fnash - 4/8/2007 5:35 PM
Received two B3's this past week from Cummins and they are both ok. One shoots around 500 fps and the other around 600 fps. Really rough cocking out of the box but after 100 or so pellets was pretty decent. I am going to clean and deburr both of them and of course correct lube them. Mine came in a green box with the name 'Avid Outdoor'. They are not stamped 'Cummins' on them anywhere. Also the stock is brown, made to look like wood grain. The clear coat has a few runs and that is the only thing. The sights seem to be straight. Out of the box, without touching the sights I was hitting a tree about 20 yards away. And while shooting through a chrony at a target the shots at short range were not very much off. I think I received two acceptable rifles. ..FN
I bought one case in Oct 06, and one case in Dec 06 (five in a case)
Octobers had a horrific dark stain, laser engraved like Michael Jacksons skin tone ( I think the stain job was a dip tank)
Decembers Case was a weird return to the Orange finish, it lasers great though with a dark burn speed.
The two previous ones I had purchased years ago as a lark, the first a real brite orange, early version no safety, sheet metal trigger guard, spot welded back sight.
The second the best finished by far on the stock, somewhat natural wood stock but same same as earlier reciever.
The quality control at Shanghai appears to amount to cock pull trigger if it goes poof it ships, wanna bet they are all dry fired at the factory? That said it also appears they do make changes on the line *but* all of the changes have to keep in mind that this rifle is made in all probability to an under $10 price point for materials and labour considering shipping and Cummins markup. Thats why ZERO deburing and all stamped parts. I bet the assembly folk bust ass to make as many that throw the piston forward per day rather than any kinda standard whatsoever. That said I bought my lady a nice 1077W cause she likes a repeater and a light rifle. I cant do anything to it as its a plastic receiver and plastic barrel. The Cummins on the other hand is a mess of burrs and ill fitting parts on a usually curios good barrel. You can do huge improvements on your kitchen table with hand tools you probably already posses. You can buy 5 of em for less that the 1077....
This is all just a speculation on my part and I love playing with the B3's
Cheers
Mark
