TargetTalk

Hey everybody!

I have finally raised enough money to buy my own precision air rifle. Lately, I have been shooting a FWB p70 Junior that my coach has been letting me borrow. I am now ready to purchase my own rifle, and I would love your opinions on a couple of rifles. The two rifles I am primarily looking at is the Walther LG300XT and the Anschutz 8002. I am 17 and am mainly shooting international and 3 position (at least for the rest of this year). I am a left handed shooter and would like to know your experiences with either rifle. Also, if you have another suggestion, please throw it out there!

silentfury214 wrote:Hey everybody!

I have finally raised enough money to buy my own precision air rifle. Lately, I have been shooting a FWB p70 Junior that my coach has been letting me borrow. I am now ready to purchase my own rifle, and I would love your opinions on a couple of rifles. The two rifles I am primarily looking at is the Walther LG300XT and the Anschutz 8002. I am 17 and am mainly shooting international and 3 position (at least for the rest of this year). I am a left handed shooter and would like to know your experiences with either rifle. Also, if you have another suggestion, please throw it out there!

Both are good rifles and capable of shooting good groups. The only thing I have against the new Anschutz air rifles is that the maintenance cost of rebuilding the regulators in them are generally higher. The main reason I found out after the regulator gone out of mine is that in most all the other brand air rifles when it came time to rebuild the regulator and seals you could just replace key parts and pieces. The new Anschutz air rifles have modules and so instead of replacing just parts you now have to replace a whole module, which added $100 more to the price of a regular rebuild.

I have owned Walther, Anschutz, and FWBs and they all shot very well, so what may come down to is what feels right to you. The first precision air rifle I bought was a Walther LG200 aluminum and I got my highest scores with that rifle, but I did a stupid thing and sold the rifle so I could get a newer rifle. Presently, I like the FWB P700 as they seem to be built a little more sturdier then most models.

These are just my opinions and since you asked you are probably going to get a number of different one's. The question wouldn't be much different as to who makes the best car. My advice would be to go out and try out some of the rifles. You can do this easily if you are attending competitions. I haven't run across a competitor yet who doesn't like showing off their tools.

I actually live about 45 minutes away from champions choice, so hopefully they will be able to let me at least hold a couple of rifles.

'fury,

As has been mentioned these are all fine rifles capable of winning scores on the international level so much of this comes down to personal preference.

You have not mentioned the FWB 700. Now you may have some very well defined reasons for not looking at FWB but I have heard that they are more reliable in the regulator department than either the Anschutz or Walther.

I have also been counting the number of times the major manufacturers show in the mens and womens finals in the world cup. FWB does have a modest advantage over Anschutz and Walther when it comes to popularity.

Anyhow, do not discount the FWBs before you have a chance to try them.

Good Luck,
'Dude

Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE a FWB 700, but they are a little out of my price range. When I try them out, I will look at the FWB and if it is as good as I think it is, I might just have to wait a couple of more months :P .

silentfury214 wrote:Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE a FWB 700, but they are a little out of my price range. When I try them out, I will look at the FWB and if it is as good as I think it is, I might just have to wait a couple of more months :P .

I would check out Neal Stepp as his prices are at times better then Champion's Choice on the FWB P700s.

randy1952 wrote:

silentfury214 wrote:Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE a FWB 700, but they are a little out of my price range. When I try them out, I will look at the FWB and if it is as good as I think it is, I might just have to wait a couple of more months :P .

I would check out Neal Stepp as his prices are at times better then Champion's Choice on the FWB P700s.

However, if your looking for a left handed rifle Champion's Choice is offering the WALTHER LG300XT BLUE/BEIGE, ALU STOCK,MED GRIP (LEFT) for $1945, which is a bargain. It is not their top of the line, but it will shot just as well.

They also only have 1 left, so I am looking to probably buy within the next couple of weeks.

'fury

Sometimes there is the tendency to think the only rifle FWB makes is the 700 ALU. There is also the 700 Evolution or Evolution Top.

I am not sure what your budget is but the Evolution can be had for a little over $2k. The biggest thing you get with the Top model is the built in sight riser blocks. (Which is probably worth the extra $$$)

Neal Stepp has already been mentioned, another possiblitily might be Chuck Gartland http://www.gartlandprecisionllc.com/contact.html while mainly he works on them he also sells some air guns.

Finally, don't forget the sponsor/moderator of this website Pilkguns.

As a final note: With 4 World Cups shot for 2011 here are some statistics for the brands of air rifles being used by shooters in the finals. Out of 4 World Cups if you had a different field every time you would have 32 different shooters in the finals, as the same shooter can appear in more than one final there will not be 32 different shooters represented.

Men, 21 different shooters, 9 Feinwerkbau, 7 Walther, 5 Anschutz
Women, 27 different shooters, 14 Feinwerkbau, 7 Walther, 5 Anschutz and 1 Steyr.

Clearly the top shooters who I assume could shoot just about any rifle they wanted, prefer the FWB by a modest margin over the others so there must be something to them.

OK, that is about all I know.

Cheers,
'Dude

As suggested by Dude there is also Pilkguns who sell the Steyr as well as others, dont count this rifle out its very well made and comes in a left hand version.You are probably close enough to stop by and hold one at least its another option.

Right now I am leaning more towards the Walther, but I will go try them out sometime next week. I would like to go to Pilk, but they are a little over 2 hours away compared to 45 minutes for Champion's Choice. But for all I know, I might head over there as well.

I would get the one that feels the best in your hands. Simple as that.
Matt

Dude, your right about the FWB being the most popular, it has won more medals than the others and is used by the majority of shooters. However, Don't discount the Steyr LG-110, it holds the world record and is a bit cheaper than the others, it also has a good track record for reliability.

JSB

Spend the day shopping and trying them out. See which feels the best to you. It will definitely be worth a little road time to find "The One".

I have been using Walther LG300xt for over a year now and have found it to be reliable. With the cylinder filled to 200 bar I can shoot for numerous sessions before I need to refill. 75% of my practice time is spent dry firing and I have not experienced problems with this function. Overall the LG300xt is a good value. I have mostly seen Walther and FWB on the line where I shoot and the shooters all turn in good scores with either brand. My advice is to go with a rifle that is comfortable to shoot and that you feel confident with.

Vincent wrote:My advice is to go with a rifle that is comfortable to shoot and that you feel confident with.

I'd go with that as well :)