THOMAS - FT rifle - "Dressed to Kill"

[AdminMASTER]

"Mike Niksch has really gone above and beyond to tailor my FT gun to my exact specs. So if it takes abit longer then planned I can't complain . He's been sending me pics ,as things come off the mill and each piece exceeds my mental picture of what I expected . I also threw things at him that were not his usual parts and standard layout for the Thomas gun ,my influences were my USFT FT gun which fit me like a glove and the AZ LG 100 Steyr I tried which had lots of features I liked. So Mike's stuck with building my pipe dream but he's doing a great job .

The layout will give me all the adjustability and features I want along with the latest Lilja barrel ,fast lock time and the ability to go down to 12 fpe with a single adjustment if I care to try WFT class . I intend to mount a Leupold 35 Comp. on it but I do have a big BSA 10x50 also we'll see what work out the Leupold is an AZ tuned scope with all the goodies and lighter but BSA platinums are a nice bright scope. I actually bought the Steyr just to get the BSA off of - it's also an AZ setup scope"

[AdminMASTER]

OK, so It seems the guy has decided to commercialise these...

Here's his website: http://www.thomasrifles.com/home.html

[BenGun]

Interesting how he has gone for the Bird Perch Cheek piece as the Anschutz ONE and Pardini GPR 1 Top.

[NeilM]

I spotted these on facebook a little while ago.

I love the style butI fancy they are pricey, I think I saw $3,500 mentioned somewhere, but I may have that wrong.

[digi2496]

3500 usd............. not for real shooters!!!

[AdminMASTER]

..you sound like a Marxist to me



PS: 5 years ago (because I speak / read French) - I saw the development of Field Target in France - http://www.afft.fr ; I was wondering how the French would react to the prices, and costs to customize their air rifles to achieve cosmetic and or more/better accuracy; in the beginning, it was shock and a real eye opener for many of them seeing these prices- Steyr LG110, Nikko Stirling 10-50X60 etc... ; plenty of these new to the Sport of FT - expressed similar view on the prices like you have ; but now, they are just getting on an accepting the price sticker shock, of what some things costs.... "c'est la vie" ; the key thing is enjoying your hobby at whatever level. Don't be put off. Motivation, desire and determination gets us there...superb groupings (at any cost, or with limited budget) , winning the girl to marry , or winning the lottery. For me ? It's like stamp collecting (and yes, I can shoot).

PS: In your opinion - what is a "real shooter" (Pedro Delgado, Miguel Indurrain - rode on Euro10,000 bicycles; are they real cyclist ? or is the civilian person riding a Euro400 bicyle actually the real cyclist )

[Jon]

Its the law of diminishing returns.

Though a presentable rifle could be had for £280 AA S400 a few years back these have now risen.
Likewise the Sterling crash about 5 years ago Steyrs were sub £150 and rose at least £500 overnight. Paid £1490 for my Anchutz 9003 in Sept 2005 from a UK shop no discount, although now discontinued at least two years last seen these RRP £2450.
British producers jumped on bandwagon and upped prices considerably to a level they would still fly out of the shop. Even second hand rifles bought pre crash
ie S400 at £280 any where now sell from £350 to £400 used and abused decades old.

May well have a presentable rifle for round £600 right now, to get better performance is much like F1 where talking £thousands to improve upon with little gain.
Theres FT kit out there right now exceeding the £9k barrier pictured on here some where, I was the first to exceed £6k back in February 2011, first in 2014 with cheaper scope to exceed £7k but couldn't quite attain the £8k by 2015.
Could have a March scope around £3100 plus mounts £150, wheel, marker etc £3350. Unmodded Anchutz One and Precise rrp £3200 theres £6.5k straight away. Black and blue rifle only £3800 bought at special cheap price plus Gemini £370, rowan £290 and scope.

[hddriver1]

3500 usd............. not for real shooters!!!

For that air rifle there? I bet you need to add about $1,000.00 for that one. $3500.00 gets you the basic bench rest model with no frills.
Pat

[AdminMASTER]

3500 usd............. not for real shooters!!!

For that air rifle there? I bet you need to add about $1,000.00 for that one. $3500.00 gets you the basic bench rest model with no frills.
Pat

I think you are being generous...add about $2K to $3K for a March scope ...and that's only the scope...by time you add various bits and pieces...well...count about $7K-9K all in ???