N/A 10 Meter classic springer montage
- Thread starter DualMagMike
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Drool towels are not going to be enough when viewing that collection, drool buckets will be needed lol. Thanks for sharing.
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You should write a book....with a lot of pictures of those heirloom springers. Each has a story. You better start writing it now as you have a lot of pages and pictures to produce!
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Words won't do justice to that collection. Stunning!!!! I like what Bill Beer said...overwhelmed. Thanks for sharing this amalgamation of classics.
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Everybody else seems to get picture in the montage but nobody seems to care about us?...BooHoo...and to think that one of us wrote the book!...
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Those guns are backwards!!Everybody else seems to get picture in the montage but nobody seems to care about us?...BooHoo...and to think that one of us wrote the book!...
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What beautifully engineered works of art. I was fortunate to find 2 75s last year. They get shot almost daily....at 20 meters. 10 meters with these is just boring. Actually sometimes 20 meters is. Thanks to all who share these pictures.
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I'd buy that book!!!You should write a book....with a lot of pictures of those heirloom springers. Each has a story. You better start writing it now as you have a lot of pages and pictures to produce!
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Beautiful collection. Thanks for sharing. I've looked for years for a list of the olympic winning spring/ssp rifles. Does anyone know if such a list exists and if so where?
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10m air rifle was only introduced at the Olympics in 1984, so not too many to find out. For sure the FWB 300S/SU never won an Olympics, but plenty of World Champs. I would guess that the 1984 golds went to Walther LGR. The Feinwerkbau 600 only came out in 1984, so I doubt that there were many being used at such an important event already in August of that year.
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IIRC, at least one gold at the 1984 LA Olympics was won with an Anschutz 380. I believe it was the last major international competition won by a spring-piston rifle.
The most successful FWB rifle was the model 300, made for only 4 or 5 years (1968-73 or so), but pretty much unchallenged at top-level matches in its day, outdistancing the Anschutz 250 and Diana's break-barrel Giss model 65/66. The 300S (1973) did well too, but soon after its introduction the Walther LGR (1974), Diana 75 (1977), and Anschutz 380 (1980) were nipping at its heels. The LGR was the first SSP match rifle, and eventually so dominant they actually reduced the size of the 10-meter rifle target! In 1984 the second-gen "geared" SSP's and bulk CO2 guns started appearing - FWB 600, Anschutz 2001, Walther LGM, etc. - and it's been a technological sprint ever since!
The most successful FWB rifle was the model 300, made for only 4 or 5 years (1968-73 or so), but pretty much unchallenged at top-level matches in its day, outdistancing the Anschutz 250 and Diana's break-barrel Giss model 65/66. The 300S (1973) did well too, but soon after its introduction the Walther LGR (1974), Diana 75 (1977), and Anschutz 380 (1980) were nipping at its heels. The LGR was the first SSP match rifle, and eventually so dominant they actually reduced the size of the 10-meter rifle target! In 1984 the second-gen "geared" SSP's and bulk CO2 guns started appearing - FWB 600, Anschutz 2001, Walther LGM, etc. - and it's been a technological sprint ever since!
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Spot on, Mike! Pat Spurgin of the USA won the first women's event in 1984 at 18 years of age, using a 380.IIRC, at least one gold at the 1984 LA Olympics was won with an Anschutz 380. I believe it was the last major international competition won by a spring-piston rifle.
The most successful FWB rifle was the model 300, made for only 4 or 5 years (1968-73 or so), but pretty much unchallenged at top-level matches then, outdistancing the Anschutz 250 and Diana's break-barrel Giss model 65/66. The 300S (1973) did well too, but soon after its introduction the Walther LGR (1974), Diana 75 (1977), and Anschutz 380 (1980) were nipping at its heels. The LGR was the first SSP match rifle, and came to be so dominant they actually reduced the size of the 10-meter rifle target. In 1984 the second-gen SSP's and bulk CO2 guns started appearing - FWB 600, Anschutz 2001, Walther LGM, etc. - and it's been a technological sprint ever since!
Philippe Heberlé of France won the 1984 men's 10m event shooting a Walther LGR. He was interviewed before Paris this year, and the photo shows him with the LGR he used in LA. Andreas Kronthaler of Austria took silver with a FWB600(!), and bronze went to GB's Barry Dagger with an Anschütz 380. Barry is not the tallest guy - I guess he had a growth hormone disorder, so he was only 4´10" tall. I met him a few times when I shot competitively and he was a very nice guy.
Video evidence:
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Thanks Swissair - what a great pair of videos! It's easy to look up past winners of big matches, but hard to run down their equipment so this is quite valuable.
In those days matches were a straight 60 shots for men, 40 for women, nowadays it's more complex of course! Shots are electronically scored to the nearest tenth of a point, and the top 8 from the 60-shot round move on to a nerve-wracking timed finals.
Call me grumpy old luddite, LOL...but CO2 and PCP match guns almost seem like "cheating." The effort required to charge a springer or SSP gun is, to me, part of the "zen" of airgun shooting. One of the UK airgun forums has a running "human powered" online postal match so I guess I'm not alone!
In those days matches were a straight 60 shots for men, 40 for women, nowadays it's more complex of course! Shots are electronically scored to the nearest tenth of a point, and the top 8 from the 60-shot round move on to a nerve-wracking timed finals.
Call me grumpy old luddite, LOL...but CO2 and PCP match guns almost seem like "cheating." The effort required to charge a springer or SSP gun is, to me, part of the "zen" of airgun shooting. One of the UK airgun forums has a running "human powered" online postal match so I guess I'm not alone!
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That style of match shooting is also what I remember from my time, although in the UK there weren't many ranges with target changers, and usually you only came across those at the national championships. At the lower levels, it was 5-bull targets, sometimes even with 2 shots a bull, and walking down range to change targets every 5/10 shots! I also used to shoot 10m match crossbow, which is even more mechanical, and I have to say was even more satisfying than air rifle. The lock time of a crossbow was significantly more than even a 300S, and ages slower than an LGR or FWB300S.
The modern day PCP shooting with electronic targets is certainly sterile to watch. I watch the Olympics coverage and they do a poor job of trying to show what's happening. It's also extremely expensive with everything micro-adjustable and machined out the most expensive materials they can find - as if it wasn't expensive enough back in the 1980s to have a German-made match rifle and all the shooting gear! I still have my 1984 FWB600, and I acquired a 300S earlier this year, which was a gun I started shooting with. They're still shooting one-hole groups 40 years on, whereas in 40 years from now a 2024 PCP probably won't have a valid cylinder you can use with it.
The 1984 Olympics were the first time air rifle was contested, and as you say it was a straight 60 shots/men and 40 for women. In 1988, the 10 shot final with 10.1-10.9 was brought in for the top 8 finishers after the 40/60 shots. Pat Spurgin's gold then was the first and ONLY Olympic gold won with a spring-powered air rifle. I doubt that anyone even used a springer in 1988 in Seoul - they would have all been using SSPs and CO2.
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