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Airguns, AirSoft and MilSim Air rifles and pistols, AirSoft and Mil Sim Discussion

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  #1  
Old 12-27-2020, 10:06 PM
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McNally M. McNally M. is offline
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Default Chinese Air Rifles

Hey guys, anyone out there own or have experience with Chinese air rifles? Particularly the B1 or B3 models? I've seen these pop up for sale online from time to time, and I'm attracted to the all metal and wood construction. Not to mention the prices are attractive.

But are these junk? Or unsafe in anyway?



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Old 12-27-2020, 10:11 PM
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I have one and it shot well. Unfortunately the piston seal is a non standard size so I guess ill have to fabricate one to shoot it again.


They have a safety so they are less unsafe than a glock.
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Old 12-27-2020, 10:42 PM
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You can try an umarex also.
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Old 12-27-2020, 10:48 PM
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I have fast deer air rifle from around 2008, think I paid $50 for it. It's solid and built like a tank. Still have it in the safe. The trigger is hard but everything works. They generally have favorable reviews.

https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2012...elever-part-1/
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Old 12-28-2020, 8:24 AM
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Nice! The positive reviews are good to hear. Where's the best place to source one of these? I see a few on eBay and Amazon but the prices vacillate quite a quite on those sites.
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Old 12-28-2020, 2:09 PM
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Got my from southsummit.com but I don't think they carry air rifles anymore. I don't see them too often these days.
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Old 12-28-2020, 2:55 PM
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I’ve never seen a Chinese airgun worth owning. They’re usually poor copies of someone else’s design or crude junk made for those who know nothing of airguns. Do yourself a favor and buy something nicer, you won’t regret it.
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Old 12-28-2020, 4:08 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by prob View Post
I’ve never seen a Chinese airgun worth owning. They’re usually poor copies of someone else’s design or crude junk made for those who know nothing of airguns. Do yourself a favor and buy something nicer, you won’t regret it.
Fair point, and one well received.

I'm not looking at these air guns as a bargain buy while expecting the world though. What appeals to me is the all metal and wood construction. And as an owner of a Norinco SKS, the thought of having the bb gun trainer equivalent (whether that's true of the B3 or not) seems kind of fun.
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Old 12-28-2020, 5:01 PM
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Well I got this one

http://www.ajtools.com/products/8903.html

About 10 yrs ago. Had one previously and donated it to the daughter to wack all the pigeons that took up residence in the gabled houses her neighborhood had.

Then bought another just like it. No safety of any kind except for user interface.

Not as accurate as my old Sheridan Blue Streak. IIRC paid $28+ tax. Lots faster to load, pellets cheaper, plenty accurate for sparrows and starlings out to 25/30 yds. Also fairly quiet.

Got a used 4X 32mm GAMO air rifle scope off FleaBay for another $20.

Hard trigger but breaks clean with no creep. Holds approx 2" at 30 yds. Never chronoed it, but it shoots hard. Has delivered one shot/flop shots to several tom cats that thought my porch and door were their personal toilets.

Bottom Line................perfectly serviceable. I'd get another if it breaks. BTW, heavy as hell.
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Old 12-28-2020, 5:33 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pacrat View Post
Well I got this one

http://www.ajtools.com/products/8903.html

About 10 yrs ago. Had one previously and donated it to the daughter to wack all the pigeons that took up residence in the gabled houses her neighborhood had.

Then bought another just like it. No safety of any kind except for user interface.

Not as accurate as my old Sheridan Blue Streak. IIRC paid $28+ tax. Lots faster to load, pellets cheaper, plenty accurate for sparrows and starlings out to 25/30 yds. Also fairly quiet.

Got a used 4X 32mm GAMO air rifle scope off FleaBay for another $20.

Hard trigger but breaks clean with no creep. Holds approx 2" at 30 yds. Never chronoed it, but it shoots hard. Has delivered one shot/flop shots to several tom cats that thought my porch and door were their personal toilets.

Bottom Line................perfectly serviceable. I'd get another if it breaks. BTW, heavy as hell.
This sounds like the just the kind of fun I want out of an air rifle... If only $28 was still the going rate on those underlevers!
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Old 12-30-2020, 10:22 PM
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Chinese air rifles can be very nice, if someone spends time to finish them. Google mike mellick, flying dragon air rifles. He specializes in tuning these Chinese air rifles with good results. Also, airguns of Arizona has a special on walther parrus air rifle for 149.00 ish? Also pyramidair has the walther parrus synthetic on sale. These are magnum springers though.
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Old 12-31-2020, 6:32 AM
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Old 12-31-2020, 7:51 AM
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Hah! Nice stock photo War Wagon, very apt.

Aside from putting out an eye, I've heard that the underlever guns lack an "anti beartrap" and have, on occasion, slammed shut on fingers. Ouch! Can someone explain to me what this anti beartrap is, and how dinged up one can get if a finger gets slammed?
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Old 12-31-2020, 9:22 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phantom77 View Post
. Google mike mellick, flying dragon air rifles. He specializes in tuning these Chinese air rifles with good results.
I have one of his tuned rifles.. Very nice for the price.
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Old 12-31-2020, 4:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by McNally M. View Post
Hah! Nice stock photo War Wagon, very apt.

Aside from putting out an eye, I've heard that the underlever guns lack an "anti beartrap" and have, on occasion, slammed shut on fingers. Ouch! Can someone explain to me what this anti beartrap is, and how dinged up one can get if a finger gets slammed?
In a nutshell, if the lever slips out of your hand while cocking, before full cock. It will slam back into its "at rest" position. Like a bear trap.

Upper end side, and under lever guns. Have a ratchet that catches each coil of spring as it is cocked. Until it reaches full cock, then retracts to allow free movement of spring during firing.

I've never had an issue. Ones like mine. When you unclip the lever for cocking. The first 6' of travel is "slack". I stand it on the butt. Unclip lever. Hold barrel by muzzle. And shove the lever down in one stroke. With hand on top of lever. Point it muzzle down to load pellet. Then close.

It's a real Beootch to cock the lever freehand. Have I mentioned how damn heavy these are? Guessing close to ten pounds. With scope mounted it's awkward to cock it freehand.

I've never tried for a quick reload. As a "pest gun", when I take a shot. The target is either dead or gone.
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Old 01-08-2021, 3:27 PM
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I bought two of those at a gunshow some years back. They worked ok, but neither of them shot anywhere close to the advertised 1,000 fps. I shot a rabbit with one and it bounced off of its body.

They will take most small birds such as sparrows and starlings as somebody mentioned, and I dropped a few chipmunks with them when they were new.

However, after a couple of years the velocity began to degrade. I'm not an airgun expert, so I can't say exactly what was wrong with them, but I could tell that the velocity was starting to drop off, and I couldn't figure out how to fix that. I finally ended up throwing them away and buying a gammo.

They are heavy and solid, and worked well for a couple of years, but I wouldn't buy one again. My biggest complaint other than them eventually breaking was the lack of velocity. They were sold to me as shooting 1,000 fps with hunting pellets, but I can tell you that there is no way that they shot that fast. I don't have a chrono so I can't tell you exactly how fast they shot, but when it bounces off a rabbit, its not 1,000.
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Old 01-08-2021, 4:53 PM
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1,000 fps?? Must have been some charlatan vendor trying to sell snake oil if that's the pitch they were giving. Without having used one, I can only speak to the reviews I've read and it seems like these rifles achieve maybe half that velocity. Unfortunate to hear that some, such as Coolgun101, have experienced diminishing returns on performance. Guess its a mixed bag with these things!

A good Samaritan right here on Calguns picked up on my interest and sold me a brand new B1. I'm vacillating on taking it out of the plastic wrap. I also picked up a vintage B3 from Ebay which I will certainly put some rounds through. I'll be sure to report back to this thread once I do!
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Old 01-15-2021, 12:06 PM
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I bought a Beeman QB78d on CG for $50 with a scope and case. It was no holding pressure so I took into Beeman in Santa Fe Springs. The service guy installed a new cap on it and totally went thru it, cleaning and lubricating. He drilled out an orifice for increased fps. Charge was about $10.
I have taken out some ground hogs with one shot to the head.
Since then I purchased 3 old Crosman 160 air rifles. The Beeman was a copy of these. I took them Into Mac1 Airguns in Signal Hill. They wer e rebuilt by Tim and they are excellent. I kept one and gave the other two to my 2 sons.
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Old 01-15-2021, 12:53 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by McNally M. View Post
1,000 fps?? Must have been some charlatan vendor trying to sell snake oil if that's the pitch they were giving. Without having used one, I can only speak to the reviews I've read and it seems like these rifles achieve maybe half that velocity. Unfortunate to hear that some, such as Coolgun101, have experienced diminishing returns on performance. Guess its a mixed bag with these things!

A good Samaritan right here on Calguns picked up on my interest and sold me a brand new B1. I'm vacillating on taking it out of the plastic wrap. I also picked up a vintage B3 from Ebay which I will certainly put some rounds through. I'll be sure to report back to this thread once I do!
I bought them from some vendor at the Crossroads of the West Gunshow in Costa Mesa quite a few years back. He had wrote signs all over them saying they shot 1,000 FPS. I had no way of knowing at that time that wasn't accurate. The internet wasn't what it is today back at that time.
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Old 02-14-2021, 1:07 PM
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Well gang, I was able to source a Chinese air rifle. Two actually, a B1 from a fantastic Calgunner, and a B3 (B3-3 I guess is the formal model). Both in .177 caliber. The B1 hasn't been broken out of the box yet, but I've been going to town on the B3. This thing is solid, wood stock and all metal construction save for the butt pad, trigger guard, underlever grip, and front/rear sights. Weighs in at about 7lbs and the length of 40" all make for a heavy duty feel. And its a tack driver, I can split bottle caps from fifteen feet away with open sights (any further and my vision goes to mush). The groupings from 25 yards are tight, about 1.5" groupings, but that's with only resting my elbow on the table, no shooting rest.

I guesstimate that the rifle sends pellets flying at around 750~800 fps, I'll have to pull out the chrony to confirm that one of these days. The first dozen or so shots came out with great big puffs of exhaust. The rumors of the dieseling Chinese dragons are true. Several hundred rounds have gone through the pipe so far and aside from the smoke dying down, there's been no noticeable loss of power. Only complaint is the trigger, which requires a tow truck to pull. But that can be acclimated to.

All in all, I am amazed with what all this $40 air rifle brings to the table.

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