Norinco KL-3B .177 Caliber Review

Overall Rating

Really good looking, well finished stock, and overall feel. Freakishly accurate for a $35 Chinese air rifle -1" pattern @ 20yds. Good action with a predictable "trigger break". I can practice/target shoot in town without freaking the neighbors out. I also built a target from a cardboard box and a thick stack of magazines so now I shoot in my living room @ 15 yds while watching cartoons :o) --- my wife hates this!

The front sight's screw got loose & stripped. I used loc-tite and a touch of super glue to get it to hold. It was really no big deal b/c "spring action" rifles are always prone to loose screws. I bought an $8 Daisy 3x9 scope that works great anyways. Comes dripping in grease/oil. You'll spend an hour with a de-greaser getting this stuff off, but you dang sure won't find any rust

I have to admit that I was extremely skeptical about a $35 Chinese air rifle. A friend at work had bought a case of 10 and was selling them off so I visited him to see what this thing was. I expected a flimsy piece of ugly junk that I wouldn't buy for free. I was stunned stupid when I saw that this thing looked so good and was built so solidly. The stock's finish is really fantastic --- nicely grained wood with a good stain and coating.
We went out back and threw a small Gatorade bottle about 15-20 yards. Using just the iron sights, I put my very first 5 rounds right through the orange cap (~1.5" diameter). Now I was really stunned! A $35 Chinese air rifle should not be this accurate, fun to shoot, or good looking. I bought it without hesitation and I love it! I even bought one for my father-in-law and he enjoys it as much as I do. This is a rifle that is way under-priced for what you get.

Members' Comments onSpacemonkey71's Review

• Spacemonkey71 on 9th Jun 2007

  Some people say the trigger pull is too hard (it's pretty tight); but here's a trick to lessen the pull -->> The "trigger safety" will not engage unless the safety lever is flipped 100% (covering the "red dot"), meaning that unless the safety is FULLY on, the trigger can be pulled. When the safety is 100% off ( the safety lever is 100% set to "fire") the trigger is tight/hard to pull. So what I've found is that you can put the safety lever a little below the 1/2 way point between "fire" and "safe" and push a thumbtack into that spot to keep the safety lever from going 100% back up to the "fire" position. This GREATLY reduces the pull of the trigger and it still gives you the ability to use the safety. It's a "low tech" solution, that'll basically free.