I'LL HAVE #2 FROM COLUMN "A" ON THE MENU
By: JAY AXELROD
There are a lot of air pistols out there. Some with mechanism designs that are smooth and recoilless. These are usually pneumatic or CO2, but this article is not about these mechanisms. That leaves us with springers. The mechanism that can recoil enough to make an "X" an 8 or vibrate enough so you become numb and think you have to go to Betty Ford's Clinic. There are very few springers out there that can challenge the throne of pneumatics for their virtually recoilless action. Years ago the Germans took on the challenge of the springer and have become known for their innovative, recoilless airarm designs.
Feinwerkbau is one of the German manufactures that has always been known for quality, aggressive designs and their innovation in combating recoil in their springers. The design is actually a floating receiver, which moves rearward on a rail system when recoil begins. This springer design is known for its accuracy in competition. The design is still manufactured and is available today. It is the FWB 65 and carries a hefty price tag of about $1070 (from the Beeman 1999 catalog). In past years, ARH, Beeman and Daisy have sold the FWB 65. My records show 1976 prices starting at $275.
Now, you’re probably thinking this article is about the excellent, high quality $1070 FWB 65 recoilless springer; well it isn't and it is. Actually, this article is a comparison of springers that on the outside do look a lot like the FWB 65 but are 75% less in price and manufactured in China.
The "basic" copy of the FWB 65 has been around for a few years now and has been manufactured by a few "independent" Chinese factories. Today a highly reputable U.S. company, Compasseco of Bardstown, KY (compasseco.com), imports the pistol. I had the opportunity to inspect and test one old and one new version of the Compasseco Tech Force SS2 import from the Shanghai factory and two older versions manufactured in a Sichuan factory that were manufactured for Titan of England (Titan went out of business in late 1993). Also tested were two original FWB 65’s, one old and one new style, and a Daisy FWB 65 that was 10 years old was also made available for testing.
A quick visual shows the Compasseco TFSS2 to be a bit different physically with flat sides on the exterior receiver tube going into a 45-degree bevel at the top. The exterior finish of the old TFSS2 pistol on a scale of 1(poor) to 10(excellent) is a 5 1/2 since the finish looked painted and uneven but exterior machining detail is very good. The new Compasseco TFSS2 had a much better finish scoring a 10 with what looks like a resin coating on the grip frame to resist wear on the finish and the exterior machining is excellent. I had noticed that the Compasseco TFSS2 is structurally heavier than its German counterpart in the cocking arm and hinge, which can be high stress areas. The Sichuan was not a copy but a clone; it physically looked identical to the "newer version" of the FWB 65 except for the Chinese writing on the side. Its finish is equivalent to the FWB 65 scoring a 10 and attention to exterior machining detail on this pistol is excellent.
The powerplant of the FWB 65 differs from all springers in that it utilizes a steel compression ring, the same type of compression ring design used in a gas engine and not the typical springer rubber seal. I was advised by Dwane of Compasseco, that the internal parts of their copy are "very similar" to the FWB 65. I was also informed by John Groenewold (jgairguns.tripod.com/airgunparts/), who had dealings with Titan, of the history of the Titan clone. The Britts made a set of reverse engineered drawings of the FWB 65 and copies of the drawing were given to 5 different Chinese machine works. There were some tolerance problems between the factories; these tolerance problems may have also been because the Britts wanted to have "lower price exact replacement parts" for the very popular German FWB 65. Eventually, the Britts stopped trying to zing the Germans, and the Chinese aggressively pursued the market in the U.S. for their clones.
The Titan version I used for testing was about 10 years old (although it was 10 years old it was a new pistol). It had a small problem that also exhibited itself on the test Daisy FWD 65. I disassembled the TITAN #1 pistol using the FWB 65 instruction manual and corrected the minor problem. This also gave me the opportunity to inspect the internals for quality of workmanship and materials. The first thing I noticed was the steel compression ring on the piston, these Chinese copies do go into great detail duplicating the original design of the FWB 65. Upon further inspection of the internals I found this Titan clone to be excellent in quality of workmanship with tight tolerances and highly polished areas where needed and free of tooling marks. Material used on both Chinese pistols is steel, aluminum and wood; the only place where any form of plastic is used is the piston buffer and that is where the problem was. It seems that the plastic for the piston buffer oxidized and deteriorated in the clone and the Daisy FWB 65.
Shooting the pistols was an interesting experience. In the recoilless mode, the barrel/receiver assembly travels on rails and this is noticeable during cocking. When I first used an FWB 65, I thought I broke the pistol during cocking with the barrel/receiver seeming to be very loose and sliding forward. Now I know. Well, it doesn't stop there. As you pull the trigger and the pistol fires, the barrel/receiver now travels rearward on the rails about 1/4 inch negating most of the recoil and making it very nice to shoot. Engaging the cocking lever on the two Compasseco TFSS2 was easy, a little more effort was needed on the FWB 65's and Daisy FWD 65. The Sichuan clones needed a few more pounds of pull and during testing did become slightly easier, but it was still a carpal tunnel syndrome irritation.
The FWB 65 had a very good two stage trigger that was clean and crisp at the second stage let off; both were about 12 ounces. With the Sichuan clone #1 & #2 I had changed the trigger spring, which gave it an excellent two stage trigger, that measures pull at 8 ounces for second stage let off. The Compasseco TFSS2's also have an excellent trigger that had a clean second stage letoff that was equal to the TITAN Sichuan clone #1 & #2. The Daisy/ FWB 65 trigger pull was also equal to the Chinese pistols at 8 ounces. Triggers on all pistols have the same adjustments, a fine adjustment trigger pull, a 3 LB pull and a double stage trigger travel adjustment.
The FWB 65 and Compasseco's TFSS2 had the standard wood grip with more attention to detail on the FWB. Both the Daisy/ FWD 65 and TITAN Sichuan clones have an almost identical beautiful set of adjustable target grips . The Sichuan grips were too small for my hand, so I had to rework them and are now very comfortable.
As for accuracy, the FWB 65's and the old Compasseco TFSS2 were in my hands for a short period of time and accuracy tests were shot at 10 yards standing, iron sights and the pistols easily shot dime size groups using Crosman, Daisy and RWS pellets. The newer Compasseco also shot tight groups with many 5 shot groups having 3 shot one hole. The TITAN Sichuan clone #1 was the test pistol that I had more time to test, shooting Daisy Wadcutters gave groups of .568 of an inch. The interesting thing was, it didn't make a difference if it was shot holding it on a bench or standing with a two hand hold at 15 YARDS with iron sights. There is an option on the FWB that is not available on the Chinese versions, and that is an adjustable notch width on the rear blade. Both the German and Chinese pistols use inserts for different widths on the front sights.
For those of you who own and enjoy springers and haven't shot the FWB 65 or its copies (and I don't want to leave out the Dianawerk's 6G, 6M and 10M when discussing recoilless) you will be in for a surprise with their smooth, almost recoilless operation. The FWB 65's and the Daisy FWB 65 have the feeling of spring vibration and a small amount of recoil but are very comfortable and a joy to shoot. The old Compasseco TFSS2, was smooth and had very little feeling of spring vibration. The owner of this TFSS2 loves it and shoots it a few days every week. This pistol is about 3 - 4 years old and has had a lot of use and is well broken in. The new Compasseco TFSS2 also had virtually no vibration and recoil. The two FWB 65's, FWB/Daisy and the two TFSS2's registered well under the manufactures’ tested velocity. Advertised velocities are Compasseco's TFSS2 @ 520 ft/sec, Beeman FWB 65 @ 525 ft/sec.
I gave the FWB 65's, a Compasseco TFSS2 and the TITAN to three other shooters (two owned FWB 65's) for a comparison of the Chinese and German springers. The TITAN and Compasseco won 1st place hands down. Third place went to the Daisy FWD 65 and 4th to the FWB 65's. In all fairness, the FWB's spring vibration was noticeable, but it does not affect accuracy. I was surprised to see the two TITANS with their stronger springs have the least recoil. I was even more surprised to see the Chinese Compaseco TFSS2 and Titan virtually free of spring vibration beating the German masters of spring design.
Shown above pictured left to right, FWB65-1, TFSS2-1, and the TITAN -s1
VELOCITY TESTS
Daisy Tech Force Crosman Premiers
Old Compasseco TFSS2> 411 to 423
Newer Compasseco TFSS2> 413 to 425 396 to 409 389 to 395
#1) FWB 65> 419 to 429
#2) FWB 65> 433 to 445
Daisy FWB 65> 413 to 428 389 to 401 379 to 394
#1) TITAN> 484 to 501 456 to 463 450 to 460
#2) TITAN> 426 to 432
Pellet weights ADVERAGE ACTUAL WEIGHT
Crosman Premier 7.9 8.2
Daisy Match 7.9 7.7
Tech Force Match 8.2 8.2
NOTE: TITAN #1 when originally disassembled showed the pistol was new because the steel compression ring had factory break-in markings on the ring. This shows the ring was not seated. TITAN #1 & #2 had almost the same velocity in their "NEW" state. TITAN #1 was again disassembled at 500 rounds, and inspection showed the compression ring was about 65% seated. When the TITAN #1 was reassembled and crony'd, it showed an average increase of 30 ft/sec.
As I put more time into testing, there was one thing I noticed on the sights of the Chinese pistols. That was the absence of indents on the windage adjustment knob even though indents were present on elevation knob. The windage did hold its setting through the tests but it would have been nice to be consistent. The German pistols had indents on both windage and elevation.
The manual for the FWB 65 is in 3 languages. Although nicely presented, the English version can be a little awkward. The TITAN/Sichuan is in Chinese and that broken Oriental English. You don't have to worry about understanding the English with the Compasseco TFSS2 since the manual is only in Chinese, but it has lots of little pictures and a fantastic parts identification page. It's no big deal; I go to this Chinese restaurant, there is this beautiful Chinese waitress and she translates for me. Does anyone know what a leecever or a glip is?
I've gained a great respect for the quality Chinese manufactured airarms after testing and inspecting the Compasseco TFSS2 and the TITAN Sichuan clone (and other Chinese manufactured airarms of different styles). The quality of workmanship and materials puts these pistols in a category with air pistols costing much more. It's a shame you’re limited since the TITAN Sichuan clone is no longer produced, and you'll have to settle for the $1070 FWB 65 or its sister the $295 Compasseco TFSS2. Actually when Compasseco has a sale you can beat the lowest 1976 FWB price in 2001since Compasseco's TFSS2 sale price is $245. If you were blind folded and had to go by feel for the smoothest you'd pick the Compasseco TFSS2. As far as groups, the TFSS2 has almost always shot smaller groups both off the bench and two handed standing against the FWB65. WATCH YOUR WIND.
