I thought I'd post a few tidbits along the way.
Look at the way the Russian shooter has her rifle severely canted. Lots of the top level shooters do that, some to a much greater degree than this. But like I said in the post where I did an overview of the equipment, the rifles these folks use are customizable in every way. There are curved-top sight mounts that allow the front and rear sights to be nowhere near directly above the bore...if that's the way the shooter can hold the rifle the steadiest. She appears to be using a custom front sight mounting block to perform this function. It may look all cattywampus but that's one of the ways you can win shooting medals at the Olympics.
BTW, these are the gold and silver medalists. The Russian was ahead by 0.2 until the last shot of the finals when she completely blew it, shooting an 8.9. The Chinese shooter also had a less-good-than-expected final shot with a 9.8 but that was enough to blow away the 0.2 lead the Russian had a few seconds previously.
Yeah, they're just silly, over-complicated air rifles in a competition that many would dismiss as an exercise in uselessness.
But if you're into it, those last two shots were absolutely thrilling.
In case you couldn't tell, I'm into it.
Look at the way the Russian shooter has her rifle severely canted. Lots of the top level shooters do that, some to a much greater degree than this. But like I said in the post where I did an overview of the equipment, the rifles these folks use are customizable in every way. There are curved-top sight mounts that allow the front and rear sights to be nowhere near directly above the bore...if that's the way the shooter can hold the rifle the steadiest. She appears to be using a custom front sight mounting block to perform this function. It may look all cattywampus but that's one of the ways you can win shooting medals at the Olympics.
BTW, these are the gold and silver medalists. The Russian was ahead by 0.2 until the last shot of the finals when she completely blew it, shooting an 8.9. The Chinese shooter also had a less-good-than-expected final shot with a 9.8 but that was enough to blow away the 0.2 lead the Russian had a few seconds previously.
Yeah, they're just silly, over-complicated air rifles in a competition that many would dismiss as an exercise in uselessness.
But if you're into it, those last two shots were absolutely thrilling.
In case you couldn't tell, I'm into it.