Is TOZ-35 free floated, does it matter ?

[Dr.Lee]

Never thought much about it, but is the forend arrangement on the TOZ-35 free floating and I’m thinking it may or may not be, but would it have any effect one way or the other.

Dr.

[Gunter]

yes, of course it matters! - ask any free-pistol shooter from that time!

Most 'free pistol' 50m pistols had a free barrel anyway - (no wood around it touching the barrel !)

been a long time now! - but that's what I remember

Most free pistols that I remember were more or less 'clear barrel'
But it's been some time!

take the wood off if you're worried! - shouldn't make much difference to the 'barrel weight'
if it does, hang a weight from the front of your trigger! Not the barrel!

Regards
Gunter
NRA Life 1974

Edit: have you checked whether there is space between barrel and fore-end? try with a sheet of paper sliding through the gap!

[BEA]

IMO, it really makes little to no difference but it will certainly not hurt anything.

[gimgim]

The barrel is not free floating in the original arrangement; the trigger box is clamped to the barrel. It's not just the wood touching.
With little work it can be modified. This is what I did (for the look/fun; at my skill level, no idea whether it makes a difference): https://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.ph ... oz#p286640

[stephen_maly]

The barrel on a TOZ-35 is short and stubby (relatively speaking). I'd bet that contact with the wood has exactly no measurable effect on the accuracy of that gun (with a human shooting it). If you are worried, simply sand a little of the fore-stock away. The clamp to the trigger box is probably placed at the node for transverse vibrations anyway.

[Jon Eulette]

IMO, it really makes little to no difference but it will certainly not hurt anything.

I was blessed to get Steve Reiters (1980 Olympian) Toz 35 when I was a young team member on USAR pistol team with BEA. That pistol was the most beat up Toz I've ever seen. Reiter treated it like a tool. That pistol in standard wood forearm configuration shot 0.4" at 52 m at the OTC with RWS R-50. I think that speaks volumes.

Jon

[JKR]

I started shooting free pistol with Jerry Wilder’s TOZ. He and Steve probably had a contest to see who’s could be the ugliest! I was simply amazed at the accuracy of this pistol! The forend is untouched but you should see the grip!

JKR

[BEA]

Jon, you are right on as usual. The TOZ is a great gun, well balanced and durable. I shot mine for many years and never had to replace a single part except for perhaps a firing pin spring. I am glad there are shooters who are having fun making modifications to them. However, they work fine right out of the box. Even now when I pick mine up, it just feels like that pistol belongs in my hand. What a great and challenging shooting sport. Too bad the politically correct fools have taken over international shooting.

[Dr.Lee]

BEA, could not agree more. Free pistol is the most challenging and most rewarding of the pistol sports, along with Air pistol. Not to mention, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, was himself a 50m shooter and a French champion. Free pistol was part of the first modern Olympics in 1896. I love tradition in things; too bad it doesn’t mean much anymore. I just can’t get it through my mind that Free pistol is not an Olympic event anymore.

[JamesHH]

The barrel on a TOZ-35 is short and stubby (relatively speaking). I'd bet that contact with the wood has exactly no measurable effect on the accuracy of that gun (with a human shooting it). If you are worried, simply sand a little of the fore-stock away. The clamp to the trigger box is probably placed at the node for transverse vibrations anyway.

Pretty much, I doubt barrel vibration is large enough to have any effect on the accuracy required for free pistol.

[gimgim]

> Too bad the politically correct fools have taken over international shooting.

Can you elaborate? Don't know much about the reasons (official and not) FP was excluded from the Olympic events.
Thanks

[Ramon OP]

Because the Olympic Committee said that there had to be more equality in the events and did not change the amount of shooting events at the Olympics. To have the new mixed events 3 male only events had to be dropped.

I've come to shooting after this, love 50m pistol and could not care less about it not being in the Olympics. I do like a lot the mixed 10m air pistol event where you can see that men and women are as good as the other.

[gimgim]

Thanks Ramon, any reason FP couldn't be converted to a mixed event?

[David Levene]

Thanks Ramon, any reason FP couldn't be converted to a mixed event?

The IOC don't like mixed individual events.

I believe that it's only equestrian with mixed individual events (there might also be one event in sailing but I'm not sure about that).

[Ramon OP]

Yes, there's a limited number of shooting events, so to introduce a new one you jave to drop another one. Why thr ISSF chose AP? I don't know, but I would speculate that more people practice it, it is easy for minors to get legally into it, cheaper, safer to remain long term in view of changing attitudes towards firearms, and it is easier to have 10m air pistol ranges around the world than 50m. It is damn hard to :)

None of the mixed shooting events exist without the men and women competitions happening too (at least in the Olympics). The only place I know where this does not happen is in the German Bundesliga (men and women compete against each other).

I think that eventually, unless a lot more people get into target shooting, there will be only mixed events with no gender distinctions (easier to organize, probably less participants). As I said, this is pure speculation and I only started shooting a couple years ago, so these decisions happened before I got into shooting.

[renzo]

Back in the 70´s until Seoul 88, shooting events were mixed, and in tha period only one woman (Margaret Murdock) won a medal.

Even today, when women's scores are sometimes higher than those of men, the IOC has made it clear that when talking gender they want "equal certainty", no "equal possibilty" of medals.

Thus said, I dropped a tear when they erased FP, I started shooting looking at Melentiev's astonishing 581!!!