There is one thing on the FWB Sport that is a bit unusual: on the dovetails on top of the receiver, there are no holes for anti-recoil pins on a scope mount. Instead there are four horizontal grooves like the ones that are on the dovetails on my FWB 150/300 match rifle. You might be able to fit an anti-recoil pin into one of those grooves, but if the scope moves at all, it might mess up the finish on the rifle.
I decided to use a one-piece mount that has four Allen bolts to mount a Vortex scope, and I had not problems with movement of the scope or mount.
The FWB Sport locks up very snugly, so you have to slap the barrel near the front sight with the palm of your hand to get the action to break open. After that you can grab the barrel and crank it down and back to cock the action and open the breech for loading. I estimate the cocking effort is in the mid-30-pound range, and you’ll hear a little bit of spring noise during the process.
Next, slide a .177 pellet into the aft end of the barrel and return it to is original position. Take aim at your target, push the safety forward to the FIRE position (there is a little red indicator for that), and squeeze the trigger. The first stage requires 1 pound 4 ounces of effort, and a 2 pounds even, the shot goes down range. The trigger is very, very crisp.
The action exhibits a little bit of vibration and a little bit of rattle when the shot goes off, but this is heard, not felt, at the shooter’s position. There is no bucking on twisting, and that makes it easy to shoot this air rifle well.
The FWB sport launches 7.9 grain Crosman Premier Pellets at around 900 feet per second. The accuracy is simply excellent. At 13 yards, I put four pellets into a round hole about the size of a .22 caliber pellet and I yanked a fifth shot. At 32 yards, the FWB Sport put five pellets into a group that measured just 5/8 inch from edge to edge or .448 inch center-to-center. This is an air rifle that I would happily campaign in Hunter Class Spring Piston Field Target competition. Based on the way this air rifle shoots and feels, it inspires confidence when you get to the firing line, and that is critically important.
In the end, I think FWB has succeeded in creating a legacy air rifle. It looks and shoots great and should last for years.
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
– Jock Elliott
