Classics versus new

[mallyally]

i currently have four sports and there is nothing wrong with any of them yes they were expensive compared with what was availiable at the time but you see more hw 35s with knackered lock ups "well i have"the problem is people believe the breech bolt has to be tightened to death this is not the case the barrel should fall under its own weight .i like ian (hope he dosent mind me saying)have been arround a long time and in those years have stripped many different airguns and i have never seen any better finished internaly than the sport yes the original 45 is a nice gun but the angled breech is not a good idea and puts me off them as it traps the pellet skirt,

[mallyally]

the trigger block is steel init

[Hsing-ee]

Regarding The Sport's match quality barrel, so too's my RWS 45's! It's safety's rock solid and positioned perfectly, and it's 2 stage trigger's sublime...... Yes, it's fixable, but where are your part's coming from? HW35 spares etc, are readily available.

Only Feinwerkbau really know why they stopped manufacturing The Sport. My opinion is that it was simply superseded by better, and cheaper products from it's West German neighbours, combined with the increase in power offered by The HW80.

The Original 45's trigger, while better than the 'Sport by a tad, was not nearly as good as the Rekord on the Weihrauchs. I think the HW80 wiped it out in terms of sales, partly because alot of the first batch of HW80s were doing more than 12ft/lbs - no-one had chronographs and so they seemed very powerful - which they were because they were illegally powerful! The 'Sport was already at the limit in both calibres out of the box. Also, the FWB is not an easy rifle to shoot for a 'springer-beginner', while the huge weight of the 80 made it quite easy to shoot accurately. Then there was the thing of the FWB being a bit, well, boring, it had been around for ages and not really changed much, and people wanted new things all the time, just like they do now. Look at Air-Arms constantly updating the look of their rifles to keep them spicey, in terms of function it is unnecessary but in terms of marketting it is essential.

I think it died out really because of the reason Garvin stated, Feinwerkbau wanted to concentrate on its match rifle/pistol products, both the airguns and the rimfires and the 'Sport didn't really make them enough money to make it worth their while any more. The biggest market for the 'Sport had been America, and since the HW80 (Beeman R1 over there) was not restricted to 12 ft/lbs and was sold at 18 or 20 ft/lbs, there is no way the 'Sport could compete with it in terms of power, and so its sales must have collapsed.

Its still a nice little gun though, even if it is more fragile than the HW, an 'Audrey Hepburn' rather than a 'Gerta Grossedumplings'!

[I. J.]

i like ian (hope he dosent mind me saying)have been arround a long time and in those years have stripped many different airguns and

I cant/wont deny the facts.

the trigger block is steel init

It was in THIS strip down.

ATB
Ian

[Hsing-ee]

I cant/wont deny the facts.



It was in THIS strip down.

ATB
Ian

Does the detent unscrew? It isn't in the pitchers?

Also, have you ever come across a 'Sportsmatch' plastic field-target stock for the FWB Sport? I think they were sold fron 1981 to 1982, they were like a plain version of the 300S but in black ABS or glassfibre or something. Actually, will the 300S stock fit the 'Sport, with a bit of slottage for the cocking lever?

[I. J.]

Does the detent unscrew? It isn't in the pitchers?

As far as I am aware the detent wedge in the cylinder can be removed and replaced. I have never had need to do so and was only informed of this option by HARES EAR - a club member and fellow 'Sport owner.

ATB
Ian

[Garvin]

Some very interesting views on the FWB Sport on this thread. Despite Arai's clever (devil's?) advocacy from the Sport-Skeptics camp there is something about these rifles - whether nostalgia for those of us who bought or craved them in the '70s and '80s, the fine finish, light and powerful design, tunability, availability of Maccari parts, or just the glamour of the Feinwerkbau name - that makes them very collectable.

I'd forgotten about the importance to FWB of the American market and the arrival of the R1 - a good point Hsing-ee makes. The Americans are still very keen on the Sport now, where it seems to be viewed as a bit less of a classic collectable and more of a current functional item than in the UK. Though some would say the American fondness for the Sport was clever marketing by Bob Beeman and Robert Law, helped by the fact it was possibly the first air rifle to deliver claimed power levels right out of the box, they do seem to have fewer critics over there. The complaints that come up about the Sport here rarely come up on the US forums.

[Arai]

The detent is splined. I find it puzzling, that none of the FWB Sport parts have been copied/machined, as there must be a ready market, (I know the trigger blades have). The whereabouts, too, of the original tooling machinery, surely Feinwerkbau didn't just scrap it?

[Hsing-ee]

The detent is splined. I find it puzzling, that none of the FWB Sport parts have been copied/machined, as there must be a ready market, (I know the trigger blades have). The whereabouts, too, of the original tooling machinery, surely Feinwerkbau didn't just scrap it?

Maccari seems to be the man who has done the most of this, as he supplies the eager Americans that Garvin mentions. You can get special breech washers, piston washers, mainsprings and spring guides, metal triggers. In fact, on his website he mentions actually MAKING FWB Sports, but whether he ever did is not clear, and whether they were from old parts, newly sourced parts or what isn't mentioned.

He does have a strange conversion which is a Sport fitted with a barrel that has two bores in it for firing two pellets at once side-by-side - for hunting large airborne insects with!

The FWB is a very clean and simple design, so it could be possible to make them up given CNC machinery ....

[mallyally]

from what i can see they dont seem to wear out very often, i have thought about making a brass trigger for mine when i get the time but everything else seems bomb proof

[mallyally]

from what i can see they dont seem to wear out very often, i have thought about making a brass trigger for mine when i get the time but everything else seems bomb proof

still not done it

[red bob]

i do my fair share of vermin control and target shooting,and being of an age where the 70/80s produced a fair plethora of classics;my rifle for field hunting is my beloved fwb124s with a backup of the orig45 i can as been the case return home with the fwb and rebuilt a blown piston seal and relaced the main spring in the kitchen albeit with a home made spring compressor!! as fwb fans on here will tell you fwb springs are like trying to get a conger eel into a jampot !!.my experience with pcps wasnt a bad one, the a/a,s400 as used by a ex army mate was as clinical and dependable as his tally of rabbits would confirm[a small mound of bodys] while i might be trailing 3/4 .
but what im getting at in a round about way is while modern offerings are near faultless in reliability what happens when the mfr board goes down in a few years time or mabe even next year? my fwb is 30 odd years old and i can still acquire most parts at worst in pattern if not original.my charles osbourne hammer gun circa 1898 is as good as the day of mnfctr and i have no trouble holding my own against the latest carbonfibre tintaglionis etc.

[Amac]

Well Bob, my son and I left our multi-shot PCPs at home for our last hunting trip.
Years ago we used HW95s to great effect and we decided to see if the classic springers could still do the business.
Armed with an old but willing FWB 127, and James with my not so old but still classic Venomised 80, we hunted rabbits as we would have done a couple of decades ago. They still drop the quarry as cleanly as ever as we discovered. It is useful having the ability to quickly recylcle the bolt for a swift back-up shot following a 2 mile trudge through ploughed fields and a missed shot with the old springer. But, it just isnt the same with the PCP option, although clinically efficient, they just lack soul. If I am hunting for pleasure and not to clear as many vermin as possible as fast as I can, I will always use a spring gun, and preferably either my 124 or 127, despite having some nice"modern"springers in the cabinet

Andy.

[DM80]

the barrel detent is splined and a simple push in fit into the clyinder they can be tight but a little heat and a sharp bladed screwdriver they can be prized out no probs as for the sport itself i've owned many nice accurate guns but they dont deserve the cult status they get now they are a bit overated their were guns around at the time that were as good some better their are far better modern springers today sports were weak and fragile in quite a few areas if sports were so good were are they now history shows us sales dried up because better guns came on the scene HW80/77/85 Original 45 to name but a few, FWB sports didnt sell so got foooocked off

ps i remember the first new sport i bought around 1980 its trigger and safety catch didnt work properly out of the box took it back and traded it in for a HW35E never looked back viraaaaaaarks rule

Dave.

[BTDT]

the barrel detent is splined and a simple push in fit into the clyinder they can be tight but a little heat and a sharp bladed screwdriver they can be prized out no probs as for the sport itself i've owned many nice accurate guns but they dont deserve the cult status they get now they are a bit overated their were guns around at the time that were as good some better their are far better modern springers today sports were weak and fragile in quite a few areas if sports were so good were are they now history shows us sales dried up because better guns came on the scene HW80/77/85 Original 45 to name but a few, FWB sports didnt sell so got foooocked off

ps i remember the first new sport i bought around 1980 its trigger and safety catch didnt work properly out of the box took it back and traded it in for a HW35E never looked back viraaaaaaarks rule

Dave.

Now you've gone and done it, Dave! The FWB Sport faction of the anorak's section will NOT like that. Not one little bit.

I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to pay you 'a visit'.

Keep your eyes peeled for an approaching group of men in their fifties, all wearing sensible shoes, corduroy slacks, cardigans, anoraks and flat caps, and brandishing rolled-up photocopies of 1970s Rod Lynton FWB Sport articles with which to 'prove' their case.