About the time I returned to target shooting (after a 40 year break) in 2009 - 2010 I bought a Feinwerkbau P44 - the only reason for this choice was that I had shot really well with the FWB Model 65 and Model 80 match pistols in the 70's and so stayed with the brand that had served me so well in the past.

I started the Rossendale MTC then, and some of our members followed suite and also bought FWB P44 match pistols so at one time we probably had 5 or 6 being shot on a regular basis every week with some others lurking in the area that did not make such a regular appearance on the club range.

Most of these were the early type that were finished in a pale blue anodised finish but some were also the later type that started to come through in black until they were discontinued and replaced by the P8X.

Gradually all of the P44 pistols left the club and were replaced by pistols such as the Steyr LP10, LP10E and LP2 with various others including the SAM, Bennelli, Pardini and Walther LP300 making a showing too.

Looking back at it now, one of the main reasons why the pistol fell from favour was its high sight line - all those mentioned above had lower sight lines that just "felt better", but further memory searching recalls that none of us really shot any better with their "low sightline" replacements!

As I was sifting through my "shelves of treasure" today I found that I still had some nice grips to fit the P44. I no longer had the original medium size Morini type that was supplied with my new P44, but I did have one of the later type grips that was made by Minelli (medium size) that FWB changed to on their later models. A walnut (large size) RINK grip and a Laminated RINK grip (medium size) complete the collection.

The laminated RINK grip was my earliest "option" grip purchase - and it never got used - as it was too small to fit my hand!! At that time I did not know how important it was to buy "one size up" when ordering a new RINK grip!

I had previously tried to sell these grips but I had no response at all - hardly surprising with so few P44 seen in action these days!

Another option for me to consider that may help me to get some "use" out of these grips (not the laminated medium sized RINK ) is to find a nice P44 (at the right price) and enjoy shooting "something different" at our club and find out if (as I suspect) that the results I can achieve with this "high sightline" match pistol are really not any different to what I currently score with my Morini 162ie.

Are there any other BBS members that have fond (or otherwise) memories of shooting with a P44 ?