Club Air Pistol - recommendations?

[fcat]

Need to get a new air pistol for my club.

We can't run to anything too flash but does need to be reasonably robust.
Was wondering about a FAS 604 or a Rohm Twinmaster. Any thoughts?

regards
fc

[silvershooter]

Need to get a new air pistol for my club.

Hi fc I have an FAS 604, I bought it second hand I like it but, i'ts a little tricky cocking it and following the safety requirements on a club range . Price new is £650, consensus is that they are a good second hand buy, but new, they are overpriced. I have no experience of the Rohm. gl

[zooma]

We have just bought a new type FAS 604 for our club pistol.

As ours is a new Club ( Rossendale Model Target Club), we looked at all the options, and after considering them we decided the new FAS 604 was a good durable and accurate pistol that would be excellent for beginners and all Club members to use.

The 604 needs no gas supply (air or CO2), and it is always ready for action.

We have a good local FAS expert gunsmith (Checkmate Guns) who can keep it going if it has any problems, and although we are not expecting any just yet, most club pistols will get some heavy use so it's good to know we have some back-up available.

He also had a good stock of 604 pistols to choose from, so it suited us perfectly and we chose the newer model type as it is 7 ounces lighter than the first model and has a better grip - nothing wrong with the original - but we had the choice and went for the newer version.

[silvershooter]

Hi zooma, I bought mine from Checkmate guns early May, Is he selling new ones ?

[chunter177]

Hi there,

I have just done similar research, and you will go round and round in circles trying to establish what is good, and what's not. Opinions vary!

We couldn't afford the likes of Hammerli/Benelli/Morini/Steyr new, and have gone for the Air Arms Alfa Proj. It's inexpensive (c £400 to £500 second hand/new); it can be filled with the same fillers as the Air Arms Air Rifles (members of the club may own these); it's ambidexterous (I am sure you can upgrade the grips if required), but the trigger can be adjusted for first and second stage; for pull (i.e. trigger sensitivity); for the position of the trigger shoe in the trigger guard (for me it helps having it near the back as I have short fingers!); for the angle of the trigger (again with my short fingers I like it to be angled to the right so my fingers don't have to reach so far!) - lots of people will service it as it's Air Arms - you can also change the foresight element very easily - it rotates within 3 settings (fat, medium, and thin!).

It is genuinely quite a good allrounder - good luck - it comes with my blessing. I have always regarded myself as RUBBISH at pistol shooting, and haven't done it for 10 years. I got this air pistol and on first go was getting most within the 7 ring on 10m air pistol, so I hope it might be a contender for you.

NB - it doesn't have a pressure gauge - it will dump the gas when it can't deliver the required pressure to shoot, which is probably a good thing if your shooting targets - you don't want zero to disappear south without seeing it coming!

Good luck with your search.

Kind regards,

Chris

[zooma]

Hi zooma, I bought mine from Checkmate guns early May, Is he selling new ones ?

Yes - he has a really smart one in stock with a blue laminated (tiger stripe) grip - looks superb and a little unusual too!

[hwtyger]

FWB65?
Or FWB/walther SSP? Might be easier for spares..

[zooma]

FWB65?
Or FWB/walther SSP? Might be easier for spares..

My first choice would always be an FWB if it was left to me, but the 65's are getting on a bit now and a more up to date pistol was thought to be a better choice for the Club pistol in the longer term.

The 604 is also lighter and easier to handle for the smaller members who may end up using it, and yet big enough to fit those with larger hands too. Overall a good and flexible choice of a current high qaulity match pistol.

Not needing any CO2 or air means the pistol can "stand alone" and is always ready for use at a moments notice without needing the club to buy and store a suitable CO2 or divers type air cylinder, or keep a stock of CO2 capsules.

Having a local dealer who can repair and service the FAS pistols was another reason for choosing the FAS 604.

[derekm]

An SSP would be a good choice for a club gun, being self contained.

Should CO2 not be a problem (+/-32p each from JSR) don't overlook the TAU. After 3 years with an Alpha CO2, followed by a Walther CP2, I find the TAU impressive and streets ahead of the Alpha.

[JohnMcDermott]

Hi there,

I have just done similar research, and you will go round and round in circles trying to establish what is good, and what's not. Opinions vary!

We couldn't afford the likes of Hammerli/Benelli/Morini/Steyr new, and have gone for the Air Arms Alfa Proj. It's inexpensive (c £400 to £500 second hand/new); it can be filled with the same fillers as the Air Arms Air Rifles (members of the club may own these); it's ambidexterous (I am sure you can upgrade the grips if required), but the trigger can be adjusted for first and second stage; for pull (i.e. trigger sensitivity); for the position of the trigger shoe in the trigger guard (for me it helps having it near the back as I have short fingers!); for the angle of the trigger (again with my short fingers I like it to be angled to the right so my fingers don't have to reach so far!) - lots of people will service it as it's Air Arms - you can also change the foresight element very easily - it rotates within 3 settings (fat, medium, and thin!).

It is genuinely quite a good allrounder - good luck - it comes with my blessing. I have always regarded myself as RUBBISH at pistol shooting, and haven't done it for 10 years. I got this air pistol and on first go was getting most within the 7 ring on 10m air pistol, so I hope it might be a contender for you.

NB - it doesn't have a pressure gauge - it will dump the gas when it can't deliver the required pressure to shoot, which is probably a good thing if your shooting targets - you don't want zero to disappear south without seeing it coming!

Good luck with your search.

Kind regards,

Chris

I belong to a club and we have a FAS604 which is pretty popular with new members. For the last two seasons I've been shooting an Original model 6G which is very good. I managed to average 175 using it. I'd have thought that these pistols and maybe the entry level Gamo are about the cheapest decent recoiless match pistols you'll get.

Personally I prefer the trigger on the Original as it's crisper than the FAS but that's probably just me.

Mechanical guns like these are good for club use as there's nothing much to go wrong and they don't require any routine maintenance and are pretty sturdy.

If you buy an Original then you need to make sure the seal has been changed from new as the old washers used to disintegrate though the new ones last forever.
It would be good to know that a pneumatic pistol like the FAS has had it's seals changed too though ours seems to be pretty good in this respect.

I'll be selling my Model 6G as I've not bought a BRNO CO2 pistol as I'm getting old and a whole nights shooting can be pretty tiring these days.

I'll stick the pistol in the for sale section in the next few days if anyone's interested.