Solve a mystery about the new version of the FEINWERKBAU Sport air rifle

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Old-Mr.Jack

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Dec 6, 2021
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WI, United States
I hope someone might be able to shed a little light on the Feinwerkbau Sport air rifle.

Question #1) I know they started production of the new version in 2014. I heard that they may have stopped in 2018. Does anyone know? The interesting part is they are still in stock at AOA.

Question #2) Some folks have had problems with the early guns (under serial 124500) . Did Feinwerkbau revisit the design the design after serial number 124500? Again, I have heard those improved rifles have "Feinwerkbau" stenciled underneath the barrel.



Thanks for any help!!
 
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It's a love / hate relationship for me. I love this rifle and will never sell it. But, WOW! did I have troubles. I bought from AOA and sent it back, they didn't have any in stock so I endd up buying a tuned rifle from Flying Dragons. I love it, Mike's tune is prolly spring guide and lube change. HOWEVER this new rifle still has the same problem as the AOA rifle to a much lesser degree. The problem was when I took a shot the safety engages and the rifle will not cock again. You have to take the safety off and pull the trigger to trip th sears before cocking. Very annoying! My first AOA rifle did it almost everytime. The one from Flying Dragone, I can Live with, maybe every 30 shots. AOA did credit me because at the time they didnot have any in stock. There is a new video by Kevin that talks about poor cocking/spring performance. I don't have these problems from Mike's tune ,thank god..

Fer sure,wouldn't ya think Feinverkgaugh would sell something that out of the box is perfect. With all this said and all my problems, I do think it IS a perfect break barrel. The exterior fit and finish is PERFECT even with a beech stock. The Fishscale lazer cut "checkering" is wonderful. Tolerances are dead on. Accuracry is equal to my TX200 and HW77..

The bottom line, buy it and get it tuned, from my research Jim Maccari has a better fitting seal, it definitely needs a new spring guide and lube. I hope Mr. Maccari suppiles a new spring in 12 ft/lbs and FAC. Be sure to watch Kevin's upcoming videors about making a new spring guide.

Isn't it riduclous that such a fine and perfect EXTERIOR rifle has all these internal issues. I still have to live with my issues with safety going on. I don't like tinkering with airguns, I am a consumer who expects it to work. When it does not I can only pay high shipping costs for repairs.

I still think you should by one! It is unique and sooooooo accurate.


 
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I have read that if you apply spring tar to the safety it stops the safety issue, I just purchased a used one from AOA ser # 12400507 and it dose have feinwerkbau on bottom side of the barrel near the stock, it dosent look like its been apart looks new, no safety issue but its not smooth its twaining. it will have to be addressed to became a go to gun for long turm plinking. well made good looking gun very nice a bit bigger then a R9- HW95, smaller then a R1. I have read there not making them any more, I would guess AOA has the last of them when there gone that should increase the value or hold the value anyway.

.
 
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Thanks to everyone that has responded. This Feinwerkbau rifle still remains a mystery. It amazes me that "new" ones are still in stock and ready for sale. Did the early issues taint the rifle? I know there are lemons in just about every product we daily buy. It seems reasonable to me that at some point the manufacturer revisited and corrected this situation. The question remains at what serial number.

Have a great day and thanks again!


 
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Hello there! I was actually wondering too if the new version of the FWB sport is still in production. Thus I sent an email to feinwerkbau a couple of months ago. Their response was that the rifle is no longer produced and when I asked if they have any plans to resurrect it, their answer was, that there are no plans for something like that as of now. Hope that helps!
 
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I was curious how many were actually manufactured (mine is serial number 552), so I contacted Feinwerkbau directly and received the following info from a Mr. Volker Müller:

The Sport model was launched in 2014 in variants with 7.5J and 18J muzzle energy and was produced in small quantities until 2022.

Total production figures:

7.5J variant - 120pcs.

18J variant - 607 pcs.

At approximately 80/yr over the course of nine years, those are shockingly low production numbers. Equally shocking is how low the power level is for the German market. I knew they were regulated, but I didn’t know they were that restrictive. 7.5 joules is only about 5.53 FPE.
 
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I like the gun and its a great addition to my collection.

When they were introduced (2014) the guns were priced at $900. I think this high number kept buyers away. Also most newcomers into sport have only been interested in PCP's.

The numbers you posted on production is shocking... 727 guns produced is incredibly low for a production gun. (Dem are custom gun production #'s)

I glad of the low production numbers because it became an instant collectable.

With such low production numbers we should start a registry.

Screenshot_20240404-205209_Gallery.jpg
 
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Yes, I believe the FWB Pro Sport was produced in low numbers simply because they couldn't sell them :unsure: .
AOA finally got rid of them for $495/$595 instead of the initial $899 tag.

Let's be clear, these are nice looking/accurate rifles, but possessed many basic issues (high price, lack of parts, poor internals), which wounded their appeal.

I think a lower price/good tune were needed to fixed their sales/shooting problems. However, at this point FWB had blown it and faced a financial mess. They probably never covered their initial, fixed cost of production and certainly weren't going to make more to continue losses.

In hindsight, the low production numbers seem to be benefiting collectors due to scarcity.
-> Think "1945 double die" penny .....................
 
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SpiralGroove said:
Let's be clear, these are nice looking/accurate rifles, but possessed many basic issues (high price, lack of parts, poor internals), which wounded their appeal.

I think a lower price/good tune were needed to fixed their sales/shooting problems. However, at this point FWB had blown it and faced a financial mess.
Click to expand...

Do you own one?
 
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SpiralGroove said:
Too many knowledgeable tuners on the GTA complained about various mechanical issues.
Click to expand...

It appears to me that they were a vocal minority. Whenever there's a discussion like this, invariably you hear owners saying how much they love their FWB Sports. Even the airgun enthusiast who made the infamous Pellets & Pistons YouTube video that documented the nasty cocking noise his made (an AoA tech who test fired them before shipping told me only two or three out of every hundred had that problem) later conceded in the comments section...

From what I can gather from the forums, most aren't like mine was. There's usually some twang, but no noise during the cocking stroke. Most buyers are quite happy with their purchases.

And, coincidentally, I was talking to tuner par excellence John in PA two days ago, and I asked him what he thought of the Sport. He said, for a production rifle, he thought the quality of the internals were really good.

The externals are even better. I showed Frank Bird, one of the best gunsmiths around, a photo of the bluing on the compression chamber near the breech, which is slightly bronze-hued compared to the blacker bluing on the rest of the gun. I thought it was weird that the bluing wasn't uniform, but Frank loved it! I asked him why, and he said it meant the steel in that area had been hardened (apparently bluing takes differently to hardened steel). As far as I know, FWB is the only company that took the time to harden that most-important part of the compression tube.

Unlike you, I actually own one, and, like most owners I've talked to, I think it's one of the best break-barrels ever made. The safety, which is resettable, is exquisitely machined, the all-metal open rear sight is the best I've seen, the trigger is as good as a Rekord, the Lothar Walther barrel locks up like Fort Knox and groups as well as my AA Pro-Sport, and the Minelli stock is distinctive, slick looking, and feels great in the hand. I'll bet if you're ever lucky enough to get one, you might like it too!
 
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PaulK62 said:
It appears to me that they were a vocal minority. Whenever there's a discussion like this, invariably you hear owners saying how much they love their FWB Sports. Even the airgun enthusiast who made the infamous Pellets & Pistons YouTube video that documented the nasty cocking noise his made (an AoA tech who test fired them before shipping told me only two or three out of every hundred had that problem) later conceded in the comments section...

From what I can gather from the forums, most aren't like mine was. There's usually some twang, but no noise during the cocking stroke. Most buyers are quite happy with their purchases.

And, coincidentally, I was talking to tuner par excellence John in PA two days ago, and I asked him what he thought of the Sport. He said, for a production rifle, he thought the quality of the internals were really good.

The externals are even better. I showed Frank Bird, one of the best gunsmiths around, a photo of the bluing on the compression chamber near the breech, which is slightly bronze-hued compared to the blacker bluing on the rest of the gun. I thought it was weird that the bluing wasn't uniform, but Frank loved it! I asked him, why? He said, it meant the steel in that area had been hardened (apparently bluing takes differently to hardened steel). As far as I know, FWB is the only company that took the time to harden that most-important part of the compression tube.

Unlike you, I actually own one, and, like most owners I've talked to, I think it's one of the best break-barrels ever made. The safety, which is resettable, is exquisitely machined, the all-metal open rear sight is the best I've seen, the trigger is as good as a Rekord, the Lothar Walther barrel groups as well as my AA Pro-Sport and locks up like Fort Knox, and the Minelli stock is distinctive, slick looking, and feels great in the hand. I'll bet if you're ever lucky enough to get one, you might like it too!
Click to expand...
Yes Paul, That was my video. I'll tell you what,....When I bought that Sport, I was immediately impressed with the machining, the attention to the finish work and the overall handling characteristics of the rifle. As seen in the video, the rifle had a few issues out of the box but after holding the gun in my hands, there was no way that I was gonna' send it back. Instead, I decided to attempt to tune the rifle. I'm so glad that I went the tuning route. The rifle now shoots beautifully. The power was dropped (intentionally) by about 1 ft/lb. The cocking stroke is buttery smooth and quiet. The firing cycle is to die for. The trigger is phenomenal. The open sights are probably the finest that I've seen on any sporting air rifle. In short, the Sport has quickly become on of my favorite air rifles.
 
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Once the Sport is tuned, they're likely great guns ......... mostly saying FWB didn't make many because they couldn't sell them.
This was not a limited edition, but a production terminated due to the above mistakes by FWB.

At the time I could have bought a FWB Sport for $495 from AOA, I got a .20 caliber R9 from Straight Shooters instead for $399.
 
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houston said:
Funny, learned a valuable lesson 30 years ago....I listened to people when they told not to buy a Ruger 10/22 in 22 mag...told me it was a waste of money. People didn't even own one.
Never again..trust my own gut instincts. Some of u may know about this gun...some may not.

Post if u do.
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Hey Houston,
Given the low production numbers, a better comparison is people Raving about buying a Ford Edsel;).
The production numbers of Ruger 10/22 vs. the FWB are vastly different ...................

PS: Keep in mind I'm mostly joking with you at this point :p.
 
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SpiralGroove said:
Hey Houston,
Given the low production numbers, a better comparison is people Raving about buying a Ford Edsel;).
The production numbers of Ruger 10/22 vs. the FWB are vastly different ...................

PS: Keep in mind I'm mostly joking with you at this point :p.
Click to expand...
The 22mag 10/22 is somewhat rare with only 50,000 sold over it's production run
 
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patrikky said:
The 22mag 10/22 is somewhat rare with only 50,000 sold over it's production run
Click to expand...
50K vs. 727 is a vast difference ........
FWB produce about (170K) FWB124's, so the 727 units suggest a significant issue:unsure:.

- For $899 it would have been nice to have a walnut stock, no plastic parts and better quality control on the internals.

That said, all guns have issues ........... Weihrauch is not immuneo_O.
 
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