TargetTalk

Hey all, just got a couple of opinion questions.....
I'm just moving from smallbore to air rifle shooting. I've got a line on a very nice FWB 600. I've noticed that a lot of shooters are moving up to pre-charged rfiles now.. Is the FWB 600 still on par in terms of being able to be used in competitions??? I guess I'm asking if it's still able to compete against the newer more modern air rifles???
Thanx

FWB 600 make its debut in the mid 1980s, a much improved single stroke pneumatic than the Walther LGR, its still a good entry level AR, easy to repair and maintain, it lack all the bells and whistles of the more recent models.
The only concern is the cocking handle, it do not have a ratchet device attached to it as the later model like 601, if it slip out of your hand during cocking, it will spring back to the extended position, hitting anything in its way, I know one shooter got any black eye, another ones shooting glass got hit and send it flying, luckily without much damage. Be sure grip the handle well and turn the handle facing away during cocking.
One more thing, if the rifle come with factory sight, check and see if there are enough vertical adjustment, it seem at the time FWB produce 2 version of its rear sight, one is taller, and may run out of adjustment if combine with a different front sight.

Hi holepuncher

Every thing Tony.c said is right about the 600. I will add a couple of things that i personally experienced with the 600.
The cocking lever if used too heavy handed can break. This happened to me and a friend. The 601 addressed all these problems which includes a beefed up cocking lever and safety ratchet.
It is important that all the lube points including the compression piston washer are greased with FWB's special grease.

We found that it was when the rifle was not greased for a long time and the cocking mechanism became dry, this is when extra strain was put on the cocking lever which could lead to breakage.

The rifle is as accurate as any other pre charged pump rifle.

Peepsight

I had one for a while then bought an anschutz 2002. I thought the 600 was great. The only thing about it that is a limitation is the cocking action. The stock, accuracy, trigger, etc are still competitive with todays rifles. I never had a problem with the cocking lever getting loose but I do suppose you want to keep a good hold on it.

I shot all the FWB pneumatics, from the FWB 600 to the FWB 603. At the end of the day, the one I kept is the FWB 600. I sold my 601 and 603. This is my opinions

The FWB 600 is the easiest cocking pneumatic I ever experienced. Yes, I tried the Walther LGM-2 and the LG-210, and the Anschutz SuperAir also. Being easy to cock is a BIG advantage when you are shooting a 40-shot and especially the 6-shot match.

Second, FWB 600 is simple in design and robust. It doesn’t have the locking latch on the cocking handle that are found in all the other FWB, but that is what I like. It is annoying to have to flip that latch, each time I want to cock the gun, and I never accidentally pop open the cocking lever.

Third the FWB 600 is better balance than the other 3 FWB, because it doesn’t have the safety ratchet mechanism, and the back of the butt has hollow cavities, which allow you to insert weights for balancing an AR. If you look closely at the some of the Olympic shooters, they even add car wheel (tire) weight on the back area of their AR. Anybody that compete seriously in off-hand AR, knows the importance of having a well balance AR.

Now for the negatives, I thought the FWB 603 has a slightly better trigger than the 600. With that said, I didn’t notice the any difference in my match scores between those two ARs. The FWB 600 doesn’t have a dry firing mech like in the 603; therefore I just fire my 600 without a pellet. My Noptel shooting system is OK with that. Finally I thought that the later models that have the 22mm front sight are better than the FWB 600 with an 18mm front sight. I purchased a 22mm front sight for my FWB 600 since.

I hope this help.