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Biathlon

benstt

Professional
Founding Member
I reached out to the coach at a facility in Minnesota that trains biathletes. It'll be totally new to me and I just got back onto skis again last year after a long time away. I'm certainly not going to go buy some $4500 Anschutz rifle; I'll probably end up trying it with a Ruger American if I can. Any of you ever tried one of those events before?
 
Here in jersey if you were skiing and shooting you’d be met with 100 swat officers, a few armored personnel carriers, a couple of “hotheads” wanting to shoot something and definitely an armada of helicopters. It would make for an interesting sunday though.
In all seriousness, the biathletes are amazing. How they can control their breathing while shooting just after x-country skiing is impressive. I can barely control it from a bench, at an indoor range, while seated.
 
I reached out to the coach at a facility in Minnesota that trains biathletes. It'll be totally new to me and I just got back onto skis again last year after a long time away. I'm certainly not going to go buy some $4500 Anschutz rifle; I'll probably end up trying it with a Ruger American if I can. Any of you ever tried one of those events before?
I have a Magnum Research MLR22. It is very light making it a reasonable choice for biathlon (i guess). It also is my most accurate .22 and that is with it just being topped with a cheap Simmons 22 mag scope.
Have fun.
 
Here in jersey if you were skiing and shooting you’d be met with 100 swat officers, a few armored personnel carriers, a couple of “hotheads” wanting to shoot something and definitely an armada of helicopters. It would make for an interesting sunday though.
In all seriousness, the biathletes are amazing. How they can control their breathing while shooting just after x-country skiing is impressive. I can barely control it from a bench, at an indoor range, while seated.
Thankfully in Minnesota we enjoy a wide variety of sports :) Seeing if I can still shoot with my heartrate in the 180s is a big reason why I want to try it. It should be a real challenge!
 
Thankfully in Minnesota we enjoy a wide variety of sports :) Seeing if I can still shoot with my heartrate in the 180s is a big reason why I want to try it. It should be a real challenge!
Sounds like fun. Enjoy brother.

There are other ways which you could ( and should) employ to insure that you can still shoot with an elevated heart rate. It's a great deal of my training regimen.
 
I used to have cross country skis here in southern Indiana but I was only able to use them every few years :)

Never tried a biathlon. Good luck to you!

Eley makes a special 22 LR load for cold temps with a little more velocity ~100fps

  • Reduced cartridge diameter for ease of chambering
  • Specially formulated lubrication for sub-zero conditions
  • Increased knock down force
ELEY-biathlon-club-22lr-ammunition.jpg
 
Several years ago I participated in a running version. 1 mile run....5 prone targets......1 mile run....5 standing targets......1 mile run to the finish. Short penalty loop for each missed shot. Seeings this was a public event, the rifles were provided and we did not carry them while running. Shooting with a maxed heartbeat is definitely a challenge.
 
Several years ago I participated in a running version. 1 mile run....5 prone targets......1 mile run....5 standing targets......1 mile run to the finish. Short penalty loop for each missed shot. Seeings this was a public event, the rifles were provided and we did not carry them while running. Shooting with a maxed heartbeat is definitely a challenge.
That sounds great! Did you enjoy it?
 
Nice, but about $2k more than I want to spend before I even try it. Ruger American it is, as long as they let me.
Total cost for the whole rifle (CZ457 & conversion) is $2K.

I don't know of any biathlon rifles out there for free, unless you find someone to give one up.
 
Total cost for the whole rifle (CZ457 & conversion) is $2K.

I don't know of any biathlon rifles out there for free, unless you find someone to give one up.
Oh, I'm not acquiring anything at first. Like I said, I'll try to do it with my American Rimfire the first time, to see if it's fun. If I love it I'd look at a biathlon rifle.
 
In Summer Biathlon, the standard US Biathlon Association race distance is 5 kilometers (3.1 miles). The rifles are . 22 caliber and the standard shooting distance is 50 meters (54.6 yds). Summer Biathlon races use the same format as the Winter Olympic sport, except that running is substituted for cross-country skiing.




 
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In Summer Biathlon, the standard US Biathlon Association race distance is 5 kilometers (3.1 miles). The rifles are . 22 caliber and the standard shooting distance is 50 meters (54.6 yds). Summer Biathlon races use the same format as the Winter Olympic sport, except that running is substituted for cross-country skiing.




Yep. There are biathlons that use .308, as well, and go out as far as 600m.
 
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