ratworks chiappa
fas 611
ratworks chiappa
|
|
"We want to provide an unbiased review of equipment from a mostly HFT discipline orientated lens"
- WHFTA review team objective
As with all our reviews let’s get some disclosure out of the way before delving deeper into the review chasm.
What is our aim? We want to provide an unbiased review of equipment from a mostly HFT discipline orientated lens. Why do we want to do this? There is a plethora of great resources that review products for shooting enthusiasts but there are very few that look at them from an experienced HFT competitor’s view and some of the nuances specific to HFT are sometimes overlooked in the more ‘all encompassing’ reviews. We feel that as we organise some of the largest HFT events that we can help plug this very niche gap by utilising some of the resources we have at our disposal. How are we going to do this? The short answer is that we are going to put these products in the hands of very capable HFT Competitors, both past and present, for long durations, collate their thoughts, bolt them together and chuck them on here for you guys to peruse over.
What is our relationship with Ratworks and is there any form of transaction for putting this review together? A very simple answer this one. We love the folks at Ratworks and do have an open dialogue with them about lots of things, most of it not even airgun related, and no transaction has taken place for putting this review together. The agreement we have with the guys at Ratworks is that we can be totally honest with our review of their products. For our 2024 event Ratworks did support us tremendously by giving up machining time and man hours in producing our event overall trophy; to be very clear the content of this review is not influenced by their awesome support of our 2024 event.
What is our aim? We want to provide an unbiased review of equipment from a mostly HFT discipline orientated lens. Why do we want to do this? There is a plethora of great resources that review products for shooting enthusiasts but there are very few that look at them from an experienced HFT competitor’s view and some of the nuances specific to HFT are sometimes overlooked in the more ‘all encompassing’ reviews. We feel that as we organise some of the largest HFT events that we can help plug this very niche gap by utilising some of the resources we have at our disposal. How are we going to do this? The short answer is that we are going to put these products in the hands of very capable HFT Competitors, both past and present, for long durations, collate their thoughts, bolt them together and chuck them on here for you guys to peruse over.
What is our relationship with Ratworks and is there any form of transaction for putting this review together? A very simple answer this one. We love the folks at Ratworks and do have an open dialogue with them about lots of things, most of it not even airgun related, and no transaction has taken place for putting this review together. The agreement we have with the guys at Ratworks is that we can be totally honest with our review of their products. For our 2024 event Ratworks did support us tremendously by giving up machining time and man hours in producing our event overall trophy; to be very clear the content of this review is not influenced by their awesome support of our 2024 event.
So, what have we had in our mits? We’ve had the Chiappa FAS 611 which has been overhauled by the folks at Ratworks. The short version is that Ratworks take a base rifle added a time proven Tench regulator, a select threaded Lothar Walther match barrel, a quick fill cylinder, balanced and refined the internals to enhance the overall efficiency. These improvements add to a list of favourable base features that us HFT’ers will find attractive which include, a fully adjustable two stage trigger, an ambidextrous target oriented walnut stock with an adjustable cheek piece and adjustable butt pad. The revamped rifle package comes priced brand new for £950! All in all, all the above at least on paper form the genesis of what could be a very intriguing HFT rifle. For a much more detailed look at the overall rifle specifications follow the link HERE.
Truth be told we were really curious to try this rifle and assess its capability in the HFT wild. The little FAS is something that hasn’t really popped up on many people’s radars with the more popular and proven brands being far more of a backed option within the HFT community, which is totally understandable. Would the little Anglo-Italian collaboration be able to genuinely stack up to the needs of HFT’ers when put to the HFT sword? Well, let’s find out.
At £950 brand new this rifle falls right in the mix with arguably the most proven PCP platform out there, the base model of the Air Arms S*00 series. We’ll be totally honest, we genuinely rate the S*00 series of rifles, in fact we own many of them between us in various configurations and the bulk of this review won’t be done drawing direct comparisons between the two models. But for context it is really important for you guys to understand where the FAS lives in the airgun eco system. For reference we do understand and acknowledge that the second-hand airgun market is stacked with options around this price range but in order to draw fair conclusions the most pragmatic thing to do is compare the FAS to what is comparatively available brand new at the time of writing this review.
Truth be told we were really curious to try this rifle and assess its capability in the HFT wild. The little FAS is something that hasn’t really popped up on many people’s radars with the more popular and proven brands being far more of a backed option within the HFT community, which is totally understandable. Would the little Anglo-Italian collaboration be able to genuinely stack up to the needs of HFT’ers when put to the HFT sword? Well, let’s find out.
At £950 brand new this rifle falls right in the mix with arguably the most proven PCP platform out there, the base model of the Air Arms S*00 series. We’ll be totally honest, we genuinely rate the S*00 series of rifles, in fact we own many of them between us in various configurations and the bulk of this review won’t be done drawing direct comparisons between the two models. But for context it is really important for you guys to understand where the FAS lives in the airgun eco system. For reference we do understand and acknowledge that the second-hand airgun market is stacked with options around this price range but in order to draw fair conclusions the most pragmatic thing to do is compare the FAS to what is comparatively available brand new at the time of writing this review.
|
|
Right, so now that most of that is out of the way let’s jump into our journey with the FAS. This journey started 8 months ago, and, in that time, we have put thousands of pellets through both of the test rifles Ratworks sent us to look at. That’s right they sent us a pair of rifles to test with the request “do what you guys feel needs to be done and be brutal with your feedback”. That’s pretty bold for any company to do in our opinion and is actually very par for course for the guys at Ratworks, they are very strait-laced, down the line and take well-constructed feedback really seriously. Both the rifles we received were not handpicked they were selected by us from their workshop from the shelf so are representative of what anyone would purchase.
The unboxing of the rifles was very unceremonious. Box open, there’s a rifle inside with some stuff, get rifle out, start looking at it closely, end of unboxing process. That’s literally how it went for both rifles! So, we’ll give you our first impressions most of which we expand on further as we got deeper into the review process. In terms of aesthetics, it reminded us of the flavour of rifles of yesteryear just more refined, in fact some would say the looks are more “classic”. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say.
Both the walnut stocks on the two test rifles had some really nice grain and with a tiny bit of Danish oil applied they would really look much more striking, the lazer etching on the stock is done really well and does enhance this Italian lady’s curves. Vertical adjustment of the cheek piece is via two 3mm allen bolts recessed in the side of the stock and in a similar fashion the butt pad can be adjusted with a single 4mm allen bolt. Super easy, super simple. To finish off the stock features, there is a UIT rail recessed in the underside of the rifles fore-end. All very nicely done. The shape of the stock did strike us as being favourable to HFT’ers but further testing would reveal if we were correct.
Now, for the action, all the markings are really neat, tidy and understated, very tasteful to go with the classic aesthetic. The Ratworks upgraded rifles carry the Tench and APEX Airgun Logos which denote they have had the upgrades mentioned previously. The most notable thing about the action is the finish of the barrel and the cylinder. As far as blueing goes on both components it does appear to be quite light in depth and the barrel has an odd copper tinge to its finish. It doesn’t look bad; it just looks different to what we are generally accustomed to. I’ll be honest I was a little pessimistic of how well this would hold up when subjected to the inevitable HFT downpours. Time would tell if my reservations were well founded. In summary the overall appearance and finish is basic, understated and refined enough to be functional but not a huge amount more. A point to note is that since we received this rifle for review from the folks at Ratworks they are now producing a full cerakoted option where both the cylinder and barrel are cerakoted in a very slick matt tungsten finish, in my opinion this is a good improvement
The unboxing of the rifles was very unceremonious. Box open, there’s a rifle inside with some stuff, get rifle out, start looking at it closely, end of unboxing process. That’s literally how it went for both rifles! So, we’ll give you our first impressions most of which we expand on further as we got deeper into the review process. In terms of aesthetics, it reminded us of the flavour of rifles of yesteryear just more refined, in fact some would say the looks are more “classic”. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say.
Both the walnut stocks on the two test rifles had some really nice grain and with a tiny bit of Danish oil applied they would really look much more striking, the lazer etching on the stock is done really well and does enhance this Italian lady’s curves. Vertical adjustment of the cheek piece is via two 3mm allen bolts recessed in the side of the stock and in a similar fashion the butt pad can be adjusted with a single 4mm allen bolt. Super easy, super simple. To finish off the stock features, there is a UIT rail recessed in the underside of the rifles fore-end. All very nicely done. The shape of the stock did strike us as being favourable to HFT’ers but further testing would reveal if we were correct.
Now, for the action, all the markings are really neat, tidy and understated, very tasteful to go with the classic aesthetic. The Ratworks upgraded rifles carry the Tench and APEX Airgun Logos which denote they have had the upgrades mentioned previously. The most notable thing about the action is the finish of the barrel and the cylinder. As far as blueing goes on both components it does appear to be quite light in depth and the barrel has an odd copper tinge to its finish. It doesn’t look bad; it just looks different to what we are generally accustomed to. I’ll be honest I was a little pessimistic of how well this would hold up when subjected to the inevitable HFT downpours. Time would tell if my reservations were well founded. In summary the overall appearance and finish is basic, understated and refined enough to be functional but not a huge amount more. A point to note is that since we received this rifle for review from the folks at Ratworks they are now producing a full cerakoted option where both the cylinder and barrel are cerakoted in a very slick matt tungsten finish, in my opinion this is a good improvement
Our process for testing rifles is relatively regimented. There are certain steps that we feel need to be taken in a certain sequence to give one the most chance of successfully extracting the most out of a rifle or set up without potentially compounding multiple issues. Too often do we see people either miss key steps, do them out of sequence, do them incorrectly or a mixture of all of these. The end result being them chasing their tails with perceived issues when setting up a rifle. Believe us folks we’ve been there too!
If you guys want us to do a deep dive into our set up process, drop us a line and we’ll do a full Magna-Carta style document but for the purpose of this review we are going to summarise that we went through the process, but we will mention certain elements from this process briefly for context. The set up and verification process is about building the foundations of trust in the set up whilst simultaneously gaining familiarity.
Consistency over the chronograph was more than acceptable with all of the pellets we tested with. Overall spread didn’t deviate outside of 22fps for the entirety of the usable part of the fill with ALL the pellets we used, and the vast majority of shots had a standard deviation of around 3fps. For reference, that is pretty bloody good! We are absolutely adamant that our outliers were down to pellet inconsistencies, and we semi verified this by using some weighed pellets which dragged the extreme spread down to 12fps of the 30 shot string we conducted. In all honesty after slamming hundreds of pellets into a backstop we had seen enough numbers to know the rifle and Tench regulator were performing well enough to move into the accuracy segment of our testing.
The accuracy testing phase of any rifle set up in my opinion is the absolute lynch pin of building for success and as such this is where I spend the vast majority of my time with a new set up, in fact it is something I revisit for verification of performance with “completed” set ups too. Getting behind a rifle and printing groups on paper also allows you to start to get to know the rifle too, what the shot cycle feels like, how the trigger breaks, what does the rifle fit feel like, does it need adjusting a little. To summarise, this part is important.
If you guys want us to do a deep dive into our set up process, drop us a line and we’ll do a full Magna-Carta style document but for the purpose of this review we are going to summarise that we went through the process, but we will mention certain elements from this process briefly for context. The set up and verification process is about building the foundations of trust in the set up whilst simultaneously gaining familiarity.
Consistency over the chronograph was more than acceptable with all of the pellets we tested with. Overall spread didn’t deviate outside of 22fps for the entirety of the usable part of the fill with ALL the pellets we used, and the vast majority of shots had a standard deviation of around 3fps. For reference, that is pretty bloody good! We are absolutely adamant that our outliers were down to pellet inconsistencies, and we semi verified this by using some weighed pellets which dragged the extreme spread down to 12fps of the 30 shot string we conducted. In all honesty after slamming hundreds of pellets into a backstop we had seen enough numbers to know the rifle and Tench regulator were performing well enough to move into the accuracy segment of our testing.
The accuracy testing phase of any rifle set up in my opinion is the absolute lynch pin of building for success and as such this is where I spend the vast majority of my time with a new set up, in fact it is something I revisit for verification of performance with “completed” set ups too. Getting behind a rifle and printing groups on paper also allows you to start to get to know the rifle too, what the shot cycle feels like, how the trigger breaks, what does the rifle fit feel like, does it need adjusting a little. To summarise, this part is important.
Before delving down the accuracy rabbit hole I’d like to mention something that jumped out to all the WHFTA test team. The two-stage trigger out the box on the FAS is exceptional for its price point, it would not be out of place on a rifle twice the price, we genuinely mean that. It breaks crisply and repeatably and with some minor adjustments it becomes even better. The trigger does offer the usual adjustments that we have become accustomed to, trigger weight and stage travel are a given but there is trigger blade forward and rearward position movement offered too. We cannot speak highly enough of the trigger. The flat broad trigger blade provides the ideal amount of surface area for your trigger finger to release the shot. What this trigger isn’t is an out and out match trigger and when compared to the likes on Anshutz mechanism there is only one winner but that doesn’t mean the FAS trigger isn’t up to the task, it absolutely is and when compared to triggers on rifles around this price bracket, out of the box we think the FAS is superior.
Now here comes the first potential negative of the FAS. It is a relatively small rifle with a short length of pull out of the box and for most of us it will require butt pad spacers (provided) to be comfortable without us “scrunching up” behind the rifle. We’ll do a deeper dive into the stock a little later. Further to that the limited rail space means that reach forward mounts or an adaptor rail will be required to mount conventional eye relief scopes. We didn’t find the latter to be a problem as we just dropped on some reach forward mounts to ensure we had the correct scope position, but it does need to be borne in mind but in no way is it a game changer.
Another initial slight annoyance was that there isn’t a huge amount of room to load a pellet and it does take a little bit of a knack to become proficient in loading pellets. That being said, once we had become familiar with loading the FAS it absolutely wasn’t an issue but it is worth mentioning for the purpose of this review.
The shot cycle of the little FAS is odd to describe. It isn’t rapid but at the same time isn’t slow, it isn’t dead but at the same time it isn’t lively. There is definitely movement which can be best described as a gentle and in relative terms slow nudge. This doesn’t mean the shot cycle is inherently slow because it isn’t but at the same time there is something there. Again, when comparing to an Anshutz there is a clear difference in “feel” but the FAS is one third the price. We think that as the FAS is so lightweight this movement is more noticeable. In the real word what did this actually mean? Well, what we found is that if you aren’t “on it” with your shot execution you will be punished when using the FAS which is pretty similar to an AA S*00 series rifle. Poor shot execution equals poor down range results whereas some high-end match rifles such as Steyrs sometimes do allow you to slightly get away with some sloppy shot delivery. If you concentrate and are consistent you will extract the most from this rifle, if you don’t prepare for the honesty train to run you down, as we found in our later testing.
Now here comes the first potential negative of the FAS. It is a relatively small rifle with a short length of pull out of the box and for most of us it will require butt pad spacers (provided) to be comfortable without us “scrunching up” behind the rifle. We’ll do a deeper dive into the stock a little later. Further to that the limited rail space means that reach forward mounts or an adaptor rail will be required to mount conventional eye relief scopes. We didn’t find the latter to be a problem as we just dropped on some reach forward mounts to ensure we had the correct scope position, but it does need to be borne in mind but in no way is it a game changer.
Another initial slight annoyance was that there isn’t a huge amount of room to load a pellet and it does take a little bit of a knack to become proficient in loading pellets. That being said, once we had become familiar with loading the FAS it absolutely wasn’t an issue but it is worth mentioning for the purpose of this review.
The shot cycle of the little FAS is odd to describe. It isn’t rapid but at the same time isn’t slow, it isn’t dead but at the same time it isn’t lively. There is definitely movement which can be best described as a gentle and in relative terms slow nudge. This doesn’t mean the shot cycle is inherently slow because it isn’t but at the same time there is something there. Again, when comparing to an Anshutz there is a clear difference in “feel” but the FAS is one third the price. We think that as the FAS is so lightweight this movement is more noticeable. In the real word what did this actually mean? Well, what we found is that if you aren’t “on it” with your shot execution you will be punished when using the FAS which is pretty similar to an AA S*00 series rifle. Poor shot execution equals poor down range results whereas some high-end match rifles such as Steyrs sometimes do allow you to slightly get away with some sloppy shot delivery. If you concentrate and are consistent you will extract the most from this rifle, if you don’t prepare for the honesty train to run you down, as we found in our later testing.
Back to accuracy. For reference our accuracy testing was conducted outdoors with a scope on X14 magnification with the parallax set to the correct distance using a front rifle bag and gloved hand to support the rear of the stock. We did a boat load of accuracy testing with a wide range of pellets over multiple sessions over the entire review period. We revisited accuracy testing on several occasions to verify the rifles performance and this is what we found. This is NOT the most accurate rifle we have shot. Is it an absolute laser beam? No. Do those rifles exist? Yes. Are they actually common? Absolutely not, despite what everyone says at the club. Sorry to burst everyone’s bubbles but the true one-hole consistently repeatable accuracy is almost mythical. It is achievable in brief glimpses from time to time, but we have yet to come across a rifle that will do it all the time. From the FAS we saw accuracy that was beyond acceptable, have a look at some of the group images below which aren’t cherry picked from our testing but are here as a true representation of the real-world accuracy that we saw from the FAS. Note that one of the groups we have shown from one type of pellet was truly shocking and highlights the importance of proper pellet testing and selection.
We didn’t do any testing indoors which in theory should have produced better groups but in our experience what we saw outdoors is more than enough accuracy performance needed to be competitive in HFT. On the back of the initial accuracy testing, we had sufficient confidence to progress into the “aim point verification” phase where we made our aim point cards to allow us to venture on to HFT courses with confidence. Now we did experience on occasion things that were inexplicable to us, you know lining up on a target and the pellet not going where you expected, with no observable explanation. Guess what! With outdoor airgun shooting you are going to get that, and it is perfectly normal to see it from time to time. From a duff pellet to odd external factors, to the person behind the trigger and often combinations of all the aforementioned, you will experience these oddities if you shoot enough pellets outside. In summary these outliers weren’t prominent enough to raise any form of concern and for context I experience these from time to time with my main HFT rifle.
We didn’t do any testing indoors which in theory should have produced better groups but in our experience what we saw outdoors is more than enough accuracy performance needed to be competitive in HFT. On the back of the initial accuracy testing, we had sufficient confidence to progress into the “aim point verification” phase where we made our aim point cards to allow us to venture on to HFT courses with confidence. Now we did experience on occasion things that were inexplicable to us, you know lining up on a target and the pellet not going where you expected, with no observable explanation. Guess what! With outdoor airgun shooting you are going to get that, and it is perfectly normal to see it from time to time. From a duff pellet to odd external factors, to the person behind the trigger and often combinations of all the aforementioned, you will experience these oddities if you shoot enough pellets outside. In summary these outliers weren’t prominent enough to raise any form of concern and for context I experience these from time to time with my main HFT rifle.
|
|
|
|
|
|
During our time with the FAS we did add a few accessories which included a moderator and a bar weight. The bar weight we felt added some stability to what is a very lightweight rifle especially for positional shots, the moderator well, we just thought it suited the rifle although we did use it without as well. A minor gripe is that there is no thread protector that comes with the rifle. However, this isn’t a necessity as most people will fit some form of muzzle device to the ½”UNF threads, whether that be a moderator or muzzle break. An accessory that most people add to their rifles is a hamster and this is something we didn’t add to the FAS, read on as to why.
So why didn’t we add what has almost become a necessity in HFT, why did we not add a hamster? In use we found the very linear stock shape of the FAS to be really well suited to HFT without one. In real world use we found no need for one at all. There may well be odd occasions where the extra stock depth would be useful but for 95 percent of HFT shots the FAS stock is really useable. In all honesty I think that a lot of the time people just add them because they feel they need one without exploring whether they do require one or not. Our favourite features on the stock are the vertical target pistol grip which facilitated great trigger control and then the straight adjustable cheek piece. A note on the pistol grip, if you wear a size 10 glove you will find the pistol grip small, truth be told even with medium size hands there are times where one does find the bottom fingers moving off of the bottom of the pistol grip, it’s not a game changer it’s just something that requires managing and quick hand placement adjustment soon corrects this. But yes, for those with larger mits you will struggle. The cheek piece really did aid in getting good consistent head position and the singular plane of adjustability (vertical) did simplify things and the design shape is very well thought out. We found the stock shape was very reminiscent of the Air Arms MPR series of rifles which at one point were the the most prominent HFT rifles. A note on multi adjustable stocks, they are great providing the end user knows how to adjust them for their needs, sometimes less adjustments prevents us from continually over adjusting.
So why didn’t we add what has almost become a necessity in HFT, why did we not add a hamster? In use we found the very linear stock shape of the FAS to be really well suited to HFT without one. In real world use we found no need for one at all. There may well be odd occasions where the extra stock depth would be useful but for 95 percent of HFT shots the FAS stock is really useable. In all honesty I think that a lot of the time people just add them because they feel they need one without exploring whether they do require one or not. Our favourite features on the stock are the vertical target pistol grip which facilitated great trigger control and then the straight adjustable cheek piece. A note on the pistol grip, if you wear a size 10 glove you will find the pistol grip small, truth be told even with medium size hands there are times where one does find the bottom fingers moving off of the bottom of the pistol grip, it’s not a game changer it’s just something that requires managing and quick hand placement adjustment soon corrects this. But yes, for those with larger mits you will struggle. The cheek piece really did aid in getting good consistent head position and the singular plane of adjustability (vertical) did simplify things and the design shape is very well thought out. We found the stock shape was very reminiscent of the Air Arms MPR series of rifles which at one point were the the most prominent HFT rifles. A note on multi adjustable stocks, they are great providing the end user knows how to adjust them for their needs, sometimes less adjustments prevents us from continually over adjusting.
On our very first competitive outing with the FAS we managed to claim its first trophy, and took the overall win, I know you couldn’t make it up! Granted it was a club shoot with only around 60 people, but it was still a tricky course with a stiff breeze and the FAS really did prove itself when chucked into the HFT jungle. Just to re-iterate what we mentioned earlier you do have to concentrate on the basic fundamentals more which isn’t a bad thing overall but if you do let those fundamentals slip you will get bitten. We used the FAS around a fair few HFT courses, and we really gelled with it and grew extremely fond of it. I personally got bitten a few times with poor shot execution whereby I jumped on the trigger which more often than not resulted in a solid miss. The FAS is a deviation away from the more modular match type rifles that are more prominent in HFT these days and it does look more classical in its lines which sort of adds to its charm. You look at it in comparison to some of the high speed HFT rifles and you don’t expect much from it, but it really will give you results if you put the work in.
Both the FAS rifles we had on test have been pretty flawless. On one of the rifles during the colder weather we did adjust the power slightly after it dropped around 15fps but other than that they’ve been very solid performers and I’ve personally enjoyed using them. So, we find ourselves towards the end of this review and what are our overall conclusions?
Will I replace my dedicated bespoke HFT rifle with a FAS? Absolutely not. Would I trust the FAS to do the business if needed? I hand on heart would. Would I trust myself to be as consistent with the FAS as my main rifle, humble pie time, I wouldn’t. As I’ve mentioned a few times, you do have to be on it with the FAS as it will keep you very honest and keep your results honest too. We aren’t going to tell you pick this over say an Air Arms S*00 nor are we going to say pick an S*00 over the FAS but what we are saying is do really consider the FAS in your decision matrix. It offers great value with a bunch of great features, granted it doesn’t look super refined in some areas but that is purely aesthetic and doesn’t affect any performance outputs under reasonable use. For the sum of £950 brand new the FAS is really worth a look at if that’s your budget, it will deliver performance above its price range and we would urge you to give it a proper coat of looking at if that is you. For Junior HFT’ers we feel this is a brilliant rifle option for them to cut their teeth on, it’s not too heavy or cumbersome, the stock shape and size without spacers is suitable for smaller HFT’ers and it can be added to as they grow.
Just to put money where my mouth is I purchased one of the test FAS rifles from Ratworks after this review to add to my collection and it has become one of my favourite rifles. There is something very pleasing using it against some of the HFT superguns and surpassing them when it comes to results.
Both the FAS rifles we had on test have been pretty flawless. On one of the rifles during the colder weather we did adjust the power slightly after it dropped around 15fps but other than that they’ve been very solid performers and I’ve personally enjoyed using them. So, we find ourselves towards the end of this review and what are our overall conclusions?
Will I replace my dedicated bespoke HFT rifle with a FAS? Absolutely not. Would I trust the FAS to do the business if needed? I hand on heart would. Would I trust myself to be as consistent with the FAS as my main rifle, humble pie time, I wouldn’t. As I’ve mentioned a few times, you do have to be on it with the FAS as it will keep you very honest and keep your results honest too. We aren’t going to tell you pick this over say an Air Arms S*00 nor are we going to say pick an S*00 over the FAS but what we are saying is do really consider the FAS in your decision matrix. It offers great value with a bunch of great features, granted it doesn’t look super refined in some areas but that is purely aesthetic and doesn’t affect any performance outputs under reasonable use. For the sum of £950 brand new the FAS is really worth a look at if that’s your budget, it will deliver performance above its price range and we would urge you to give it a proper coat of looking at if that is you. For Junior HFT’ers we feel this is a brilliant rifle option for them to cut their teeth on, it’s not too heavy or cumbersome, the stock shape and size without spacers is suitable for smaller HFT’ers and it can be added to as they grow.
Just to put money where my mouth is I purchased one of the test FAS rifles from Ratworks after this review to add to my collection and it has become one of my favourite rifles. There is something very pleasing using it against some of the HFT superguns and surpassing them when it comes to results.
FIND OUT MORE
who are the whfta?FIND WHO THE WHFTA ARE AND WHAT DO THEY DO...
|
what is hft?FIND OUT EXACTLY WHAT HFT IS....
|
WHFTA NEWSKEEP UP TO DATE WITH ALL WHFTA NEWS...
|