TargetTalk

Hello - new guy here.

Does anyone know if there are any lists of air rifles used in the Olympics (particularly those used to win a medal) for Olympic events since 1968, 1972, or so? I'm particularly interested to know if and when an Anschutz 250 may have been used in the Olympic games.

Any help would be appreciated.

SteveM.

Hi

It would take some intensive research to find who used what in the Olympics of the past. However, lets deal with the Anschutz 250 first.

A few people used it and an even smaller number used it at Olympic level. It was not that liked mainly due to it not being fully recoiless.
The FWB 300S and later the Walther LGR dominated the scene for several decades as they were fully recoiless. I should imagine that there are no more spares available for the 250 as Anschutz have discontinued spares for the later LG-380.

I'm not sure but the 250 never gained medals at world level, it may have done at smaller matches, but again FWB and Walther were cleaning up in those days.
To my mind it was one of the worst match air rifles produced which is why Anschutz very quickly dropped it and produced the LG-380, one of my favourite spring piston match rifles.

Peepsight

While its true that the Anschutz 250 is not 100% recoilless, its use a hydraulic damper device to reduce the vibration during the firing cycle, the action is very smooth and the felt recoil occur only after the pellet has left the barrel.

Its also true the 250 never achieved the kind of sucess of FWB 300 or the Walther LGR, however the 250 is not " quickly dropped " the rifle was in production from 1968 - 1981 or 82, when model 380 was introduced, a production live of more than 12 years, or about the same as model 380, which cease production in 1994.

I also disagree the 250 is " one of the worst match air rifle ", as a matter of fact I think its one the best made air rifle of all time, especially the early ones with cut checkering, the bluing and the metal work put a lot of latter guns, air or cartridge, to shame.

Tony

Hi

Perhaps the words 'quickly' and 'dropped' were the wrong words to use.
Yes the 250 was a well made air rifle and very robust and as the last post said, very high quality bluing. Although Anschutz produced it for some time it realy struggled to make inroads [well in my area it did] as FWB and Walther were so dominant. Even with the hydraulic damper, shooters i talked to still didn't like the after shot kick when comparing it to the FWB & Walther.

The original question was, had it if ever won any Olympic medals?

The German Bundesleague [sorry about the spelling] may have records
Or what was the old ISU. Best people to ask is Anschutz themselves as they keep records of all sucesses with their products from year one.

Peepsight

I don't think the 250 won any medals at the 1968 or 1972 Olympics, but then nor did Walther or FWB, as the 10m Air rifle wasn't an Olympic discipline until 1984.

Tim S

Exeter UK