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.