FWB 700 Alum for a big junior shooter?

[Chicken-Farmer]

My 13 yo daughter has been shooting NRA 3p junior rifle sporter class for two seasons now. She is one sign off away from advancing to distinguished expert and is interested in shooting 3p precision air rifle.
My daughter is only 13 but she is already 5' 11", 120 pounds and really appears to be 16 yo or so. She currently shoots a CM-2 Cadet with all the included spacers installed. The rifle weighs about 7.5 lbs. and she shoots it just fine.
We have been talking as a family and I am prepared to purchase a Precision Air Rifle so that my daughter can compete. Are there any youth female shooters using a full size FWB 700 Alum rifle? The specs say 10.5 lbs. All the video that i see of the female competitors appear to be using full size FWB 700's and not "junior" or "ladies" rifles.
I am also looking to purchase my daughter her own shooting coat instead of using the gear provided by our small club. She has proven herself with the club gear and i want to reward her with gear that is hers!
I have been coaching along side my daughter for the last two seasons, but honestly I have been winging it for our small club of about 20 dedicated juniors. We have three coaches,a rule book, some canvas shooting jackets, gloves, slings, and an indoor range. Most of the more advanced kids shoot the CM-2 Cadet rifles with few shooting Anschutz.
With the new gear i will certainly be purchasing some books and cd's that i saw on Champions Choice to help me become a better coach.


Thanks,

Chicken-Farmer

[jhmartin]

There are plenty smaller shooters shooting the full sized 700.

My daughter, who is a bit smaller, thinks it's a bit heavy, and she likes her 8002.

Are you in the position to borrow one for a practice or two? If not, should not be a problem in any case.

The FWB is a fine rifle

[Chicken-Farmer]

Unfortunately we live on a small island in Alaska that isolates us from most things. I have no doubt about the quality of the FWB 700. And am glad to hear that your daughter shoots the same rifle.
We will be making our final decision on Tuesday and then will place our order. Thanks for the reply

Chicken-Farmer

[randy1952]

Unfortunately we live on a small island in Alaska that isolates us from most things. I have no doubt about the quality of the FWB 700. And am glad to hear that your daughter shoots the same rifle.
We will be making our final decision on Tuesday and then will place our order. Thanks for the reply

Chicken-Farmer

Your daughter's size would seem to indicate that there should be no problem with her handling a full size P700. I like the FWBs as they are built more rugged then the Anschutz. We use both at our club and the FWBs has proven to be more durable. However, if weight is a concern you can order a P700 stock with an Evolution 700 barreled action which uses an aluminum barrel instead of the standard steel barrel that will shave off a couple of pounds from the front of the rifle. The gun when order with this combination is a little cheaper. Neal Steep at ISS has done this with one our small shooters who is only 4'8".

There is also the cost difference in maintenance on overhauling the regulator and seals. This will dependent on how heavy of a shooter you are and a number of other factors. You can probably go for years without a seal going, but when they do go they seem to fail just when your shooting an important match. I shoot both an FWB 700 and Anschutz 8002 and the 8002 seals lasted about a year before I had to replace the seal and knock on wood, but the the FWB has been going strong know for five years without a problem. I don't know why but for some reason the seals on my Anschutz and Steyr guns acted like they were on a timer and with in a few weeks of the anniversary of the seal replacement they needed replacing again

The Anschutz 8000's use a module that contains the regulator and seals, so instead of just replacing small parts as with other brands you must replace the module, which cost about $230, which is a two year old price. The overhaul on my non module guns was around $130. These are rebuild prices, which means the regulator and seals were replaced or rebuilt and in the case of the 8002 new is the only option.

[Chicken-Farmer]

Thanks for the information. I can't believe my luck but yesterday after talking with some other folks and reading more information i thought i would check the buy/sell/trade board. I was able to find exactly what my daughter was looking for with some nice added bonuses!

Chicken-Farmer