But now another question. I want to buy a competition air rifle. The two that comes to mind are the Anshutz 2002 CA and
Feinwerkbau P70. Are these models the "real mccoy"? I had thought that the M5 was an Anshutz product. Obviously I did not
read well enough.
: Any opinions of either or these?
: Thanks for the insight.
Dear Rod:
The Anshutz has ruled the air rifle roost for a few years. Feinwerkbau being the second choice with eveyone else filing in behind.
The new Stehrs are now making a splash. Some unreal scores are being shot with these guns
I own a Walther pneumatic and I love it exept I would rather compressed air. The trigger is the best I have ever used. But I
would reccomend you look into a Feinwerkbau P70 Aluminum stock. They are bringing an aluminum
stocked air rifle similar to the 2602 smallbore rifle that has stood the 22 crowd on it's ear. They are supposed to be the most
adjustable gun within the rules ever made. And you get the Feinwerk quality and accuracy as well.
As the gentelman before me said, any of the major makers will make a great gun. I would buy the Feinwerk Alu.. You can get
on the feinwerkbau web site at feinwerkbau.de. They will send you catalogs. You can get one supposedly
from Beeman. Good luck in whichever rifle you choose.
Mark Shuman
Posted by Phillip Reedy on November 02, 1999 at 18:14:56:
Hello Rod,
Both the Anschutz and the FWB are "the real McCoy" -- and so are the Hammerli's, Steyr's, and Walther's. It's not a matter of
one being better than the rest, but rather the choice should be made on the features that you like. They all load a little differently,
dry-fire a little differently, and adjust a little differently....you get the idea. Most of the rifles have a feature or two that the others
don't have. The FWB P-70 trigger can be very easily adjusted just by turning one or both knobs located forward or aft of the
trigger blade. The Steyr's rear diopter can be rotated about it's longitudinal axis, which is nice if you cant a lot. The Walther
PCP holds a 300 bar charge, which is good for over 500 shots per fill. There are probably more singular features, but I don't
have the time to think of more.
Something that isn't often mentioned in these discussions is the physical appearance of the different rifles. I think it's an important
consideration, not only because it's the main difference between the high-end rifles, but also because the feeling of pride in the
way the rifle looks is very important in the overall satisfaction in the purchase.
The decision on which to buy can be a hard one, but rest assured that FWB and Anschutz make the greatest percentage of the
top air rifles. I would also agree with Andy's assumption in that the presence of a "stabilisor" won't make a difference to a
high-level shooter. After all, the previous world record was shot using an Anschutz 2002. I guess it's nice to have a stabilisor (I
have one in my rifle), but I wouldn't base my choice on that one feature alone.
hth,
Phil Reedy
Posted by pilkguns on November 01, 1999 at 07:21:34:
They are both excellent guns with excellent reputations around the world. Currently the Anschutz has a higher percentage of
users, but prior to the 2002 FWB was king in the rifle world. You might also consider the Steyr LG10. it shot a World record
score of 598 earlier this year, and has really done well for itself in the last 3 years. I guess you are aready set up for CA, but if
you can live with SSP in a rifle, I think you are better off.
Posted by Andy Wai on November 01, 1999 at 12:06:47:
While they're all excellent, they're not all the same. Anschutz has the biggest system and the most amount of bells and whistles,
while Steyr has the least. They will also feel different when you use them. The stock shape, the trigger, the recoil characteristics
etc can all be different. For example, I'd say a Walther LGM-2 feels "hard" while a Steyr LG10P feels "soft". Maureen Spinney,
who is in the Canadian National 3P team, used to have an FWB 600 series and a Steyr LG10P now, says FWB and Steyr
feels very similar.
As for compressed air vs crank gun, up here in Canada, there is a lot more of the CA guns than, say beginning of the year. The
flip side of this is, of course, a lot of fairly new and perfectly serviceable crank guns are on the used market right now. You can
save a bundle picking one of those (sorry Scott...), use it a while, get to know what you really want, then go for the big one.
One more thing. A new generation of metal stocked air rifles are beginning to appear now. Haven't seen the FWB. The
Anschutz is just a 2002 stock and it look really ugly. The Walther LG300 is a new gun. It's beautiful but very expensive. So if
you want the latest and greatest, you might also want to wait and see for a little while.
Speaking of metal stocked air rifle, Steyr seems to be the only one not having it or is at least talking about it. I'm wondering if
something like that is in the works. In fact, I think they're the only one without a metal buttplate on their current gun. And given
their non-standard buttplate fitting, you can't even put on an after market one without a lot of work. This has taken away
somewhat from an otherwise first rate gun...
Andy Wai
Posted by pilkguns on November 01, 1999 at 19:03:31
Steyr does have a metal stock in the works, but jiminy does everyone really need that many adjustments? :) and I have the
MEC metal buttplates in stock for the Steyr.
Posted by Rod N on November 01, 1999 at 15:15:37:
How would you characterize the 2002? "soft" or "hard". I'm assuming this is a perseption of felt recoil?
I have read in past post idiosyncracies about the recoil reducer in the P30 pistols. Is the reducer similar in the P70?
Thanks again
Posted by Andy Wai on November 01, 1999 at 18:06:31:
It's more then just the recoil. The Walther LGM-2, for example, has very hard stop on the trigger after the first stage and has a
very slight creep just before the trigger fires. It also makes a big bang when dry fired. The Steyr has a far softer stop and makes
a very soft hit on dry fired. The two weights about the same on a scale, but the Walther feels a lot heavier (stabler?), probably
because of its heavy front bias. It's a matter of preference.
As for the Anschutz 2002, I have only dry fired one before. The way I remember it, it was quite soft. And the recoil, I would
expect it to be more like a normal, non-stablized gun.
Don't know if this is important, but the FWB stablizer is off to one side while the Steyr one is directly behind the barrel. The
Steyr should be more "neutral", in theory. The whole point might be moot though because by the time you get to 90%+, you'll
probably have the hold and follow through to deal with the full recoil anyway. That's why I guess Anschutz never bothered to
develop one of those, and their latest metal stocked 2002 "space gun" doesn't have it.
Andy Wai
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