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I love to tinker just about as much as I love to play. Due to the difficulty and expense of
getting a game together around here, I get to spend a lot more time tinkering than I do playing. Here's
the run-down on my KP-3 Rifle restoration.
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I traded for the KP-3 at The Bunker on May 5, 1999. The KP-3 had been in their used rack
for nearly a year. I had seen it in there several times myself but had limited interest in it. The
used rack is behind the counter and the KP-3 rested in the top of the rack. From the sales floor it
looked REALLY bad. So bad that I wasn't very interested. To top it off I had been told that it had
'problems'. The first time I saw it, I already owned two other KP rifles and I wasn't about to spend
$$$ to add another to my collection.
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Over the last year however I had sold my KP's and I was looking for something new to toy with.
I was somewhat hesitant I must add to buy another KP. I had used one for a day's play in Fall of '97
and discovered what any idiot could guess. They are heavy, slow, and awkward. That long snout makes
it impossible to utilize trees as effective cover. The weight and length make it slow to swing should
you need to bring it to bear quickly. And just carrying one for a couple of hours is enough to wear
you out. Still, I felt like I had a huge gap in my collection for not having at least one of the type.
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At length I traded off for the KP-3. I figured that I wasn't out any real cash so what the
heck. Pulling the KP-3 down from it's shelf I was surprised to discover that it was in much better shape
than appearance suggested. The grimy appearance was the result of sweat and paintball residue deteriorating
the varnish at the grip and fore end. There were not any deep scratches or dings. Even the warning decal,
which instructs the user not to kink the air hose was in place. The coating on the barrel tubes was
worn off. It appears because of the use of a solvent cleaner. Again there were no scratches other than
those one expects to see behind the pump.
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The biggest surprise was the inside of the barrel. Though a little dirty, it was almost completely
devoid of even the smallest scratch. Had the rest of the marker not been in such good shape I would
have thought that the barrel had been honed. The condition of the barrel is a huge plus. The brass
barrelled Sheridan guns almost always show a good deal of scratching. This discovery may even lead to
a change of plans upon my part. This KP-3 is a good candidate for hard-chroming. Because the possibility
exists that I will have to send it off anyway, I may send the rifle to Palmer's for rebuilding and hard-chroming.
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Stripping the marker found all of the internals to be in remarkable condition, no significant
wear on any components. A thorough cleaning and they would be ready to reinstall. It seemed that I
was facing only three major tasks. 1: Refinish the Stock, 2: Refinish the Barrel, 3: Repair the leaking
valve. The logical order for repairs would be to fix the valve first. Unfortunately I have never done
anything logical in my life so I began with the stock. Removing the old lacquer was a breeze. A little
Strypeeze and off it came. Unfortunately the stains around the grip and fore end didn't come off as well.
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My plan for this marker was to stain the stock a dark green. At my job we had just received
a new dark green stain from Min-wax. The color was nice and I was just itching to try it out on something.
It was perhaps for this reason I had decided to get the KP-3 in the first place. But the dark stains
on the stock would have to go before I could reapply the new stain. I tried several solutions and finally
discovered that by scrubbing vigorously with a steel wool pad and Ajax, I could slowly remove the stains.
It took a couple of hours but I finally got them out.
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The color I had chosen proved to be more trouble than getting the stock ready. It's a water
based product and it turned out to be impossible to get a smooth, even, and 'natural' coat of it applied.
After applying a first coat and giving it three hours to dry I applied a second coat and it looked terrible.
Streaks and blotches everywhere. I finally scrubbed it all off in hot water. With the stock dripping
wet I applied another coat and got a satisfactory application. I allowed time to dry, then applied a
second coat.
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The second coat looked 'good enough' Not perfect by any means but good enough for my tastes.
I decided that a gloss finish would look better than the satin I had chosen so I went that way instead.
Glad I did, the results are absolutely beautiful. Some minor streaking and blotching but it's still
one sharp looking stock. Now it was time to check out the valve.
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I had been told and had demonstrated for myself that the KP-3 had some sort of valving problem.
I suspected that it leaked at the front seal. After all, it had held pressure for one shot, then gone
ballistic on me. I didn't figure I could replace that particular seal so I tried working around it with
a bit of 'Yankee Ingenuity'. I had noticed that the C/A adapter screwed in completely without showing
any signs of encountering resistance. Obviously an adjustment was needed there. In addition to this,
I built a 'seal' for it's front end using 'Goop', a flexible glue. The seal would hopefully perform
the function of the damaged foreword seal.
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Well, to keep it short I was wrong on both accounts. The front seal wasn't bad and my 'Yankee'
seal wasn't the solution. I decided to tear into the valve. I've got the right tools to do this on
Sheridan guns so I went to it. First thing I discovered was that the rear-most lead seal was damaged,
apparently from improper re-installation. A large section was cut away rendering it's ability to seal
questionable. The biggest surprise greeted me when I opened the valve body. I had expected to find
a bad cup seal. Sheridan cup seals are remarkably durable but still, they don't last forever. I was
surprised to discover that the cup seal was nearly perfect. The lead rear seal was ruined, having been
installed wrong it was badly cut with a sizable portion having been sheered away. Why the valve wasn't
working was still a bit of a mystery.
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Further investigation of the valve revealed more than a simple problem with the seal. The
first clue was the fact that the CA adapter screwed in all the way. This shouldn't happen, there should
be about one eighth inch overhang. The answer falls back to the valve body. It is held in place from
the rear by a threaded brass retainer. Perhaps because the lead seal had not seated properly, the retainer
was itself not fully screwed down. This had caused the valve body to be forced rearward by the CA adapter.
The result was that the CA adapter would not seal to the body properly. Thus, the leak. This is a
numbingly simple repair. I just have to wait until I can get my hands on a new set of seals.
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The KP-3 had a few minor problems elsewhere. The cocking action was startlingly stiff. Even
with the bolt properly lubed, it was impossible to get a crisp 'click-clack' cocking stroke. The bolt
wanted to hang up at the rear. The problems was the overly tight tolerances of the barrel, and bolt,
coupled with the torsional action of the pump arm. As the bolt reached the rear of it's stroke, tension
from the cocking arm caused it to twist slightly. This caused the cocking pin to interfere with the
clearance slots cut into the top and bottom barrels. There was enough interference to actually jam the
action about one third of the time.
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;Rather than to try opening up the clearance holes, I made adjustments to the bolt. The design
of the 'Speed Demon' bolt is such that it has very little play in it's tail section. This is not necessarily
a good thing. It's internal design does not dictate a lack of 'play'. It would still function properly
even if one were to rotate the tail section 180 degrees. The tail section is held in place by an offset
roll-pin that fits tightly into a slot cut into the tail pieces bottom. By cutting this slot deeper
and rounding out its corners I was able to provide the additional 'play' needed to give the rifle a smoother
action. Overall I was pleased with the results. In the past I have not been a big fan of the 'Speed
Demon' bolt because they never seemed to perform as well as Cooper-T's original E-bolt. This modification
improved that performance dramatically. I still don't like the 'Speed Demon's' retracting hammer pin.
It's not nearly as 'slick' to operate as a marker that has a fixed pin and a quick strip slot. I will
probably cut my own quick strip slot.
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