FWB300S service

I took my 300S Junior to a local gunsmith for a service back in July, when it became clear that the piston buffer had rotted. Not having heard anything back from him, I called in yesterday. The owner said he had looked at it on the rack every week, and could not pluck up the courage to attempt it. He had only worked on Czech Slavias before. I brought it home and, with the help of two videos on Youtube, managed to do the job myself. 

I have no significant previous experience; all I've done before was basic lubrication and spring changes on a BSA Cadet, Original/Diana 23, and HW35. I used the standard kit from Waffencenter Gotha.

 I highly recommend following these two videos from Joe W Rhea:

Feinwerkbau 300S disassembly 

Feinwerkbau 300S Rebuild and assembly

Tools: hollow ground screwdrivers, adjustable spanner, pliers (I used those on my multi-tool, but needle-nose would be better).

I followed the video, and found the strip to be easy. Removing the breech seal was easy, as was scraping out the rotten buffer.

Problems: I broke the new piston ring while trying to fit it; my stupidity. Fortunately, the old one appeared intact so I reused that. Compressing the springs to fit everything back together was hard work and resulted in ten minutes of straining and swearing. Despite taking care, I lost a circlip; thankfully I found it two minutes later, stuck to the bottom of my sock.

Ultimately, it was not nearly as difficult as I had expected. It took two hours, including repeatedly watching sections of the videos to make sure I got things right. The first five shots dieseled, but the following ten came out fine. It seems to have been a success.

Back from the dead

I deleted this blog a couple of years ago, having nowhere to shoot and having rekindled my interest in photography. However, the disruptions of 2020 caused me a bout of nostalgia for my shooting days, and so I salvaged the deleted posts from the Internet Archive and resurrected the blog. I still own the 300S Junior, 65, 127 and 150, the last of which is will be for sale as soon as I can spend some time back in England.

In the years since I started the blog, other, more comprehensive resources have come along, and so I direct the reader to the best of these: Garvin's Vintage Airguns Gallery. It is a veritable treasure trove of documents and photos, giving details of the tiniest differences encountered in each model over the course of production as well as information on custom examples.

Still alive

I sold my FWB300S last summer, and will soon be selling the 150.

The 300S was the first Feinwerkbau I have ever owned, and many times, I swore I would never sell it. Circumstances changed, though: I moved from Britain to central Europe, and lost my garden range.

When I moved over here, I quickly exploited the German auction site eGun to buy first a battered 300S Junior and later a restored 150. I toyed with the idea of collecting every variation of FWB target air rifle and pistol, before realising that without somewhere to shoot regularly, they become mere display pieces.

Living in a city with horribly inflated property prices, it is unlikely that I will ever have the space to set up a range as I used to have. It is also proving problematic to bring my guns over here from England, due to restrictions imposed by the UK's paranoid postal companies.

The result is that while I will keep some of my Feinwerkbaus, thoughts of a collection are over. I sent the 150 to England, where I will likely sell it next time I am there. I am left with my restored FWB300S Junior, a 127 and a 65. These, I am determined to keep, assuming I can get the 127 and 65 here.

I will continue to update this blog as I find relevant information.

Happy shooting, all!

FWB300S Junior restored, FWB150 still fun

Two years ago, I bought a FWB300S Junior; it shot well, but was somewhat battered in appearance. Last November, I finally decided to have it reblued and the stock refinished. The work was done by a local gunsmith, who had never worked on a FWB before, and who spoke no English. Between us, with a little German and a little Czech, we made the deal. As I waited to collect the rifle, I was more than a little apprehensive at what might await me: černý is definitely black, right? Not pink? No, I got that right! He did a really good job, not only of refinishing but also of rebuilding; in operation the rifle feels tighter, like new. The springs and seals are unchanged, as they were in fine condition.

For the past few days I have been shooting it alongside my FWB150 (top of photograph). As can be seen from photographs in my first post on the 300S Junior, the cylinder and cocking lever were both pitted from rust. The gunsmith has done a good job of polishing this out before rebluing. It is not perfect, but it is much better than I had expected.

As standard, the 300S Junior has a very short length of pull (the distance from butt to trigger), and I had increased this with a roughly made 3cm extension. As part of the restoration, this was discarded and replaced with a well-fitted piece of nicely figured wood. It is not a colour match, but I like the contrast.

Of my four FWB rifles, this is my favourite. It is light enough to shoot for hours without tiring; cocking requires little effort, despite the short lever; the trigger is fantastic; it is easy to hold on aim; it is outstandingly accurate. On the other hand, it is low powered, fitting into the German category of freie waffen - under 7.5J (5.5ft/lbs). From a 25 metre zero, pellet drop at 50 metres is around 40cm.

This is also the first time I have shot my FWB150 since I fitted the correct front sight. Of course, it has not made the slightest bit of difference to how the rifle shoots, but it was interesting to try the "eagle eye" magnifying lens. On paper targets at the zeroed range, I think there is a definite advantage to using the lens, but as I use these precision rifles for shooting beer cans at a variety of distances, I found it more of a hindrance; anything off-centre is severely distorted. I removed it.

My FWB150 is a little more powerful than the 300S Junior; as it was made before 1970, it is not restricted by German law in the same way. From the same zero distance, point of impact is about 25cm low at 50 metres. Still, the past few days have been quite windy, and hitting anything at 50 metres was tough, so I moved to 40 metres, as in the photograph above. At this distance, cat food tins were a fun challenge. It is not easy to judge hold-over with diopter sights, but with a bit of experimentation I managed to shoot "minute-of-tin".

A week ago, I had made up my mind to sell the FWB150. I do not have the time to shoot often, I do not have a garden of my own or a suitable range nearby, and I have recently taken up fullbore pistol shooting, so spare cash is going towards that. However, shooting it over these past few days has made me reconsider. Compared to the FWB300S Junior, it is heavy, horribly balanced, the cocking lever is long and unwieldy, the stock is not as ergonomic, and the trigger is not of the same standard. On the other hand, from the sitting, kneeling or prone positions the weight is not an issue; once you have it on target, the heavy barrel seems steadier; and the trigger is still extremely good. On top of this, it looks beautiful. It is 50 years old, and shoots brilliantly. I think it will stay with me for some time yet.

A new front sight for the FWB150

When I bought my FWB150, I didn't really know what to look out for. I was to some extent blinded by the very thought of acquiring one, so I didn't look too hard at the online advertisement, or think too hard before clicking "buy it now!". I have not been disappointed with the rifle; it's been thoroughly overhauled, and shoots nicely. A few things have caused mild irritation though. Firstly, it is in some ways too perfect. I am not one for immaculate rifles that never see use, and I like some character and age to show in a rifle. I would describe this one as "over-restored". On the other hand, the bluing has already worn considerably, and comes off on wiping with a cloth. I can live with this though.

What I could not live with was the front sight. This rifle is fitted with a barrel sleeve, and the front sight was incorrect for this configuration. It was of the type fitted to rifles without the barrel sleeve. Of course, it functioned perfectly well, and I am not a collector of perfect rifles, but the gap between sight and barrel sleeve was not attractive at all. I considered having a spacer made, but this would still have left a step down between sleeve and sight.

After over a year of looking, I chanced upon the correct sight on eGun. When it arrived in the post, I tried to remove the old sight. The screw on the right must first be removed, and then the pin carefully tapped through from right to left. 

Try as I might, I could not move the pin. I tried tapping it out, pulling it, soaking it in light oil. Nothing worked. Finally someone suggested applying heat. I was very reluctant to do this, as I am no engineer and I didn't know what effect it might have on the barrel or the alloy sight. Still, a few seconds on the camping stove seemed to do the trick, with no harm done: the pin came out with ease. The new sight was easy to fit, and uses only a cross pin rather than pin and screw. As you can see from the photograph below, it closes the unsightly gap and really looks better. I will paint it to cover up the scratches at some point.

The sight arrived fitted with a post element and a small lens mounted in a brass ring, fitted on the target side of the element. It is uncoated glass, and appears to magnify the target slightly. I have never encountered one of these before, but I am told it is called an "eagle eye", and while it is not permitted in ISSF competitions, it is permitted in some target disciplines, mainly for use by shooters with defective eyesight. 

I have yet to try it out, but I will report back when I have done. While I can see that it might give target shooters an advantage, I am doubtful that it will increase my ability to hit corks at 25 metres!

The FWB300S

I have owned airguns since I was 12 years old, starting with a Harrington Gat push barrel pistol and progressing through most of the 1990s range of BSA spring rifles. As a patriotic and brand-loyal teenager, these BSAs - the Meteor, Supersport, RB2 Airsporter, Goldstar and Superstar - represented the height of precision engineering. My eyes were opened somewhat when I spotted a second hand Air Arms TX200 in the rack at the gun shop, and for the next few years I was an Air Arms man, following it with a TX200HC and a Pro-Sport. Eventually, owing to lack of a place to shoot and lack of funds, I sold the rifles and had just a TAU 7 target pistol hidden away in a dusty cupboard. I had given up shooting, and lost interest in airguns. Then a few years later, working abroad with a lot of time for daydreaming and a little spare cash in the bank, my thoughts returned to shooting. I toyed with the idea of a Weihrauch HW35 fitted with a diopter sight, then my eye was caught by an advertisement for a second hand FWB300S. I knew nothing at all about these rifles, other than that they were highly respected for build quality and accuracy. So I bought it, and a few weeks later the seller knocked on my door and delivered my first Feinwerkbau.

This example was made in 1976. The general condition is very good, but there is some scratching to the top of the cylinder, probably the result of a clumsy attempt to remove light rust. My first impression was one of perfect quality. The BSAs of my youth were well made, and the Air Arms even better, but the FWB300S is in a different class. The excellence of the trigger, the effortlessness of cocking and the infallible accuracy have all been mentioned in my earlier post about the FWB300S Junior, so I will limit this post to a few other observations.

The above photo shows the short scope grooves. These are not sufficiently long to properly fit the Sportsmatch OP22C mount made for Feinwerkbaus, so I would recommend a set of two piece double clamp mounts if you intend to fit a scope, or maybe a one piece design without an arrestor. Later rifles like my 1982 300S Junior had longer scope grooves, so this would not be a problem.

I found the length of pull just a little too short, and so I added a 10mm spacer to the butt. This feels perfect for me. Any extra, and I think longer screws would be required - I used M5 60mm slotted cheese head machine screws when I extended the butt of my 300S Junior.

Note the black plastic grip cap that splays out slightly to support the hand. Later rifles have a straight cap, following a change in the rules of competitive target shooting. I suppose anyone considering using a 300S in competition now would have to remove this type of cap. The stippling on the grip was originally untreated wood. This rifle spends long periods stored in a cabinet, and several times it has developed green mould. No matter how I tried to ensure the cabinet was free of moisture, and how I treated the wood, the mould returned. Finally I varnished the stippling. It still feels nice and grippy to the hand, and while the mould problem persists, it is not as bad as it used to be.

There we have it. The rifle that got me hooked on Feinwerkbaus. If you have never handled one, find one and I am sure you will be impressed.

Airgun Collector magazine issue 2

Thanks to Garvin of AirgunBBS, along with many other knowledgeable collectors, the second issue of Airgun Collector magazine is now online, free to download. Of interest to Feinwerkbau enthusiasts is an article on the FWB65 pistol.

Links to download:

 

https://issuu.com/garvin3/docs/airgun_collector_issue_2

 

https://jumpshare.com/b/F32lMnOBYYSePlwz4h1b

High resolution, if you would like to print:

https://jumpshare.com/b/qqce1BkB8AjMAGfxog4L

Thanks to all involved in producing this wonderful magazine.