Feinwerkbau Sport- walnut factory stocks?

[jonnyone]

Did FWB manufacture any for the UK market and if so in what guise did they come in? By this I mean were they clearly a special with a high sporter comb or tyro cheekpiece or indeed were they simply the same stock pattern as the beech but simply machined in walnut?

Just curious

Thanks!

Dave

[ChrisGerr]

I was once told by the guys in Manchester airguns they were the main importers of FWB and a special batch was imported with walnut stocks (seem to recall 150 mentioned).

Sure someone else will be able to shed some more light on it or maybe ring up the guys at MAG as they are still there.

ATB Chris

[landymick]

MAG had 50 of the factory Walnut examples.

The stock was the same as the Beech.

[webman]

I can't confirm the quantity, but a friend of mine bought one of the first ones to be sold. From memory, they looked the same as the standard beech ones.

[jonnyone]

Thanks chaps. I picked up a nice clean example a few weeks back at a cracking price but with the usual blitzed piston seal issue. Put it in the rack to service another day and the more I look at the grain pattern in it the more I start to doubt its beech. I've both sat it alongside the four other Sports I have and its nothing like them. Similarly I've compared it alongside a walnut Tx 200hc plus my CS stocked 80 and the grain nature is very close indeed. I've also pulled up some walnut images on Google and I can find some close matches (both plain images and walnut stocked Sport images). Saying all this it is a very bland lump of wood if indeed it is walnut. I don't think its an early date though going by the info on serial numbers gathered here. Appears to be circa 84 which ties in with the Tasco 1.75-5 x 40 and apel mounts it came with.
Very odd
Thanks again
Dave

[Garvin]

Thanks chaps. I picked up a nice clean example a few weeks back at a cracking price but with the usual blitzed piston seal issue. Put it in the rack to service another day and the more I look at the grain pattern in it the more I start to doubt its beech. I've both sat it alongside the four other Sports I have and its nothing like them. Similarly I've compared it alongside a walnut Tx 200hc plus my CS stocked 80 and the grain nature is very close indeed. I've also pulled up some walnut images on Google and I can find some close matches (both plain images and walnut stocked Sport images). Saying all this it is a very bland lump of wood if indeed it is walnut. I don't think its an early date though going by the info on serial numbers gathered here. Appears to be circa 84 which ties in with the Tasco 1.75-5 x 40 and apel mounts it came with.
Very odd
Thanks again
Dave

Please put some pics up Dave, or send some to me and I will host them. On the one hand you know FWB did make walnut stocks for the Sport so it's possible. On the other hand, sometimes it can be very difficult to tell stained beech from walnut. If you take the action out of the stock it may help, because there's no stain there, obviously.

[jonnyone]

Please put some pics up Dave, or send some to me and I will host them. On the one hand you know FWB did make walnut stocks for the Sport so it's possible. On the other hand, sometimes it can be very difficult to tell stained beech from walnut. If you take the action out of the stock it may help, because there's no stain there, obviously.

That's a good idea Garv. I will take some pics of the gun alongside another plus take stocks off this one plus a known beech one n compare n photograph.
I've got plenty of beech stocked guns n this is a strange one. As you suggest the lacquer coating can often mislead. Whichever way it turns out its a cracking little gun. Will try n photo in due course n ping them across to you mate.
Many thanks
Dave

[webman]

1984 would tie in with the year that my mate bought his walnut stocked Sport. He used to help out at MAG on Saturdays, and had the pick of the walnut stocked rifles. They were all pretty bland, in fact I bought a standard beech one as I preferred the grain pattern! Walnut isn't as dense as beech, so is lighter for the same dimensions. If you are happy to weigh a beech stock and your mystery one, this may confirm the woods are different.

[Nemesis]

I bought a walnut stocked FWB Sport from Manchester Air Guns back in the 1980's. It was of exactly the same design as my Mk 1 but I felt the finish let it down and ended up applying Tru Oil to it. A friend of mine still has it somewhere but it has a bent barrel.

[I. J.]

I wonder if these 50 walnut stocks for the 'Sport were supplied by R Beeman in the States as he listed them in his catalogues.

[webman]

I think it is highly likely that the stocks were from Beeman, and MAG sold quite a few Beeman products in the 80s. I've still got some of the old Beeman catalogues that I bought at MAG, and the friend who bought the FWB Sport also bought special rosewood grips at about the same time for his Webley Tempest, which came in Beeman packing.

[I. J.]

I know M.A.G. sold Beeman products, Blue Ribbon scopes, back sight cover plates, pellets etc. I bought a few bits off them over the years and have a few of the catalogues knocking around somewhere. Alan & Graham were both presented with a deluxe stocked 'Sport from Robert Beeman for services rendered. Ive got one of the two.

[jonnyone]

Finally managed to take some photos tonight of the stocks of a known beech Sport and this latest one I have purchased. My camera and pc software have conspired to beat me tonight and so I only have one which I'm going to send over to Garvin in a mo I thought using a quality camera would be better than my phone-wish I hadnt bothered). Unfortunately it would seem that either there was a small amount of laquer inside both stocks or else perhaps some cleaning oil has seeped down inside both as the wood was not as bare or "white" as might at first be imagined.

However as per a suggestion by webman I did weigh both stocks and this is where it gets confusing (or maybe clearer perhaps). The known beech stock is 2 lb 4 oz in weight (yep I'm still in old money). The latest stock is actually heavier at 2lb 6 oz.

Its suprising what you can find out by removing the action on guns you previously havent. The known beech one seems to have a crossed thread on the fixing stud which the rear stock screw screws into. That was a disappointment. The other was the latest 'Sport seems to have been fitted with a square section srping at sometime in it's life. It will come out and be replaced at the same time as the piston seal is replaced.

So... I dont think I am any wiser

If Garvin posts the photo up maybe that could clarify things a bit.

Cheers all,
Dave

[Garvin]

Dave's pics here.

I think it very likely is walnut from the grain shown in the first and last two pics. Not 100% sure though. Some beech stocks look confusingly similar to walnut.

[wabbit sniper]

I'd give the Mrs hinds teeth for one