Nine naive questions about biathlon. History of the domestic biathlon rifle What caliber is the biathlon rifle

On the eve of the start of the 2010 Games in Vancouver, Sportbox.ru found answers to nine naive questions about one of the most popular winter sports - biathlon.

1) What are the targets made of, what diameter are they and how many meters are they from the shooting area?

In modern biathlon, two types of targets are used - metal (during competitions) and paper (for zeroing weapons before the start). It is curious that initially the targets were exclusively paper. And at the first official competitions, a silhouette was generally used, in the center of which a circle with a diameter of 250 mm (when shooting prone) or 350 mm (when shooting standing) was drawn. If an athlete missed the circle, he received a minute as a penalty, and for missing the silhouette, he received two. Keeping count at that time was very difficult, and often the final shooting results were determined only after the finish.

It is clear that the system was imperfect and regularly led to conflicts of interest. Therefore, the idea with the silhouette did not take root; the organizers of the competition began to experiment. At first they suggested shooting at rubber tubes stretched behind a metal shield. Soviet science went further: there was an attempt to make glass targets. So, in 1974, the Saratov glass factory launched the production of special glasses. Their peculiarity was that when hit by a bullet they did not crumble into fragments, but flowed down as if they had been melted. However, this idea was also doomed to failure - the glass often broke during transportation.

Currently, the target size is 45 mm for prone shooting and 115 mm for standing shooting. Shooting is carried out from a distance of 50 m.

2) How is time determined at control marks?

Before the start, special electronic sensors are attached to each biathlete’s legs. You cannot refuse this procedure. It is thanks to these sensors that you can always track in real time the speed at which each athlete moves along the track. Sensors react every time a biathlete passes one of the control lines.

3) How much does the rifle weigh and what bullets do athletes use?

In modern biathlon, weapons and ammunition are not considered separately, but as a whole. The shooting result depends not only on the accuracy of the athlete and the rifle manufacturer, but also on the quality of the cartridges. Thus, in biathlon, 5.6 mm rimfire cartridges are used. They were invented in 1888 and were called the “22 Long Rifle,” which means “22-caliber long rifle,” although these cartridges later began to be used in pistol shooting. International athletes usually spend a lot of time pre-shooting various brands of ammunition. Today, the best are considered to be English Tenex, P-50 for Anschutz rifles, which are produced by the German company Dynamite-Nobel, and Russian-made Olympus cartridges. On average, a professional biathlete fires up to 1,200 rounds of ammunition per month.

The rifle used by biathletes is small-caliber, designed specifically for this sport. It weighs no more than 3.5 kg. The clip is designed for five rounds. And the speed of a bullet fired from such a weapon reaches 380 meters per second.

4) What punishment does an athlete face if he shoots at the wrong target or confuses “prone” with “stand”?

All biathlon fans know the story of the Belarusian athlete Daria Domracheva, who was embarrassed in Oberhof, Germany, for the second year in a row. In the 2009/2010 season, in the mass start, the hope of all Belarus fired three shots at someone else’s target, depriving itself of a chance to win. And a year ago, in the prone position, Domracheva suddenly began shooting at targets while standing.

However, such situations are not uncommon in biathlon. At one time, Russian biathletes Anfisa Reztsova and Natalya Guseva also shot at other people's targets. The second, matching Domracheva, was embarrassed in this way twice. There is an opinion that such mistakes come from an overflowing desire to win. After all, Domracheva, Reztsova, and Guseva made mistakes when they arrived at the shooting range first.

According to the rules of the International Biathlon Union, as a punishment for shooting at someone else's target, a miss is recorded as if he shot correctly and simply missed. So, Domracheva in Oberhof 2010 came to her senses and after three shots at someone else’s target, she hit two of her own. But the punishment for shooting from the wrong position (“standing” instead of “prone” or vice versa) is much harsher - disqualification.

5) What happens if an athlete starts shooting from a location other than his own?

The official rules state that it is forbidden not only to shoot from someone else’s mat, but also to stumble and step off your own if the rifle is not slung over your shoulders. Surprisingly, compliance with this rule is monitored quite strictly, and the organizers sometimes mercilessly punish even famous athletes. Thus, the Norwegian Halvard Hanevold once accidentally dropped a cartridge and, trying to pick it up, stepped off the mat, for which he was immediately disqualified.

A much more curious incident occurred with American Jay Hakkinen. In one race, he made five misses and was so upset that when he got up from the mat, he forgot his poles. Returning to get his equipment, Häkkinen dropped his gloves. I had to go back for them too. The judge was about to disqualify the absent-minded athlete, but Häkkinen lifted the heavy burden from the referee’s soul by throwing off his skis in a fit of rage and finishing the race.

6) What should you do if your rifle breaks during a race?

This happened to the Russian team at the 2008 World Championships in Östersund, when Albina Akhatova, who was running the second leg of the relay, had her rifle jammed on the first prone stage. While they were changing weapons, the Russian team lost a lot of time and, as a result, fell short of the podium. However, such cases are classified as force majeure, because before the start, the rifle is checked not only by the athlete himself, but also by a special team. Particular attention is paid to the trigger pull force, which should not exceed 500 grams.

According to the regulations, in addition to the main one, each athlete has two spare rifles. If a weapon breaks down at a distance, it can only be changed at the shooting range, and only one of the representatives of his team can hand it over to the athlete. Those who violate this rule will be disqualified.

Interestingly, if a biathlete loses his clip or scope during a race, it is not fatal. The main thing is to get the barrel and trigger to the finish line, otherwise the result will be canceled. So, Belarusian Ekaterina Ivanova’s rifle once simply fell apart, and she had to grab the parts and drag them to the finish line.

7) What punishment does an athlete face if he forgot or did not want to take the penalty loop?

Such a curiosity happened to Russian biathlete Nikolai Kruglov. While shooting from a standing position, he made two mistakes, but was so carried away by the pursuit of the Frenchman Vincent Defran that he forgot to take the second penalty loop and thanks to this he was ahead of the Frenchman at the finish line, becoming third in the pursuit race. For this, two penalty minutes were added to Kruglov’s time, which is why he lost his place on the podium.

8) What punishment does an athlete face if he “cuts” the distance?

The unpleasant story at the 2009 World Championships still does not allow Russian biathlon fans to sleep peacefully. Norwegian Ole Einar Bjoerndalen cut the distance by ten meters in the pursuit race, for which a special commission deprived him of gold and awarded the victory to Maxim Chudov. However, the Norwegian team appealed, and, to the surprise of many, Bjoerndalen's already long list of awards was added to another gold medal. The decision really turned out to be blatantly unfair - according to the regulations, any violation while passing the track, which allows you to gain time, should be disqualified. At the same time, for many Russian fans, it was not the commission members who became persona non grata, but Bjoerndalen, who did not share the award with Chudov, contrary to the fair play principle.

9) What punishment faces a slow-moving biathlete who refuses to allow a faster-footed athlete who is not his direct competitor to pass?

In motorsport this is called overtaking laps, but in biathlon such situations often arise in time trial races. According to the new traffic rules, the driver must give way to a pedestrian, but in practice this does not always happen. In such cases, negligent motorists should be fined. The same thing happens in biathlon. Refusal to let a faster colleague pass is punishable by a penalty minute. So it is difficult to understand whether most biathletes are really so well-mannered that they always give way, or whether they are simply afraid of severe punishment.

Tatyana Pomelnikova, Sportbox.ru

60s

Biathlon cannot be considered one of the old-timers of the Winter Olympic Games. It was first introduced at the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley, and the debut world championship was held two years earlier. Initially, weapons were not strictly regulated: the rules allowed the use of repeating rifles of 5.6, 6.5 and 7.62 mm caliber. As you can see, the cartridges are quite powerful, but the fact is that the shooting was carried out from a much longer distance: 150-200 meters instead of the current 50.

One of the first questions that biathletes had to answer was the choice of caliber. As a result, two options were presented to the court. First: rifles of 6.5 and 7.62 mm caliber, which had greater accuracy, accuracy and less dependence on weather conditions, which at that time was especially important given the high cost of a miss. Second: their small-caliber brethren 5.6 mm, lighter, not so much interfering with the athlete’s movement along the track. In the USSR, the choice was made in favor of the accuracy and caliber of 7.62 mm. And a year after the 1960 Olympics, production of domestic specialized biathlon rifles “Biathlon-59” began, which were created on the basis of the Mosin rifle. The designer was A.S. Shestryakov. The weight of such a rifle was about 4 kg, length - 1.23 m, bullet range - 3 km, magazine capacity - 5 rounds.

70s

Almost until the end of the 70s, athletes from most countries relied on various modifications of the Bi-59. But as the years passed, new experiments were carried out. It is clear that everyone wanted to eat the fish and not choke on the bone. The point is that the designers tried to create a lighter weapon, which at the same time would allow accurate shooting. The initiative in this matter came from the German company Anschütz, the main competitor of Izhmash, which proposed to finally switch to a small caliber. This was supposed to make biathlon more spectacular and economical by reducing the size of the shooting range, and also allow children and women to be involved in this sport. The arguments turned out to be convincing, and in 1977, the congress of the International Pentathlon and Biathlon Federation (then these two sports were united) adopted new rules, according to which a small-caliber rifle chambered for 5.6mm became the standard weapon, and its standard was the Anschutz-54.

80s

Izhevsk designers responded quite quickly to their competitor’s new product and a year later introduced the BI-6 rifle chambered for a rimfire cartridge. For a long time, biathlon rules allowed the use of weapons only with a bolt action, but due to the arms race, the ban on rifles with rapid reloading was eventually lifted, which, as you understand, significantly increased the rate of fire.

Immediately after the lifting of restrictions on rapid reloading, Izhevsk presented its new model BI-7, which instantly became the most popular. Not only domestic, but also many foreign athletes, including representatives of the German national team, sought to get this rifle, especially since Anschutz modernized the reloading mechanism on its models only in the second half of the 80s. Subsequently, the stars of the German national team performed with the Russian “BI-7” at the largest competitions: Frank Luke, Alexander Wolf and Kati Wilhelm.

Technical characteristics of BI-7-2: caliber - 5.6 mm, weight - 4.5 kg, total length without hook - 1050 mm, barrel length 500 mm, magazine capacity - 5 rounds.

90s - 2000s

Based on the “BI-7-2”, which became an absolute hit in the 80s, the following models were created - “BI-7-3” and “BI-7-4”, which were used by athletes in the 90s. And after a little modernization, these rifles survived until the Olympic Games in Vancouver. However, in the 90s, Russian rifles faded into the background. Anschutz turned out to be an almost complete monopolist in terms of biathlon weapons. The main reason is that perestroika and post-perestroika collisions did not bypass the Izhevsk plant. Much was lost at that time, including the quality of domestic barrels. Because of this, as well as constantly arising problems with service, almost everyone, including Russian biathletes, switched to Anschutz rifles.

The main feature of the Anschutz was fast reloading. Cocking was carried out with the index finger on a special handle, and the bolt was returned back by pressing with the thumb

to its back. Anschutz rifles have a rather interesting procedure for assembling the rifle: barrels, receivers and triggers are sent to the city of Rohrdorf, where the company is located Peter Fortner, a gunsmith who patented a rifle he invented in 1984. In Rohrdorf, the parts are carefully fitted to the valves, and then, assembled, they are returned back to Ulm on the Anschutz. Next, the barrel, receiver with bolt and trigger mechanism are mounted in the stock, and a diopter sight and ring front sight are installed.

The barrels are produced by the Anschutz company itself. When using them, high-quality steel is taken, and various tests are carried out for frost resistance and corrosion resistance. Now even Russian rifles use barrels from a German manufacturer.

Technical characteristics of BI-7-4: caliber - .22 Long Rifle (5.6×15 mm R - small-caliber unitary rimfire cartridge of 22 caliber (5.6 mm), weight - 4.5 kg, Dimensions: 1050x90x290 mm , barrel length: 500mm, rifle price - 80-120 thousand rubles (elite version).

Technical characteristics of the Anschutz 1827F: caliber - .22lr, weight - 3.7 kg, weapon length: 1040 m, barrel length: 550 mm, number of rifling: 8, rifling pitch: 355 mm, rifle price - 250-310 thousand. rub.

If you take a look at the Russian team, they use domestic rifles (Izhmash Bi-7-4): Olga Vilukhina, Evgeniy Garanichev, Ekaterina Glazyrina, Yana Romanova.

And with Anschutz 1827F rifles: Evgeny Ustyugov, Ivan Tcherezov, Alexey Volkov, Alexander Loginov, Anton Shipulin, Olga Zaitseva, Ekaterina Yurlova, Svetlana Sleptsova.

The Biathlon-7-5 sports pneumatic rifle of 4.5 mm caliber (.177) is intended for shooting in competitions and training at a distance of 10 m.

The Biathlon-7-5 rifle is a 4.5 mm pneumatic weapon with a muzzle energy of no more than 7.5 J.

Bullets for a rifle must be selected in such a way that they are securely held in the feeder sockets and provide acceptable loading force and dispersion parameters. When choosing a bullet, special attention must be paid to the internal shaping surface; it should have the shape of a cone.

The use of a bullet with an internal shaping surface in the form of a truncated cone, for example, as on Gamo bullets, leads to its inversion when chambered in the breech of the barrel, and as a result, the weapon is delayed.

The air sports rifle "Biathlon-7-5" consists of a barrel with a box; locking mechanism; trigger mechanism; stock assemblies; shops; sight; balloon.

On top of the box there is a base for installing and attaching the sight. At the base of the front sight, ring front sights of various sizes are installed. The locking mechanism is of the crank type with vertical axes of rotation. The trigger mechanism, using adjusting screws, allows you to adjust the trigger force, the nature of the descent and the travel of the trigger when the stock is separated from the rifle.

Rifle magazines for 5 and 1 bullets, interchangeable, are mounted in a clip. The sight is diopter, quick-detachable. The rifle is equipped with interchangeable diopters, front sights and a sight hood. The barrel and box are placed in the stock using special plastic. The design of the stock allows you to adjust the length of the butt and the cheek of the butt - in the vertical and horizontal directions.

The butt of the stock has a butt cap with height-adjustable hooks. On the fore-end of the stock there is a swivel base for securing the shoulder strap pad and a swivel bar on which the shooting sling swivel with a rotating ring is attached, thanks to which the shooting sling self-aligns in any position of the shooter’s hand. A cassette for attaching magazines is installed in the butt of the rifle.

Currently, the production center of Kalashnikov Concern OJSC produces the following versions of the sports pneumatic gas rifle: BI-7-5.Sb0-03 and BI-7-5.Sb0-04. By special order BI-7-5.Sb0-06 and BI-7-5.Sb0-07.

In accordance with Article 13 of the Federal Law of the Russian Federation “On Weapons”, a rifle can be acquired by citizens of the Russian Federation without a license and is not subject to registration with the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Olympic athletes have been involved in biathlon since 1960. The air rifles they used were military-style, and were either 7.62, 6.5, or 5.6 calibers. Shooting distances in those days were very respectable: 150-200 meters. Since 1977, they have become significantly shorter (50 meters), so sporting weapons have also undergone changes.

Today, according to the rules, biathletes must use only small-caliber weapons that fire rimfire cartridges with a caliber of 5.6 mm and weighing from 2.58 to 2.61 g. This caliber is called “.22 Long Rifle”. This phrase translates as “long rifle.” The magazine with the clip is placed on the butt or in the front of the stock. One clip contains up to 5 charges.

The average number of rounds fired by a biathlete per month is 1,200.

Spring-piston and gas-cylinder rifles can be used. Most athletes prefer the latter. Each rifle has a wooden stock, which is usually made individually, based on the anatomical characteristics of the athlete. There is also a bolt device, a barrel, a magazine, a muzzle and a diopter sight. A shoulder strap is included. The optical sight should not magnify. The weight of the product is on average 3.5 kg.

Professional athletes prefer to use rifles from two manufacturers for competitions: the German company Anschutz and a domestic manufacturer. Note that they are fierce competitors - the rivalry between them began at the end of the last century. Each manufactured sample undergoes a thorough check, and the target, shot at the factory shooting range, is certainly pasted into the rifle’s passport. Next, let’s compare the two most popular models: Russian and German. Both of them work according to the PCP scheme.

Domestic rifle BI 7-4

These weapons began to be manufactured in 1991 at the famous Izhevsk plant. Over the past years, it has been repeatedly modernized and improved. The stock, shoulder strap, barrel, sight and other parts were changed. Thus, version 4A has an Anschutz barrel, and version 9 has a stock that can be customized for a specific shooter and an Anschutz sight. It should be noted that for athletes, assembled rifles are made to special order.

The caliber of the rifle is 5.6 mm, it weighs 4.5 kg and is 1.05 m long. Of this, 0.5 m is on the barrel. The back of the butt can be adjusted in length by 2 cm. The cheek of the butt can be adjusted by 0.75 cm vertically and 0.6 cm horizontally. The travel of the trigger is also adjustable to 0.2-0.4 cm. All this makes it possible to aim as accurately as possible. To protect the front sight, sight and barrel from snow, dust and dirt, hinged covers are provided. The trigger has a trigger type.

Removable magazines are designed for five charges. They are installed on the butt - for this purpose there is a cassette for four magazines. In addition, the kit includes additional magazines with a cover, designed for three charges. For balancing, special weights are used that can be easily removed. The original shoulder strap has comfortable spring elements.

You can buy a rifle from 80 to 120 thousand rubles (depending on the version).

Shutter operation diagram

When reloading, the shooter moves the handle, causing the bolt to move in an arc. To lock the barrel channel, a crank-type hinge-lever scheme is used. These are two elements, the connection between which is carried out using a hinge. The front part of the first part is on the same axis with the bolt, and the rear part of the second part is on the same axis with the receiver.

When the bolt reaches the forward position, the hinge reaches the “dead point”, going beyond it. It rests against the barrel box, and the bolt cannot be opened so easily. To open it, the shooter pulls the handle back, as a result of which the hinge comes out of the “dead zone”, and the parts of the locking unit fold, moving the bolt back.

Air rifles presented by the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant are distinguished by extreme reliability and the longest possible service life. indicated in this article, as well as other features of this rifle.

How much you can buy a Moran air rifle can be found at. Technical characteristics of this rifle and its features.

Advantages and disadvantages

1. Reasonable price coupled with excellent quality and reliability.
2. Compared to Anschutz BI 7 locks better.

Not very good:

1. The rifle's accuracy is lower than that of the Anschutz.
2. In cold weather, malfunctions occur when using Lapua cartridges.
3. Not the best customer service. Repairs require a lot of paperwork and taking the rifle to the factory. And at competitions abroad, no one will help at all.

Anschutz 1827 Fortner

This popular rifle with a unique bolt design has been produced by the German concern Anschutz since the late eighties of the last century. Now two versions are produced: regular and sprint (which allows you to install a heavy barrel). The first type carries 4 kg, the sprint model – 3.7 kg. When installing a heavy barrel, the weight of the latter reaches 3.85 kg. There is a diopter sight and a ring front sight. The barrel and sight are protected by rubber plugs. The 5.6 mm cartridge flies out at a speed of 340 meters per second.

The length of the rifle is almost no different from the BI 7 - this parameter is 1.04 m. The barrel with eight rifling with a pitch of 335 mm has a length of 0.55 m. The stock is made of walnut. The butt has a cheek, the position of which can be adjusted in terms of inclination and height. The aluminum buttplate can be adjusted in length.

The video shows a comparison of biathlon rifles, competitors Bi 7 and Anschultz:

The magazine cassette is located on the forend, and next to it there is a compartment for six additional charges. The 5-round magazine can be standard or extended (with a holder for three additional cartridges). The bottom of the magazine is bright red - this is convenient, as it prevents the sides from being mixed up when attaching it. Taking it out is also easy - for this there is a large lever located in front of the trigger guard. The trigger itself has a stepless adjustment mechanism.

The price of the product ranges from 250 to 310 thousand rubles. This is a lot, but professionals prefer these rifles.

Shutter operation diagram

This scheme was invented by Peter Fortner, who patented his invention in 1984. Its “trick” is its lightning-fast reload. To lock the bolt, six balls are used, which are lugs. The mechanism is entered by pressing the index finger on a special handle. In this case, the balls come out of the bolt grooves and roll into grooves made in the receiver.

To return the bolt, simply press on the back side with your thumb.

In this case, the balls again take their original position.

Advantages and disadvantages

1. Excellent mobile service base - the company has created a special service team accompanying biathletes.
2. Very fast and convenient shutter operation, high accuracy.
3. The external design looks very advantageous.
4. Excellent quality of the barrel, made of special nitrided steel (it’s not for nothing that some Izhevsk models are equipped with a barrel from Anschutz).
5. A large number of accessories (belts, devices for lubrication and cleaning, covers), as well as parts (barrels, receivers, stocks).
6. The extractor and ejector have a special design that works reliably even in the cold.

Not very good:

1. The firing pin of these rifles sometimes fails at the most inopportune moment (in 4 years it failed Russian athletes 2 times);
2. The price is more than twice as high as that of Izhevsk models.
3. The locking moment cannot always be clearly seen; sometimes some pressure is required.

Biathlon is one of the most popular winter sports. It is open not only to those who intend to devote their lives to it, but also to amateurs who just want to ski and shoot at targets.

Let's figure out how professional shooting arsenals differ from amateur ones and how accessible they are.

Which rifle should an amateur biathlete choose?

There is one unpleasant feature associated with biathlon equipment: it is quite difficult for an amateur to become the owner of a real sports weapon. The main obstacle to this is not so much the price (although this is very important), but the legislation of our country. According to him, a biathlon rifle is, albeit a small-caliber, rifled weapon.

The storage and use of sports weapons outside sports facilities is not allowed, so in fact, biathlon can only be practiced in various sections, clubs and schools of the Olympic reserve. Here, most often they use either junior BI-7-3A or new BI-7-5.

BI-7-5 is a Russian model of air rifles for biathlon. It is intended for beginner biathletes and does its job quite well. Due to the availability of ammunition, more training can be carried out; the weapon itself does not require special storage and transportation conditions. It is assembled at the same Izhmash, which in itself indicates the high quality and reliability of the design. Many biathlon sections are equipped with just such samples, and their use is permitted at major competitions.

Perhaps the main obstacle to purchasing a BI-7-5 is its high price, reaching one hundred thousand rubles if you also buy all the necessary accessories, for example, a gas station.

Cheaper weapons for beginner biathletes who want to learn how to shoot are the MP-512 and MP-61 - spring-piston type pneumatics (PPP). You can buy them for around 4,000 rubles. At the same time, experts note that using such a rifle “out of the box” as a biathlon rifle is quite problematic.

Here's what you need to do to turn MP series samples into biathlon ones:

• carry out re-preservation;
• replace the lubricant;
• convert the stock into a special biathlon one;
• modify the trigger mechanism (especially important for the multi-charge MP-61).

It is important to understand that such rifles are not intended for biathlon; even with modifications, they are significantly inferior in rate of fire to specialized models.

Biathlon rifles for professional biathletes

Nowadays, in professional biathlon circles, rifles produced by Izhmash “Biathlon” and foreign “Anschutz” are in greatest demand. The German company is the clear favorite in this dispute: according to the company, more than 90% of athletes at international competitions shoot from Anschutz.

“Anschutz-Fortner 1827” is rightfully considered an example of biathlon weapons. Thanks to the Fortner bolt, reloading is an order of magnitude faster than that of competitors, including Russian ones. Bolts of this type have existed since the beginning of the 20th century, but were difficult to manufacture (and therefore expensive) and difficult to reload. Fortner got rid of this disadvantage, and high cost, as a rule, does not play a significant role when it comes to high results.

Sportsmen value Anschutz rifles for their reliability and quality. This is not surprising, because the assembly is controlled at all stages, and the shutter is installed in a plant created by Fortner himself. Their barrels are now even used for installation on domestic “BI-7”. The fact is that for their production special high-quality steel saturated with nitrogen is used, which makes the weapon more resistant to corrosion and durable.

The butt cheek can be adjusted in angle and height, and the butt itself can be adjusted in length. The rifle also adjusts the trigger pull and trigger pull. For high-level athletes, weapons are made taking into account the individual characteristics of biathletes. The Anschutz company works closely both directly with athletes and with their coaches in order to improve its product; at major competitions there is always a service team under the leadership of the head of the company.

The price for the Anschutz 1827 starts at around $3,500, but athletes are willing to pay that considerable price for accuracy, quality, reliability and fast reloading.

Another notable example of biathlon weapons - the domestic BI-7 - began to be produced in 1991 at Izhmash. First of all, the abundance of options in which this rifle is offered is striking:

• BI-7-3 and BI-7-3A are recommended for women and juniors (light version);
• BI-7-4 and BI-7-4A - for men.

The rifle also has great possibilities for adjustment and tuning without the involvement of specialists (cheek angle and height, butt length, trigger pull, etc.).

BI-7 was changed and modernized many times, and almost all parts changed. Thus, the BI-7-4A is produced with a barrel from Anschutz, and in “version 9” (by special order of the Biathlon Union) there is not only a new stock, but also a diopter from Anschutz and an adjustable ring front sight. For national team athletes, weapons are made to order.

Recently, Anschutz has almost completely ousted the domestic manufacturer from the international market, despite the fact that technically BI is considered almost the best in the world. As experts say, the whole point lies in the ability of the German company to send its service teams to competitions, which our manufacturer cannot afford. The Russian Biathlon Union provides Izhmash with all possible support, ordering batches of rifles for sections and schools of the Olympic reserve. Here, a special emphasis is placed on the BI-7-5 rifle, intended specifically for novice athletes, which will be discussed below.

The price of domestic rifles of the BI-7-4 series is several times lower than foreign ones (about $1,500 excluding additional costs), which makes them popular among semi-professionals and novice biathletes.

How dangerous are biathlon rifles?

When handling biathlon weapons correctly, dangerous situations rarely arise. Basic safety rules, which any shooting specialist will familiarize you with, practically minimize the possibility of an accident. We must remember that any weapon (even pneumatics) must be transported in an unloaded state, and in principle it should not be pointed at people.

Biathlon shotguns are designed in such a way that even if the athlete falls and breaks, he will not suffer serious injuries. Almost all models today are equipped with a safety lock and special linings on the barrel, sight and other parts to protect them from snow and dirt.

Biathlon rifles are quite diverse both in price and in characteristics. If the desire to engage in this sport is strong enough, it will not be difficult to choose an option according to your financial capabilities. In addition, you can sign up for a section or club for lovers of any age.

2015-07-09