TargetTalk

Evening all,

I am in the market to replace my FWB 65 but really like that brand. I haven't found alot of info on the P44 and don't see them in the major competitions. Is there a reason that it is not as popular as the LP10, Morini, etc?

Thanks

I think the on big reason why the p44 has not gotten as much use has to do with the poor track record in their PCP pistol offerings prior to the 44 which have gotten most shootes away from the brand. FWB did well with the model 65 and 80 and even the model 90 which had an electronic trigger. Their SSP 100 series was a high quality line for the pneumatics. After hitting their zenith on the model 103 which many would agree was the best SSP pistol every made, they really have failed to hit the mark with their PCP pistol offerings.

I currently shoot the 100 series SSP (and the 65 before that) and have been looking to upgrade to a PCP. I keep looking at the model 44. The fact the model 44 is recoiless, light, fairly well balanced and finally has a decent grip has certainly moved them in the right direction. I have also tried to talk myself into the potential for a model 48?? with some great new features or maybe an electronic trigger option (44E??), since I like the great company service.

However, I suspect I may end up joining the rest of the crowd and going with a Steyr LP10E, but I am trying to give FWB some time to convince me they can fully compete in the pistol space and besides I still like shooting free air SSPs, but am getting close to needing to move up to the next level with a PCP.

If you look at the statistics, there is one brand that dominates at the highest level, i.e. Steyr with the LP10 (and LP10E now), all other brands far behind.

Morini is (was ?) and exception due to its unique electronic trigger, the rest of the pistol isn't bad but not at the level of the top pistols. And now that the LP10E is on the market, Morini may suffer a lot (at least if the electronic trigger of the LP10E proves to be reliable on the longer term, what happened to the LP50E isn't a very good sign).

Why is the LP10 dominating ? Because when it came out in 1999, Steyr was already famous with the LP1 and no other pistol could compete against the LP10, the LP10 had all possible features, its build quality and reliability was excellent and it has no weakness. All other pistols had some weaknesses compared to the LP10 (this of course, doesn't mean that a good shooter couldn't win with another pistol, the Morini is the best example of that).

It took many years (and many models) for the other manufacturers to correct their weaknesses and come at the same level. During that time the LP10 established its domination.

Nowadays, some other pistols are eventually at the same level than the LP10, the P44 is one of them with the Pardini and the LP400 (but even now, after many years and many Walther AP models, the LP400 has one stupid weak point: why did Walther decide to put a rear sight that needs a tool to be adjusted when all other pistols, including the Walther LP300, have sights manually adjustable ???).

So, if you like FWB, buying the P44 isn't a bad choice at all. It isn't better than the LP10 (it feels different) but has also no weaknesses excepted may be its finish that wasn't as strong as the one of Steyr (the blue finish was nice but a little fragile, but this may be different with the new black finish, this new P44 black has also a new grip).

When it came on the market, the P44 had one drawback, it was much more expensive than the LP10 (difficult to compete when you are more expensive than the market leader) but this isn't the case anymore (its now the problem of the LP400 and K12) and also Steyr decided to sell the LP10E at a very high price (the idea of Steyr is probably that people who want the top of the top will pay the high price of the LP10E, others can buy the LP10).

I had a friend at our club who shot one. It was a very nice pistol. He was the only guy who had one that I knew.
At the time we had a lot of shooters at our club using the Steyr LP1, LP5, Morini electronic, one Crosman Skanaker, and a few Anschutz LP@. I had a Steyr LP1 and then switched to, and still use, a Pardini K2S. I also maintained a bunch of the old club guns which included old Walther and Feinwerkbau CO2s.
I wouldn't worry too much about who uses which gun to win which medal. I have observed little correlation between score ranges on the club level and type/brand of pistol. Pistol shooting is not like benchrest rifle, where you truly need the best gear just to be locally competitive. (No disrespect to benchrest shooters. It's a challenging game, but the gear really does count, as does the skill to use it.)
Once your scores are at the 540-550 level, that is when you'll get something out of really critiquing your gear. I've seen guys shoot high 40s-50 (5 shot strings) with "obsolete" CO2 pistols, and guys miss the target completely with Steyr LP10s.

If you like the handling and quality (Duh! It's a Feinwerkbau!!) it would be worthy of your consideration. Maybe you can get it for a good price!

Jim

Thanks everyone for the quick feed back. It sounds like I will be keeping the 44 in the running. Now if only I could find some place near by to test fire a few of these.

I, too, have been happy with the FWBs. I've owned a couple of 65s, a 90, and a 100.

I would like to hear more about their PCPs from users.

The FWB 3x and 4x series have evolved from the same basic mechanism as the 10x series. They really belong to the same "family" except for the power plant (pump vs pcp). This is easy to verify by looking at drawings of the internal workings of different models at FWBs own web-site.

Didn't Bill Demarest shoot some sort of Feinwerkbau?

If you are looking for high level shooters shooting FWB AP, Lalita Yauhleuskaya is using a P44.




Before the P44, she was using a P34.


In sport pistol she is also shooting FWB, she uses (as many other women) an AW93.

Leonid Ekimov was using a P34. Then, he moved to an LP300 (like Vladimir Isakov) and at the last European Championship 2013, he was using an LP10E (unlike Isakov who moved to the LP400, but Isakov is sponsored by Walther what I think, isn't the case of Ekimov).