Olympic pistols

Top level shooters are ALWAYS changing pistols. I ran gun check at the Canadian Nationals for well over a decade. Rarely did I see the top guys come through with the same guns year over year. Sure some shooters, myself included are loathe to part with a good gun, but eventually we do. The collection of one top and international competitor ran to nearly 300. One of our Olympic rapidfire shooters used to stop by the Pardini plant and have a new gun fitted to him every other year. Attend a precision focused club and ask - there are always match guns for sale somewhere. Not as frequent as "the Dirty Harry with forty-five rounds included" but then ......

Dr Jim
 
The Vostok Toz 35 is an excellent free pistol, many top level shooter swear by it due to its "forgiving" nature, parts can still be found occasionally, but given proper care there shouldn't much will go wrong, $450-$600 is a fair price depending on condition and accessories comes with it. Also don't overlook the Durlov, some will go for as little as $150.

Newer used free pistol such as Hammerli; Pardini; Morini...etc will go for $1000 and up, brand new ones when you can find them goes for $2000 or more.

ISSF free pistol is dying art, not many shooter on this side of the pond are still participating, its a very demanding discipline, I've been to matches there are only 3 shooters, newcomer to the shooting sports like "action", blasting targets at 15 ft. away seems more fun than shooting at tiny aiming mark 50 metres away. Its handgun marksmanship in the purest form IMHO.

Expect more free pistol comes out of the wood work as older shooters leaving the sport and it will not be in the Tokyo Olympic program 2020.
 
TonyC said:
The Vostok Toz 35 is an excellent free pistol, many top level shooter swear by it due to its "forgiving" nature, parts can still be found occasionally, but given proper care there shouldn't much will go wrong, $450-$600 is a fair price depending on condition and accessories comes with it. Also don't overlook the Durlov, some will go for as little as $150.

Newer used free pistol such as Hammerli; Pardini; Morini...etc will go for $1000 and up, brand new ones when you can find them goes for $2000 or more.

ISSF free pistol is dying art, not many shooter on this side of the pond are still participating, its a very demanding discipline, I've been to matches there are only 3 shooters, newcomer to the shooting sports like "action", blasting targets at 15 ft. away seems more fun than shooting at tiny aiming mark 50 metres away. Its handgun marksmanship in the purest form IMHO.

Expect more free pistol comes out of the wood work as older shooters leaving the sport and it will not be in the Tokyo Olympic program 2020.
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You sure about that? 50 metre pistol is still listed on the Tokyo 2020 website.
 
Here is the link regarding change in the shooting events at 2020 Olympic:

http://www.issf-sports.org/news.ashx?newsid=2713

Its not yet set in stone, there are suppose be more discussion; consultations...etc. if you can believe any of that.

There are many factors in play, the main ones are # 1 IOC wants to limit the number of participant, shooting isn't a sport with mass audience appeal and the number of shooters and shooting events has been in steady decline for years, for instance 300 metres centre fire rifle was dropped after 1972 Munich Olympic, running targets was dropped after 2008, so its a easy target for cuts, also there has been many opinions of dropping shooting events entirely.

# 2 IOC want gender parity in all sports, therefore eliminate one event each in rifle; shotgun and pistol and replace it with a mixed gender team event pacified those who advocate gender parity in sports.

There are lots of reactions; discussions; opinions...etc on the net such as targettalk.org, please go and check it out. maybe its not too late but I'm not optimistic.
 
^Olympic shooting events controversy is nothing new. Just before the London games, UK officials "tried" to convince the IOC that the pentathlon athletes could compete just fine with some ridiculous light emitting 'pistol' versus the designated match air pistol.

Didn't happen.

Edit: I stand corrected, subsequent research; Apparently in 2009, the Combined Event was introduced, some ghey-ass laser pointing pistol DID replace the match air pistol in this event.

F@G@tt Officials!! :rolleyes:
 
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^Yes, laser pistol is now being used for modern pentathlon in the shooting and cross country running phase, actually athletes are running inside a sport stadium stop and shot at laser targets and move on when scoring 5 hits.

Up till a few years ago, shooting part use .22 rapid fire pistol, then it change to air pistol, now its laser.

Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympic movement, must be spinning in his grave, since modern pentathlon is his favorite sport!
 
maple_leaf_eh said:
Think about the other side of the transaction. Who is going to sell a competitive gun? No. If the gun is winning, never sell. If it isn't competitive, well maybe think about possibly selling. If it is in the store, it is definitely a dog.

From experience, the shooters who are winning might tell you what works, but they aren't going to give up every secret.
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I beg to differ...."from experience" of 30 plus years at sport shooting ! I used to shoot PPC in the 80s and early 90s when it was cool (prior to the IPSIC craze) and the reason I sold my gear and revolver was due to lack of interest when I quit shooting PPC. I am looking for a reasonably priced freepistol to eventually teach my grandkids proper target shooting first ! We are lucky to have a local club that has an Olympic style 50M range .....for the record I would NEVER sell a pistol to someone if it was a "Dog" !
 
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deckerhead said:
I beg to differ...."from experience" of 30 plus years at sport shooting ! I used to shoot PPC in the 80s and early 90s when it was cool (prior to the IPSIC craze) and the reason I sold my gear and revolver was due to lack of interest when I quit shooting PPC. I am looking for a reasonably priced freepistol to eventually teach my grandkids proper target shooting first ! We are lucky to have a local club that has an Olympic style 50M range .....for the record I would NEVER sell a pistol to someone if it was a "Dog" !
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BTW, I really like my Hammerli Model 150, but there are some strange little hickups no one tells you. For example I shoot it LH and have Morini grips for exactly that.
The controls really are still best for RH shooting, IMHO, because the cocking lever on it, one has to still reach over top the pistol with then opposite hand to #### the action.
Hence, lots of un-natural hand/arm movement when you are just about to bring it into a sighting picture for the proper shooting stance. If you are a RH shooter, none of this applies to lucky you.
And the cocking lever, one feels (the very odd feeling) you are just on the verge of compromising the tensile strength of that metal part. Weird feeling but true.

Otherwise a very fine target piece. I feed it mostly SK Rifle Match, or sometimes SK Standard Plus for practice only.
 
caperaway said:
Price isn't bad but it's a lefty so realize you will be looking at another few hundred to change the grips if you're a right handed shooter. They also have a drulov listed,it's an entry level free pistol as well. I have one that has been a reliable pistol but the grips leave something to be desired.
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:confused: Do they have more than one?
It looks like any right-handed TOZ-35 with made to fit grip

_MEM4596-228x228.jpg



I think the price is reasonable. Even more so if it comes with the wooden box and spare parts. If you want to get into FP (seriously) that's about as cheap as you'll find. Add a Rink/Morini/Vitaarbo and you'll be good to go (to the Olympic if you wish) for less than $1,000.
- A used Pardini/Morini/Hammerli would probably set you back $1500-#2000

A number of years ago, we had a informal FP league going on Sunday mornings. We'd often get 4-5 shooters, which oddly enough was as many as I'd seen at the provincial matches. Personally, I enjoy shooting FP. it's a bit like yoga... with a bang.

As for the Olympic, when not let women shoot it? It would be an easy transition for all the women shooting 10M AP.

Here's mine, with a Marshall grip
TZO-Marschall.jpg~original
 
Here's my MG-5 I imported directly a few years ago. Very good Free pistol and one I'll never part with. We get about 15 people to our matches although only 4 or 5 have dedicated 50 meter pistols.
IMG_0597_zps1bvmsc4i.jpg
 
deckerhead said:
Heddok......how did you import this pistol "directly" ? Not from Canadian supplier?
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A friend in TO did the import paperwork with Foreign Affairs and I handled the international wire transfer. We bought 5 guns in total from Matchguns and got a discount and made to measure grips for all 5. Took about 4 months from ordering to receiving them.
 
sillymike said:
Yes, Rink/Morini/Vitaarbo are still available, and recently stumble upon these guys http://www precisiontargetpistolgrips com/free-pistol.html
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Rink grips can be easily ordered directly from Germany. Thomas Rink speaks English and is a pleasure to deal with. My last order took 5 weeks to arrive, he makes them to order for the Toz, choice of walnut or colored laminate.
 
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