spray on one coat of black paint before I use the bedliner.  It doesn't like to stick to plastic much, so I "prime" those pieces with a plastic paint like Krylon or Painter's Choice before using the bedliner.  You can adjust the "grit" of the bedliner with coats of polyurethane, using flat/satin/semi-gloss/glossy depending upon your tastes.

[2nd RCHA]

Every place that I knew of that was selling "Bam's", the B4's, and the B3 "Folding Stock" models have all dried up, Lot's of "Industry" gun's, but No Bam's?, could be they stopped making them all together, or the markets dried up, and they're only selling to "third-world" countries. http://www.dlairgun.com/Air-Rifles/Industry-Brand/ I managed to find this place that still sells B-3's, unfortunately they're sold out, but they do have the B-2-2A'a in .22, I had one of these tuned, and it would send a Crosman Dome @ 600fps, only problem, No safety, http://www.rexdist.com/collections/pellet-guns-accessories/products/b2-1

[lefteyeshot]

Jon, I've got an old XSB4-2 I got off gunbroker.com and like your's it shoots better than my B3's. Also my Peak B3 AK,Bam B3 AK and Peak TS 45 shoot good. All those I believe are now XS. It's got to be better barrels and also they all got smaller 33 coil springs and seem to shoot a little smoother. When I rebuilt them I put 33 coil B2 springs in them. No, one of the AK's had a 29 coil spring like a B1. Another difference in the XSB4 is the trigger assembly. Wen I re-built it six month ago it took me 3 hours to figure out how to get the trigger back together. The key was one leg of the spring goes under the sear and the other behind the trigger. It's got a 2lbs 3oz pull now. But after that 3 hour I was the most relaxed I'd been in awhile.

The one in Andy's picture is a newer version than mine. (correct me if I'm wrong Andy) I think it has an adjustable front sight (ak/sks style) Same as on my B3 AK's and TS45. The rear is range adjustment but you can make elevation adjustments with it. I bought an ak/sks front sight adj. tool for them. Also the receiver is a little longer and has a bigger spring.

A few weeks ago I bought what was suppose to be three B3's in parts and pieces. One is a B3-3 the other two are an XSB4-2 like my other one and one is a XSB4 like Andy's except it sights are missing.
An AR2078 front sight will fit with a couple of taps and I'll use an I.B. clamp on rear or a Williams peep.
I got enough parts to get'em all shooting along with 2 AXE deodorant tops for receiver end caps.

[Tdubya]

Check "SelfDefenseSupply".  You have to sign up as a dealer, but I don't recall paying an extra fee to do so.
They usually have an ad in Shotgun News mag.

Terry

[2nd RCHA]

Check this place out; ,Not sure about the validity, but the ad looks current. Cheer's, Andy.

[singleshotcajun]

The one that shows in that link appears to be one with an articulating cocking arm(notice the groove in the stock) and a plastic trigger guard.
This one from the same seller is like the ones I bought from Sharp imports 



If you get one like it be sure to check for clearance between the wood and the cocking lever as you carefully cock it the first time. This arrangement is growing on me as it is simpler.
I got one running last night.The piston seal on one of the new ones had .008" clearance on the air chamber.Air chamber =1.010" and the seal was 1.002".As Jamie Hynemen would say "Theres your problem!"). I installed a air chamber and piston from a donor rifle(basket case from south summit) homemade steel spring guide,thrust washers,worked the trigger and voilà great shooting rifle.No Chrony but at 10 meters in the garage it is printing 1.5" high with the rear sight as far down as it will go and is planting them deep in duct seal with .5" ten shot groups offhand with the open sights,it will get a rear peep.
Now to tackle the other I received on Monday.
I do wish there was another source for replacement urethane piston seals other than Archie.I do not want to have to buy all the stuff just to get a seal.

[TooJung2Die]

The one that shows in that link appears to be one with an articulating cocking arm(notice the groove in the stock) and a plastic trigger guard.
This one from the same seller is like the ones I bought from Sharp imports.

That is where I got my B3, LastWorld on Amazon. It was a birthday gift from my girlfriend. It was so sorry looking in the box that she offered to return it. It was as I expected. There was only a little piece of battered styrofoam in the box to protect the muzzle and front sight. It had chips in the uneven stock finish and a good size gouge in the wood, scratches in the bluing, loose rear sight pin halfway coming out, twisted front sight, barrel bent to the right like a banana, rust and pits in the compression tube, loose screws, sloppy welds and the wobbly rear sight wouldn't adjust low enough to zero in the POI. Inside everything was covered with a brown greasy goop that had a smell like cooking oil when it dieseled.

It shot 495 avg. fps with 7 gr pellets out of the box. After the first lube-n-tune it shot 540 avg. fps with the original synthetic piston seal. I installed a Tesla seal and some other homebrew mods. It now clocks at 668 avg. fps with 7 gr and 619 avg. fps with 8.3 gr pellets. Accuracy is pretty good with the iron sights and I like having an iron sight gun to practice with. Now that the internals are working well I touched up the bluing and refinished the stock. I like having an example of the B3 in my little arsenal.

[lefteyeshot]

CJ, you could bend the barrel just a hair. That over sized compression chamber might be fixed with a plastic sleeve inside, like fabricated from a plastic vinegar bottle etc. The poly. seals seem to be all the same size. The leather seals vary a little. Soak'em in oil they swell a little or ruff up the sides. Archies got a pack of 4 for $12.99. My old XSB4-2 w/ 33 coil spring and leather seal averages 641 fps. One of my I.B. B3's with 37 coils and a poly. seal avg. 584 fps.(both .177)

I bought a Qb57 way back with both barrels, decided to thread lock the .177 barrel. Then bought the parts, sans barrel, to build another gun (it's a hobby!) for the .22 barrel and tried a leather seal and it averaged 481 fps. That .22 barrel on the original gun avg. 513 fps. (FYI .177 avg. 662 FPS.)

[Slavia]

You can make the fit of a leather piston seal adjustable.  Look here:
http://www.kermitairgunclub.com/projects/b3guide/B-3%20guide.html#Leather_seal_expansion_washer

I used a slight variation on the theme, and it has worked great for three years now.

[lefteyeshot]

I like it, Simple stuff.

[singleshotcajun]

Thanks I guess I'll order some leather seals and try them.

[avator]

You can make the fit of a leather piston seal adjustable.  Look here:
http://www.kermitairgunclub.com/projects/b3guide/B-3%20guide.html#Leather_seal_expansion_washer

I used a slight variation on the theme, and it has worked great for three years now.

This is exactly the setup in the S2-1 .22 Chinese pistol. Good stuff

[lefteyeshot]

Bill, when you had those S2-1 tore down were you able adjust the seal and get anymore fps.

[avator]

Tim, to be honest, I can't answer that. I just got the chrony and I have yet to run anything across it yet. I didn't know the stats on the gun before I tore it down so I have nothing to compare to when I do test it, as with all my guns. I will be at that disadvantage. I can't tell by shooting it because these guns shoot very slow and the gain or loss can't be determined by feel. I can tell you I need to go back into that gun because the trigger pull is way too heavy. But that brings up another problem, my spring compressor failed and I have to build another one. I have everything to do it with except the time. should have a 3 day weekend but, the to-do list is a mile long.

Sorry

[singleshotcajun]

Finished with the two from Sharp imports and they are acting right even if I had to rob a piston and combustion chamber from a parts gun for one of them. No matter how many I have it burns me up to have any form of gun air or firearm that will not work but sometimes it really is trowing good money at bad and one has to be designated a "parts" gun.
Made a peep with an Industry brand 11mm rear sight and put it on the ugly one and installed a steel spring guide in it.
Left the open sight on the pretty one and only added thrust washer and a penny in the piston and used the black plastic spring guide as I wanted to keep this one light. Nowadays with my contacts I can shoot open sights fairly well again. Both got copious amounts of Molykote on the spring and piston, shot cycle is pretty sweet.
link for pictures
http://s84.photobucket.com/user/cajuncj/library/#/user/cajuncj/library/air/B3%20air%20rifles%20two%20more%20tuned%20and%20ready?sort=3&page=1&_suid=1390155564312025888854178093456

[TooJung2Die]

Says I have to login to view photos.

[singleshotcajun]

Try it now, I goofed the first time.

[TheFrugalTech]

The one in the Amazon pic looks just like the one I am refinishing except the stock on mine has no cheek pad. I suspect someone smoothed it off though because it was wavy top to bottom just in that area. Took a while to get it smoothed out.

[CFH]

Finished with the two from Sharp imports and they are acting right even if I had to rob a piston and combustion chamber from a parts gun for one of them. No matter how many I have it burns me up to have any form of gun air or firearm that will not work but sometimes it really is trowing good money at bad and one has to be designated a "parts" gun.
Made a peep with an Industry brand 11mm rear sight and put it on the ugly one and installed a steel spring guide in it.
Left the open sight on the pretty one and only added thrust washer and a penny in the piston and used the black plastic spring guide as I wanted to keep this one light. Nowadays with my contacts I can shoot open sights fairly well again. Both got copious amounts of Molykote on the spring and piston, shot cycle is pretty sweet.
link for pictures
http://s84.photobucket.com/user/cajuncj/library/#/user/cajuncj/library/air/B3%20air%20rifles%20two%20more%20tuned%20and%20ready?sort=3&page=1&_suid=1390155564312025888854178093456

Least maybe they look better now CJ.  I made a vid this morning of my original B3-1 in .22 cal.  I had stripped down the stock only to find tons of filler, so I painted it flat black with several coats of clear (bout 7 years ago).  I added a little bright green paint to the front sight, although I have since added a very cheap 4x15 scope.




The barrel never was really blue when I bought it about 10 years ago, now it is mostly brown, but with that said it is still shooting decent (5 shot group in vid less than a 25 cent piece @ 13.5 yards), and still chronys @ 416.9fps with all original stock internals.

No complaints, I have pushed a lot of lead through it over the years and had a good time doing it!

I have a B2-1 though that is the biggest pile one has ever seen

Tim

[TooJung2Die]

CJ, I like the homemade peep sight. Where did you get the dovetail rear sight? What did you use for the disk? I'd have to remove the breech mounted rear sight to use a dovetail mounted sight.