What New Free Pistol

[Gwhite]

Not sure about "stocking", but Neal Stepp at International Shooters Service deals with Fort Smith all the time. He may not have one in stock, but he can try to track one down for you.

[rkittine]

Walther has exited the Free Pistol Market. They have one FP500 left and right now I am in the process of buying it. It has a Medium Grip and I am trying to find out if there is enough adjustment for it to work for me or if I have to get them to try to get Rink to get me a Small replacement.

Not sure if the gun is in Germany or Arkansas, so timing will be very different depending on where it is.

Regards, Bob

[huckleberg]

Walther has exited the Free Pistol Market. They have one FP500 left and right now I am in the process of buying it.

Enjoy it!

[kyh]

I called Earl on Monday. Asking him about Walther is exiting FP market, He has not hear anything. He said he will check and get back to me.

He confirmed FP500 is copy of Hammerli FP60. Difference is the orange color compensator and grip.

[rkittine]

Walther made as well as made the market on the Hammerli FG60 and then started producing the FP500. My Friends FG60 reads Carl Walther on the frame and not Hammerli.

Yes it is a Rink Laminated Grip with Orange as part of the color group, but the trigger was supposedly improved and the trigger guard is different as well. The receiver is Silver as compared to Blue / Black on the FG60 and the compensator is different looking at least.

In any case, I am in the process of getting the last one Walther has and they have stated they are no longer offering any Free Pistols. Fortunately it is her in the U.S. so I do not need to wait for one to be imported, which would have been the case with purchasing a new Morini CM83E Regular or Carbon.

So, my search is over (for the moment).

Leo has a Morini CM83E for sale that I considered. He is asking a fair price, but unfortunately I would have had to purchase new grips for it as they were too far off in size, so I passed on it.

Bob

[rmca]

Bob,

It's a Morini CM84e (not 83).
Don't take this the wrong way, but you written 83 a couple of times instead of 84.

Good luck with the Walther. Free pistol is a cruel mistress... ;) but that's the beauty of this discipline!

Best regards
rmca

[rkittine]

I touch type, but not as good as any secretary I ever had and my spelling is atrocious, so I can see how I screwed that up. Thanks for pointing it out. I will try to edit better in the future.

Long Range Benchrest bit me and I have really gotten into that, but at my age and health level I tend to compete against only one person. Me. So if I can improve my scores I will be happy. At our local club where I usually shoot, there are a few serious Bullseye Shooters and probably only three of us that own True Free Pistol rigs. A club shoot would probably have a lot of Thompson Contenders. I will probably never be able to compete against the real serious guy and gals out there, but at my home club, it will be fun.

Bob

[huckleberg]

A club shoot would probably have a lot of Thompson Contenders.

I know you are not gonna win any gold medals with a T/C, but is that an option to at least get a taste for FP? It seems like FP as a discipline is seriously moribund these days and FPs are not really available new ...

[rkittine]

Yes, getting people to try the discipline would be good and we have a number of Thompson Contender Owners in our club. Once a month we do TC Skeet. We are very careful, but do two handed doubles, which is a blast in .410.

Bob

[Gwhite]

I touch type, but not as good as any secretary I ever had and my spelling is atrocious, so I can see how I screwed that up. Thanks for pointing it out. I will try to edit better in the future.

Long Range Benchrest bit me and I have really gotten into that, but at my age and health level I tend to compete against only one person. Me. So if I can improve my scores I will be happy. At our local club where I usually shoot, there are a few serious Bullseye Shooters and probably only three of us that own True Free Pistol rigs. A club shoot would probably have a lot of Thompson Contenders. I will probably never be able to compete against the real serious guy and gals out there, but at my home club, it will be fun.

Bob

I tried to set up a contender as a free pistol, complete with custom wrap around grip. I lightened all the internals as best I could to speed up the lock time. The biggest problem was opening the action 60 times. I had blisters by the end of my first session.

[william]

Contenders for Free-Pistol? That's somebody's idea of a very sick joke. If people want to shoot the event without shelling out the bucks for specialized hardware - which can be very big bucks indeed for something that's an orphan before it even shows up at the door - they can use their standard pistol.

Load one round into the mag; take your shot; repeat 60 times. It's not as inconvenient as it seems. And as long as you use iron sights, you're legal for any FP match from club to World Cup. Why not? If you shoot bullseye, you're already doing your slow fire at 50 yards. Years ago, before my hold went south thanks to a shoulder injury, my scores with a TOZ35 averaged less than 10 points better than what I could shoot with the pistol I used every week in club bullseye shoots.

You can get into FP with equipment you already own and use it as a way to get better with it. Or, if you wish, you can be the guy P T Barnum described when he famously said, "A fool and his money are soon parted."

[rkittine]

When I first Googled Free Pistol, there was a section on equipment, starting out with what you could use to try it. They talked about single shot Contenders and using other rf pistols but only loading one round at a time. Not suggesting it is the right way to even try the sport, but at my home club I bet if I host a club match, a few will show up with Contenders maybe only to not have to take their red dots off their other .22s Probably could do it with a K-22 too. But, if there are guys using Contenders, it will be good for my ego score wise (I think!)..

Bob