Carry on with compact or move to a full size Feinwerkbau?

[Racingt]

Hi all

Currently shooting a 13 year old P44 compact, my first AP. Owned 5 years, never serviced, but shot 6 bulls in 10 shots recently.
Absolutely love the pistol, and recognise that it far exceeds my abilities.
However, I do wonder if a full length pistol would improve my scores? Probably a P8X, I'm very happy with the way I can point the 44, just feels very natural to me.

What do you guys think? Am I holding myself back with a 13 year old gun?

Thanks for advice!

[John Foster]

No. You already know the gun exceeds your ability. But get a new one anyway with a couple of sleeves of R 10"s.

[Rover]

When you shoot ten tens you can move on. But, while you have it, you can tweak the hell out of it and see if it helps.

[william]

"Am I holding myself back with a 13 year old gun?"

Only in your mind.

[B Lafferty]

Hi all

Currently shooting a 13 year old P44 compact, my first AP. Owned 5 years, never serviced, but shot 6 bulls in 10 shots recently.
Absolutely love the pistol, and recognise that it far exceeds my abilities.
However, I do wonder if a full length pistol would improve my scores? Probably a P8X, I'm very happy with the way I can point the 44, just feels very natural to me.

What do you guys think? Am I holding myself back with a 13 year old gun?

Thanks for advice!

This focuses on the distinction between "need" and "want." You clearly don't need a new air pistol. But, if you want a new FWB PX8 and can afford one, by all means buy one and enjoy.

[Racingt]

You're a fine lot of shooters! I was looking for a good reason to trade up, and you have failed me!
Actually 5 years of shooting the same pistol does provide a lot of experience, and I don't think I should give that up lightly.
Already using top pellets - H&N Finale Match, so no benefits to be gained there, unless I can get some more of the 4.51s.
I'll chrono it this week just to make sure its consistent.
Back to working on technique, and my shooting process.....

[Rover]

"Already using top pellets - H&N Finale Match, so no benefits to be gained there, unless I can get some more of the 4.51s.
I'll chrono it this week just to make sure its consistent."

Wasting both time and money. You don't KNOW the pellets are the most accurate and the chrono will tell you nothing useful.

[B Lafferty]

"Already using top pellets - H&N Finale Match, so no benefits to be gained there, unless I can get some more of the 4.51s.
I'll chrono it this week just to make sure its consistent."

Wasting both time and money. You don't KNOW the pellets are the most accurate and the chrono will tell you nothing useful.

However, there is likely a placebo effect benefit to believing that he's using the best pellets. Let him live the dream, eh?

Since a FWB pistol is being considered, does anyone know where they might be serviced here in the US?

[B Lafferty]

You're a fine lot of shooters! I was looking for a good reason to trade up, and you have failed me!
Actually 5 years of shooting the same pistol does provide a lot of experience, and I don't think I should give that up lightly.
Already using top pellets - H&N Finale Match, so no benefits to be gained there, unless I can get some more of the 4.51s.
I'll chrono it this week just to make sure its consistent.
Back to working on technique, and my shooting process.....

LOL. The only reason that you need to trade up is that you want the new air pistol. It's as good a reason as any. :-)

[Racingt]

Actually, no one has answered the question wether a full size, new pistol will outshoot an older compact model. Does a longer barrel and sight radius convey an advantage. Not an unreasonable question to raise on a shooting forum?
Does anyone have any actual knowledge about this?

[Gwhite]

I think if you examine the videos of various finals, you will find that vast majority of Olympic level shooters are shooting full length pistols. I don't think it's universal.

The increased sight radius of a full size pistol may help, but the increased moment of inertia will definitely make the pistol more steady. It also gives you more shots per cylinder.

This has also been hashed to death before:

http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php ... 39#p317839

http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php ... 76#p297276

[B Lafferty]

I think if you examine the videos of various finals, you will find that vast majority of Olympic level shooters are shooting full length pistols. I don't think it's universal.

The increased sight radius of a full size pistol may help, but the increased moment of inertia will definitely make the pistol more steady. It also gives you more shots per cylinder.

This has also been hashed to death before:

http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php ... 39#p317839

http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php ... 76#p297276

Yes to what you wrote. I did own a FWB compact in the form of a P-11 which I put a regular left hand large grip onto. It worked very well. Beautiful pistol, but I could not adapt to the shorter sight radius. I sold it here and bought a Kite. Another, more tragic tale of needing service after Larry in Maine suddenly passed away. AFAIK, there is still nobody in the US servicing Kite air pistols.

[Racingt]

Thank you.
I think a good way forward will be to affix barrel weights to my compact to simulate the higher weight of a longer barrel.
If I cannot get along with these, then a longer barrel won't work for me.
Sight length on my compact currently is 325mm, could go to 330-400mm on the P8X. Not entirely sure the extra length is an advantage here, unless it enables me to hold a better sight picture.
Increased shots per cylinder aren't a factor for me - two cylinders gives me 200 shots and I've got a dive bottle to recharge them.
Cheers!

[B Lafferty]

Thank you.
I think a good way forward will be to affix barrel weights to my compact to simulate the higher weight of a longer barrel.
If I cannot get along with these, then a longer barrel won't work for me.
Sight length on my compact currently is 325mm, could go to 330-400mm on the P8X. Not entirely sure the extra length is an advantage here, unless it enables me to hold a better sight picture.
Increased shots per cylinder aren't a factor for me - two cylinders gives me 200 shots and I've got a dive bottle to recharge them.
Cheers!

With FWB, IIRC, there is the option on compact models to replace the rear sight with a one that increases the sight length to pretty much that of the longer barrel models.

[spektr]

If you want to get better, shoot Daisy 777 every now and again. It is capable of cleaning the target when in the right hands, which aren't mine. It has a trigger, which if you master it, will give you such a sense of index finger sensitivity that your "real" pistol will shoot as if it is directly connected to your mind.........

[B Lafferty]

I was watching the videos of of AP World Championships from Cairo, Egypt last night. I noticed that one of the US Junior AP shooters competing in the women's team event was using a Pardini KID. I'll have to look at the video again to see if the pistol had a better grip than the ambi grip that hte KID comes with. The price is certainly appealing at $1,249.00

This is the first time that I can recall seeing a compact type of AP used at this level of competition.

Update: the grip is definitely upgraded.