Manufacturer:- www.feinwerkbau.de

Retail Price :- No longer available new. £100 Upwards Secondhand depending on the age and condition and market fluctuations
Intended Purpose :- Spring Powered 10m Match Air Pistol
Power :- Spring
Caliber :- 4.5mm / .177
Length in mm :- 408mm / 16 1/16in
Total Weight :- 1284g / 2lb 13 1/4oz
Action Finish :- Blued Steel, black painted frame
Barrel :- Not sure who this was made by?
Manual :- Model 65/80 Manual
Average Velocity :- 480 FPS +/- 7FPS with 7gn R10 Match Pellets
Average Energy :- 3.6ft/lb
Sights :- Open, with micrometer adjustment
Trigger :- 2 stage, fully adjustable
Grip :- Walnut

27-12-2009

This was bought after my ongoing interest in air pistol shooting during the winter months. After reading a lot about some of the older 10m match pistols I saw this very nice example up for sale one evening and thought I would see what all the fuss was over the Model 65.

Feinwerkbau turned the 10m match shooting world on its head with the Model 65 Pistol and 300S rifle designs. Previous spring powered airguns has issues with recoil of the spring affecting the shot placement. The design of the Model 65 introduced features to reduce the recoil effects to such an extent that to be competitive in the sport you had to upgrade to one.

The pistols were first introduced in the mid 1960's and they were still in production up to the late 1990's. A testament to how good the initial design was. It is still generally regarded as the greatest spring pistol ever made, something that I would have to agree with.

This pistol introduced the feature of a sliding frame system to absorb the effects of the spring recoil. The top half of the frame is released to slide backwards on release of the trigger. The negates the recoil effect and effectively makes the pistol recoilless to shoot. The designers Westinger and Altenburger developed the recoil system for a machine gun while working for Mauser.

I am not sure of the exact age of my particular pistol (Serial Number 1121XX) Possibly between 1980 and 1985 but believe that is a slightly later revision due to the revised rear sight design. Any help in dating it would be appreciated.

It has certainly been very well cared for over its life though. The external metalwork is pretty much unmarked, with no signs of corrosion or scratching from being rested on a shooting bench. A few tiny marks around the front sight element holder are about the only sign of use. I suspect it has not been in regular use as a match pistol! Possibly only been used for plinking or such at home.

This pistol has the right handed anatomical grips fitted to it. I think as standard many came with ambidextrous plastic grips. The grip splits down the middle into two and has a further adjustable palm shelf. The grip is stippled on the rear section and along the thumb rest. The rest of the front is smooth.

The main frame and top slide of the action are made from a metal casting. I have have no idea what material this is but will assume some type of alloy as it is not magnetic. The frame and top slide have a black painted finish. The barrel and side cocking level are both steel and have a blued finish. The sliding compression chamber is steel polished to a mirror finish.

The piston in this pistol uses the same system as my 300S target rifles. Instead of the normal leather or synthetic piston seal used on most airguns. The Model 65 uses a steel piston ring in the same way a car engine does.

To quote the a previous reviewers translation from the instruction book.

"The piston seal of the Model 65 does not wear. A comparison may demonstrate its strength: A piston ring made of steel serves as a seal between piston and cylinder. If it would reciprocate 5000 times a minute, this would correspond to the operating conditions in the engine of a motorcycle. Even with a daily training program (sic) of 100 shots, only after 100 years a piston-ring running time would be reached that would correspond to 60 hours on the engine."

It is supposed to be good for over 1,000,000 shots. I don't think many of us will be using it that much!

The pistol is cocked using the side lever on the left hand side. It is easy to operate, just press the release catch and pull the level all the way back to about 120 degrees. The pellet is loaded directly into the barrel. This sliding breech contains the conical seal and a small synthetic button that operates the trigger interlock mechanism. The trigger is blocked until the breech is fully closed pushing the interlock lever. A ratchet device prevents the levers return until it has first reached the fully rearward position.

The trigger is a two stage unit. It is adjustable for First stage travel, Trigger stop position and trigger weight. I have left all these adjustment screws as they are as it works fine and the weight seems perfect.

It is unusual in that it can also be set up to operate at two different weight settings. The normal 500g setting for 10m match shooting and a higher 1360g for centerfire pistol training. The adjustment between the two weight systems is done by using the special wrench (or screwdriver) to operate the small rotating lever in front of the trigger guard. It is rotated toward the barrel until the marking 1360 becomes visible. I have not used this option and judging by the fact there are no tool marks on the pistol, I don't think anyone else has either.

The 500g trigger is very crisp and predictable, certainly as good and indeed better than many modern PCP airguns. Again for a 25-30 year old spring pistol I find it amazing that it is so good. The trigger blade is fixed for position and cannot be rotated or moved forwards or backwards as it can on the newer Model 80 version.

The open sights are fully adjustable for windage and elevation. Adjustments are as follows.

Shooting High: Turn the upper adjusting screw to direction H.
Shooting Low: Turn the upper adjusting screw to direction T.
Shooting Right: Turn the side adjusting screw to direction R.
Shooting Left: Turn the side adjusting screw to direction L.
One click changes the point of impact by 1.5 mm at a distance of 10 meters.

The rear sighting notch is adjustable in width as follows.

3-3.8mm
2-2.5mm
2.5-3.3mm
3.5-4.3mm
4-4.8mm

To adjust rotate the cylinder with holes drilled in it in front of the sight notch.

The front sight blade is normally 3.8mm as supplied but can be replaced with various widths 3, 3.2, 3.5, 4.1, 4.4, 4.7and 5mm.

The recoil mechanism can be blocked so the pistol can be used for centerfire training. This is done by adding a small plate to the front of the pistol frame that blocks the sliding of the top receiver. When this is fitted the front sight must also be replaced with a taller one to allow for the recoil that effect the aim point.

I don't have the recoil prevention plate or the higher front sight, but I don't intend shooting without the sliding action. I have other pistols (HW45) for that.

I find the front sight a little narrow compared with my Steyr Pistols that use a 4.5mm blade. But it still gives an excellent sight picture.

It is really great to shoot with. The pistol holds nice a steady in the hand, most of the weight is located just very slightly forward of the grip, so it does not feel barrel heavy. The grip fits my hand fine with the palm shelf adding additional support.

The trigger is not very adjustable for reach on this model (The model 80 addresses this) and it is possibly a little too rearward for my finger position. But that is better than is being too far forward as is sometime the case with my medium sized hands.

I have had a couple of tins of pellets through this now since I bought it a few months ago. It has to be one of the most satisfying pistols to shoot out of the several I own or have used. Everything feels solid and just the cocking the action has a mechanical feel that all the PCPs and single stroke pneumatics lack. It's a real advantage to not have to fill it with air every so many shots, although I know the PCP pistols have many advantages they don't have quiet the character that this one has.

Accuracy wise the pistol in my case will never be the limiting factor! I can shoot similar scores with this my FAS 604 SSP and my Steyr LP10.

As this pistol has obviously been very well cared for, plus the fact that it shoots and functions perfectly and produces very close results over the chronograph it won't be getting taken apart any time soon. They normally run the spring and piston assembly in these totally dry of lubrication anyway, to ensure maximum consistancy.

I'm looking forward to many more years self contained shooting with this pistol.

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