My B3 Build!

[michael90t]

Ok I got the B3 in friday but do to surgery friday I was not able to get things going till today...

OK to start this out a BIG thanks goes to Daveshoot he donated this gun to me... it was a project gun he picked up from someone else and henever got around to itso he ended up passing it along LOL hell of a guy!!!!

The GOOD

My new spring compressor

Gun is in good shape and got tore down today... honestly I think the overall fit and finish of the B3 my dad gave my son is a higher quality(17+ year old B3 with the metal spring guide..) but overall there is nothing wrong with it... just has more of a matte finish then the polished finish of the old gun and the internals seem to be a touch more crude.... this gun looks like it has hardly been shot.... leather piston seal is still fuzzy and not really set looking.... no rub marks on the compression cylinder either showing it has not been cocked that many times....so it look like I have a more or less virginal gun to build!!!!!

The BAD news

this is what the trigger and sear SHOULD look like

and this is what it actualy looked like when it came out of the gun

dunno how this would have happend... I dont think it could have been caused by shipping as none of the pins are bent or show any real sign of wear.... only thing I can possibly think of is whoever daveshoot got the gun from(or whoever they got it from) had the safety on and tried to REALLY smash the trigger and snapped it... HAve seen this type of damage before on trigger block type safeties... So now it seems I am looking for a spare B3 trigger ANYONE have one they want to sell or know where I can find one at?!?!?!?!?!?!

Thats it for tonight more pictures as the gun comes together!!!!!

[triry]

great project, youll definitely come to enjoy tinkering on the b3.
as for dave......youre absolutely right, he's one of san diegos finest members and is welcome in my home anytime !!

[shadow]

Looking good Michael and I had that happen to to also, broke trigger blade. PM me your address and I'll get one sent out to you no charge, got plenty of them from my B collection.   Ed

[cole5169]

I'm amazed how good the B3's can turn out to be
Good luck!

[daveshoot]

I had no idea about that trigger, really sorry 'bout that! Good thing the Shadow is there to pick up my slack. He is that kind of guy.

Spring compressor came out great, btw!

[michael90t]

Dave dont worry about it!!! there was no way to tell about the trigger till you took it apart.. Hell I looked at it 3 or 4 times before I took it down and didnt notice.. and the only REAL reason it came apart last night was well.... I just built the compressor and well..... I had to put SOMETING in it lol... Me and my oldest boy was sitting there looking at this new compressor and I was explaining it to him and said well hell lemme just show ya Undone the cocking arm and then started pulling the pins for the trigger/sear and when I pulled the first trigger pin the whole trigger fell out... all I thought was... hrmmmm isnt that supposed to be attached to the sear... LOL trust me I am not fussed about it at all! knew I could find another one online somewhere for pretty cheap(And Shadow came through with that!)

Oh and BTW lol that stock is DEFINATLY getting the bed liner treatment!! HAHAHA Nails and more filler than a REALLY bad autobody coverup I think people are right when they say these stocks are made from recycled pallets or something!!!

[michael90t]

ok got a few minutes today to work on the gun.... removed the front sight and rear sight... rear sight had to be chiseled off (welded on). Smoothed out the weld and cleaned it up a tad.. one of the holes is threaded for the rear sight adjustment and the other is a locator hole for the bracket... might make a cover for them or depending on how I refinish it... may just get jbwelded sanded and then some type of bake on epoxy finish....

Now I am trying to figure out how to deal with a weld on the inside of the action tube.... it starts at the rear and runs ALL the way to the front... it makes a pretty good seam on the inside and definatly needs removed.... any ideas from the gurus??? Thinking of a dowel or someting with sandpaper but I dunno if I can get enough pressure on it to make much of a dent...

Weld seam

Thats it so far for today....

Got my accushot bi-directional mount today since I have heard good reviews on them... and was wondering if I should drill a hole on the dovetail to use the scope stop screws... or just tighten the side screws down and then tighen the stop screws down and hope it holds....

[shadow]

Here's a tool that I made up for getting in there on the B3 chamber. I had to go through my homemade B part's box to find hehe. It's just the brass rod from the B3 tuning kit secured to a wood dowel. The wood dowel is slotted on top to except sandpaper of your grit choosing. Attach it to your drill variable speed one would be best and go at it. Ed

[michael90t]

Ahh sometimes the simplest tools are the best.... yea that rod should be stiff enough to let me get some pressure on it.... it doesnt show well but its actually a pretty damned good ridge in there that needs taken down... And I was planning on building something like that anyways for final polishing/crosshatching the compression chamber.... gives me something constructive to do with alteast one of those brass rods too...

[shadow]

You'll have to very your grit's of sandpaper but the ridges will diminish. Also remember that the main tube carries the actual smaller compression tube and piston. You want to get a smooth tube to let the compression tube and piston slide back and forth when cocking. You can upgrade to a bigger dowel that fill's the tube better for sanding. Ed

[daveshoot]

Glad she's finally getting some air, Michael.
The larger version of what shadow is showing is what I used on the Walther Falcon Hunter tube to start. Which makes you about $260 wiser than I was, but it worked. Rough it out with the big stuff and then polish down, just like wood.

[Jaymo]

I'll third the motion of daveshoot being a helluva guy. BTW, Dave, I'm still enjoying the Delrin you gave me. I've been working on making a dishwasher safe handle for my brother's Chinese chef's knife to replace the cracked wooden one.

[michael90t]

ok couple more pics... interesting side by side internalcomparisons between my sons old industry branded b3 and the b3 that cummings branded...

 left to right is old Vs new... as you can see the older piston is shorter giving ALOT more swept volume and the head of it is not only welded but has a HEAVY crimp and the face is VERY nice as you can see in the next pic... The old metal spring guidehas a longer seat giving alot morepreload too...the silver spacer comes off letting you load the spring with 7/16 ID washers that fit like they where made to go over the spring guide itself.... guess you could also remove the silver spacer and use a longer spring thats higher quality without running the rifle to hot and wearing out the rest of the go fast parts...

 Now the action tube on the cumming rifle is nicer.... the industry tube is only weldedin a couple places where the cummings tube is welded front to back and its grooved of course... So it seems to me a person MIGHT want to go looking for a few of the OLD industry brand guns and maybe do some swapping to the newer action tube... atleast thats whats going to happen here my kids gun is a smooth iron sighted plinker... so its not going to change anything by swapping the ram and springguide over... will shim up the stock spring and it will be just like normal.. Wheras the project gun is going for performance and accuracy well..... that and I am the dad so..... (he will eventually end up with all of my guns anyways ... )

As you can see I already started cleaning up the face on the new ram.... the face on the old ram is dark from the leather seal but you can see how nice and flat and smooth it is.... I was going to take a picture before I started cleaning on the new ram but forgot but thats after a few minutes of filing trying to get it flat and true....

The barrel has been chopped and stoned square and recrowned as well... you can see it in the first pic and I will be posting a picture of that too here shortly but I gotta wait till my GF brings her camera home as my cellphone wont focus close enough to really show it off.... Insides have been polished to 500,compression tube has been honed true and crosshatched at 220. Holes left over from the rear sight will be JBwelded tonight and then blended and then I am going to refinish the reciever with avalve cover wrinkle paint... that stuff is pretty darn tough (was going to use a bake on epoxy from brownells but my GF might get alittle mad at me for baking a gun in her oven...).... barrel will stay blued and then I will be building a muzzle brake from 3/4 copper... and will be trying my hand at some stock work and refinishing that after I reshape it....HOPEFULLY I will have it shooting in the next week and a half.....Then again as my dad might say... yea right remember the mauser you started about 8 years ago........

[michael90t]

Ok here is a couple pics ofthe crown job

[daveshoot]

Funny, I sporterized a straight-bolt '53 Spanish Mauser when I was 16. Swedish-oiled the stock and put Lyman peeps on her- not onlyone project I actually finished, but a very functional redneck adaptation that took its share of Michigan deer (more than any other gun I own, in fact). It's kinda ugly but shoots even when frozen over. Never had a peep sight fog up on me in sub-zero!

Mausers are safer than B3s, I guess... I really feel bad about your accident.