Smk b2 air rifles

[Geordie_Rob]

I've been looking at cheapy air rifles & I keep seeing mixed reviews.

Has anyone actually used one of rifles & would it be any good for taking rabbits? They're about £40 & I was looking to buy a couple but the negative reviews are putting doubt in my head.

These will be put away incase shtf.

[Luci_ferson]

there is no such thing as a good cheap air rifle.
if its cheap theres a reason its cheap.
ive been looking too, and its a nightmare all the choices and cconlicting reviews etc.
ive decided to go for a gas-ram not the cheapest option but it has a few advantages.
first read about the different types and youl see what i mean about the advantages of each type.
remember if you get one that is gas powered youl neeed refills or a pump.
and air from pumps aint the cleanest and wears the gun down.

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refills wont always be available either.

[Talon]

I've owned many air rifles in my day,including the B2.It wasn't the best by any means, but it would group around 2 inches at 30 yards.It will take a bunny but i would save up and go with a quality break barrel.My favourite was the HW80,i sold one then regretted it and bought another (since sold when i was skint).very heavy but the build quality was second to none.the B2 will benefit from some tuning,i made a brass top hat piston weight and drilled and reamed the transfer port to 3mm on mine,i was able to cut a couple of coils off the spring,it smoothed it out and still chroney'd under 12 ftlb's.
I'm really out of touch with air rifles,my last was a Career 707 that i played with,i got it up to 80ft lbs(by accident) with eley mangnums and pretty much shit myself when it blew through a piece of 2x4 and immediately detuned it and sold it

[Geordie_Rob]

That's the reason I was looking for springers. A spring will work long after the gas bottles are empty.

I've got other ideas for hunting tools but a couple of budget rifles could be a good addition as long as they serve the purpose.

I'm still unsure as like I say, the reviews are pretty much split 50/50 for good & bad. I was just wondering if anyone has actually fired one & what they thought before I blow £40 & find its crap.

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That response was to luci. Hadn't see. Your reply Talon.

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@Talon, as it comes off the shelf, as a fallback option do you think it's worth it? Encouraged by you saying it'll take rabbits.

Can you buy kits to tune it or did you just do it? I'll be fine stripping it & greasing it but adding bits & chopping springs, I'm not too sure of.

[Luci_ferson]

look into a gas-ram, it has many benefits and dont require gas cartridges or refills etc.
sadly theyre more expencive than the simple spring rifles
unless like talon you know what your doing of course. ( i dont)

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http://www.airgunbuyer.com/Showproducts....Gas%20Rams

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thats only info on the gas ram part. many guns use gas ram instead of spring. not just theoban

[Talon]

Well i have to admit i never got into the Theoben gas ram craze that was quite predominant when i was highly into air rifles (i enjoyed tinkering with mine which the gas ram doesn't really allow).As far as im aware there was never a tuning kit made for the B2.I used to machine my own part's for my air rifles (very easy with access to a lathe).My particular B2 though nothing special had decent rifling and a secure lockup (think poor mans HW35) The trigger was atrocious compared to the Rekord or the air arms CD,it had a lot of creep and a let off of 5lb's (tested with kitchen weights).it still hit the target though.
My absolute favourite was the webley mklll i've owned four of them.Very outclassed compared to modern air rifles due to the low swept volume and the tap loading port was very inefficient but perfectly adequate if kept under 30 yards.A B2 is very cheep and cheerfull, but it will do the job and yes it will take a bunny with correct shot placement

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Forgot to add Robb,you could try fitting penny washers in the piston,a brass hat washer is preferable as it will help seat the spring as it acts as a secondary spring guide and also aids in the spring unwinding when the gun is fired, but washers will help as they add weight,i would ream the transfer port out,3mm is the absolute maximum from what i remember so i would go smaller first and chrony the gun to check the results.Also polish the exterior of the piston,i was taught to polish it in straight parralel lines but clamping the piston in a drill and using various grits of wet and dry always worked well for me.It's been a few years since i modified a spring gun but i spent many a happy hour tinkering with my air rifles

[Digger]

Geordie Rob

A friend has the next up model of SMK, the one with the synthetic stock. I think its called the SYNXS or something like that.

I'd heard that the SMK guns were Chinese rubbish. But I was very surprised at the quality of friends gun, its brilliant. Power seems close to legal limit and accuracy at 20m was good enough. This one was a .177 and I agree with Talon, it has sufficient accuracy and power to take rabbits. The black plastic stock has good feel and makes the gun both lighter and arguably more robust. It looks good too. I think it cost around £70.00 so a bit up on the cost of the B2

Its hard to argue against 2 x B2s for £80 though!!!! Maybe buy just 1 and see how it is, then for the second either do the same again or upgrade slightly, keeping the B2 as backup???

[Geordie_Rob]

That makes sense actually digger

My plan (though it'll probably never work out this way) is to get a cheap air rifle to practise with in the garden. Once I get the cash together for a gun safe I'm planning on applying for a SGC & getting a couple of shotguns. I've already had the nod off a farmer to shoot on his land & he said just let him know when I need it in writing.

Obviously if anything happened between now & that happening, I would have the air rifles to fall back on. Just I didn't want to buy it if, when pointed at a bunny, the bunny sticks his finger (or bunny equivelant) up at me & carries on chewing grass knowing I haven't got a hope in hell of hitting it.

The place I'm planning on buying it from is my local fishing tackle shop. Would it be unreasonable to ask to fire a couple of rifles before buying 1?

[Prepper1]

From my experience, high qualty air rifles are great IF YOU CAN AFFORD THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE.

If all you can afford is a cheap one thats that.

Anyway power quality wise Ive had the hw80, brilliant gun, very tunable, sometimes you can get old clunker 80's that need some love from a gun shop, you know that have been traded in.
Again I have an smk clone of the hw77 whilst it isnt a bad gun its nowhere in the same league as the hw's quality wise.

Parts however are fairly interchangeable, with a bit of fiddling.

For example my smk 77 clone has a record trigger unit copy, woeful in comparison to the real record unit.
I was going to fit a record unit, till I found out they were £80 plus quid on there own.

Quality kit, wanted it but couldn't afford it.

SO I bought the piston grabber part from a record unit for a tenner and with a bit of judicious filing fitted it to my smk clone.

Result is that the clone hw77 now cocks more smoothly.

If you compared the two trigger units from the real hw77 and the smk clone you can see the difference between Chinese craftsmanship and the equivalent German one.
For example the German unit is beautifully polished with NO casting marks visible if any parts were cast, my impression of the German unit would be they were machined from billet rather than cast like the Chinese version.

There lies the difference you see, rough cast parts work but they are rough in the lock up and the release
whilst the german unit is pure quality.

Dont dispair though, if all you can get is any smk you can vastly improve the quality by stripping it down before you fire even one shot because of the fact the chinese quality controls arent always that good and swarf from machining can be left inside.

That'll kill an air rifle within shots.

There a few online shops that sell replacement parts now for the smk's as they're becoming more popular.

Add a piston weight that speeds up lock time from trigger release to the time it hits the end of the chamber.

Fit a better mainspring, you may have to take your original to a gun shop and see which one of the ox mainsprings for example will fit.

You may have to cut a few coils off if youve added a piston weight, these can be made as mine by using washers or blocking a portion of the cocking slot in the piston and pouring lead down it to the required level than so the spring doesnt eat into the lead, fit a steel washer over the lead once cool, to give the spring a bearing surface.

The whole piston weight thing has to be done carefully though otherwise the gun wont cock properly as it interferes with the cocking slot.

You can also strip the trigger unit and polish with polishing compound the bearing surfaces for the trigger, sear etc...

I also give the internal of the chamber a bit of a polish with an electric drill with a polishing mop, although not to super shiny as the chamber needs some micro grooves to retain lubricant for the piston.

you can use silicon grease or the molybdenum stuff.

You can also increase the transfer port diameter slightly as this will allow the air faster passage to the pellet but dont over do it.

theres a fine line between tuning and ruining....

[Digger]

Geordie-Rob

Your logic seems good to me.

Remember that low cost air rifles, although capable of taking rabbits, require you to get quite close in. Say in the region of 30 meters max.

More expensive guns will extend that range to 40 meters or even 50 meters, provided you have the shooting skills to match.

It is worthwhile purchasing a 4x telescopic sight to fit the B2. There are plenty of low cost ones on e-bay, just make sure that you buy one that is springer air gun rated as the recoil on springers quickly destroys sights that are not constructed for them. Such a TS and correct Artillary Hold on the rifle will help you get greatest accuracy.
Do not throw away the Iron sights, they are good, durable back ups.

There's lots of debate on the merits of .177 vs .22 I personally prefer .22 for hunting. I've just looked at the specs on the SMK web site (Its looks a great gun for the money, just go and get one, you can't go too far wrong for £39.99) anyway, the .177 is rated at 600 feet/ second and the .22 @ 450ft/second. With this in mind the .177 has probably got the edge as it'll be easier to fire accurately at range. Remember that the heavier .22 pellet with all its greater knock down capability is useless if that pellet fails to hit what you were aiming at. Also the faster .177 pellet has a better chance of reaching Mr Bunny before he hears the bang and ducks.

Because of the short range you will have to shoot from, this will force you to learn good field craft to avoid spooking the bunnies. This will be frustrating at first, but is an essential. Once you learn it and can take rabbits with air power, you may well see this method of hunting to be preferable, particularly in a post SHTF scenario, when you want to keep your activities discreet.

The Tackle shop may let you shoot before you buy, but they are unlikely to have a range, and the gun will be brand new, so you'll probably not learn much from the exercise.