What is the best springer 10M match Rifle

[markmac]

I think that all the rifles mentioned, in the right hands ,will give great results.I love my 380 and it does shoot sweetly,but I and many others have been beaten in bell target matches many times by recoiling rifles such as the LGV and HW55

[RobinC]

As one who was around at the time when springers were being used at Internationals , I can tell you that it was near enough 100% FWB 300's of various editions, my wife shot an Original 75 Nationally and Internationally for a while, and was always the only non FWB at Internationals, she preferred its neutral action to the FWB, but changed to a Walther LGR as soon as they were available.

[Drew451]

It's very interesting to find out what things were like at that level, Robin. I was wondering how the Walther compared with the Original performance wise? Did your wife scores/results improve after she changed over?

[RobinC]

Drew
Its difficult to make comparisons, she always liked the 75, she's short and I did a lot to shorten it, both the stock and trigger reach, and to get the ballance back by weighting it rearward. Her personal best with the 75 was 384 ex 400, and its difficult to get a true comparison as she was developing as she changed to the Walther, her scores were similar, in the 380's but she never made 390. The reason for change was two fold, first the 75 was problematic, it jammed open at the British Championships, and the agents, then Dykes, changed the action over into her stock with one they had on their stand, and she carried on! Then later at an international in Germany it did it again, and the action was changed again, but she never really trusted it after that so was considering a change.

The Walther was a pre production version of the LGR Junior, and she was given that by the factory to assess, so after we shortened it a little to fit perfectly, and weighted it up to get the ballance rearward, I made an a copy alloy muzzle weight as the factory insisted it had to still look standard, and a load of lead in the butt, she then used that to the end of her International career (and actualy still has it), and certainly prefered it to the 75. I think she was more consistent with the Walther, but that may have been more to do with her than the rifle.

She was given the Walther because during a vist to Walther in Ulm after a successful match in Germany, a very nice elderly gentlman was very complimentary of her shooting as he had been at the match, but asked why she did not shoot their then quite new Walther LGR, she gave him a list! Mostly around it being too big for her, the trigger reach was too long, it was too difficult to load, and several other things! He went away and talked to some one else instead, we were told he was Carl Walther Sn! Three months later she was sent the pre production prototype LGR Junior, free of charge, to try, and give feed back on, we have been close friends with the Walther factory ever since!

She has always been very demanding of trigger set up, so I have spent a lot of time over many years setting up triggers, and it can be very frustrating having a shooter who can feel creep in what you think is a perfect trigger! I think the LGR trigger was a big step up from the 75 and the 300S, it was the first of the match triggers that could be set really crisp and creep free. The 75 is a tad agricultural, but still quite similar in feel to the FWB. I recently had the need to adjust an LGR trigger, and was quite impressed with how close the trigger could be set to a modern match trigger.

She still shoots today at bus pass plus, air with a Walther special, a LG400 expert fitted in an LG300 Junior stock, a model they now make to special order.

We both activelly coach, and the biggest advances from 40 years ago to modern day rifles are in ergonomics, balance, trigger quality, and lock time, the accuracy has improved, but there was not really a lot to improve on.

I always liked the 75, I think its as good as the 300S, trigger and accuracy, its drawback was the ballance, there is a lot of mechanicals sat just forward of the middle and a bit high up, but then most of the springers were the same such as the 300S, and really the LGR was not a lot different, the Anschutz 250 to 380 was similar but were rarely seen, don't really know why, but I think they were expensive then, and no better, so no one really went for them. The FWB 300s was the most common rifle in use then for about 15 years, but the LGR was the big step that started the trail of development to SSP's, then Co2's and then PCP's.

If you ever see a very short stocked early Original 75, with the trigger with a longer alloy bar to get it rearward, the trigger guard skeletonised to clear the rear ward trigger, cheek piece built up, and loads of stickers on it, its her old one and we have been looking for it for ten years, nostagic old farts!
Have fun
Good shooting
Robin

[Drew451]

Excellent post, Robin. Thank you for such a fascinating insight. I'm kind of blown away by it.
I will certainly keep an eye out your wife's much modified 75. It's surprising how many of them pop up for sale these days.- it's quite possible it's still out there.

[hwtyger]

There is no 'best'unless you rest it while firing. And even than, there are accuracy differences from rifle to rifle within 1 model.
What shóóts best is what suits you best.(balance/accuracy etc wise)
In my case, the Diana 75.
Dont like the ergo's of anschutz. Neither air nor rimfire. Too universal.
Dont like the FWB300 either.
Dito for anschutz 250.
Walther LG55T looks very nice but ofcourse lack the ergo's of the later 75

[zooma]

The best springer 10M match rifle is the one that shoots the best for you.

There is no rifle that can be claimed to be "the best" spring powered 10M match rifle (the question asked in this thread) as almost all 10M spring powered match rifles are as accurate as each other - but different shooters have different preferences and look for different things perhaps in the way they cock, the balance, or a preference for the action used along with many other factors.

Any claim to what is "the best" 10M match air rifle would be very subjective and made within the parameters of the claimants own subjective preferences, and they may well not be agreed upon by others who have their own thoughts and preferences.

If the answer were to be judged on the most widely used and most successful spring powered 10M match rifle ever made then unquestionably the answer could only be the Feinwerkbau 300S ( and it many variants). It was the undisputed choice for the vast majority of spring powered 10M match shooters at all levels for many years.

Spring powered 10M match rifles began to be replaced by their 10M rifle shooting owners firstly by SSP powered 10M match rifles and followed ( briefly) by a few CO2 powered types but ultimately by the PCP rifle types that have dominated the 10M match rifle shooting at al levels since their introduction.

Some of us still enjoy shooting the spring powered 10M rifles in the MPL series and in Classic events that are held for them and they remain popular for 6 yards shooters and Bell Target shooters too.

[Blackrider]

Would tend to agree with the opening sentence in the above post !