Canadian Airgun Forum

Hi all,

Some of you will hate this but it had to be done..

Given the bad press these UK imported Chinese guns have and their impact on the local market, I decided to buy one for my 12 year old son, who's a total newcommer to shooting, and see if they really are value for money or just not worth having. I also love tinkering so I figured a cheap rifle is easier to bin if it all goes wrong

I received mine yesterday from combatcammo.co.uk - they sell the B2 .177 carbine for £25.

The gun arrived in a flimsy carboard box with no padding and had suffered an impact on the butt that will need polishing out at some point. Other bits that I had paid for in my order did not manifest and I trust COMBATCAMMO will see to it that they do ASAP - it would help if they were to pickup their phone..

Anyway, the gun itself looks quite well made, no flimsy plastic bits - all wood and metal as far as I can tell. It is a carbine with no fore sight yet the rear sight is left on the gun, probably because it is welded on.

There's no rust anywhere, the rifle was covered in what smells like motor oil, the stock is solid yet slightly smaller than a full rifle stock (compared with my ASI Magnum), it is light, quite well balanced and I was lucky enough to find that my old Crosman silencer slips straight on.

Judging by the looks of it, its safe to say that the original sights are total crap and a dovetail mounted scope is essential. Fortunately it has these and I fitted a 3-9x40 SMK scope with two piece mounts within minutes.

Cocking is begun by means of a thumb-push lock mechanism. Pushing it forwards, the barrel rotates down an inch exposing the loading port and the barrel can then be pulled back to compress and lock the spring. The effort required is reasonable although it is quite a rough experience.

The loading port appears quite tight as I could'nt get a Rabbit Magnum .177 into it but all other pellets I tried fitted OK (I have 12 different types at home).

The first shot out of it produced enough smoke to drop visibility in our corridor by 70%

I shot into a 1/2" piece of wood and was pleasantly surprised to see it penetrate deeper than pellets fired by my ASI Magnum, indicating that it must be producing at least 10ftlbs.

I needed to get this onto a range and see how it groups so my son and I went down to the 1St Ealing Rifle Club (not far from me, fortunately) and we tuned the scope to 20yds.

This is when we realised how unbelievably heavy the trigger is the piston thump and subsequent recoil is bone-juddering and because of this we found we couldnt achieve better than 10cm groups at 20yds

In conclusion, although I like the size/feel and looks of the thing, I would strongly NOT recommend buying one UNLESS you are prepared (as I am) to strip it down and polish/relube the entire gun, with special emphasis on the trigger mechanism.

Out of the box, it should be considered an unfinished project and I'd say its only good for plinking to around 12 yards although a lucky shot from it would probably kill most vermin at 40.

Tony.

PS. The following pics show the rifle, its main spring, spring guide and trigger and my first attempt at 20 yard groups following its reworking.
The coin is a 5 pence piece, measuring 18mm in diameter.

Hi Tony ,
It sounds like your B2 is deiseling ...that is why the visibility in your corridor went to 70% and there was a lot of recoil and vibration and the penetration looked like it was doing 10fpe ...and the 20cm groups at
20yds . After the stripdown a lube ...you should have it running normaly
(for a B2 ) 1-2 inch groups at 20yds and 6fpe.


Frank

Yes Frank, I did strip, polish and relube it the day after I received it (see my post in the Introductions section) and you are right, it did improve incredibly.

The greatest problem seemed to be the black paint that all the innards were coated with and the heavy trigger pull. The piston's finish was also quite rough and I spent around 4 hours polishing it all.

I am very happy I bought it as a first rifle for my son and he can already hit golfballs at 15 yards with it (we have a 3-9x40 SMK scope mounted).

I've actually been banned from a UK forum (see my Introductions post for the link) for stating all this, as they seem to prefer blind ignorance to fact.. the general perception here is that unless it is extremely expensive (e.g. havily markedup by greedy dealers) and either British or German made, its crap and money should not be wasted on it. Sad really.

Cheers,
Tony.

Hey there TonyV, Welcome to the forum....

I've purchased a couple of Imported Project Guns as well....
After a bit of spit and polish and a lot of cleaning, in most cases, I have been pleasantly surprised with the results .....

Enjoy your stay!

_________________

Shoot Safely, Shoot Often & Share Your Sport!...

if you polish where the trigger engages the piston on both pieces it will greatly approve accuracy also with the barrel lock up take the little set screw out and you should be able to get another 1/8-1/4 turn out of the bold holding the barrel on but then you cant get the set screw in some loc-tite fixes that up right good my b-2 in .22 is able to nail a walnut at 40-50 yards consistantly

_________________
to look is to see, to watch is to learn, to learn is to understand

http://thecanadianhuntingforums.myfreef ... /index.php

Yes, I did polish a little there though I thought it best not to polish too much as I was told that those parts are hardened (?!), but I did spray it all with molly lube and added a generous amount of LT2 grease to that spot.

The trigger is much lighter than it was but I am also considering drilling a hole at an angle through the trigger guard to fit a long thin bolt that will act as a trigger adjustment.

I was wondering about the barrel, as it seems a little loose when unlocked, though it appears to lock solidly into place. Do you think that screwing the main barrel pivot screw in more, at the expense of losing the little holding screw next to it, really improves accuracy?, if so its something I might try.

I shot it at a rifle club last night, at 20 yards and hope to upload some pics here soon. The groups are consistent in places but the rifle is still dieseling slightly as it has only just been stripped and relubed so still has to settle in.

Cheers,
Tony.

Sorry, didnt realise its not possible to directly post images onto the board.

I have a number of pics including the gun, its dissasembled parts and target shot groups that I can upload if someone can help me do so - I have no access to a public server though.

Cheers,
Tony.

Throw them on photobucket...it's a very decent service and quite reliable for picture hosting.

http://photobucket.com/

PICs have been uploaded via xs.to now.

Many thanks,
Tony.

I have a B1 (.177) which is obviously very similar to the B2.
Like you I was presently surprised at how well these cheapee AG's perform if you spend a little time lubing and tuning them. I was also very impressed with the power. For the price they are really hard to beat if you are a do it yourself AG tuner. I would think that 1 out of 5 of these comes out of the box in pretty rough shape, but if you can check it out before you buy it you'll do OK. I know Peavey Mart in Canada sells these as a retail item, but they are also available from many sellers on this forum.
I have a B4 (underlever in .177) which even impressed me more. If you secure the scope rail, add a red dot or scope and tune these up they are quite an awesome AG (for power) and reasonably accurate. Certainly great to kick around and not have to worry if you scratch it up a bit.
There are not a Diana quality AG, but they are also a fraction of the price.
I like my Chinese AG's for what I use them for.

_________________
Crosman Phantom c/w 1000 piston/.177 barrel

We had one of those B2 at our booth at the shotshow 2007. It was my
first time ever touching that gun and I like it. I like the fact that push
forward lever to open the breech so I don't have to smash the barrel.



Yes, you're absolutely right and that is the truth in UK forum, we had
2 major arguements last year over the B50/51 and at the end every
body who were against it lost.

July 2004, FT world championship in Germany, there were 5 or more
DAYSTATE mulfunction BUT no one wanted to talk about that over the
forum, everything went thru PM's.

Well enjoy the B2 for now, perhaps B51 later.

Cheers.

[img]

shoots straight, and hard,,I was trying to sell it, but I think I'll hang on to it. Put a muzzleBreak on her, and put a butt plate on, maybe change the colour,.[/img]

_________________
QB-78-Deluxe.22 w/Fitco 2-7x32A
2x, XS-B4-2a .177/.22 w/Fitco3-9x40RAC
XS-B2-2a .22 w/Tasco RF3-7x20w/a
XS-B9-1 w/Aimpoint CompM2
Crosman "Phantom" .22 w/Fitco 2-7x32A
"2240"/"2289" w/Fitco 2-7x28c
"Recon" w/Simmons 3-7x40
Daisy617x/622x.

Hi weaselpopper, how accurate are those red dot things out to around 20 yards? - I've been using a rather large 3-9x40 scope on mine (my sons actually) and it dwarfs the rifle (!)

I too am looking around for a cheap rubber butt pad for it.

As for how hard it hits, well, ours went clean through a CDROM drive's steel casing using prometheus .177 pellets at 10ft (in our corridor) and embedded itself in the front door! A lead Rabbit Magnum only managed to dent the casing though.

Tony.

The Crosman RD's are decent, for what you pay. Ive got one mounted on a Hatsan 35, and I can easily hit a pop can out to 30 yds. If you have good eyes, you can extend that, but... I am not blessed him telescopic peepers

_________________


Hey, don't hate. It releases negative energy, which is bad for everyone.

The Barnet Red Dot Sight is of better construction, and tunes in alot better. But those Crosman RD's are almost the same thing. Except the Barnet (CopperHead) has a better zero on it. There abit more in price. I have one of those TV screened sights myself. Actually I gave it to blair afew weeks ago...

Krazy Mike...

_________________
We will never be the Man we once were, but what we will Become...