Vintage Feinwerkbau 65 Mk2

Still my favorite I can't group as tight as factory, but I can come close. For an airgun being 31 years old, not to shabby.

I'm the original owner for 31 years. I ordered it from Robert Beeman, a dear friend has since long passed away. I had it custom tuned, and optioned with a variable aperture, front sight.

It's in flawless condition. Everything has been catalogued. I'm running a sixth tin through it now. I have a cache of sealed Beeman labelled pellet tins. To date, it's only been fed H&N match and Lasers. I also have Kodiaks and Devastators.

The history of these is amazing.

This one will remain with me for my lifetime.
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https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery.com/feinwerkbau-pistols/feinwerkbau-modell-65/




 
Good post and excellent shooting TC1. 

I've owned three FWB 65s, and have written about them several times. Pertinent comments from the chapter titled Euro Classics in Custom, Classic & Otherwise AWESOME AIR PISTOLS!-

"Which brings us to some springers worthy of mention in my book; even praise. Being an admirer of fine shooting implements and all things mechanical compels in me a fascination for the fine symphony of components, assemblies and mechanical goings-on that make any recoilless Feinwerkbau an absolute mechanical wonderment!

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Almost eerily recoilless, shooting this scoped FWB 65 was an other-worldly experience.

As if any airgun isn’t fascinating enough for a student of physics, Feinwerkbau recoilless springers take that fascination to a whole ‘nother level. From the ratcheting cocking stroke to the whole upper moving rearward on firing to counter the mechanical violence of the spring-piston firing cycle, their competition success suggests FWB subdued spring-piston firing-behavior weirdness better than any other manufacturer.

Though I’ve not owned a (later) FWB Model 80 or (electronic-trigger) Model 90, the Model 65s I have owned were wonderful shooting contraptions that left very positive impressions. The muted thud reminds that it’s a springer; but the lack of recoil and buzz belie the fact there is even more stuff going on in there than the violent mechanical chain of events that take place when you trip the trigger on a recoiling springer. Experiencing the almost other-worldly mechanicalness of an FWB recoilless springer should be high on the must-do list of any self-respecting airgun freak."
 
Nice gizmo; and very practical!

I believe accuracy results are seriously affected by 'target picture'; meaning you can only shoot as well as you can draw a bead. And I can testify that drawing a bead with anything other than magnifying optics becomes more complicated with advancing age.

However, I recently disproved a statement less-recently penned (actually, key-boarded), "Truth is, no matter how accurate your rig, you won’t shoot many 1/2” groups if your reticle covers 1” of target". The group pictured below was shot at 100 yards with a non-magnifying red-dot scope, the 4 MOA dot covering most of the 5.5" black target-circle.

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After roughly sighting-in at 25 then 50 yards on smaller aiming circles, I dug deep to find a target with large enough aiming circle to not be covered completely by the red dot ('reticle'). But even then, bright sun conditions made the sight-picture a blurry mess! So I shot two other guns until sunset; whereupon the red-dot sight-picture became distinct enough to center the 4" dot reasonably well in the 5.5" circle. But as I walked to check results, I was second-guessing how well my old eyes had even accomplished that.

Given the anticipated use of the 12 gauge/.222 combination-gun, I decided to be satisfied if all three shots grouped near my desired 3/4" high zero, and into 2 to 3". Zeroing the .222 load 3/4" high at 100 puts points-of impact within .70" of point-of-aim all the way from 50 to 175 yards; for all intents and purposes, SPOT-ON! The 12 gauge barrel handles anything inside 50 yards.

Unfortunately the red-dot scope has 1 MOA clicks, so I was only able to zero the .222 barrel to within 1/8" of perfection (7/8" high at 100). 😂 Guess I can live with that. 😉

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BTW, this post is about sighting, sighting systems, and sighting challenges with advancing age; not firearms.




 
I've had several 65's, one in mid 80's and one recently. They are excellent to shoot. Finally had to give up on it as my cocking issues became more acute (am 83) and got a Morini 162 MI PCP. Never had any issues with the 65. FWB hit a home run with it. Wonderful sights and trigger, but old age finally made me go to a PCP. My FWB's always liked top-end RWS pellets. My best target with it recently was a -4 for 10 shots. In the mid-80's was a 560-70 shooter.