rifles in the biathalon

A

alan

New member
I noticed, re the shooting portion of this event, the use of straight pull rifles, with turned down bolt handles.

Browning made a 22 caliber straight pull rifle, they weren't "target rifles" though and they had straight handles. Anyone know who produced the rifles used in the Olympics? Just curious.
 
You are correct on the Anschutz. I have considered buying one several times but never followed through. Hit there website for details.
 
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Biathlon shooters are divided into three groups, based on price range: Entry, Amateur, and Olympic.

The common Entry market rifle is a Marlin 2000, modified for biathlon.
There is a kit available, which adds a backpack, sling, and magazine carrier.

The most common Amateur rifle, seen lately, is the Baikal 7 - made by Ishmash in Russia.
(This rifle has been selling in the US for about $1000)
The Ishmash has a quick / level bolt for fast reloading - compared to the Olympic rifles, it's a great value.
Anshutz sells the Model 1451 biathlon rifle in this price range as well.

The king of Olympic rifles is the Anshutz Fortner biathlon rifle - used, by far, by the majority of the world-class bi-athletes.
Some Olympic bi-athletes use the Fortner barrel with another action, like the Baikal.
This setup will cost about $4000, with the basic accessories.

A few bi-athletes on the German National team have been seen using lever-action rifles from Krico or Suhl, as well.
(The lever action rotates the grip to reload.)


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The Izhmash 7-3A and 7-4A come with an Anschutz barrel already installed.

Fortner refers to the type of action that Anschutz uses, not the type of barrel.

Accuracy wise at that level of competition the rifle isn't the deciding factor, as biathlon targets are 4.5 inches at 50 meters (over 9 MOA) for standing and are scored "hit/miss" and the prone targets are 4.5 centimeters (over 3 MOA).

It is really hard to hold 9 minutes standing when you have been sprinting on skies, or 3 minutes prone with your breath raging, lungs on fire, and heart hammering like an anvil.

Jimro
 
The limit isn't the gun, no, but keep in mind higher accuracy means the bullet goes where you aim it, not 1-2 inches to either side which can turn a marginal hit into a miss. Now, that saying, you could buy an Izhmash rifle off the shelf and it'll do what you need it to do, and it'll cost under $1000.
 
The limit isn't the gun, no, but keep in mind higher accuracy means the bullet goes where you aim it, not 1-2 inches to either side which can turn a marginal hit into a miss. Now, that saying, you could buy an Izhmash rifle off the shelf and it'll do what you need it to do, and it'll cost under $1000.
Click to expand...

Pretty much any bolt action 22lr with a 5 round box magazine can be used for the biathlon if it can group within 2 MOA at 50 meters. The best athletes are using Anschutz fortner actions because they are faster to manipulate (the rules require a manually operated action) and the biathlon is a race, so faster is better.

The Izhmash Biathlong Basic is the only model I know of that was under 1000, and it didn't come with competition irons needed to actually compete, so it makes more sense to spend the money on a 7-4A or 7-3A from the get go. The Biathlon Basic isn't a bad rifle, it is quite a bit like a Browning T-Bolt Target in price and performance.

Jimro
 
Tracy and Lanny Barnes were interviewed recently, on one of the popular podcasts, about their biathlon successes and training.
They said the most important part of the shooting was getting into position for the first shot and finishing all five the fastest.
The gun itself was far less important.
But the huge penalty for a miss was insurmountable for a high score.
So, they trained a lot for that first heart pounding shot, and quite often could finish the shooting before some of the competitors were even in position.
Even when arriving at the targets at the same time.
 
I've noticed that the US biathletes take more time on their shooting I. Recent years. Their results have improved markedly as well.

Savage 94b is a turn bolt biathlon rifle in the entry class. It's pretty accurate, but I haven't put 5k rounds through it. When my skiing speeds start to exceed "dirt slow" i'll start considering an...who am I kidding? i'll be with this from here on out.
 
I expected the .17 M2 to take over .22LR in the Bi Athlon shooting. I figured the modern designed round would be easier to make shoot right but there must be other reasons it's not used...

Tony
 
Geezerbiker,

ISSF and Olympic committee rules. AFIK 22lr is the only round still used in Olympic shooting competitions after they pulled 22 short from the Men's Rapid Fire Pistol event.

Jimro
 
me26254,

The old military cartridge competitions brought a pretty intense rivalry between countries. 300 Meter Free Rifle, Winter Biathlon, became "proxy" political wars between nations. The US Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) was created because the Soviets cleaned our clocks at the 1954 Olympics.

By going to a standardized rimfire platform for competition, the competition is more about competition instead of a proxy argument that "The 308 is better than 7.62x54r!" or other such arguments. I think that the Olympic Committee wanted to focus on international sportsmanship instead of being a venue for international political rivalries.

Jimro
 
I've always wanted to shoot one of those high end Anschutz biathlon rifles, just to see how accurate and smooth operating they are.
I love watching the biathlon on TV but there is not much coverage. Is the a channel/website that might have more comprehensive coverage? I quickly scanned around my cable TV channels and have looked around a bit online but no dice.
 
bbqbob51:

I might be suspicious, bitter of something of the sort but you might consider yourself lucky that there is any TV coverage of shooting at all. After all, didn't you know that "guns are baaaad"!!!!
 
Jimro:

Politics aside, I thought, and it seems I was correct, that the Biathlon used to be fired with SERVICE RIFLE CALIBER ARMS, which made sense, as this skiing-rifle shooting business was derived from actual activities that took place in Northern nations, where hunting and skiing were often encountered sporting activities. Have the participants become delicate, recoil sensitive souls or has politics, and the practitioners thereof screwed up something else.
 
Alan,

You are correct, the Biathlon was shot with service caliber rifles. The IOC and ISSF rules have changed since then.

One of the very good reasons for this is that range fans can be much smaller and standardized. When a full power rifle cartridge is used, the maximum range of the farthest bullet sets the range fan. So now a course can be set up, and it doesn't have to be re-verified every competition based on what the competitors bring.

Jimro
 
geezerbiker:
I expected the .17 M2 to take over .22LR in the Bi Athlon shooting.
Click to expand...
Probably not going to happen. The UBI 22lr specs call for normal velocity 22lr and non copper-topped. I think that the fear is too much power, backstop damage, ricochets, strays hitting Swiss cows, teotwawki,etc.

I have had the opportunity to shoot an anschutz and an izmash. The izmash cheekpiece was not set for me, so it was a bit uncomfortable and I couldn't line up my eye very easily. The anschutz was very nice with a very light trigger.
 
Jimro:

What you say is undoubtedly true. Still strikes me as a little sad to see things "reduced to the lowest common denominator". Oh by the way, I probably am the proverbial "stick in the mud".
 
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