TargetTalk

Which would be better a Hammerli 208s or a Feinwerkbau AW93 for conventional pistol comp.?

more a matter of how big your hand is

the 208 seems to have a slightly smaller grip frame, making it more suitable for smallre hands and/or shorter fingers - i.e. me %)>

both can give excellent accuracy when fed good ammunition

Spencer

I have shot both in NRA conventional bullseye. I used the AW 93 for 11 months, and it was the most reliable pistol I've ever owned. But I found that I shot better scores with my Hämmerli 208s. Why? I don't know. Perhaps it is just me and your experience may be different.

It is harder to mount a scope on an AW 93, but some better solutions are being created for doing this. Roddy Toyota has one solution that appeals to me. When I got my AW 93 in 2000, there were no mounts available and I had to have one custom machined. I am a bit concerned about the future availablily of parts for the Hämmerli 208s. When I toured the Walther factory in October, they seemed to be doing very little for the Hämmerli brand. I recently bought two more H-208s magazines just in case.

My new MG-2 is factory drilled and tapped for installation of a Weaver rail, making scope installation relatively easy. But I will only use this gun for Standard Pistol and Rapid Fire.

Best Regards,
Slo cat

Here is a link to some excellent handgun scope mounts:

http://www.bme-mounts.com/products.html

John is an engineer and his designs are elegant and functional...

Tillman

You should be factoring parts availability into the equation . How much longer will spares for the 208 be around . Our host stocks FWB spares .

Chris

The answer to this choice is one word "parts." The USMC had made noise about opting for the AW93 as a replacement for the 208s. This surfaced over a year ago I haven't heard from my friends as to what they are going to eventually do regarding their new choice of a .22 pistol. The main reasoning was the availability of parts for the 208s having dried up. Their armorers were having to machine parts and find substitutes for those no longer available. As far as expense Feinwerkbau jacked the price up shortly after the early word from the USMC was heard. I suspect the reasoning was due to the cost of the 208s they were hoping to replace. Your guess on this is as good as mine, however parts are the issue IMHO.

How many aw93 pistols would the USMC purchase at once that would cause FWB to increase their prices? Was this the retail price for all of the USA? You would think that when buying multiple guns you would be given a discount.

Plus the value of having the USMC use FWB pistols in competition is not insubstantial.

Not when you sell stuff to the military, the home of the $1500 coffee potand $500 dollar ashtray :) (see smilie don't get upset just joking)

I agree I think that the USMC buying a few dozen AW93 really wouldn't effect the price. The price rise was most likely a result of the dollar against the Euro.

Tracking the rise of the price of the AW93 shortly after the USMC announcement, shows that the level of price increase was not driven by the fluctuation of the Euro vs. Dollar. It's simple economics---supply and demand, what happened to the price of the 208s ( already a heady price) after Hammerli (SIG??) announced the plan to discontinue the model. This reply doesn't really constitute a necessity to continue wasting space on a thread like this, I just find the naiveties often displayed when price becomes a discussion to be unproductive. Forgive my previous intrusion just pretend it was never written.

The Marines were shooting AW93s last year. Word on the line was that they got a very good price from FWB. The other word on the street was that the Army was still evaluating. Aparently Pardini was lobbying very hard to win them over.

As for the original question, I have an AW93, a 208 and a 208s. I can't say that one pistol is better than another. I like the FWB best but I can't tell you why. It just feels good in my hand. The trigger is sweet.

Steve Turner