Fwb124D (factory walnut)working for its place in the safe.

[thumper]

My two 124’s have never had detent problems, the plastic trigger on the first copy works as well as the metal trigger on the second copy, and the breech block shims required no maintenance other than a once or twice a year screw tightening. Being honest, the gripes you’re noting are part myth and part truth, but the gun’s performance and accuracy are legendary for a reason - because the gun is as accurate as any springer sporter ever made, and has lasted just as long as the prettier HW‘s. Sure, would have been nice if FWB spent more in the areas they eventually upgraded in the newer Sport, but I wouldn’t trade my 124’s for an HW35, old or new. Seems a lot of the 124 bashing comes from urban legend. You think Maccari would have poured decades of parts/builds/tunes into the 124 if it was a dud? Don’t think so.

First off, why is the 124 not made anymore? Yet Weihrauch and others still chug right on along cranking out break barrels?

I've owned 4 of these guns. One was a "rare" Jnc. stamped one, and it was actually the worst of all of them. I still own two, one shootable that's had a lot of work done, and the other I chopped the barrel off of to use on my PCP. The detent rattled out of the compression tube, and I didn't want to fix it since the compression tube was badly tapered and it never made good power. So it's a full parts action that will rust in my toolbox until I need any of it.

That's actually the second one that I have owned that had the detent come loose. I fixed the other one by tig welding the detent to the tube.

So for me, it's far from a myth. I have a 50% failure rate with the things.

Concerning the breech block shims, the early guns didn't even have a pivot shim on one side. They cheaped out and just let the block smear against the fork. Later ones added a washer in the off side. Both generations had a Belleville spring washer to provide tension on the one side. Which provides a chance of movement, and no hope of consistent barrel tension, as it's a spring after all.

I finally fixed the lockup induced POI shifts by counter boring the breech block for bronze shims. But the gun still has a flimsy trigger, a "your guess is as good as mine" safety, and a pretty lumpy shot cycle for 12fpe. I like to shoot it with open sights since it handles so well. Which I've found to be about the only thing it does well.

Everything from "the good ole days" looks better when your glasses are tinted with nostalgia.

Maccari poured that effort into the guns because they needed it, and were popular at the time. And because people would pay for it, thinking the guns were worth the premium price and worthy of the investment. Look at the $100 metal triggers he sold for the 124 for ages. Standard equipment on a Weihrauch for the last 5-6 decades or so....no money to be made there.

Just because you can't see it on your two examples, doesn't make it an urban legend. Paul Watts has a pretty good video or two on YouTube touching on the downfalls of the 124. Give it a watch sometime.

 

[jimk1963]

First off, why is the 124 not made anymore? Yet Weihrauch and others still chug right on along cranking out break barrels?

I've owned 4 of these guns. One was a "rare" Jnc. stamped one, and it was actually the worst of all of them. I still own two, one shootable that's had a lot of work done, and the other I chopped the barrel off of to use on my PCP. The detent rattled out of the compression tube, and I didn't want to fix it since the compression tube was badly tapered and it never made good power. So it's a full parts action that will rust in my toolbox until I need any of it.

That's actually the second one that I have owned that had the detent come loose. I fixed the other one by tig welding the detent to the tube.

So for me, it's far from a myth. I have a 50% failure rate with the things.

Concerning the breech block shims, the early guns didn't even have a pivot shim on one side. They cheaped out and just let the block smear against the fork. Later ones added a washer in the off side. Both generations had a Belleville spring washer to provide tension on the one side. Which provides a chance of movement, and no hope of consistent barrel tension, as it's a spring after all.

I finally fixed the lockup induced POI shifts by counter boring the breech block for bronze shims. But the gun still has a flimsy trigger, a "your guess is as good as mine" safety, and a pretty lumpy shot cycle for 12fpe. I like to shoot it with open sights since it handles so well. Which I've found to be about the only thing it does well.

Everything from "the good ole days" looks better when your glasses are tinted with nostalgia.

Maccari poured that effort into the guns because they needed it, and were popular at the time. And because people would pay for it, thinking the guns were worth the premium price and worthy of the investment. Look at the $100 metal triggers he sold for the 124 for ages. Standard equipment on a Weihrauch for the last 5-6 decades or so....no money to be made there.

Just because you can't see it on your two examples, doesn't make it an urban legend. Paul Watts has a pretty good video or two on YouTube touching on the downfalls of the 124. Give it a watch sometime.

As already noted/conceded, there are design improvements that could be, and were, made with the second gen Sport. Your story is not one I’ve heard en masse, a 50% failure rate would have sunk the 124 early on. Point is, for the vast majority of us, the gun isn’t nostalgia, it’s a workhorse with incredible accuracy. Maybe you’re harder on guns than others, who knows. But for my money, this was the best field gun of its era, full stop. Who needs two extra pounds of weight so one can brag about the higher quality steel receiver… guns serve various purposes, the 124 hit the sweet spot for power, accuracy, and field readiness. HW would have outsold FWB early on if they just put a little effort into streamlining their bloated hardware. As far as “why did FWB stop making it”, it obviously wasn’t because the gun couldn’t sell. FWB went another direction entirely, focusing on match grade models. They could have kept up with the HW Joneses but unfortunately decided to go another direction. I’ve seen Paul Watts’ video and many others, as well as thousands of comments/reviews over the years. I’ll stick with my original comments - best field gun of its era. And the most accurate.

 

[hkshooter]

The 124/127 broke a lot of barriers and introduced some new things to the air gun world. I feel like it kind of pioneered the modern air gun (springer) era that led other companies to tool up and do better. The FWB124 was unique when it was introduced and being the first offering the attributes and features it did, offered a lot to adults. This goes back to that old sales pitch from Beeman who coined "Adult Airgun". Pellet guns weren't just kids toys anymore. The rifle certainly deserves a place in any enthusiast collection.
Yeah, HW came along and did a lot of things better. But then they didn't pave the original road, either. They learned from FWB.
Being that as it is, the rifle is certainly over rated compared to what followed it. That it still demands the price and attention that it gets truly is old timers reliving their good old days. It's not a crop of young, new shooters getting into the hobby and looking for the best there is.

 

[Chuck-in-Ohio]

After 3 different examples, I can say that I do not care for them as shooters.

I will say that the 124 is a dang sexy looking rig, and has to be considered for the top spot on the all time classic rifles list.

 

[jimk1963]

Nice summary. Definitely not relevant any longer for new generations, and easy to understand sentiments from owners like thumper. PCP really altered the airgun landscape perhaps more than any long-lived springers like the HW’s, but I’m glad to have let that tech go by. Too much hassle.

After 45 years of FWB 300S/300SU/Anschutz LG 380/Diana75/FWB 124, I finally took delivery of a spanking new HW97KT over the holidays. What a fine piece of kit, just gorgeous. And per thumper’s (and others) comments, the HW family is so well supported. Appears I can literally find a replacement part for every single part in that gun (I think, anyway). Nowadays the guns are for plinking and targets, but when I pick up that HW97 (or HW80 or HW35), it’s my old-timer experience that says “I’m so glad I bought a 124 when I was young and hunting was important to me”. With as much field work as I did, those HW’s would have given me scoliosis lol.

 

[MP44]

A beauty!