Feinwerkbau Sport pt II. the steel.

[tjk]

     Good evening fellow air gunners. Hope everyone is doing ok. Tonight I wanted to do another installment review of my new FWB Sport rifle. Last week I discussed the stock so tonight I wanted to address the action. Again from the muzzle to the rear of the action
     To start with, the overall look of the metal work is typical of a upper end air rifle manufacturers. The blueing on this rifle reminds me of my fwb 600 ssp. You can see a spun steel  finish of the metal underneath the blueing which translates into a “not as deep” blueing as the 1st Generation sporters. Honestly, if I spent $800 on this rifle when they first came out, i would be rather perturbed off. If i had my drothers, i would have had Feinwerkbau outsource the blueing work to Weihrauch!! Ok. Now that I got that off my chest, let us move on.
    The muzzle is nice and rounded off at the end of the barrel although it lacks the dimpled tip of the earlier Sporter model. I would prefer the dimpled crown for the sake of protecting the choke area of the rifling.
     Atop the muzzle is the globe sight which is sufficient for open sight work, but to me the post looks like a 2x4 and FWB didn’t give us a sight with interchangeable sight inserts. I prefer a post that narrows towards to top. Kind of a cost cutting cheap alternative not deserving of the cost of the rifle. Simply put,...disappointing really.
     Moving to the breech block, it is about the best blued component of the rifle!! Yayyy! The block looks like a cast component with the upper fins for the rear sight. The slot between the fins does show some slight milling marks which is overlook-able but still kind of rough for the quality one would expect from FWB. However the remainder of the breech block is very well milled and chamfered for a very clean look and finish.
     I suppose keeping with the times, FWB decided to go with the laser paint etched caliber and serial number information. But old fashioned stamping would look so much ‘mo betta’.
    The next noticeable thing is actually two things. Both the cock arm pin and the rear sight pin are friction  fit and NOT very well blued,...at all. Maybe a sharpie can fix this. Lols.
     The rear sight is rather interesting in that it is mounted via a cross pin rather than a vertical bolt anchoring as the original Sporter and HW rifles. Now comes the interesting aspect of the rear sight,... the somewhat hieroglyphic directional instructions. Read the owners manual,....may take a few times to decipher it. I just went eye balling the adjustments with a few turns, yet the factory setting was spot on at 25 yards. The rear sight blade is rather cumbersome     At first I thought it was a similar design to the HW sight, but oh know. They had to over engineer it. I cant change the sight blade without a small screw driver to compress the spring action while turning it. HW is way more user friendly. Below the sight is more of that awesome laser paint etching!!!!
    Flipping the action over, union between the cock arm and the block is very tight and precise. The cocking arm itself is a stamped piece of steel and could have been smoothed down a bit more for a cleaner FWB finish. Nothing aweful, but could have been better. One very nice addition is a rubber stop piece installed under the wedge to negate any rattling of the cocking arm.
    The detent has been converted from a ball bearing to a harder wedge detent design. But it makes since since this is a bigger rifle than the 1st generation providing a very solid lock up of the barrel. Way to go Feinwerkbau!!! Some folks belly ached about this on the earlier model, but I personally never experienced any issues so whatever. The marriage of the action to the stock,....Torx Bits!!!!! A sigh of relief and happiness for this air gunner 🙂.
    Working back to the rear of the action, FWB decided to stick with the classic cross bolt sight retaining slots for diopters and special design scope mounts. Very nice.
     And the last two items to note are the trigger and the safety. While my personal older Sporters are set up to my liking, Feinwerkbau really stepped up and made some very nice improvements to both. The trigger has a much better feel between the first and second stages, and at factory set, they are nice. The setback look and feel is of something to note. My old Sporters have a slightly mushier feel to them and i have them set to rest at the second stage. I am used to it, but others may not quite feel the set of it. With this new trigger, it is much easier to tell the difference between the two stages. I fooled around a bit with the trigger adjustment, but in all reality, ir really  didn’t  need it. The safety is about my favorite improvement of this rifle. A very positive on/off click position and much easier to reset if  not wanting to take the shot. To the side is a indicator window that shows when the safety is off, or on with a visible red indicator. Probably a bit lawyerized, but vastly better than the warning &^^& you see stamped on most of todays air rifles.
     Overall, the action is very nice, well built, and a solid design one would expect from a fine German made air rifle.  Yes there are a few cosmetic issues I wish Feinwerkbau would have addressed, but all in all, it is a very fine rifle. After a few afternoons of shooting this Sport model, I am starting to warm up to it which I will discuss more indepth on my final review installment next week.  Happy shooting!!!

[Artie]

Great review. I appreciate your detailed review of the Sport. The gun is on my wish list. The current model enhances the quality and graceful beauty of a true classic. Thanks for sharing.

[north country gal]

I now have two of these new Sports. As for consistency in regards to both cosmetics and shooting, it's the classic. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss". Can't tell one from the other.

Yes, rotating the blades on the rear sight is harder to do than with the HWs, but its definitely a beefier setup than the thin HWs rear sight, so there's that. I do like it a touch better than the HW rear sights, but both are excellent.

I would like to switch out the globe front with one that has inserts, but the Sport takes a globe front designed for slightly wider barrel grooves than the HW or I would have used one of those. No problem with the wider blade on the Sport, though, since I like a fairly easy to see blade.

Still debating on going with a Williams peep on this second Sport. Using the open sights for now.

Good report. Thanks.

[tjk]

I now have two of these new Sports. As for consistency in regards to both cosmetics and shooting, it's the classic. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss". Can't tell one from the other.

Yes, rotating the blades on the rear sight is harder to do than with the HWs, but its definitely a beefier setup than the thin HWs rear sight, so there's that. I do like it a touch better than the HW rear sights, but both are excellent.

I would like to switch out the globe front with one that has inserts, but the Sport takes a globe front designed for slightly wider barrel grooves than the HW or I would have used one of those. No problem with the wider blade on the Sport, though, since I like a fairly easy to see blade.

Still debating on going with a Williams peep on this second Sport. Using the open sights for now.

Good report. Thanks.

I ordered some risers for my Sport yesterday. Should be here Thursday. Will post pictures once i get the sights set up.

[DonC]

I paid $600.00, free shipping for a tuned FWB Sport from Flying Dragons. The first one I bought didn't work and had to be returned. It had cocking issues. After firing the safety would egage. Had to take safety off and pull the trigger before you could cock it. Pilkington repair said it happened to someone else.
My new rifle is in a word........Perfect. I'll never sell it.

[north country gal]

I do understand, Dan. I feel the same way about our Sports, two of them, now. I can't tell you exactly why I like this break barrel air rifle model so much, other than maybe its accuracy, which continues to surprise me. For me, the FWB Sport is just one of those guns whose sum is greater than its parts. Just has something a little extra. Once I start shooting the Sport, I have a hard time stopping, even with that loud snappy recoil. Go figure.

[Oldgringo]

After the mystery of my new HW50S' cocking problems appeared to be resolved today, and with many thanks to members herein, I took my new FWB Sport out to the patio for a few rounds.  She is heavy and loud but I do think she is the cream of the crop!  At 25 yards, off the bench, she put 5 H&N FTT 4.51 pellets into a single ragged hole once again.  She is also getting easier on the opening and closing.

Thank y'all, Joanie and Fwbsport, for talking me into acquiring this magnificent air rifle.

[Keen]

After the mystery of my new HW50S' cocking problems appeared to be resolved today, and with many thanks to members herein, I took my new FWB Sport out to the patio for a few rounds.  She is heavy and loud but I do think she is the cream of the crop!  At 25 yards, off the bench, she put 5 H&N FTT 4.51 pellets into a single ragged hole once again.  She is also getting easier on the opening and closing.

Thank y'all, Joanie and Fwbsport, for talking me into acquiring this magnificent air rifle.

Sounds like FUN!

No shooting in my neck of the woods due to very inclement weather lately, but that hasn't stopped me from ordering a new scope. I'm curious to know Oldgringo if you have noticed any scope creep after installing your scope with the BKL rings? The rings coming with my scope will not fit so I'll have to find some that do. I've been a bit discouraged reading about several different brands of scope mounts starting out well but then creeping on the rail.

I have loosed a few pellets out the back door and have to say that the gun just feels great in the hands, kick, twang and all.

[north country gal]

Glad to help, er, enable, Greg.

No scope creep at all on my FWB Sport with the SportsMatch one piece ring setup, but it's the version designed for the Sport and no one has any in stock at this time. I'm going to get another set to have on hand, just in case I want to scope the other one.

I have been playing around with this second Sport, using a variety of sights, everything from the factory open sights, to a Williams peep and even a Burris Fastfire III red dot. The Sport accuracy shines through with all of them.

The Burris red dot actually works quite well. Attached it with an 11mm to weaver adapter. Had to chuckle, though. I let the battery cover get loose and the recoil of the Sport threw the cover and the battery right out of the unit and both landed at my feet. Going to have to find a way to keep that cover from working loose.

[Oldgringo]

After the mystery of my new HW50S' cocking problems appeared to be resolved today, and with many thanks to members herein, I took my new FWB Sport out to the patio for a few rounds.  She is heavy and loud but I do think she is the cream of the crop!  At 25 yards, off the bench, she put 5 H&N FTT 4.51 pellets into a single ragged hole once again.  She is also getting easier on the opening and closing.

Thank y'all, Joanie and Fwbsport, for talking me into acquiring this magnificent air rifle.

Sounds like FUN!

No shooting in my neck of the woods due to very inclement weather lately, but that hasn't stopped me from ordering a new scope. I'm curious to know Oldgringo if you have noticed any scope creep after installing your scope with the BKL rings? The rings coming with my scope will not fit so I'll have to find some that do. I've been a bit discouraged reading about several different brands of scope mounts starting out well but then creeping on the rail.

I have loosed a few pellets out the back door and have to say that the gun just feels great in the hands, kick, twang and all.

If there is any scope creep, I can't tell it.  BTW, the available BKL rings are ~$20.00 less expensive than the unavailable Sportsmatch mount.

[DonC]

The first rifle I received had to add grease to get it to open and close easier. My tuned one is ok and no more twang. A joy to shoot. I am using factory iron sights. Just had cataract surgery and I'm loving iron sights again. My 2nd favorite breakbarrel is Diana N-Tec 340 at 16 ft/lbs. Front sight can accept inserts. I used Williams for the rear. The T 0 6 trigger is fantastic, just like the FWB Sport.

[tjk]

Just a teaser with the new sight setup.
BKL riser mounts with Feinwerkbau 600 front and rear sights. Ordered the Lyman 93 Match  Globe sight.

[north country gal]

Nice setup. I've been thinking of doing the same to mine, but wasn't sure what would fit as far as other FWB sights or even other brands. I do know that the groove spacing for the front sight on the FWB Sports slightly wider than what HW uses, or I would have gone with one of the HWs, since I have a lot of them from HWs that now wear a scope.

The Williams peep does work with the FWB Sport front sight, but was hoping to find a better globe front sight.

[tjk]

The Weihrauch  globe sights are close to the same dovetail as the fwb. The 600 is actually too big and I had to shim it a bit to make it fit. The front riser require a good bit of torquing to fit the barrel dovetails. I thought of milling the riser dovetail to accommodate the Weihrauch/FWB globes but that may be too much material removal for the riser and snap it once torqued. Luckily the Lyman globe sight uses the 11 mm dovetail,.....at least i hope it does🤪. It includes Anschutz sight inserts too. I may also try the centra brand riser setup later on.

[DonC]

I am very interested in what you are doing. Please keep us posted on your progress.
Did you elect to use risers for a more heads up position OR different reason?
TIA,
Don

[tjk]

That is exactly why Don. In my first review installment of this rifle, I mentioned the check piece ridge of the stock a bit too high for a comfortable cheek weld. I found myself turning my head (pulling my dominant eye) down and back in an unnatural position. Just my opinion, but a shooter and his position on the comb of the rifle should be as natural and comfortable as possible. I think this setup will facilitate a better cheek weld for me. Fixin to start some zeroing of the sights right now. I will post how things go this evening.

[Cslinger]

Just a teaser with the new sight setup.
BKL riser mounts with Feinwerkbau 600 front and rear sights. Ordered the Lyman 93 Match  Globe sight.

I am digging this setup very much.