Premium springer fun: FWB Sport

[North Country Gal]

I've been shooting my 177 cal FWB Sport off the deck this last week using its power to really smack my metal targets.


My FWB (Feinwerkbau, made in Germany) Sport isn't my most used springer air rifle, so the saying that the rifle you shoot the most is your best rifle doesn't hold, here. On the other hand, I could make the case for my FWB Sport being my best spring piston air rifle in terms of fit and finish and especially, accuracy.


In the air gun world, it is generally conceded that air rifles with fixed barrel, under lever designs are generally more accurate than air rifles of the break barrel design, but don't tell that to my FWB Sport. It's a break barrel that's has tied my very best fixed barrel under lever rifles for accuracy all the way out 50 yards.

The Sport is also my springer with the sharpest and snappiest springer recoil. A mild-mannered, low power springer it is not. It's not a gun I would recommend for learning how to shoot a spring piston air rifle. In fact, the Sport recoil is so sharp, that I've gone though three different scopes and three different types mounts to solve the problem of the scope and mount sliding to the rear after a number of shots. Finally solved the problem by reducing scope and mount weight with the little Leupold Freedom 3-9x and adding an improvised scope stop behind the rear ring. Hasn't budged since.


Oh, yeah, it's been a long road to develop the technique needed to tame this beast, but it's been worth it. The FWB Sport never lets me down in accuracy when I do my part.


As for the way the FWB Sport smacks steel, well, I've actually knocked a few spinner targets off their rest at 25 yards. Can't help but think those metal targets squirm a bit when I walk out on deck with the FWB Sport.

[Sir Henry]

Fantastic shooting Joanie! I think half the fun of shooting is solving problems. Maybe not at the time of the solving part but more of the solved part.

[North Country Gal]

Yeah, I do enjoy the accuracy challenge with any gun. For me, it is part of the fun of shooting. I think you have to have a stubborn, don't give up attitude as well as a positive attitude. If you let yourself believe a gun isn't accurate or that you can't shoot all you are doing is wasting ammo.

This FWB Sport impressed me right out of the box, though. This one was easy. I could see the potential, immediately. Just had to figure a way to hold it so that it shot consistently.

I've had plenty of the "headache" kind of guns, too. Most of them turned into acceptable shooters with enough work. Always a few, though, that I just had to send down the road. We've all had some of those.

[GFK]

Did not know that air rifles had that much of a kick. Also, nice looking rifle and shooting!

[North Country Gal]

Hi GFK

With piston air rifles, either spring piston or gas piston, it's not painful recoil as with a hard kicking magnum cartridge rifle. It's more a matter of unusual two way recoil, back and forward, as the piston on the rifle slams forward, pushing the gun to the rear and then as the air gets compressed ahead of the piston, the rifle gets pushed forward. This shuffling kind of recoil is a detriment to accuracy until you learn a proper hold to control it. The more powerful the piston system, the more the recoil and the greater challenge to shoot with accuracy.

All other types of air guns are one type of pneumatic or another as in PCP, CO2 or pumpers. These are more or less recoilless, regardless of power and can be shot just like a 22 rifle, no special hold needed.

[markiver54]

Hi GFK

With piston air rifles, either spring piston or gas piston, it's not painful recoil as with a hard kicking magnum cartridge rifle. It's more a matter of unusual two way recoil, back and forward, as the piston on the rifle slams forward, pushing the gun to the rear and then as the air gets compressed ahead of the piston, the rifle gets pushed forward. This shuffling kind of recoil is a detriment to accuracy until you learn a proper hold to control it. The more powerful the piston system, the more the recoil and the greater challenge to shoot with accuracy.

All other types of air guns are one type of pneumatic or another as in PCP, CO2 or pumpers. These are more or less recoilless, regardless of power and can be shot just like a 22 rifle, no special hold needed.

Very interesting Joanie. I have wondered about the recoil of an air rifle myself. Good question GFK...thanks NCG!

[North Country Gal]

You are very welcome.

[Hatchdog]

Like most I have “heard” that air rifles are hard on scopes. Until reading your report I always assumed that meant breaking the reticle. Interesting to read that your issue with this rifle was the scope and or mount moving. Great idea to install that blocker.

[North Country Gal]

Springer/gas piston guns are hard on scopes in a couple ways. The first, as above, is keeping the scope from slipping in the rings or the whole scope and rings slipping on the rail. Another is just plain wearing the scope out to the point where the adjustments won't hold and the scope is just plain broke and no longer useable. This can happen even on scopes rated for springer recoil, but it's the first thing that happens when you use scope not built for use on piston air rifles.

Interestingly, gas piston guns have a rep for being harder scopes than spring piston guns. but I suspect that is partly due to the the fact that gas piston guns are invariably more powerful than spring guns. Actually hard to even find a low power gas piston gun on the market and with the exception of a few very expensive models, you can't mod the power on a gas piston gun, so you're stuck with that power level. On springers, you can change power just by changing the main spring or just buy a new gun at any power level you want.

[markiver54]

These types of guns are a whole lot more complex than I ever imagined. Wow, what a wealth of information.

[North Country Gal]

Thanks, Mark.

Yes, piston guns are inherently more complex in the sense that air/gas compression takes place AFTER the trigger is pulled. In a piston gun, releasing the trigger releases a piston under a load to compress air/gas and then the compressed air/gas sends abpleet down the barrel. In all other types of airguns (pneumatics) the air/gas has been compressed BEFORE the trigger has been pulled by one means or another, so pulling the trigger just releases the compressed air/gas. It's why piston guns have recoil and other types of air guns effectively have very little.

PCPs (pre-charged pneumatics) are the state of the art in the air gun world. They are fitted with reservoirs you fill with air via a separate pump or via an air compressor before a shooting session, so you just operate the action during a shooting session and keep shooting until the air reservoir empties to a pre-determined minimum pressure. There's no pump lever to operate during a shooting session as with other types of pneumatics. In this sense, a CO2 air gun operates like a PCP. In fact, CO2 guns are sometimes lumped with PCPs in air gun circles.

[daytime dave]

That is some fine shooting, especially with a strong springer. Nice work.

I continue to be fascinated with how you go about explaining the air rifles and their "habits".

[North Country Gal]

Thanks, Dave. Hoping it helps with anyone who is thinking about getting into air guns. It's an even more affordable option for shooting with the price and availability of cartridge gun ammo, now. Sure pellet prices have also gone up, but nowhere near the way centerfire ammo has. For instance, one of my best premium field pellets sill runs only 2.3 cents a pellet. If you shop around you can get typical Crosman pellets for 1.5 cents a pellet or less.

[graywolf]

I think about getting an air gun sometimes. I read your posts on all the different types but still don't really know what to ask. Only ones I look at in person are the ones in Walmart. Can I get a decent starter gun in the $200-300.00 dollar range that is light, and not much recoil.

[North Country Gal]

You sure can, graywolf. It just depends on your intended uses. Do you want it for target and/or hunting? What kind of distances will you be shooting? Do you have a specific type of power platform in mind (piston, CO2, pump up, PCP and so on)?

Wal-mart caters to the budget stuff, but even so, there are still some useable choices on the shelf at Wal-mart, depending on your shooting needs. Beware, though, there are some really bad choices there for a first air gun or just plain bad choice, period.

Whatever you do, just don't rush out and buy an airgun based on marketing claims. Just give me an idea of what you need in an airgun and I can give you plenty of choices in that $200-300 range. If you can squeeze past that $300 max just a bit, a lot more choices.

Here's a great choice for $343. It's the the [flash=]https://www.airgunsofarizona.com/spring ... ifle-.177/[/flash]. The HW30 (sometimes also sold as the Beeman R7) is a low power German made springer with very light recoil. Minimal effort needed to cock it. Lifetime quality with a superb trigger. As with any HW, serious accuracy.

The beauty of the HW30 is that it is very easy to shoot, despite its being a springer. I taught 4 of the grandkids who had never shot a gun in their lives how to shoot using a couple of scoped HW30s. Shooting off the bench with a good rest and some safety and shooting coaching from me, before and during the shooting, they were consistently hitting my metal swinging targets at 30 yards. Bottom line is that you don't have to be a piston gun expert to shoot the HW30, well.

Mind you, the HW30 is no powerhouse (there are other choices if you want/need more power), but that low power is one reason why what it is so easy to shoot.

The HW30 is not just a good choice for a first air gun. I use our two HW30s all the time, even though we have a very large air gun collection with air guns costing well over 1K. It's just that HW 30 is so light and handy and easy to shoot with great accuracy that its actually my most used air rifle.

[markiver54]

More info printed and in my reference file.

[North Country Gal]

Thanks, Mark. Glad you can use the info.

[graywolf]

Gosh, I had no idea NCG. You know, it's been 60 years maybe more since I had a BB gun. I thought it would be like picking out which Gamo or Ruger that places like Walmart sells, get the one that shoots the fastest, and I'd have an air gun. If I didn't know what to ask before, I'm sure hurting now. I do like the one in your link above. I will be using one for targets mostly at around 25 yards max. If I did hunt with it any, it would just be for squirrels, and probably still not be shooting over 25 yards. Think I would like it to be self contained. Light weight, little recoil, and maybe not too loud. I already see I won't be rushing to get the first one on the shelf.

[North Country Gal]

Good for you, graywolf.

I have a friend I have been helping get started in air gun shooting and she promised me she would not go and buy another airgun without giving me a call, first. She broke her promise, though, and bought two of the most powerful airguns she could find at Walking-mart, based on the advertising on the boxes. These were both "magnum" piston guns advertising velocities such as 1300 fps.

After trying to get both air rifles sighted in with absolutely no success, she called me. By that time she was borderline hysterical and hopping mad. I patiently explained why she washing a problem and what she would have to of to correct it, namely, practice and learn how to shoot this type of heavy recoil airgun. She was not too thrilled with her purchase after my explanation.

She came up for a visit a few weeks later and brought those two airguns with her with instructions for me to just go out in the woods and bury them. She didn't even feel like shooting airguns, at this point. To ease her mind, I sat her down with one of the HW30s and had her shooting like a champ in no time. She loved it.

Those two airguns are sitting out in the shed. Will probably just give them away. Not sure what I will do. I have absolutely no use for them.

[daytime dave]

graywolf, I heartily agree with NCG's advice and recommendation. If you want to look over choices, go to Airguns of Arizona, Pyramid Air, and airgun depot. You can see the different types of airguns available. I liked the Crosman pump rifles when they had wooden stocks. I have three of them and took them hunting often for squirrels. It takes some effort to put eight pumps in at the end, but you have a zero recoil gun afterwards that can be carried around all day until you need the shot. Here is a link to a gun I may purchase soon. I have heard good things about it and it reminds me of the wooden stocked Crosman's with the advantage of the circular magazine and consistent pumping. https://www.pyramydair.com/product/sene ... 5170#10357 It's not too expensive, at $200.oo and comes in .177 or .22. I'd be getting the .22.
Good luck with your new interest.