FWB Sledge vs Giss question?

[DrGunn]

Thanks,
So if there’s not much in it then as Geezer said maybe there was some bais for FWB as more of a target airgun company than Diana.

I think the FWB sledge is definitely less mysterious than the Giss system from the outside.

Cheers,
Matt

I guess the fact that Feinwerkbau already had a well established track record with the 65 air pistol meant they were already accepted as one of the top manufacturers of match airguns. I also have a FWB 65 and Original model 10 and again they are both superbly accurate.
I personally really like the Giss system, when working well they are amazingly motionless on firing - almost unnervingly so.

[Phil Russell]

Is or was it all about the rifles? I suggest not. The shooters are an important part of he equation. Persuade the top shooters that one brand is best and others will follow. So FWB develop an excellent reputation, so top shooters pick FWB and the system perpetuates itself. The Giss and FWB sledge systems may well have been equal in the performance potential stakes but shooter perception accounts for a lot.
Just my opinion ...
Cheers, Phil

[Drew451]

Is or was it all about the rifles? I suggest not. The shooters are an important part of he equation. Persuade the top shooters that one brand is best and others will follow. So FWB develop an excellent reputation, so top shooters pick FWB and the system perpetuates itself. The Giss and FWB sledge systems may well have been equal in the performance potential stakes but shooter perception accounts for a lot.
Just my opinion ...
Cheers, Phil

I completely agree with this. Geezers point about Diana pruducing just about everything affecting 66/75 sales, also. I would add that Feinwerkbau were seen as specialist target guns and they were the best supported at big competitions.
In my experience there is nothing to split a 75 vs a 300S when used as untended or from the bench. Or a 75 vs a 600 either for that matter. A top class shooter may be able to, however. It would be interesting to get Robin C's input on this subject.

[DM80]

If both were available to purchase new today I would go for the 75 in my opinion its slightly better, the trigger unit is better and the action is truly recoiless the fwb does produce a slight recoil and is twangy as hell but both guns are great 10M rifles.

Dave.

[Geezer]

Is or was it all about the rifles? I suggest not. The shooters are an important part of he equation. Persuade the top shooters that one brand is best and others will follow. So FWB develop an excellent reputation, so top shooters pick FWB and the system perpetuates itself. The Giss and FWB sledge systems may well have been equal in the performance potential stakes but shooter perception accounts for a lot.
Just my opinion ...
Cheers, Phil

Agreed. I also think (as a Giss fan) that the FWB may have been slightly better made, and more reliable. That matters if you are a serious 10M competitor. The longevity of 300s as club guns, in some cases for decades with next to no maintenance, speaks volumes.

As I’ve said before, I think the Giss is an amazing bit of engineering (and the sledge, by contrast, a bit crude), and I prefer the dead firing cycle of a well-set-up Diana, but the FWB’s record and reputation are stellar.

It can’t just be “monkey see, monkey do” - compare, say, in FT, how quickly the FWB124 came to rule the roost, then was dethroned by the 77, which was then superseded by the PCPs, all in about five or six years.

Competition is brutal on sorting the wheat from the chaff.

[Muskett]

I wasn't that good, but won some junior comps. I shot both the FWB 75? and Diana 66. The FWB had the edge, though it was my size and growing into the rifles that was the biggest part of what rifle. Rifle price had a good bit to do with it too. I used club guns.

Accuracy wise then 10m is a great help as a lot of rifles shoot straight at that range. For target rifles then the difference is in micro millimetres. So all the rest is about how most shooters get themselves around the rifle. Rifle fit and their marksmanship.
At the very very highest level it might make the difference, but also other factors such as pellet selection/weighing kick in. For mer mortals then most target rifles are better than them, the rest is subjective.

[dvd]

I have two Diana 75s and a FWB 300.
I like tinkering with the dianas and there is really nothing like them when set up correctly. The FWB twangs and vibrates because it's an old gun now, but still younger than the dianas.
In my hands the FWB is just as accurate as the dianas.

[Drew451]

Slighty ironic but definately not surprising that the Diana Airking uses the FWB type system .

[dvd]

Slighty ironic but definately not surprising that the Diana Airking uses the FWB type system .

It's probably more to do with producing a recoiling recoilless gun as cheaply as possible. I'm not saying the Air king is cheaply made, just that producing the Giss recoilless mechanism would be very expensive in comparison.