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Home / Community home / Reviews / The Triarrow B45-3 Repeater

Chinese airguns are very affordable and popular, but are sometimes known to be a little rough around the edges. Sometimes inventive and unusual, let’s take a look at one unique air rifle made by an engineering firm that nobody can remember or pronounce if they could. The manufacturer would have been one of the mega industrial concerns in China, but the marketing brand name was TRIARROW. The specific air rifle in question is known in the UK as the B45-3; a superb multi-shot recoil free pump-up pneumatic with a manually rotating 12 shot magazine. It’s self-cocking like some Crosmans or the Sharp Innova with the first pump setting the valve. Available in either .177 or .22, a steel bolt and pellet probe seat the pellet into the breech and the barrels can show accuracy that defies logic.

 

Early owner's instructions gave the gun's identification as the B5-3  and in very good English indicate these were 10-shot only. With .177 versions being seen more in some markets, possibly the .22 version may originally have just had less capacity. At a guess, it’s possible the '45' part of the model ID referred to the calibre of 4.5mm before .22 was available. Possibly the design was released as the 10 shot B5-3 and then improved as its popularity grew to become the 12 shot B45-3. To add to the confusion, the Chinese brand name of BAM which from memory was seen more after the new Millennium has also been associated with the B45-3 resulting in the BAM B45. Export deals also mean that the design may have been re-branded differently for each market destination.


 

The B45-3 Carbine

 

For loading, the block casting has an oversize access loading port on the right side, just in front of the large plastic magazine wheel. With the muzzle held up, pellets are inserted backwards, skirt first through this into each chamber as the wheel is rotated. A tool usually isn’t necessary to seat them as the chambers are oversize. A very large steel ball bearing under heavy spring tension is used to lock the magazine on each rotation. This protrudes into each chamber to some depth, so it’s best to load clockwise away from the ball to avoid damaging any pellets. The mag tension is considerable and can be difficult to rotate if hands are greasy or wet. This particular unit has been slightly modified to allow single shot use.

 

The long 19 and 3/4” barrel gives accuracy that’s far from mediocre. First outings with any gun leave lasting impressions and this unit was amazing; a fortunate combination of pellet choice that day. Testing other pellets brought misguided-missile strikes, we're talking off-target by yards here. Cost and quality mattered little with some premium types making this unit sneeze very badly. Pellet testing to find the optimum accuracy for any barrel is usually required so it’s worth spending time on this anyway.

 

Triarrow Logo

The TRIARROW Logo

 

At 36” this is an easy to handle lightweight carbine. Most units in good health appear to require 3 to 4 pumps for maximum output. Trying for more on this unit only makes it sound very much like an old pony farting as the air vents off. As the charging lever slaps home with a clank, the noise can be reduced by using some form of thin self-adhesive buffer between the handle and the compression chamber wall. If too thick however the arm won’t sit correctly closed and may release back out.

 

The trigger is a low point. This gun has a simple blow open valve held shut by the pivoting blade that falls away when pulled. A long spring simply provides return tension. On 4 pumps the effort to knock open the valve was found to be uncomfortable on the finger pad as the steel blade is very narrow. An immediate improvement was to fit an after-market brass trigger shoe.

 

Triarrow Loading port

Loading Port

 

The alloy block does in fact have a short scope rail cast into it. The shallow height of the casting between the scope rail and the pellet probe means that some scope mounts will snag. Choosing neat mounts with smaller fixings or reversing the mounts for left side tightening works well. The open sights are incidentally superb.

 

The front end on many pumpers can get quite fussy with the barrel, the charging arm and any muzzle bracket. The B45-3 muzzle has a one-piece muzzle casting complete with a triangular logo. Most, including this author, didn’t realise is the TRIARROW symbol. There was allegedly a factory steel silencer for this gun. Many Chinese air rifles have had model-specific silencers or shrouds made for them, some even accommodating the foresight blade in situ. One unit seen which is believed to be original was a three-piece design. A separate two-part slip-on adapter fitted over the protruding muzzle tube, secured by a grub screw then an interconnecting threaded ring joined this to the main silencer tube.

 

Robust rear sight mounted on cradle

Robust rear sight mounted on cradle

 

Service kits turn up on occasion, but resealing one of these may not prove difficult as seals could be remade from rubber materials using the originals as a pattern. A simple tube service tool to help strip the valve out was once available. If pushed an off-cut of tubing in a suitable diameter could be given a key to one end with a hacksaw.

 

On this unit, apart from the logo to the muzzle piece, there are no stamped markings nor serial numbers on the frame anywhere. However a  handwritten date mark, possibly a code, if applied in the factory of ‘7/10/96’, can just be seen to the flat of the trigger guard, acid-etched faintly into the bluing.

 

 a Triarrow service kit

Service Kit

 

Early B45-3's aren’t dissimilar to many other Chinese airguns of the ‘90s and were provided in a basic stock whose timber still defies identification, lacquered heavily and complete with pressed metal sling brackets tacked onto the sides of the stock. Later some better beech stocks appeared. UK importer Sports Marketing (SMK) offered what they referred to as a Custom model in “best Italian Custom chequered woodwork” as in this example here. With roll impressed chequering, the now identifiable beech wood was stained nicely and finished off to a far higher standard.

 

As well as the stocks some other minor differences can be seen. One example had a totally different muzzle end cap. This had a longer front tube possibly to aid in fitting a shroud, a longer foresight blade and the brand logo was absent from the end.

 

rotating magazine and bolt action

Rotating Magazine, Bolt Action

 

From memory, B45-3's first appeared in the early ‘90s and were sold as quirky cheap airguns at modest budget prices. Despite their improvement, by the mid-’00s they had disappeared from most gunshop shelves. Never common even when new, as internet forums gained in popularity examples found in sheds and attics were dragged out, queried and questioned over as some new discovery. Today they have a strong following among enthusiasts with some customisers working on them. Examples have been seen with handmade custom hardwood stocks, or with modified pump arms extended in length to ease charging or even units converted to bullpup configuration. Some people may sniff at this when the gun was aimed at the lower end of the market, but the truth is the B45-3 is a stunning performer.


The B5-3 and later B45-3 must have appeared in many other countries too but whether this was always under their original title is unknown as indicated earlier. Perhaps Peruvian airgun owners are discussing their identical El Champo's. Still being derided by some, these quirky and unusual little air rifles are super fun and will be around for a very long time.

Jonathan Young
Writer
Published on 07-01-2022
Started out very young with cap pistols, progressing to archery and this developed into a real interest in studying older weapons. Air weapons followed and it's been the Airgun that's drawn me deeper into shooting more than anything. The sheer variety of different types available is unparalleled, from bb guns to replica pistols, from rusty old springers to high-end target rifles. It's impossible to get bored! Add a dash of patina and you gain entry to the wonderful world of Vintage Airguns. My very first air gun was a £35 diecast Daisy - I've never looked back.