Last I remember it had a buzzy shot & kinda a bust. That I think can be attributed to the initial $900 price. It's down some from that price at PA/Champions choice. Thinking about buying one, do you think its worth it or perhaps a walnut pro-sport.
I'm sticking my neck out on this one with a few comments, because the rifle seems to be pretty new. I haven't seen or held one, let alone fired one.
Just a few things: it seems very expensive for what it appears you're getting. I think you could buy an R9, a tune kit, and nice-enough scope for the price of this new FWB rifle all by itself. Since it does seem to be pretty new, there may still be a few bugs that need worked out.
Maybe I'm missing something here. But I wouldn't be first to jump on this rifle for what it can reportedly do.
That's my two cents on something I know little about, in a post made after midnight when I'm kind of tired. Maybe someone else will have more to offer. This at least gets the ball rolling. If I've made a terrible error here, I'd welcome having someone set me straight. I don't like to give out bad information, especially in public.
Sorry, I've shot and tuned a lot of different rifles, but never a ProSport. So I can't help you there.
I can’t offer any real world knowledge but I will attempt a few thought provoking notions. I may get kicked in the shins here but this is a forum for open discussion.
It seems like most people treasure their FWB 124/127’s but even those had their inherent shortcomings, the piston seal being the biggest one I believe? In Tom Gaylord’s 8 part report on the new FWB Sport, he states that “I remember back in the 1990s when the FWB 124 was coming to the end of its production run. It seemed like dealers couldn’t give them away. But after they’d been off the market for just 5 years, many shooters were whining that they just missed buying the best airgun ever made.”
I would also personally keep in mind that today is tomorrow’s nostalgia. I have my doubts that FWB would ever make junk. I personally think the gun has good chiseled looks and by Tom’s account is very finely crafted with the spring guide being the only part that could be improved upon, as I understood it. I’m not crazy about the trigger guard but it flows into the design. As far as the initial price point goes Maybe FWB was counting on the initial rush to the new Sport to revamp the cost of tooling? I dunno. $570 from Champions choice is a no brainer compared to PA’s price of $800. Krale sells it $608 plus shipping.
I have read where the Pro Sport is like a tuned rifle out of the box but again, I have no personal experience with it either. From the specs it is a heavier gun.
I think the price in the US is the biggest draw back but it might be one of the special rifles 20 years from now, who knows but if you were to get one, look at Krale airguns, the price is still high for a beeched stocked rifle but you save, save , save
at least you would own a rifle I bet few have bought
...It seems like most people treasure their FWB 124/127’s but even those had their inherent shortcomings, the piston seal being the biggest one I believe?...
That FWB 124/127 OEM piston seal problem is probably the worst one that I've seen with any synthetic seal. I'm pretty-sure that many of those rifles presently sit lifeless in a closet because of it.
The 124 OEM seal was made of some 'mystery material' that just didn't hold up. For instance, you can take apart a decades-old HW/ Beeman rifle with an OEM synthetic seal (as opposed to leather) and you won't see anything similar to the same disintegration of the seal.
The good news is that once your seal has been replaced with one from ARH/ JM, you should never see the same problem again. I don't have any inside information, but I feel confident in saying that his seal is made of better material and will almost certainly last 'forever'. However, to give FWB their fair due, I bet the piston seals in their current springers have also been improved and won't have the same problem the old ones did.
In my opinion, and it's based on experience with a lot of specimens, the FWB 124/127 with an upgraded spring and piston seal is as-good a springer as any on the market in the similar class as to weight and power. I'm not just talking about power, though. I'm also talking about accuracy potential. And, if you think the trigger on the 124 is pretty-hopeless in regard to creep, you just haven't found the nice trigger that tends to hide there inside the rifle. Done up correctly, you can get very-crisp 2-stage operation out of it without having to spend a lot of time or money.
Just one thing about my comments regarding accuracy: Some people like mini-scopes. I also like them on the right rifle. But, based on my accuracy testing here, that might be a problem when it comes to a 124 shooting at upgraded velocity based on using a more-powerful ARH spring.
The 124 is a fairly-light springer, and accuracy tends to improve if you add some weight in the form of at least a medium-size scope. I'm not talking about 'crazy-big' here. I'm talking about something like a 13-16 ounce scope, a good example of which would be the Tasco 2.5-10 x 42 AO Varmint scope. You can buy that scope AND a nice pair of Accu-Shot scope rings for less than $ 100, and it will do the trick.
ANY springer tends to yield better accuracy if you stabilize it with the extra weight of a scope, but the 124 really NEEDS that weight to show you what it's capable of. This isn't a theory. It's fact based on my tuning and accuracy testing experience with several of the rifles here, shooting at present-day, light-magnum velocity after I installed an ARH spring.
I have owned 3 of them now. The stock, blueing and machine work is over the top. The powerplant not so much. Piston is 30mm and heavy with integrated top hat. Spring guide is excessively loose, twice as bad as any HW I have seen. Tubes are known to be bad. Spring is to large and grinds when cocked. Piston seal you can flick off with your thumbnail.
With that being said, I have drawn them down to 10-12 fpe and they shoot real well. Converting them over with Weihrauch springs and seals. But that is really a waste of a 30mm heavy piston rifle when you can do the same with a 26mm Weihrauch.
Bench friendly to work on, and can be done by hand vertically. Trigger is the best I have seen in a springer outside of the 10m rifles. Open sights are great, crosslots machined in the tube for the scope mount are too shallow and worthless even with the FWB dedicated Sportsmatch mount.
I have considered one more to try some more work on springs and guides, but gets expensive.
My first rifle was from PAir. That was an expensive joke as I paid the high price, and when I received it, it had rear diff oil puking out of every crack on the rifle. They done this and we know how bad this could be. It smoked, it stank.
Anyway, out of the box, not worth a hoot. With alot of work, some improvement.
I have owned 3 of them now...Spring guide is excessively loose, twice as bad as any HW I have seen.. Spring is to large and grinds when cocked. Piston seal you can flick off with your thumbnail.
Converting them over with Weihrauch springs and seals...Open sights are great, crosslots machined in the tube for the scope mount are too shallow and worthless even with the FWB dedicated Sportsmatch mount.e scope mount are too shallow and worthless even with the FWB dedicated Sportsmatch mount....
Anyway, out of the box, not worth a hoot. With alot of work, some improvement.
So we are still talking about the regular FWB 124 here, right, not the new FWB Sport? If so. I'd like to address a few of the issues you raised.
The problem with the loose rear spring guide goes away if you use a Maccari spring, especially the Twister spring. The loose built-in 'front guide' issue is also lessened by using that spring. And, the 'flick-off' piston seal issue also goes away if you install a new ARH seal. OTOH, an old factory seal just falls apart.
A total budget-minded tune on the rifle consists of the Twister spring, a new ARH piston seal, and a new breech seal (plus lubes of course). That's not a very-expensive investment for the improvement you get in return. I know what you mean when you say tube tolerances are a pain, but the ARH piston seal is large enough to fit larger tubes if that's what you have. If not, take a little more material off the sides/OD of the seal.
I'm with you when it comes to your final assessment: Not all that impressive straight out of the box, but MUCH better if you fix it up right.
As to the scope mount problem, I came up with a solution for the cross slot mount thing, and I'd be happy to share it because it works well.
Instead of buying the rings or mount with the cross pins, buy regular rings with a 5 mm hole for a stop pin. But, don't use the stop pin that cones with the set of rings. It has a tiny end on it.
Instead, buy yourself a new 5 mm .80 set screw that's long enough to give a solid installation in the rear scope ring, including being long enough to touch the top of the receiver.
This next part is the part that requires above-average patience, but it's worth it because it solves the problem..
Put the new 5 mm set screw in your electric drill (or lathe) and turn it. Use a Dremel tool and fine grit sanding wheel to try to duplicate the radius on the end of the screw to the radius of the indentations in the top of the receiver. I like the hand-held electric drill approach because you don't have to remove the screw from the chuck to test the match of the profile/radius of screw and indentations.
Remove only a little metal at a time from the set screw, and get the match as close as you can get it. Once you're done, you can install the modified screw in the stop pin hole in the rear ring, with the round end facing the receiver. You bottom out the round end of the modified screw in one of the indentations, but there's no need to over-tighten it. Use some (blue will work) Lock-Tite on the set screw. I've done a bunch of them that way, even with an ARH spring spaced all the way up for maximum velocity, and I never had a problem- with a scope ring moving--nor have their owners.
When it comes to the rings, I'm referring to these in the link below. Don't let the price fool you. I don't see where it says they're made of "aircraft aluminum", but I think that's what they are. The material is very hard considering it's aluminum, and it won't bend or strip on you.
I think I'm willing tune or get it tuned to make it into a nice shooting Springer. Kinda sucks though, to pay $600+ and still have to tune the buzz out of it. Prosport will have to come later, Fwb too tempting.
Don't blame you, it is a great looking gun! Shameful FWB putting out a sub par product though.
First I did a lube tune and it really help with the buzz, but the let off was still pretty violent.
Here is a picture of the parts I had made by TbT airgun tuning in UK. He made a short stroke seal, new top hat, (there was none in this gun) guide and new spring. Pleasure to shoot now and quiet. I should shoot it more, but still favor my TX200HC & Pro Sport. I had an extra set of parts made if you feel the need for them.
Don't blame you, it is a great looking gun! Shameful FWB putting out a sub par product though.
First I did a lube tune and it really help with the buzz, but the let off was still pretty violent.
Here is a picture of the parts I had made by TbT airgun tuning in UK. He made a short stroke seal, new top hat, (there was none in this gun) guide and new spring. Pleasure to shoot now and quiet. I should shoot it more, but still favor my TX200HC & Pro Sport. I had an extra set of parts made if you feel the need for them.
I had seen that picture, and that is my exact thoughts on how to tame the beast. I see the added spacer to take up the integrated top hot, parachute seal which helps some with the out of round tubes in these, and pitching the rear guide for one machined correctly.
My only thoughts were, tuning down the heavy 30mm piston is like tuning down the R1 mag. Thats basically what the new FWB sport design is. For all the added weight my point is you can get a lighter, better shooting rifle like the 95,98,85,R9 platform, with currently, a good selection of aftermarket parts to keep them running.
One positive note, these are torn down easily, and they point extremely well in my hands and iron sights.
Thanks Rick, all this talk on the Sport made me take it off the wall tonight. I popped off the rear site and put a 20X SWFA scope on it. Shots are at 25 meters, beautiful night, absolutely no wind. I was shooting JSB 10.3 with a light lube on them. The very last column on the right was 10.3 AA lubed as well.
I was scaring the 9 ring pretty good. only 1/2 little flyers. I may have to rethink this gun and take it to my next benchrest match.
The things I really like about this gun are the looks, great trigger, best safety release for location and ease of use. Cons are I have to give the barrel a knock to release the catch to cock it. Kind of a pain when you have to do it 100 times at a BR match!
I assume it was shooting about 720 fps, about 12 ft lbs with 10.3 JSB, that is what was in my book the last time I chrono it. Factory after my lube tune was shooting about 750 fps.
Thanks Rick, all this talk on the Sport made me take it off the wall...
...Cons are I have to give the barrel a knock to release the catch to cock it. Kind of a pain when you have to do it 100 times at a BR match!..
Does that rifle have a non-removable ball detent in the breech block where it latches to the recieiver like an FWB 124 does, or does it have a chisel-shaped-end, removable detent plunger?
I ask because some of the UK-made Webley springers had the same problem, like the Webley Patriot aka Beeman Kodiak. They would make your hand sore from beating on them to break the barrel open. They were so notorious for the annoying problem that the method you used to open the barrel came to be officially known by their owners as 'The Webley Tap'.
In the case of the Webleys, there was a fix that wasn't very hard to do and it totally eliminated the problem. You removed the detent plunger and the spring behind it, polished the sharp ends of the spring with a Dremel tool and fine grit grinding stone, then reassembled the parts (after cleaning them) using some good grease or heavy oil with moly in it. You'd never have the problem again. I did it to a couple of them so I know it works. In fact, one of them was my own Kodiak, so I know it lasts, too.
If you can't remove the piece that fits down inside the breech block, whether ball or plunger, there still might be hope. See if there's a way to get some fairly-heavy lube with moly in it behind the spring-loaded part. You might have to use a slightly-thinner mixture so it can run down behind the moving parts, but that can still be OK. Add a few drops of 40 wt. motor oil to your grease, for instance. Non-detergent oil is the right way to go there so it doesn't cause a non-compatibility problem.
That might at least help.
I'm assuming of course that you already tried lubing the two latching parts on their exterior surfaces where they meet when you close the barrel. If not, yes, by all means do that too.
If you go to the FWB site, they have exploded diagrams on every model except the new Sport . This has a chisel shaped end. I may have to tear into it again and try your remedy.
I bought one of the new Sports a few months back. It was only doing 8.5fpe and that was with the highest fpe pellet, most pellets were only 8ish fpe. So I sent it back and asked for a replacement. The second one that came had an absolutely beautiful stock. It produced a max 9 fpe. I ultimately sent it back for a refund. I felt bad for the vendor as I've never done that with an airgun, but both specimens were exactly as described by everyone above: harsh. The shot cycle felt like the piston was slamming into the end of the comp tube, every time. I had concerns that it would tear itself apart (both guns). They have great triggers, much better than a Rekord, and very ergonomic stocks. Even the metal work isn't bad, they just went the opposite way of the old 124 with the power plant by using a short, heavy-wired spring without much pre-load in a big comp tube. The end result is the sensation of getting kicked in the face every shot.
I couldn't figure out if the low power was my high elevation (5600feet), or something else. I lose fps with my springers due to elevation, but never as high of a percentage of advertised fps as I was losing with the two Sports. With the way they shot, I wouldn't be surprised if the piston seals weren't sealing, either due to out of round comp tubes or just poorly fitted seals?
The one that I put a scope on did shoot a 3/4 inch, 5 shot group at 55 yards, in spite of the unpleasant and violent shot cycle, so, FWB seems to have remembered how to make good barrels.
I wanted to love the gun and considered buying the kit that Pardini is offering as we had this same conversation a few months ago, I just finally decided not to make the gamble that the gun could be improved.
I'm not power hungry as my most powerful springer is a HW50s doing a little less than. 8.5fpe. That little 50s has a nice, docile cycle and is enjoyable to shoot. The Sports I tried were not fun to shoot. My reason for sending both Sports back wasnt so much the lower than expected power, but rather, the feel of shooting a 30.06 and only getting 8.5fpe.
I bought one of the new Sports a few months back... The shot cycle felt like the piston was slamming into the end of the comp tube, every time. I had concerns that it would tear itself apart (both guns).... The end result is the sensation of getting kicked in the face every shot...
... With the way they shot, I wouldn't be surprised if the piston seals weren't sealing, either due to out of round comp tubes or just poorly fitted seals? ...
Besides the possibility of a piston seal problem, another possibility crosses my mind. As with the RWS/Diana 350, the factory installs a breech seal that's too small. Low velocity and a harsher shot cycle are the result. Getting another factory breech seal isn't the answer--they just send you the same size. RWS/Diana usually supplies 1 steel shim under the O-ring breech seal, but they should have used 2 of them.
In the case of the 350, I use an O-ring that is the next size up. You don't have to wait to get the new O-ring to test and see if that's your problem, though. A few wraps of dental floss under the OEM seal will tell the story--I liked the waxed stuff because it tends to stay in place better while you're making the turns.. If it works, you could even leave it like that as the fix.
The dental floss test can also be used with many different styles of unique breech seals that aren't an O-ring.
Since this is one of the few threads with info on the FWB Sport I thought I would join and share my first impressions. First off, regrettably sold a FWB 124 about 12 years ago so the Sport caught my attention. So I decided to buy one even with some not too positive comments.
Just unboxed this am and fired a few shots in the garage (pretty crappy out up here in the Northeast!). The barrel is tight but not uncomfortable to break. Re-engagement is smooth. Cocks smooth too. It does have a good thud when fired but no buzz. I'm sure this will improve. The open sights are really nice and I might just leave them on for a while. Fit & finish is outstanding. Stock is a beautiful rich walnut brown. Really nice feel and weight. The trigger guard and all the design details really fit together. Overall very pleased with what appears to be a super fine sporter!
Since this is one of the few threads with info on the FWB Sport I thought I would join and share my first impressions. First off, regrettably sold a FWB 124 about 12 years ago so the Sport caught my attention. So I decided to buy one even with some not too positive comments.
Just unboxed this am and fired a few shots in the garage (pretty crappy out up here in the Northeast!). The barrel is tight but not uncomfortable to break. Re-engagement is smooth. Cocks smooth too. It does have a good thud when fired but no buzz. I'm sure this will improve. The open sights are really nice and I might just leave them on for a while. Fit & finish is outstanding. Stock is a beautiful rich walnut brown. Really nice feel and weight. The trigger guard and all the design details really fit together. Overall very pleased with what appears to be a super fine sporter!
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
Welcome aboard!
Reviews on new air guns are always eagerly awaited. I hope you'll be adding more information on this rifle as time goes by. Since velocity is one of the main question marks at present, if you have a chronograph your results in that regard would also be very-helpful.
I would buy an older used one. They often come up for sale. $400-500 for one in very good condition...usually some tuning has been done or upgraded Macarri internals and ready to go.
I have had prosport and tx200 and sold them. I have two FWB124 now and will never sell them. Great shooters. Craig
I agree with you, Craig, the FWB 124 is a great rifle. Just in case it got lost in here somehow, though, that's not the rifle that was the topic of this thread. Instead, this thread has been about the new, current "FWB Sport" air rifle (not the "124"). That new model of which I speak is shown in these links:
