Todays Tinkering - The BAM B3 - Y

[Deleted member 408]

Gentlemen.....

Today I was gonna go into the where and hows of this ubiquitous cheap and nasty Chinese multi identity air rifle that seems to have malingered behind so many barn doors, damp garage corners and on occasion, at the bottom of a canal or two...

Only recently a fellow Forum member (@Aristotle ) went into great depths of how to work on this rifle with half decent results too (so well done).

However, as per the title of ths thread, the specific model is the BAM (or SMK, or Lion, or Westlake) B3 - Y.... that were looking at...

The model Y..... I hear you mumble???? some may not be aware of that particular model..... well happen not..

This is the model designation that I gave this project after I obtained the rifle off @Oldfart a little while ago. Wanting a project to while away the hours during the short cold days of winter.
Now, I am fully aware that so many of you fine chaps have works on the B3 and its well documented on the Forum, but, if you would indulge me to give you MY slant on working with these pieces of agricultural machinery cast offs, it would be appreciated.

May I also ask respectfully (as per my other Todays Tinkering threads), that no comments are made to break the lineage of the thread as each section will be covered seperately.. Once everything has been finished, please comment to you hearts content (good, bad or indifferent).


So.. this all started late October when I received the rifle... in tact, well packed and in the condition it was advertised.... (photos taken from the Sales section advert for the rifle)..



It must have taken me all of 15 minutes from receipt of the package to have everything stripped, looked at, laid out and the first inclinations of "WHY"!!!!!!

I pondered the parts of pressed steel, sharp edges, slots that had been bitten out and not machined and worse still... "WHY is the barrel not in line".... "WHY has the piston seal crumbled", "WHY is there glue all over the compression tube and breech seal....????

So many questions... you can now start to see why I called it the B3 WHY!!!!!!

Here are just a few images of what was found whe the rifle was apart (and in no particular order) .. I shall go into specific details later in the post..


Right... now you see what sort of stuff were looking at.... lets delve deeper into the chasm of "WHY"!!!!!!


In the next post, I shall start on the specifics... (please dont comment just yet)...

 

[1260engineer]

Superb engineering in a BAM ...............NOT
Upgrade its ass Hali

 

[Deleted member 408]

THE BARREL AND CYLINDER...

Realising that summat just want right when looking down the line of the naked gun..... I decided to pop the whole barrel and cylinder assembly in the lathe and check it for "angular alignment"..

WHY??

To see if there was an element of discrepency up down and left right...

So... left - right...

and AFTER adjustment....

and up - down...

So... we got the barrel alignment a bit better than what it was i both the horizontal and vertical positions....

Next, I didnt like the overall length of the rifle and fancied a "carbine" version, so we decided to get the grinder out and modify that...

Cut, refaced, re crowned and a bit of Abbey Gun Blue on the raw steel, et voila...

But then came the problem of ... cocking lever......

Dis-assembly of the plastic handle and out with the grinder again.....

Now that the barrel and underlever work had been done... we focus on the cylinder section and that never ending world of razor sharp and rough edged cocking slots.....

A short sit down with the diamond file and some emery paper and its a smooth as a baby's bottom ..

Regarding the breech port, it was necessary to give that a good clean too as the remnants of glue (or some other adhesive) was prevelant as well as the rough edges on the tapered port section...
Some Acetone, wire wool and cotton bud soon cleaned that up....

The barrel and cylinder were cleaned with WD40 and 0000 grade wire wool and I decided to leave it like that so that you could see the signs and patina of a bygone era....



This concludes this section... more to follow (please dont break the thread )

 

[Mike Woody Watkins]

 

[Deleted member 408]

Gentlemen.....

PLEASE... resist commenting until ALL the sections have been completed... it dis-joints the flow of the post....

Thank you...

 

[Deleted member 408]

THE PISTON AND COMPRESSION TUBE....

This assembly is a faily rudimentary affair.. a piston, with a seal indide a tube thats been honed out with a little hole in the end that the pressuresed ari comes out of.... SIMPLES!!!!

However, the rolled steel piston and pressed washer piston seal mount leaves alot to be desired when it comes to quality (well what the hell do you expect from a £50 rifle!!!!)
Slight ovality on the rolling of the piston, the obligatory sharp edges and ragged burrs on the cocking slot

"WHY"? .... beause its cheap and nasty!!!!

And then theres the copression tube.... which (in all fairness) wasnt too bad except for the adhesie (of some nature) that was slarted onto the outer surface....

Once again... "WHY"? came to mind as a long soak in Acetone brought off the glue and helped get an aged breech seal out of it recess.

Once cleaned the comp tube was spun in the lathe and the outer diameter polished clean. The internals also had a light polishing with some 1200 grit emery and WD40 to clean that too. The seal recess was cleaned and we were good to go.

The piston was polished, the cocking slots de-growled (because that what it sounded like whe I ran the diamond file along it)... and the whole thing made "clean".

NEXT, however came the need to source some seals, both piston and breech... and after popping a post on the Forum (,https://airgunforums.co.uk/threads/the-ubiquitous-bam-b3-breech-seel.118192/ ) it ended up that I had to go to Protek for them...

Hate to say this... but it was a waste of money..... The pistoj seal did not fit the pressed steel washer for its retention, the piston diameter was WAAAAYYY oversize and woudnt fit into the comp tube (even after I sanded it down it virtually removed the lip seal)... so basically I threw it in the bin..
The breech seal was marginally better (and just about useable) but still not brilliant.

So, we had to make alternative arrangements.... a better piston seal and make a new mounting head....

A quick chat to Mikey @Brit Seals and a font of airgun knowledge @Blackmax they furnished me with a new Britseal and the accurate measurements to make a piston seal retainer.... (Thank you guys)..

Now that the piston was sorted, my attention turned to the comp tube....and the decision to tripple the value of the rifle was made...

I decided that an exersize of improvement that would enhance the likes of HW97's and TX's would be good enough for the B3...

"WHY"... because I could!!!!

SO, measurements were taken, figures were calculated and the comp tube clocked up in the lathe...

We now had a glided comp tube, a Britsealed piston and both parts running concentric to a TIR or 0.05mm.... I NOT only have I polished a turd, I had rolled it i glitter and put a cherry on top!!!!

"WHY"... because I wanted to see if it could be done.....



This concludes this section of the thread... (please dont comment just yet).

 

[Blackmax]

Lovely work @deleted member.

 

[Deleted member 408]

THE TRIGGER ASSEMBLY

This is where the B3's downfall is catastrophic.................. the trigger is DIRE. I have no doubt that Messrs Rekord (the trigger makers) are sleeping sound in their beds....

I have seen trebuchet actions better than this.... Frankensteins power switch was more responsive....

So, I was NOT gonna hold my breath and get a sweet 2 stage trigger with a featherlight touch!!!! I mean LOOK at the parts!!!!

Not only that, but the cocking lever bear trap thingy was also apiece of innovative Chinese design, which worked ok but left a lot to be desired functionally.

SO..... we got to work on that too.... deburring all the sharp corners and edges


Before polishing the sides and sears of the 2 ON-OFF trigger parts...


Thern making a brass button for the bottom of the bear catch spring as it barely located onto the pressed steel tabs on the cyclinder...


And then the plunger sear and faces...


So it all looked like ths prior to re-assembly....

"WHY".. I hear you mutter..... because I hoped it would asist the trigger action!!!!!

That concluded this section.. (please dont break the thread)...

 

[Deleted member 408]

THE STOCK...

The stock is usually a lump of wood with shed loads of filler!!!!!!!

"WHY"... would you wanna do owt with it....?????

Well, I was hoping to appreciate the natural beauty and elegance of a natural product..... by taking it from this....

and going throught the processes of this.....





..... to finally get to this....

Stripped all the old varnsh, sanded , neck slimmed, recess for front of trigger guard made, crap old butt pad removed, brass inserts fitted, allu back plate made, polished ally and ribber rubber butt pad made...

"WHY".... because its summat different....

That concluded this section of the thread (please dont break it just yet)...

 

[Deleted member 408]

THE MAINSPRING...

Nowt much to say about this really... Its a thing that makes it go boing... twang!!!

Supprisingly, it wasnt in too a bad a condition except for the obligatory out of square ends... and razor sharp... and badly fitted guide.... OTHER than that it was ok...



So, out with the Dremel, and linisher.... get the ends square then de-burr the sharp spring ends and polish them..


Next make a new (and MUCH better fitting) spring guide that is longer than the standard one... as well as a top hat for the piston end of the springs..

So now, we have a properly fettled power plant....

I was considering making a PTFE liner for the sring but then I thought.. NAAAA, lets see how she fires first...


That concludes this section of the thread.... (please dont break the thread just yet)..

 

[Deleted member 408]

THE COCKING LEVER...

Beleive it or not... I was relatively impressed with the construction of this part....

Yes, its pressed and folded steel. Yes, is pretty basic. Yes, the cocking shoe is munched up a little....

BUT..... BLOODY HELL, it has rollers on the cocking shoe end to stop any galling (unlike the HW30 which costs 4 times as much). They may ONLY be punched discs but they REALLY do stop any galling on the cylinder.....

SO... once we knew what was what.. can we improve the cocking arm system....??

The pressed steel arms st the pivot poing was a "petential stress point" for lateral movement and or fracture, so.. we made a delrin spacer that closed the gap abut still allowed the action to move easily..

Next, we de-burred the cocking shoe top and sides... from this..


to this..

Overall a much improved arrangement now and noticably smoother with a bit more rigidity.

That concludes this section (please dont break the thread yet)..

 

[Deleted member 408]

SO, Gentlemen... that virtually conludes the work undertsken on the BAM B3 - Y..

The additional stuff that was not covered in the above was ;-

1) De rust the trigger guard and paint satin black
2) De rust the stock sling brackets and re blue them
3) A thorough and propper lubrication (with the appropriate lubricants)
4) Make a short moderator to quieten the muzzle bark
5) A few more coats of Walnut Stock Oil on the stock

and finally..... A chrono test.

Purely by chance a reputable Forum members (@Degs ) was at my house when I did dome tinkering on his 97 and with him he brought his chrono.
We tested the B3 - Y and got the following average results using JSB RS .22 pellets...

Needless to say I am happier than a happy thing sat on the happy fence on National Happy Day.....

Also, I would also invite @Degs to make any independent and HONEST comments and or appraisal of firing the B3-Y

So, Gentlemen.... I thank you for your time, patience, tolerance of my ramblings, and "putting up with me" with regards to this thread....

I KNOW, the cost of these cheap and chearfull rifles is about £50-£60 NEW
I KNOW that they are not massively accurate or powerfull
I KNOW that the quality of engineering in them is ... basic to say the least.

However, its NOT the value of the rifle that we are left with, because the work undertaken on it would now increase the actual value of it say... 5 fold??.... and if that money would have been approriated elsewhere, a much better rifle could hase been obtained.....
You ask yourself... "Is it worth it"?????

No my friends..... the question is WHY is it worth it?????

We do stuff like this for the enjoyment of doing it.. for the sake of tinkering, to practice our handycrafts, to learn new skills, to put into practice skills that some have learnt and wish to continue in a productive and enjoyable way.. ESPECIALLY with a hobby or past time that is important to us...

The question is not WHY would you do it...... The question is WHY WOULDNT you do it.... If you have the time, the skills, the ability or just the curiosity of tinkering.

This is the reason I have chosen to rename this rifle the B3 - Y...

WHY?????

Because I could.


Below are the final photos of the rifle in all its glory.. pellet testing and accuracy will be tested at a later dat and no doubt I will follow up on this thread...

Now Gentlemen... please feel free to comment as you wish and thank you again for your time...

 

[Mr Benn]

I ain’t ever shot a B3 … but have read plenty about them ! I have a B2 basket case myself. And can vouch for their character !
But on invitation to have a go of this …
Be rude not to wouldnt it.
Un clipping the under lever allowed a VERY smooth and silent cocking action not too much effort needed given the shortened lever… and I bounced the lever several times to feel just how smooth it was before engaging the trigger.
Fed a pellet in and closed the lever.
Shot one …. Into the backstop.
“can I have another go please ?”
I fired four shots before the chrono reading.
It made the cushioned thud sound at the end of the piston travel. The pellet hitting home noise immediately followed straight after.
It made the right noises but didnt feel like it was working …..
such was the lack of any recoil or basically any expected movement. It really is that smooth.
It ain’t like any B3 I expected that’s for sure. Outstanding given what it is /was.
I sensed my 97 getting moist in the gun slip …..

What’s next Hal ??? This won’t be the last
Awesome The pics dont do it justice.

 

[Backgardenplinker]

Inspirational Hal

 

[Beaver]

nice review
Lovely job
Well done

 

[Peddy]

Done a great job there Hal. I’ve always considered the b3/4 platform a much better budget gun than than the beloved b2. Mines had a fair amount of work to get it shooting well and embarrassing it’s one of the most consistent guns I own only 4fps spread over 10 shots with superdomes, less power than you at around 8fpe. It’s hung around my collection while others come and go probably because it’s worthless

 

[Deleted member 408]

Done a great job there Hal. I’ve always considered the b3/4 platform a much better budget gun than than the beloved b2. Mines had a fair amount of work to get it shooting well and embarrassing it’s one of the most consistent guns I own only 4fps spread over 10 shots with superdomes, less power than you at around 8fpe. It’s hung around my collection while others come and go probably because it’s worthless

Heyup Peddy, thank you..

It may be worthless in monitary terms, but priceless in others...

 

[Boreham]

A superb transformation Hal, we all know you have the skills and kit to make these changes, and to your point, Why not, to tinker with something, ultimately improve it, and get the enjoyment of doing it, just because, it’s priceless.

A great read on what’s possible on a bargain basement rifle.

 

[Peddy]

Mines a dull thud on firing but the spring noise on cocking could be quieter. I thought it could be the anti bear trap springs? I’ve a long bespoke guide fitted and it’s new spring . There’s no room for a piston liner. Any ideas Hal? I bet your delrin tube rings make all the difference on cocking.

 

[chouchin66]

Outstanding, Hal.