FWB Sport EARLY OUT OF THE BOX Impressions / Champions Choice Shout Out

[Cslinger]

A photo and source of your pellet trap, if you please.

I have been using "silent" pellet traps for about 20 years.  I have built 3, all are still in use/useable.  The first was built about 20 years ago and is as supple and useable today.

Basically I buy a cheap steel fuse/junction box at LowesDepot, buy several bricks/pounds of Duct Seal AKA "Monkey Sh@%" (not trying to run afowl of the language filter just trying to give the colloquial name for this if you cannot find it by duct seal when asking somebody like a plumber).  It is sold in plastic covered blocks and looks vaguely like a block of C4.

I gut the inside of the box, drill a hole or holes to mount some binder clips to hold targets, drill some holes and usually add some rubber feet on the bottom, a handle on top and stuff with duct seal.  My first trap used a small box and was REALLY STUFFED with duct seal and will stop a .22LR.  I wouldn't use it for that of course but gives you an idea of how much seal I used and its density.  My subsequent traps used larger boxes and less duct seal to allow for 8.5x11 targets.   Between the duct seal and steel back of the box NO airgun pellet is going through it short of something like a Texan and even than I would guess it would eat enough energy to be fairly ineffective out the back, but these were built for .177/.22 type airguns.  All in you will probably spend around $40-$50 but these will literally last you a lifetime.  The duct seal stays pliable and with the exception of maybe an occasional new brick or two of the stuff to fill in, smooth out areas that is your only re-occurring  cost and that is a pittance and as you can see by my traps..........happens about once a decade or so, if that. 

This is my most used one and as you can see it desperately needs some cleaning out and reforming of the seal, hence why some of my targets have holes going the other way.    These have served me so well I can't imagine using anything else. 


This is my first trap build.  It is my "portable" one.  Heavy as all get out but small.  It was designed around your basic GAMO airgun target size type targets. 

Have you had to re-tighten or Loctite/Vibratite any screws yet?

Yes I have re-tightened a couple times.  I have not used vibra or blue loctite.  That is something I have used on other guns in the past, but usually I just accept that I need to keep a tool in my bag to firm up now and then. 

[Cslinger]

Keep in mind that you WILL still see ricochet's / spawl from the traps above as they get full of lead and don't get cleaned so I still suggest eye protection.  Usually any ricochet's will be much lower velocity and up about 3-5 feet around the trap.  This really is more a function of how fastidious you are about reforming, cleaning.  I..............and not fastidious, so in the areas where I naturally have targets I build up quite the little lead walls.  Its the low velocity stuff that will be more likely to come out of the trap, the high velocity stuff just adds to the lead wall. 

Also the piece below and in front of the traps is just an old gun cabinet shelf that I use to catch the majority of the trash/pellets etc. so I can dump it easily.  A shoebox lid of some kind works just as well, if not better.

Also when I say I have built three it is not because any have failed or aged out.  The second one was simply because I wanted to use 8.5x11 targets and the third was because I am lazy and wanted another trap in another location and didn’t want to move one back and forth. All 3 are just as useable as they day they were built. 

[north country gal]

I loved shooting my Sport with the factory irons, but just had to scope it to see just how accurate it was. I then liked it with a scope too much to pull the scope off.

I solved that problem by ordering a second one, so I can go open sights or scope based on what I feel like shooting. Just got number two Sport, today, and will be testing it this week, soon as the wind dies down.

Oh, in case you think we're billionaires, we sold off about a dozen of our powder burners and will be selling some more. Been planning to do that for a long time, since our shooting is now almost exclusively air guns. Some of the money will be used to pay bills, some to savings, and some invested back into air guns, hence this next Sport.

Actually thought about expanding our PCP gear, but ... Naw! What can I say? I'm a springer addict.

I'll not be getting another Sport; but if I were to, I'd think about putting a Williams AP-FG peep sight on it.  Just sayin'....

As a matter of fact, Greg, I just happen to have a spare Williams I might use. Been thinking about it, anyway. We'll see.

[Cslinger]

Just wanted to add a couple points.

1- I have had to tighten my stock screws a couple times.
2- My scope/mount walked back on me.  I may not have the cross bar seated just right, not sure.

That super fast snap of a shot cycle seems to impart a decent amount of recoil.

Now all that said, this gun continues to shoot like gangbusters even with a walking scope.    I had seven shots out of the ten in the same hole/hole and a half in the following group.  The last 3 I opened up a bit but still a fantastic group at least for me.  Still absolutely love this gun and it has seen quite a lot of use.  Once again thanks to FWBSPORT and NCG for pushing me over the edge.  Such a pleasantly surprising gun.

[Keen]

So the FWB Twang and Bang is now scoped with a UTG 3-12x44 with the glass reticle, and doing quite well.

Similar results as Cslinger above with JSB Exact Diablos in a light crosswind, 32 degrees and snowing. If I can corral  some more time at the weekend I'll run some FTTs.

It's still loud, and I'm really hoping that the gun will quiet down with more use. I have maybe 300+\- varied pellets through it so far.

Despite the noise it's a lovely gun to hold, and not bad on the eyes either.

NorthCountryGirl has a lot to answer for 

[north country gal]

Yeah, guilty as charged. Just to show what a "sport" I am, I'll gladly take the Sport off of anyone's hands if they don't like it.

[Keen]

Yeah, guilty as charged. Just to show what a "sport" I am, I'll gladly take the Sport off of anyone's hands if they don't like it.

Apologies for getting your handle wrong NCG.

I'm keeping mine

[north country gal]

[thompsje]

Yeah, guilty as charged. Just to show what a "sport" I am, I'll gladly take the Sport off of anyone's hands if they don't like it.

Hey now, I think I have dibs from a post where I made the same offer and was called a vulture...  not saying that's wrong, but still... 

FWIW, I still love mine and NCG can take all the credit for convincing me to take the chance.  But I only have one...

[DonC]

I clean the barrels of breakbarrels with a Teflon Dewey brand rod. I push from breech to choke.  The FWB Sport has a very short choke compared with other in my collection. I have shot mine about 3000 times and have not found ANY pellet that is not accurate. Pellets tested were various high end Wadcutter H and N Final Match - Vogel - Sig Sauer- RWS, Domes tested were JSB 8.4 AirArms 8.4 RWS Crosman Premire7.9, Crosman hollow points from WalMar 7.9. These hollowpoints fit the leade too tightly but are accurate. Crosman Premires also fit too tight for me.
I really gravitate towards this rifle. I shoot it every day. I'm doing factory iron sights at 50 feet in the basement. It's all offhand and I can average 7/8". All the iron sight rifles in my collection have some sort of peep. I really enjoy the FWB conventional notch and post. The rear sight is soooo nice.
I recently upgraded my shooting area and have 8 traps, one knockdown, and 4 spinners. One of the target traps is portable. It's a Gamo funnel with a wool sock stuffed into the impact area. I mounted it to a cheap-O camera tri-pod. I also use this trap for chrono testing because you can shoot the same spot over and over with this trap.

[north country gal]

Thanks for adding more input on this rifle, Don. I'm still in the learning phase with the Sport, but loving it all the way.

[Oldgringo]

Thank you Keen.  Upon further review, my Sport also prefers the H&N 4.51 FTT.  I shot 11 pellets over the chrony today.  Nine of the eleven pellets went into a single ragged hole and the other two were a 1/4" away at 25 yards.  True velocity was 829 fps, fpe was ~13+ and SD was 12.15.

Color me tickled.

Hmmm?  I haven't been able to do that since then.  Is it me, the H&N 4.51 FTT's or is it the gun?  Today, it was a breezy 74° and off of the bench on the patio, the best I could do was an ~3/4" 10 shot group at 30 yards.  My lovely BEEMAN R7 is far better than that.

Somebody help me please, I don't want this beautiful rifle to go the way of my two previous beautiful HW35E's.

[north country gal]

Thank you Keen.  Upon further review, my Sport also prefers the H&N 4.51 FTT.  I shot 11 pellets over the chrony today.  Nine of the eleven pellets went into a single ragged hole and the other two were a 1/4" away at 25 yards.  True velocity was 829 fps, fpe was ~13+ and SD was 12.15.

Color me tickled.

Hmmm?  I haven't been able to do that since then.  Is it me, the H&N 4.51 FTT's or is it the gun?  Today, it was a breezy 74° and off of the bench on the patio, the best I could do was an ~3/4" 10 shot group at 30 yards.  My lovely BEEMAN R7 is far better than that.

Somebody help me please, I don't want this beautiful rifle to go the way of my two previous beautiful HW35E's.

Greg, I wouldn't put too much weight on the results of just a single outing. Then, too, the Sport with its recoil is definitely more of a challenge to shoot than any R7 and, as we all know, any kind of a breeze can open up groups. Give the Sport another workout or two or three.

I was out with the Sport set up with the factory open sights this last week, but I waited too long and by the time I started shooting, the lighting at the target wasn't the best. I simply had a hard time getting a good sight picture with those open sights. Getting 5 shots in a row without me pulling one was tough, but the fault was mine, not getting the sight picture I wanted. Still, I could tell the accuracy was there waiting for me to use it.

I do plan another outing when conditions are better. Also, I want to try some heavies in the 10 plus grain weight. The Sport definitely has the power to handle those. My go to heavy 177 pellet has always been the Beeman Kodiak Match, I'm down to a couple of tins and it's looking grim for availability on these pellets, now. Will be trying some of the JSBs, instead.

[tjk]

I triedsome of thejsb 13+ grain monsters inmysport this weekend. Wasnt going for groups as much as just studying how the shot cycle was and how things moved and sounded.  Theywere consistant and the sport spit them out without much fuss at all. Was running the cuda ft, but now it is migrating towards the reg 10.5 cudas. Funny how some guns evolve as they break in.

[Oldgringo]

I tried a couple 10.34 gr. JSB's yesterday and they were about a foot  apart.  I'll keep trying when it stops raining, my barrel slapping hand  quits hurting and it warms back up.

[north country gal]

I've developed a technique for breaking the barrel on the Sport that doesn't require whacking the barrel with my arm, first. Kind of picked up the idea from my HW50 where I start with my hand above the barrel, then bring it down fast grabbing the barrel as I go and pulling down as fast as I can. If I get it just right, the barrel actually breaks pretty easy. If not, try again or go back to slapping the barrel with my arm.

[Cslinger]

Once mine broke in a bit, I too can sort grab at the very top of the barrel and give it a sharp pull to break it open.  I do have some grease on the lock.

Mine seems to shoot darn near anything well at least at 20 yards or so. 

My scope did walk as I said above and I haven’t take the time to re center but the groups are still excellent just in different places now.

[Keen]

I've developed a technique for breaking the barrel on the Sport that doesn't require whacking the barrel with my arm, first. Kind of picked up the idea from my HW50 where I start with my hand above the barrel, then bring it down fast grabbing the barrel as I go and pulling down as fast as I can. If I get it just right, the barrel actually breaks pretty easy. If not, try again or go back to slapping the barrel with my arm.

Gun butt wedged in your groin, right or left.

Opposite hand at the tip of the barrel and the other hand in the mid forearm. Push with the barrel hand and pull a bit with the forearm hand. Should break every time with hardly any effort.

[north country gal]

Nope, I can only cock guns like this when sitting down at the bench and bracing the butt of the stock on the bench, then using two hands on the barrel (or lever), but good tip for those with more strength than this old granny.

[Keen]

My apologies to the Notorious NCG.

I was only thinking about the breaking part, not the cocking part.