their factory original state compared to springers. Apart from the modifications mentioned above, do I have any other wishes for improving my Mini? Well, in keeping with making the 300 affordable to
youngsters, some features of the stock that the senior versions have were sacrificed on the Mini by Feinwerkbau. Neverthe- less, the grip has some nice dark colored stippling. I personally would like to have stippled panels also at
the flanks of the fore-end and a pistol grip cap with a flared bottom serving as a palm rest. Some owners go so far as to put the hacksaw into the cheek piece and convert this into a height-adjustable unit. In addition to barrel sleeves and muzzle weights, others fit the most modern looking butt extenders and butt hooks of aluminum, often homemade. And for looks, the barrel could be shortened by another 4 inches. But this risks wrecking its fine accuracy, since it probably is choked at the muzzle. Maybe this necessitates shortening it from the breech end, which is a costly gunsmith’s job. I prefer to just leave these major operations aside … for the moment. A word of caution here: do not misunderstand the word
“semi recoil less” or “recoil less” in connection with spring- ers. Such rifles do not “cushion” themselves on the shooter’s shoulder but their recoil forces are absorbed by a sort of sledge system on which the action travels for only ¾ of an inch or so. Therefore, recoil forces within the rifle, including the scope fixed to it, are much stronger. One should therefore be aware that the sliding system of the FWB 300 series does put extra strain on the scope, which together with the recoiling action runs back to an abrupt stop within a very short distance. Fit- ting a gun with a stronger spring will increase stress on the components even more. This makes it absolutely necessary to mount a sturdy
recoil proof scope. I fitted an older Japanese built Bushnell Tro- phy 6-18x40 which has a good reputation for sturdiness and offers ample magnification for varminting. Some 300s have a short mounting rail, but mine has long dovetails machined into the action that suit longer scopes. It is preferable to fit a long scope with the objective bell more forward in order to clear the loading port … something you might want to keep in mind when looking around for one. The combined weight of my setup is about 11 pounds, which makes for a very stable platform. However, this gun deserves to wear even higher powered scopes and it would not make a 6-24x or 8-32x scope look out of place. One should bear in mind that on the sliding action of
the FWB 300, a very solid scope mount is very important. In addition, you might have to eliminate barrel droop or at least apparent barrel droop. On 10 Meter Match rifles the original metallic sights and especially the front sight are mounted rather high on the muzzle. This makes for a barrel setup that allows too little elevation adjustment on the scope. The Trophy scope does not have a lot of elevation adjustment range and needs a droop compensator scope mount. Mine is a Sports- match one-piece mount sloping downward, thus allowing the scope to be on the money at about 10 yards range and still be optically centered. I might add one detail about the advantages of sledge-
type recoilless guns like the FWB. For those who like their accuracy but prefer a more lively recoiling rifle and are a little wary about scope life, the rails on which the action runs
backward can be blocked with washers or the like. This turns them into normally recoiling guns. Apart from being nicer on (low cost) scopes, this makes the gun feel just a little less “dead” on the shot. Of course, this alteration makes the gun more hold sensitive. Another word of caution for adapting this match rifle
to hunting purposes concerns the match trigger and the ab- sence of a safety lever. For safety reasons the trigger should therefore be set at its maximum pull weight, much like for the standing match position. For those who want a sort of safety lever it is possible to leave the cocking lever open at the point right before the last click of the ratchet system, just before it engages the lock at the action tube, at the same time engaging the trigger, until the shot is imminent. Talking about triggers, caution must be taken when disassembling the 300’s trigger assembly because some parts are made of plastic and are prone to breaking. This, together with the plastic trigger guard, are the only possible weaknesses reported about these FWBs. Reading this, you may agree that this rifle is not obsolete
at all. So, if you have one lying around in the attic, hurry to dust it off. Or in case you have one offered to you for sale, don’t turn your back too quickly! I personally find it extremely accurate with a good scope
and this — until now — at a moderate price. I use mine mostly for informal bench rest work and this side cocker hardly moves around on the bags while being cocked. I do not need to lift it from the bags for cocking, unlike my under levers. Thanks to the slick ergonomic side lever, there is hardly any need to reposition it on the bags for each shot. To me, generally, this is the best way to test pellets, and it also works for other guns. I might even take it out to a formal 25-yards air rifle bench rest competition. It also makes a nice gun for the back yard “mini-sniping” game using nonpaper targets like chalk, matches, or empty 22 cases and the like. So I think it logically follows that it has all the qualifications to make a very nice varmint bench gun also. Could you imagine yourself on a nice calm summer
evening, sitting behind one of these guns rested on a table on the back porch of your house? Then maybe this type of gun is just something for your next “back yard” hunter/varminter air gun project. For those interested, there is a wealth of information to
be found about older target guns like this at the American Vin- tage Airguns forum on the Web site
www.vintageairgun.com.
www.varminthunter.org Page 173
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