Best FT Rifle on the Market at the Moment

[The Birdman]

What would the "FT'ers" consider to be the best FT rifle on the market at the moment ?

[Scarecrow]

One that allows the shooter to hit all the targets. If that happens to be an Air Arms S200 then, as far as that shooter is concerned, the S200 is the best FT gun out there.

I don't wish to sound patronising, but there is no such thing as 1 best gun. Ask a multitude of FTers and, as with so many other things in life, you will get a multitude of answers.

[p70shooter]

I will second Mr Scarecrow on that one. I had a P70 and thought it was the mutts,regrettably had to sell it because I needed the money.Now I have got a S400 with a target stock on it and Im shooting just as well or if not better with that.Try them all out and see what fits you best.

[Paul Hudson]

Yup! The "best" is the one that works for a particular individual.

Paul.

[Ned]

Convince others you have the latest FT kit by dragging a magnet through a scrapyard then proudly prance about with the resulting mess threatening metalic poultry and paper pests.

Ned

[The Birdman]

I'll rephrase the question, What is "Your" favourite FT Rifle ? What have you found most accurate ?

[The Doctor]

What do I prefer??

AA S400 - beats the pants off anything on the market at the moment - and I should know seeing as I have had almost all of them;-)

LeeH

[HotShot]

I've owned most (just like Lee) and the most accurate gun I own is my Mk2 Huntsman. It has had a bit of work done to it though

Dave.

[Rabbit Sniper]

Clearly you want too see what the best 'FT' rifle is, one thing is that the S-400/200 lovers are to some extent very correct in what they are saying. But S-400 is not an ft gun it was meant for hunting. For arguements sake by the time you add all of the FTs bells and whistles I assure you that you will be nearing the same price as a rifle that was souly made for FT.

The S-400 series can be undoubtedly used effectively for FT but it means customising it to a large extent.

As far as FT guns go I would have to say the Anschutz ALU 2002 which I'm going to buy about christmas time.

[The Doctor]

"For arguements sake by the time you add all of the FTs bells and whistles I assure you that you will be nearing the same price as a rifle that was souly made for FT.

The S-400 series can be undoubtedly used effectively for FT but it means customising it to a large extent."

Not even close mate - I haven't done that much to mine, not in comparision to what I had to do to my Domminator to get that shooting right, or the steyr, and they cost about a grand to start off with!

sub-£500 for a rifle that out shoots me - that'll do me nicely;-)

LeeH

[Rabbit Sniper]

This thread regarding the adaptability of the Air Arms has already been done, we went through all of the extras to get it too the GENERAL standard of say a Steyr. By saying general standard, I mean trigger unit and regs and stocks.

If we add all of the elements of a Steyr you will get a gun that is generally like the steyr and a price to match.

This is not the shootability out of the box but getting the gun looking and feeling like an ft gun which included all of the elements of an FT gun.

Maybe the Air Arms is perfect as it is but in COMPARISON, to the Steyr when all of it bits are fitted, the air arms has the same value as a Steyr.

[Paul Hudson]

What's an "FT gun" anyway? Isn't any gun used for shooting at tin chickens according to BFTA rules an FT gun?

Surely the Steyr and its ilk are just 10 metre rifles on steroids?

Paul. .

[The Birdman]

If the S400/410 is so great, How comes the Daystate MK3 has come 1st and 2nd in the last couple of HFT rounds ? Not critisism just curiosity !

[HotShot]

Paul Wilson (one of the guys doing some of the winning in HFT) used a S400 last year and won at least one comp with it.

It may be down to the shooter rather than the gun.

I prefer a bit more weight in a gun for HFT and that is where the Mk3 would win out over the S400. Again - that is only how I feel. Others may like different things.

Dave.

[rockdrill]

Originally posted by Rabbit Sniper
Clearly you want too see what the best 'FT' rifle is, one thing is that the S-400/200 lovers are to some extent very correct in what they are saying. But S-400 is not an ft gun it was meant for hunting. For arguements sake by the time you add all of the FTs bells and whistles I assure you that you will be nearing the same price as a rifle that was souly made for FT.

The S-400 series can be undoubtedly used effectively for FT but it means customising it to a large extent.

In respect of the S400 not being an FT gun, if we pursue this point, where do you suppose FT guns actually came from?

When I first started shooting FT the HW77 was still the must have, now this gun was not designed for FT it just happened to offer desirable features that FT shooters were looking for and formed the base for a lot of custom FT rifles.

Daystate and Ripley rifles FT models are evolutions of their sporting rifles.

The Shamal was not designed for FT and the NJR100 was an SM100 with the whistles and bells added. The Pro-Target is a development of the RN10 a 10 metre match rifle that never really caught on and the EV2 is a progression from this design.

The Anschutz, Steyr, Walther and FWB guns are only adapted 10 metre guns.

It is quite correct to say that an S400 requires some work to shoot FT effectively, but to say that the cost comes close to equalling a Steyr is a bit of an over estimate. I can speak with some authority on this matter as I use a modified S400 for FT and I have owned a Steyr LG100FT and the S400 (including modifications) cost over £300 less than the Steyr.

Incidentally I found that the modifed S400 performed with greater accuracy than the Steyr and gave more shots per charge without a regulator. To see the rifle I use look at this link:

http://www.airrifle.co.za/Reviews/NJ400.htm (site currently being updated should work later)

In terms of the best FT rifle, all of the current offerings are basically good guns, it really comes down to personal preference.