A little B51 Bling..........

[DanoInTx]

Had a little extra time in the shop yesterday so I thought I'd try getting to know the lathe a little better.  Been wanting to replace the cocking handle on my B51 since I first saw it, so I thought that yesterday with some free time would be a good of a time as any.  I spun up the bolt handle yesterday, then took it home to get it all fitted up.  Today I went after it with a blowtorch to put the correct curve into it.  Brass is pretty forgiving as long as you anneal it with a torch during the bending process, otherwise it work hardens and breaks.  I also went after the factory "hook" a.k.a. trigger a little more and reshaped and polished till it felt more like a trigger.  This is a Big Ed tuned B51 and it is one great shooter.  Added the Mountain Air carbon fiber shroud a couple months back.  Anyways, here's the pics:













She's almost complete!

[Gene_SC]

Very nice work Dano, and you have put in allot of extra detail to smooth out the lever after you reshaped it..:) I opted to change my cocking lever to a pull lever. Works much better and smoother since I made the change. By the way, can you adjust your power setting manually? And what is the low and high? What PSI do you fill it to?

Thanks for sharing.

Gene

[DanoInTx]

Thanks Gene!

Nope there is no power adjustment on a B51.  There are however a few ways to internally control power.  Mine was tuned by Big Ed Stack.  Part of his tune was to install a lighter weight hammer spring.  The shot count compared with fill pressure on this gun is AMAZING.  I get about 30 good shots right around 17.5 FPE on a 1700 psi fill.  After the 30 shots it's only down 500 psi at 1200psi, so 30-40 pump strokes and she's full again...much easier to pump than my Career or my Talon.  It spits out 10.5 grain Crosman Heavies right between 850-875fps, and standard weight pellets like CPL's up around 950.  It's not a super powerhouse like my Career, but for just plain accurate target shooting it's hard to beat.

The standard B51 cocking lever is more like a pull plug like you described, the one on there now I made at work on the lathe.  I've always been a sheet metal guy, but not much of a machinist.  Now that I run a shop with these huge machines I am starting to learn how to use them a little.  I spun that cocking arm up in about 15 minutes.  It took me longer to bend it and fit it to the gun:)  Which I had the machines I have at work here in my garage, I can only imagine what fun I'd have.

[TCups]

Nice metal work, Dan!  And the same to you, Gene.  Both appear to be great modifications.
I am continually and pleasantly surprised at just how much talent hangs out here on the GTA forums.  You guys inspire me to the point that I am very tempted to acquire a spring compressor and a few basic gunsmithing tools and do some serious bench top tinkering on a few "starter" airguns myself.

[DanoInTx]

Thanks Tommy,

There are certainly some talented folks here on this forum.  There's tuners, brake makers like Gene, wood working guys, and guys that are just plain good with their hands.  I grew up as the only son in a fatherless home, I learned to make things work because if I didn't it just didn't get done (I get scared just thinking about any of my 3 sisters picking up a screwdriver, much less my mom).  I get some serious satisfaction from looking at something I made or repaired with my own two hands, to me it's better than chocolate chip cookies and milk:)

It's too bad you don't live closer I have a spring compressor I built just taking up room in my garage....get inspired, a C-clamp, some 2x4" and some nuts and bolts will make a very nice, very sturdy spring compressor.  Then hit the Cummins tools website and order 2-3 Chinese B3 air rifles for $20 each.  Tinker till you break the first one, then get more serious on the second, save the third for a friend, and before you know it you have learned a bunch and have the satisfaction of saying,"I did that".

Good luck!

[Gene_SC]

Well Dano, we share some more in common..:) I lost my dad at 12 and was the fixer in my house.. I had no brothers or sisters that lived at home so it was just mom and me. I loved working with my hands and I can't count how many clocks I fixed that never worked again..:) Machines have always amazed me and taking shop classes all through school only inspired me more. Lied about my age at 15 and got a full time job during that summer as a machinest apprentice working for a German who taught me allot. That was good until I had to go back to school and had to tell him I lied about my age..:) As far as the air guns go you hit the nail on the head Dano...:) I did not want to mess with the air guns in the beginning but after Bob let me watch him work on them I become absessed..:) So I bought and bought andtuned and tuned.. hehe.. For sure this is a great hobby/sport and it does not matter if you are a B-3 freak or a Styre freak..:) Everyone is just doing what they love best..:) Gene

[TCups]

I fell in love with cars at an early age and spent my first year of college in Flint, Michigan in 1971 at a little place called General Motors Institue, as a co-op student working for Oldsmobile in Lansing.  I'll bet Ed knows where GMI is, but they call it something else now, I think.  I will say I was exposed to, but never came anywhere near learning even the basics about machine tools - turret lathes, reamers, grinders, drill presses and the like.  Even learned a bit of oxy-aceyllene welding, but could never strike a decent arc when I tried my hand at arc welding.  As for repairs, I was always better at taking things apart than putting them back together. Anyway, very nice work guys.  I'm impressed.