Hi!
I always enjoy reading here in the CGN rimfire section the various ways that people use their rimfire guns; it seems like the type of rimfire shooting that gets talked about the most is folks searching for that just-right ammo, and tackling challenges that involve a shooter+rifle combination's sustained/continuous ability to hold the tightest level of accuracy with a super-supported shooting position. There's also lots to read on rimfire PRS analogues. While it's all interesting to me, this summer went down a very different path....so I thought I'd share a bit about my 2021 sanity-saving-project throughout all this covid-crazy.
Trapped at home during early spring on a couple of covid isolation stints, I somehow found myself watching a lot of IBU World Cup Biathlon, both the men and the women. Turns out I could not get enough! In the women department, think about the yoga pant thread merged with the girls-with-guns thread except 1000x better, and wow can these women actually shoot! Mens' biathlon - good god those guys are fit. And holy shmoly, do they ever calm themselves down fast to hold unbelievably still when they have to!
I am short, fat and out-of-shape. A guy who's memories of being fit fade (or perhaps the opposite - they get exaggerated!) as each year passes. But my curiosity was hooked hard, as their targets are HUGE compared to all the super-fussing that goes on with the majority of rimfire folks chasing the perfect combination of gun-and-ammo. Official biathlon targets are shot at 50 meters (55 yards), and the standing target measures a whooping 115mm (4.5 inches in diameter, or just over 8 MOA). The prone target is 45mm in diameter (1.8 inches, or just over 3.25MOA). How hard can that be?
To stay sane, I had to find out and was not going to wait until winter. Luckily my wife and I are fortunate enough to own a rural property that has some super-underutilized wooded areas that would be perfect. I'd already made a couple lanes to shoot rimfire ranging in length from 40 to 90 meters, but what about loops to run around?
Step 1 - clear a couple of running trails through the woods:
With a whole pile of chainsaw chain sharpening, weed whacking, stump popping, root ripping, running-away-from-killer-wasps-but-getting-stung-anyway-action, epinephrine, cursing, raking, and crazy sweat in the unnatural heat, a couple of loops materialized through the woods. I did not want to give myself a heart attack or be so discouraged right out of the gate that I gave up, so the primary loop is only 400 meters long, with a 60 meter penalty loop. But really, how hard could it be to run 400 meters?
Step 2 - figure out something for targets:
Using what I had on hand for gongs, here's what I came up with:
As I'll be shooting with iron sights, the idea is to have a black target against a white background. Additionally, one of the best things about the IBU World Cup Biathlon I was watching throughout the spring was the instant target feedback and the audience participation that's made possible via this type of feedback. So behind each black target gong, I put a white backstop gong. When you hit the black target gong, because they are small, they make a victory-heralding, confidence boosting "PING". If you miss and hit the background gong, because it is so much bigger, it makes a super-disappointing and soul-crushing "CLANK". It also gives the added benefit of a backstop, preventing any rounds from continuing on through the bush.
The concept works so well that I'm working on an improvement for the backstop steel, having ordered some larger rectangular gongs that will hang off a two-pole stand I designed for them along the same lines as what you see above.
The standing target is a 6 inch gong that's set up at 67 meters, intended to be the same size as a 4.5 inch target at 50 meters. , I decided I did not want to lay in the ant-thick-super-dusty-sometimes-cow-pattied ground, so made the decision that what the biathlon folks did prone, I would do sitting or kneeling as I think they're more useful hunting positions. Consequently, I would allow myself a slightly larger target - say 5 MOA. Thus, I set up a 4 inch gong at 80 meters for use as my "precision target".
Should be EASY, 'cause those targets are huge, right?
Here's what they look like from the firing line:
Step Three - What kind of rifle would I use?
I was not going to spend 5k$ setting up a proper Anschutz 1827 Fortner, primarily because I did not want to look like a total poser being a fat guy with a real-deal biathlon rifle. So I started out by setting up a CZ 457 Varmint with an Anschutz rear target sight and a Lyman front globe. I drilled and tapped the 20" varmint profile barrel for the proper block to mount a conventional globe sight, and bought a biathlon rear sight from Nordic Marksman. When I found a medium weight 24 inch varmint barrel, i excitedly bought it, set it up at 22 inches finished length, and swapped out the heavier full varmint barrel. Good-God, globe sights are AWESOME.
It was time to run and shoot!!
Re Format: I decided I would start out by going for a 400 meter loop, shoot the sitting/kneeling target until 5 hits were accomplished, run another 400 meter loop, and shoot the standing target until 5 hits were accomplished. I only allow myself 1 magazine per lap, forcing single-loading of all extra rounds required to make up for misses.
When rested, with good concentration and proper breath control, with very little effort I could go 5/5 both standing and sitting. Occasionally I would lose concentration or focus, but my bar was absolutely set around no misses. Well, was I ever in for a surprise!!
OMG, I thought I was going to die.
The first time I "ran" my Back-40-Biathlon course, my lungs burned (blame the smoke, haha!), my heart pounded, my legs seized up, I saw stars when I tried to hold my breath, and what was previously very easy in the marksman department was now the hardest thing I've ever done, especially for my ego. But I was hooked. I learned a tonne about my shooting position, form, and breath control; in fact discovery continues along these lines today. I will spare dear readers from photos of a sweat-drenched fat guy running through the woods with his rifle...
One thing I discovered was that it sucks to do this with a right handed rifle when you're left handed, having to break head position in a big way to reach over and bolt the gun. Curse CZ for not making a left handed version of their 457!! And Tikka, where are you in the LH department??
So despite being afraid because of the negative review I've read here from multiple folks on the Anschutz 1761, because I really wanted a good left handed gun and there was little other in the way of choice, I took the plunge:
I've had it out a couple of times now, and have a couple of observations I could make. The first is that it fits me much better - the geometry of the grip and forend have dramatically improved my standing steadiness. The second is that it has a WAY tighter chamber than the 457 - closing the bolt on my CCI SV is much more difficult, and there is no where near as much blowback and crud that builds up on the bolt face, extractor claws, or general breech area. The action is not as smooth as the CZ, but it is definitely much tighter. Despite it's slightly shorter sight radius, I hit just as easily, and it balances better too. The magazine is a bit finicky with respect to feeding, but it is getting better with time (wearing in?) and experience of "how-hard-is-too-hard" in terms of running the bolt aggressively.
The biggest plus is the better fit, and the fact that it's a left handed gun being shot by a left handed guy. All-in-all, so far I love it, score higher when I shoot it, and I am going to sell off a big swath of my CZ collection to diminish the $$ pain of it's purchase.
How did I do? My poor fitness level hurts me, such that my teenage daughters can easily beat me (albeit they use their scoped CZs), but I'm improving big time and the gap is closing quickly. Right now my personal best is 8:04, and it was accomplished with no misses. If I run the 400 meter loops any faster, I'm sucking wind too hard to shoot straight and the misses more than eat up whatever gains I've made. if I try to shoot any faster, I miss and force myself into time-eating single-loading. All in all, what a THRILL and it gives me total respect for the athletes who do this in the proper nordic sense in the world cup. The biggest win is having something to be excited about again, getting some exercise while I shoot my guns, and lastly getting to sharing it with my kids. Maybe if there is any interest there could be a Brobee223 YouTube video about the whole experience...
Hope this maybe motivates someone else to try it and write about their experience, also hope you are all keeping safe and healthy in these wild times.
Best,
Brobee
I always enjoy reading here in the CGN rimfire section the various ways that people use their rimfire guns; it seems like the type of rimfire shooting that gets talked about the most is folks searching for that just-right ammo, and tackling challenges that involve a shooter+rifle combination's sustained/continuous ability to hold the tightest level of accuracy with a super-supported shooting position. There's also lots to read on rimfire PRS analogues. While it's all interesting to me, this summer went down a very different path....so I thought I'd share a bit about my 2021 sanity-saving-project throughout all this covid-crazy.
Trapped at home during early spring on a couple of covid isolation stints, I somehow found myself watching a lot of IBU World Cup Biathlon, both the men and the women. Turns out I could not get enough! In the women department, think about the yoga pant thread merged with the girls-with-guns thread except 1000x better, and wow can these women actually shoot! Mens' biathlon - good god those guys are fit. And holy shmoly, do they ever calm themselves down fast to hold unbelievably still when they have to!
I am short, fat and out-of-shape. A guy who's memories of being fit fade (or perhaps the opposite - they get exaggerated!) as each year passes. But my curiosity was hooked hard, as their targets are HUGE compared to all the super-fussing that goes on with the majority of rimfire folks chasing the perfect combination of gun-and-ammo. Official biathlon targets are shot at 50 meters (55 yards), and the standing target measures a whooping 115mm (4.5 inches in diameter, or just over 8 MOA). The prone target is 45mm in diameter (1.8 inches, or just over 3.25MOA). How hard can that be?
To stay sane, I had to find out and was not going to wait until winter. Luckily my wife and I are fortunate enough to own a rural property that has some super-underutilized wooded areas that would be perfect. I'd already made a couple lanes to shoot rimfire ranging in length from 40 to 90 meters, but what about loops to run around?
Step 1 - clear a couple of running trails through the woods:
With a whole pile of chainsaw chain sharpening, weed whacking, stump popping, root ripping, running-away-from-killer-wasps-but-getting-stung-anyway-action, epinephrine, cursing, raking, and crazy sweat in the unnatural heat, a couple of loops materialized through the woods. I did not want to give myself a heart attack or be so discouraged right out of the gate that I gave up, so the primary loop is only 400 meters long, with a 60 meter penalty loop. But really, how hard could it be to run 400 meters?
Step 2 - figure out something for targets:
Using what I had on hand for gongs, here's what I came up with:
As I'll be shooting with iron sights, the idea is to have a black target against a white background. Additionally, one of the best things about the IBU World Cup Biathlon I was watching throughout the spring was the instant target feedback and the audience participation that's made possible via this type of feedback. So behind each black target gong, I put a white backstop gong. When you hit the black target gong, because they are small, they make a victory-heralding, confidence boosting "PING". If you miss and hit the background gong, because it is so much bigger, it makes a super-disappointing and soul-crushing "CLANK". It also gives the added benefit of a backstop, preventing any rounds from continuing on through the bush.
The concept works so well that I'm working on an improvement for the backstop steel, having ordered some larger rectangular gongs that will hang off a two-pole stand I designed for them along the same lines as what you see above.
The standing target is a 6 inch gong that's set up at 67 meters, intended to be the same size as a 4.5 inch target at 50 meters. , I decided I did not want to lay in the ant-thick-super-dusty-sometimes-cow-pattied ground, so made the decision that what the biathlon folks did prone, I would do sitting or kneeling as I think they're more useful hunting positions. Consequently, I would allow myself a slightly larger target - say 5 MOA. Thus, I set up a 4 inch gong at 80 meters for use as my "precision target".
Should be EASY, 'cause those targets are huge, right?
Here's what they look like from the firing line:
Step Three - What kind of rifle would I use?
I was not going to spend 5k$ setting up a proper Anschutz 1827 Fortner, primarily because I did not want to look like a total poser being a fat guy with a real-deal biathlon rifle. So I started out by setting up a CZ 457 Varmint with an Anschutz rear target sight and a Lyman front globe. I drilled and tapped the 20" varmint profile barrel for the proper block to mount a conventional globe sight, and bought a biathlon rear sight from Nordic Marksman. When I found a medium weight 24 inch varmint barrel, i excitedly bought it, set it up at 22 inches finished length, and swapped out the heavier full varmint barrel. Good-God, globe sights are AWESOME.
It was time to run and shoot!!
Re Format: I decided I would start out by going for a 400 meter loop, shoot the sitting/kneeling target until 5 hits were accomplished, run another 400 meter loop, and shoot the standing target until 5 hits were accomplished. I only allow myself 1 magazine per lap, forcing single-loading of all extra rounds required to make up for misses.
When rested, with good concentration and proper breath control, with very little effort I could go 5/5 both standing and sitting. Occasionally I would lose concentration or focus, but my bar was absolutely set around no misses. Well, was I ever in for a surprise!!
OMG, I thought I was going to die.
The first time I "ran" my Back-40-Biathlon course, my lungs burned (blame the smoke, haha!), my heart pounded, my legs seized up, I saw stars when I tried to hold my breath, and what was previously very easy in the marksman department was now the hardest thing I've ever done, especially for my ego. But I was hooked. I learned a tonne about my shooting position, form, and breath control; in fact discovery continues along these lines today. I will spare dear readers from photos of a sweat-drenched fat guy running through the woods with his rifle...
One thing I discovered was that it sucks to do this with a right handed rifle when you're left handed, having to break head position in a big way to reach over and bolt the gun. Curse CZ for not making a left handed version of their 457!! And Tikka, where are you in the LH department??
So despite being afraid because of the negative review I've read here from multiple folks on the Anschutz 1761, because I really wanted a good left handed gun and there was little other in the way of choice, I took the plunge:
I've had it out a couple of times now, and have a couple of observations I could make. The first is that it fits me much better - the geometry of the grip and forend have dramatically improved my standing steadiness. The second is that it has a WAY tighter chamber than the 457 - closing the bolt on my CCI SV is much more difficult, and there is no where near as much blowback and crud that builds up on the bolt face, extractor claws, or general breech area. The action is not as smooth as the CZ, but it is definitely much tighter. Despite it's slightly shorter sight radius, I hit just as easily, and it balances better too. The magazine is a bit finicky with respect to feeding, but it is getting better with time (wearing in?) and experience of "how-hard-is-too-hard" in terms of running the bolt aggressively.
The biggest plus is the better fit, and the fact that it's a left handed gun being shot by a left handed guy. All-in-all, so far I love it, score higher when I shoot it, and I am going to sell off a big swath of my CZ collection to diminish the $$ pain of it's purchase.
How did I do? My poor fitness level hurts me, such that my teenage daughters can easily beat me (albeit they use their scoped CZs), but I'm improving big time and the gap is closing quickly. Right now my personal best is 8:04, and it was accomplished with no misses. If I run the 400 meter loops any faster, I'm sucking wind too hard to shoot straight and the misses more than eat up whatever gains I've made. if I try to shoot any faster, I miss and force myself into time-eating single-loading. All in all, what a THRILL and it gives me total respect for the athletes who do this in the proper nordic sense in the world cup. The biggest win is having something to be excited about again, getting some exercise while I shoot my guns, and lastly getting to sharing it with my kids. Maybe if there is any interest there could be a Brobee223 YouTube video about the whole experience...
Hope this maybe motivates someone else to try it and write about their experience, also hope you are all keeping safe and healthy in these wild times.
Best,
Brobee
Last edited:
