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Mentolio · Veteran Member

Um, WOW...really beautiful work, looks terrific!!

lampy · Veteran Member

Well done Slavia!

paddyfritz · Member

Nice job

Slavia · Moderator

It has been almost a year, and I finally got around to shooting the thing. The B3 went together without any internal modifications, except for proper lubrication. It is a little smoother than factory, but essentially the same B3 as before. Accuracy improved a little with the shortened barrel (more probably the muzzle crown polish). At 10 meters in a poorly lit basement I managed three shots touching with two flyers, all within a quarter.

The reason I waited was that I was thinking about a safety device for the breech area. With a break-barrel you can hold the one piece that is poised to crunch your fingers. These B3's have a series of Chinese rivets and parts between the cocking lever and sliding cylinder. I just don't trust them. (There is an anti-beartrap mechanism acting on the trigger.)

One solution is to drill holes in the tube just ahead of the cylinder. An allen wrench is then inserted while loading. Another of my B3's has this modification:

Another way is to drop in a short piece of wooden dowel. My spin on that method was to cut a piece of bicycle seat post. (It had the right diameter.) It could just as well have been a piece of steel water pipe. The lanyard is a plastic cord from disposable earplugs:

The insert goes in ahead of the sliding cylinder. Being curved there is plenty of room for loading:

Robw · Veteran Member

I like the allen wrench method. That has been one of the main reasons
that I have not checked out these types of airgun mechanisms.

I was thinking of using tweezers to load the pellets but the cylinder striking
the tweezers just right could give you a nasty bite.

Slavia · Moderator

I like the allen wrench method, too. It's simple, cheap, and effective. This STEN conversion made drilling and using holes more difficult, so I was looking for an alternative.

I do use a loading tool that is like tweezers. I cut the end of a retractable ball point pen to have two tweezer-like prongs. The prongs grip the waist of the pellet. Once you have located the pellet head in the breech, you push the pellet into the breech with your thumb while withdrawing the pen with your other fingers. Two fingers gripping the pellet take up a lot of space, making it hard to see what you're doing. The pen lets you see both the pellet and breech. I use it on both the B3's and my HW97.

I use the same tool with my Sheridan. (The scope and mount restrict access to the breech area.) The pen still has the empty ink tube, so I use the button to push the pellet out of the prongs in any location I want.