#Olympics

Everyone likes free stuff, and it’s even better if it’s stuff that goes bang—like a new Ruger 10/22. And it’s even better if it’s a special, limited-edition rifle with an Olympics tie-in.

Hello and welcome to another edition of The Rimfire Report! This ongoing series is all bout the rimfire firearm world and its many facts, curiosities, firearms, and of course, its rich history! 22LR is what I would consider a global cartridge. As opposed to some cartridges that have only seen widespread adoption in specific regions of the world, 22LR is almost universally used in every country regardless of its specific firearms culture. One such firearm that is often forgotten by most of the world that is chambered in 22LR is one that actually has deep roots in the target and competition shooting scene – the MCM-K “Margo” 22LR pistol designed by Mikhail Margolin in the years following WWII. What’s interesting about the Margo pistol and Mr. Margolin is that despite their relative obscurity within the broader firearms world, both the Margolin MCM and its designer helped inspire future generations of competitive pistol shooters across the world. Today we’ll be taking a look at both the Margolin MCM and Mikhail Margolin to get a closer look at their tale.

The 2022 Winter Olympics kicked off at the beginning of February and with the start of this huge event came one of my favorite Winter Olympic sports of all time – the Biathlon. For those that don’t know, the Biathlon is a tandem event that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. This event was officially introduced in 1960 as part of the winter games. The end results this year revealed one curious statistic that firearms owners may be interested to hear – all of the gold medalists for the 2022 Winter Olympics Beijing Biathlon events used an Anschütz rifle!

Last week we had a look at the results from the first shooting competitions at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Now we can wrap up this overview with 25m Pistol, 50m Rifle 3 Positions, and Trap.

Last week, with one full year of pandemic-induced delay over the original plans, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games finally started. Shooting competitions already offered us finals in the Air Rifle and Air Pistol categories and in Skeet. Here we’ll have a brief look at the results so far.

Federal shotshells will be the official ammunition used by the United States Olympic Shooting team for shotgun events. Due to extremely strict regulations surrounding ammunition and firearms possession in Japan, competitors will have to have ammunition shipped to them and held offsite until on-site reserves need to be replenished. Federal will be shipping their Gold Medal 24-gram International loads and Federal Gold Medal Paper loads which are said to have the extremely consistent shot size and patterning.

I have a dream! A dream to compete in IPSC Practical Shooting in The Olympics before I die (better hurry!)

The Winter Olympics are here again, and this time it is held in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The only sport in the Winter Olympics that uses a firearm is Biathlon. The rifles used in the sport are purpose built for this type of competition. Here is are two videos about the anatomy of these race guns.

Three-time US Olympic medallist Lt. Colonel Lones W. Wigger, Jr. passed away on the 14th December.

The 131:st IOC Session in Lima has decided that Shooting is confirmed on the sports program of the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris, France.

In “A move towards gender balance” the International Olympic Committee has released the full program changes for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. 15 new events are planned including events in swimming, archery, table tennis, triathlon, and more. Specifically, the IOC is looking to get to near 50% male to female athlete ratio.

Kim Rhode isn’t just any Olympic shooter, she’s an Olympic shooter who has won not one, not two, but six medals, consecutively, in an individual Olympic sport. Rhode is also the first American athlete to do so. Unfortunately she hasn’t received the media attention she deserves for this accomplishment, but the firearms industry is doing its part to make their congratulations known. In fact there will now be a box of ammunition with Rhode’s picture on it, thanks to Winchester.

Everyone is amazed at Michael Phelps’ staggering medal count in just 4 consecutive Olympics. From 2004 to 2016. However there is another US Olympian who has gone to 6 straight Olympics and has won a medal every time. Since 1996 and on to the current 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Kim Rhode has won a medal every time she has gone to the Olympics.

Apparently, before any of us were born, the 1906 Olympics had dueling pistols as an Olympic event. The shooters used wax bullets but no gun powder. Instead the primer was all they needed to propel the wax bullet. Like fencing, the athletes wore a mask and a handguard was fitted to the gun in order to protect the shooter’s hand. Looking at the photos below, the two competitors seem to be decent distance apart from one another. That does look a bit challenging. The current IOC could bring this back with airsoft or even simmunition equipped handguns.

The Olympics are in full swing in Rio, and Team USA brought home their first gold early on. The first medal of the 2016 Olympics was also the USA’s first gold and went to 19-year-old Virginia Thrasher in the women’s 10-meter air rifle event. Not only did Thrasher get the gold she made a new record, outshooting more seasoned Olympian Du Li of China. Thrasher finished with a score of 208.0; Du Li finished with a score of 207.0. It’s worth noting she was up against experienced Olympians including Du Li – who took home the gold in 2004 – and Serbian Andrea Arsovic, who was ranked No.1 in the world but who failed to make it to the final round of the event.