Dragons, snow leopards, mountain goats and other drawings presented by biathlon heroes.

Creative from the Olympic champion Alexei Volkov - a bed with speck (or polka dots).

A strict version from biathlon legend Emil Hegle Swensen. Which, it is possible, begins the last season in his career.

Perhaps the most original design of the rifle is Anton Shipulin and his enchanted weapon with a dragon. The leader of the Russian team explained: “The idea is that when I am making it, I hold the dragon by the throat. I hold it gently, suffocating a little." Who is cooler - Anton or Volkov?

Timofey Lapshin painted the rifle almost to match the color of the new (not very successful) uniform - blue-orange.

The weapon of the three-time European champion Alexei Slepov is blue with a stock in tricolor.

"It's not a joke, the internet is really evil." How does the most unusual Russian biathlete live?

Another option in national motifs is Kaisa Mäkäräinen's glossy blue rifle. The two-time World Cup winner revealed the concept: “I wanted something new after a few seasons with the gold butt. It turned out quite Finnish, I like it!”.

The weapon of the silver medalist of the Games in Sochi Selina Gasparin: “My rifle is fire!”. Appreciate the play of colors from the base to the butt.

Selina's younger sisters also approached the design with a twist.

Eliza: “I love mountains. And the horns of the mountain goat are a reminder of the house. It is a symbol of our town and the personification of strength.”

Aita: “A snow leopard is depicted on the stock of my rifle. Fast and strong - this is how a biathlete should be.

White is gaining popularity. The fashion went, it seems, from Tarja Bo a few years ago. This season, the leader of the Czech national team, three-time winner of the Games in Sochi, Ondrej Moravec, will perform with snow-white weapons ....

And one of the most recognizable biathletes in the world, married Italian Dorothea Wierer, who said goodbye to a black rifle in the offseason.

Photo: vk.com/bi_athlon; facebook.com/selinagasparin; facebook.com/timolapshin; provladimir.ru/Vlad Sorokin; instagram.com/kaisamakarainen; instagram.com/dorothea_wierer


Dragons, snow leopards, mountain goats and other drawings presented by biathlon heroes.

A strict version from the legend of biathlon - Emil Hegle Swensen. Which, it is possible, begins the last season in his career.

Perhaps the most original design of the rifle - Anton Shipulin and his enchanted dragon weapon. The leader of the Russian team explained: “The idea is that when I am making it, I hold the dragon by the throat. I hold it gently, suffocating a little."

Glossy blue rifle Kaisa Mäkäräinen. The two-time World Cup winner revealed the concept: “I wanted something new after a few seasons with the gold butt. It turned out quite Finnish, I like it!”.

Weapons of the silver medalist of the Games in Sochi Selina Gasparin: "My rifle is fire!". Appreciate the play of colors from the base to the butt.

Selina's younger sisters also approached the design with a twist.

Eliza:“I love mountains. And the horns of the mountain goat are a reminder of the house. It is a symbol of our town and the personification of strength.”

Aita:“A snow leopard is depicted on the stock of my rifle. Fast and strong – this is how a biathlete should be.”

White is gaining popularity. The fashion went, it seems, from Tarja Bo a few years ago. This season, the leader of the Czech national team, a three-time winner of the Sochi Games, will perform with snow-white weapons. Ondrej Moravec.

And one of the most recognizable biathletes in the world, a married Italian Dorothea Wierer who said goodbye to the off-season with a black rifle.

Creative from the Olympic champion Alexey Volkov- a speckled bed (or polka dots).

Dragons, snow leopards, mountain goats and other drawings presented by biathlon heroes.

Creative from the Olympic champion Alexey Volkov- a speckled bed (or polka dots).

A strict version from the legend of biathlon - Emil Hegle Swensen. Which, it is possible, begins the last season in his career.

Perhaps the most original design of the rifle - Anton Shipulin and his enchanted dragon weapon. The leader of the Russian team explained: “The idea is that when I am making it, I hold the dragon by the throat. I hold it gently, suffocating a little." Who has it better - Anton or Volkov?

Timofey Lapshin painted the rifle almost the same color as the new () uniform - blue-orange.

Weapons of the three-time European champion Alexey Slepov- blue with a butt in tricolor.

Another option in national motifs is a glossy blue rifle. Kaisa Mäkäräinen. The two-time World Cup winner revealed the concept: “I wanted something new after a few seasons with the gold butt. It turned out quite Finnish, I like it!”.

Weapons of the silver medalist of the Games in Sochi Selina Gasparin: "My rifle is fire!". Appreciate the play of colors from the base to the butt.

Selina's younger sisters also approached the design with a twist.

Eliza:“I love mountains. And the horns of the mountain goat are a reminder of the house. It is a symbol of our town and the personification of strength.”

Aita:“A snow leopard is depicted on the stock of my rifle. Fast and strong – this is how a biathlete should be.”

White is gaining popularity. The fashion went, it seems, from Tarja Bo a few years ago. This season, the leader of the Czech national team, a three-time winner of the Sochi Games, will perform with snow-white weapons. Ondrej Moravec….

And one of the most recognizable biathletes in the world, a married Italian Dorothea Wierer who said goodbye to the off-season with a black rifle.

Best of 2017 How Kalashnikov Arms Russian Biathletes

Match TV went to the plant of the Kalashnikov Concern to find out everything about the biathlon arms race.

We have only one competitor in biathlon, the German company Anschutz, - Ivan Cherezov, head of sports projects of the Kalashnikov Concern, three-time world champion and Olympic medalist, explains to Match TV. - This caliber 5.6 - "small" - is very capricious. It is difficult to achieve high accuracy rates (the smaller the distance between the points of impact on the target, the higher the accuracy - “Match TV”) is difficult here. Sub-zero temperatures, snow and high humidity, which occur at competitions, greatly complicate the life of designers, manufacturers of cartridges and weapons. Mastery of this technique for the production of small caliber biathlon rifles is considered top notch aerobatics. Historically, there have been only two arms companies in biathlon: the Kalashnikov Concern (formerly Izhmash) and Anschutz. You will not find other rifles at the World Cup stages.

At the World Championship in Hochfilzen, Izhmash rifles were chosen by Anton Babikov, Olga Podchufarova, Evgeny Garanichev and Matvey Eliseev. The rest, including the leader of our team Anton Shipulin, prefer to shoot from Anschutz. Cherezov himself, who is now trying to change his attitude towards Izhevsk rifles, at one time also switched to German weapons.

High demand for Anschutz among the biathlon elite has not always existed. Back in the 2000s, three-time Olympic champion Kati Wilhelm shot from Izhevsk weapons, and not from her native German rifle. How and why such a bias occurred is also understood in the Kalashnikov concern.

In the expanded composition of the Russian national team, the ratio of our and German rifles is 50 to 50. If foreign athletes shoot from Izhevsk weapons, then these are representatives of neighboring countries. But this is not a measure of quality. Our laws are very harsh, there are many restrictions that make it difficult to quickly communicate, service, repair and purchase, says Cherezov. - In addition, we do not have the most advantageous location geographically. We are closer to the Urals, and Anschutz is in the center of Europe, not far from Munich. Therefore, it is easier for athletes to reach them. In terms of quality, we have a lot of positive points.

How it all started

For the first time, the issue of biathlon weapons was taken up in the mid-fifties of the last century. Previously, this sport was considered military-applied and developed under the name "Patrol Race". In addition to weapons, athletes had to carry sandbags on themselves. They ran with Mosin rifles and it was they who were adapted for biathlon. "BI-7.62" brought the USSR national team the first Olympic medal - in 1960, at the Games in Squaw Valley, Alexander Privalov won a bronze medal.

Now shoot from such, and all the spectators will scatter. And then there was an indescribable spectacle, to which people loved to go, - recalls the designer Vladimir Susloparov. - After the shot, the shooter rolled back with all the ammunition. And if the firing line froze, then you had to take off your skis. Otherwise, you will leave and have to run back to the ready.

In the early 70s, they decided to reduce the caliber of the rifle. This is how "BI-6.5" and "BIL-6.5" appeared, in which the return was three times less than that of its predecessor. The stability has increased, and it has become easier to return the rifle after a shot to the target area. She was in great demand, including abroad, and was considered the best in the world. Every year in June, representatives of the USSR national team - Tikhonov, Ushakov, Elizarov - came to Izhevsk for a month to get new weapons.

After the demonstration of the performances of the biathletes, our head of the bureau said: “Such honored people perform with rifles of the last century. What are we sitting here for? Let's take the initiative to do something for them." And “something” turned out to be a fast-loading rifle that Anschutz uses today,” says Suslaparov. - Today it's a shame to listen when they say that it is necessary to reload, like the Germans. Few people know that it was already designed by us more than 20 years ago.

With the "BI-5" Soviet athletes took all the biathlon gold of the Innsbruck Olympics in 1976 - Nikolai Kruglov won the individual, and then, together with Tikhonov, Byakov and Elizarov, won the relay. But the era of military weapons in biathlon was coming to an end.

The superiority of the Soviet biathletes was unconditional, others did not even have to dream, - explains Suslaparov. - If you remember, then even five competitors will not be typed. Therefore, the International Biathlon Union, mainly at the suggestion of the Germans, came up with a proposal to switch to a mass cartridge of 5.6 caliber - a side-fire cartridge. Justified by the fact that it is time to finish developing the militaristic sport. They said it would increase the number of participants. So, basically, that's what happened. On combat rifles, according to safety regulations, the distance of destruction is 5 kilometers. Where can you find such territories in Europe? If you shoot from such a weapon in Germany, then in Austria or Italy you can shoot someone. We only had three shooting ranges in Izhevsk, and in Germany the same number for the whole country.

When Anshutz overtook Izhmash

New rifles at Izhmash were constructed quickly. A year after the transition to small-caliber weapons, the Biathlon-7 rifle was created with a locking bolt in a vertical plane, and in the 78th, the Biathlon-7-2 was developed with a crank-and-rod locking according to the layout of Gennady Nikonov.

Tikhonov then came to us, saw this rifle and said that he would not give it to anyone else, ”says Susloparov. - She didn’t even pass half of the factory tests at that time. Alexander Ivanovich says: “I take responsibility. There will be no complaints from my side." He has such an influence on people that it is impossible to refuse. We had to give our chief designer Semenovs a rifle, one and only, without testing. As a result, he went with her to the Lake Placid Olympics and won the gold medal there. Serial production of "Biathlon-7-2" began after the Games. The crank mechanism is for centuries. This rifle can operate with virtually no maintenance for 25-30 years.

For 10 years, the Izhevsk rifle had no competitors. Dieter Antschutz understood that his company was losing this biathlon arms race, but they could offer something to Izhmash. From the merger, perhaps, the ideal biathlon rifle would have emerged.

In the 1980s, he came to us twice for negotiations. There should have been a single rifle, which Dieter called "Anschutz-Izhmash" or "Izhmash-Anschutz". It was our right to choose the name. He said that they would make a tree for weapons, which we still have a problem with. They also had better aiming mechanisms. But they do not make them themselves, but order them from specialized companies. In our country, all sights are made on the same equipment, which makes them less accurate. Plus, the Germans took on all the equipment - belts and so on. But we refused them twice, - says Susloparov.

- Why?

Pride took over from leadership. It was the only rifle we sold for export. They didn't dare to let go of her. Time passed, and we were out of work. If they had agreed then, then, perhaps, today everyone would have benefited.

- Didn't they try to lure you away?

It was basically impossible. The first time I went abroad was in 1996, at the invitation of Tikhonov. And before that, we had only one person traveling abroad. He was tested for years, he was a member of the party. Lots of nuances. Therefore, I can’t even imagine how it was possible to negotiate with someone.

- Representatives of Anschutz came to Izhevsk, you could talk to them here.

This is only at first glance. In fact, all of us who have been at the plant since the 70s have spent almost our entire lives here. If I came to the plant in the morning, then during the day I could not leave it. There was no special opportunity to convey something. Yes, and there were no such thoughts.

- When did Anschutz take the lead?

In the 90s there was a decline in the entire industry in the country, including ours. The mechanisms of machines for forging trunks have served their time. They, unfortunately, were not of our production, but Austrian. They worked for several periods of survivability and after that they could only produce non-sporting products. For biathlon, the accuracy of the barrels should be higher than that of a domestic machine.

How biathlon rifles are made

In recent years, the plant has changed for the better and is still changing. Modern equipment has been purchased, new workshops are being built, and the production of biathlon rifles, like all products of the concern, has breathed a different life. The Izhevsk weapon still has a number of advantages over the German competitor. To get to the factory, you need to go through several checkpoints. And even on the territory it is necessary to pass through the frames of metal detectors, moving from one workshop to another.

- How many biathlon rifles can be assembled in one shift?

You can’t collect such a shift for a shift, - says the master of the Kalashnikov concern. - About 10 rifles per month. Immediately you need to weigh everything, check that it meets the necessary parameters.

The assembly is made together with cartridges. Sleeves should easily and smoothly fly out of the shutter. This is one of the main advantages of the modern Izhevsk biathlon rifle.

We can easily disassemble and clean the shutter, - explains Ivan Cherezov. - Anschutz shutter is much more difficult to disassemble. Not everyone can collect it the first time, a certain skill is needed. With the Germans, if you haven’t fully opened the shutter, then the sleeve may not pop out. Maybe you saw at competitions when an athlete stands and picks at a rifle at a shooting range to throw out a stuck cartridge case. In Izhevsk, this is excluded. She always flies right away. The shutter devices of our rifles are different. The Anschutz has a straight head and has a slight bend - a weak point. With prolonged use, it may break. There were such cases at competitions when the firing pin broke and the rifle stopped firing. This cannot happen with us.

Anschutz and Izhmash rifles are very different in price. German weapons cost from 3,500 euros, Russian - from 55 thousand rubles. But individuals cannot buy an Izhevsk rifle, only sports schools.

Our rifle is an order of magnitude cheaper and easier to maintain, explains Cherezov. - She's easier. Even in the TK it is written that it can be safely disassembled and reassembled. And not so that it breaks down and you have to go somewhere to the warranty center. We cooperated with the Norwegian firm "Larsen-Biathlon". They signed a contract for 300-400 rifles annually, which were mainly intended for children's biathlon. Therefore, there are quite a lot of our weapons in Norwegian sports clubs. I can’t confirm, but I heard that when the Norwegians get into the national team, they are forced to switch to Anschutz. Perhaps this is due to the fact that it is more convenient to buy it, find a service and shoot the barrel. Now, due to sanctions, this cooperation has been suspended. But Larsen is interested. He has a desire to come here.

The shooting of assembled rifles is carried out at the test station of the concern. Here, weapons are tested not only in a traditional shooting range, but also in a special freezer. The temperature in such a chamber is minus twenty degrees. This is the minimum figure at which biathlon competitions are allowed. A rifle at this temperature should not misfire.

The shooter brings the barrel and cartridges into the chamber, which are kept for an hour, - explains the head of the test station of the Kalashnikov concern, Stanislav Shadrin. - After an hour, the shooter hangs a card on a target that is at a distance of 50 meters (on the street), fixes the barrel on a yew and makes five sighting shots. There is a 10 minute break between episodes. That is, the time during which biathletes theoretically run the distance and return to the firing line again. After shooting, the barrel is removed, taken to the cleaning room, where it is kept at a temperature of plus 45 degrees and sent to the warehouse.

In competitions, IBU judges are only interested in two indicators. The weight of the rifle must be at least 3.5 kilograms without magazines, and the trigger must withstand a load of 500 grams. If the weapon does not pass the test, then it is not allowed to start.

The Russian Biathlon Union, with which the concern has been cooperating for several years, has much more requirements for rifles. The barrels with the best characteristics are selected for the national team. For example, the accuracy of rifles should be up to 10 millimeters. It takes more than one month to select rifles for the RRF.

Now it is often said that Anschutz has better accuracy. If you want to pick up a good rifle, then you need time here, - says Ivan Cherezov. - The Germans have the same selection. 99 percent of our athletes who purchase Anshutz weapons from their store change their barrels and pick them up. Therefore, the fact that Izhevsk rifles are worse in accuracy is not entirely true.

Why athletes choose Anshutz

Anschutz's trump card is affordable rifle maintenance. The head of the company, Dieter Anschutz, organized a mobile service. A specially equipped bus arrives at competitions held under the auspices of the IBU. This bus carries out repair work of any level of complexity. In Russia, the “Rules for the circulation of weapons” do not allow repairs to be made outside the manufacturer's enterprise.

Previously, a man was sent from the factory who followed the rifles. Often these functions were performed by Vladimir Fedorovich Susloparov, then another master - Alexander Afanasyevich Ponamarev. Recently, the teams have guys gunsmiths who are constantly with them. They can quickly provide service on site. In this regard, athletes are insured, - explains Ivan Cherezov.

- What cartridges do our athletes use?

For a long time our weapons were made under our cartridge - Olympus. They shot from it. If we take the percentage, then most of the biathletes around the world shoot from Lapua. So that our athletes can also shoot with Lapua, we have changed a few things in the barrel. Now the Finnish cartridge also gives good accuracy.

- Why is Anschutz better in technical terms?

It is outwardly more interesting with all sorts of body kits. These are adjustable front sights, sights. Here you can assemble a more elegant rifle. But we are also working on this right now.

- How can you reduce the time that biathletes spend at the turn?

It's not an automatic. Time on the shooting range is 90 percent dependent on the athlete himself. The main place where you can win back is the interval from the moment when the biathlete touches the mat with his skis to the first shot. Some fire the first shot at the 15th second, others at the 10th. That is, they play for five whole seconds. This is a very large stock. To reduce the time between shots is fraught with misses. As for the mechanics of the shutter movement, yes - the easier the shutter moves, the less you turn on the muscles for reloading. If you do it easily, then the speed is higher. The guys who work in a team are already doing this. They make the bolt travel as easy as possible so that the cartridge is delivered there easily.

- What are you working on now?

Our reloading system is recognized as the best in the world. Even Anschutz wanted to buy it. The most important thing here is the search for the geometry of the trunk. Find one so that it can give high accuracy when shooting in sub-zero temperatures. Research work is ongoing.

- Why does Anton Shipulin shoot from Anschutz?

In our difficult times, the thread of quality has been lost. There were certain difficulties with the same communication. It was easier to get to Germany, buy a rifle, pick up the barrel and shoot the cartridges. Shipulin at that time got up on skis and picked up Anshutz. And then retraining when you are at such a high level, not everyone has a desire. Everything here is purely individual. For example, Garanichev says that he tried a German rifle and did not like it.

Text: Mikhail Kuznetsov

Photo: Press Service of the Kalashnikov Concern, RIA Novosti/Alexander Wilf, RIA Novosti/Aleksey Filippov, RIA Novosti/A. Zhigailov, RIA Novosti/Yakov Berliner, RIA Novosti/Yuri Somov, RIA Novosti/Mishchenko