Air Arm Biathlon rifles and accessories

[ArTee]

Does anyone have any experience with this company, the quality of the guns and the parts they use, ie Sights?

Thanks,

ArTee

[pcw]

I just looked at the rifle online and it looks like a solid product. Air Arms makes reliable stuff, just not World Cup level stuff. For me the question is: why do you want one? I don't know of any air rifle races. If you are interested in biathlon and want the rifle for home practice, any single shot air rifle will do.

[eliot6025]

I still have my s400 biathlon. My air arms rear sight used a different threading and I could not use my gehmann apertures. Ended up replacing the unit with a anschutz 6834 set. If you want a direct replacement rear sight, I would look into the daisy 5996 rear site. It has less play and the sight will take the european apertures.

I occasionally have trouble with the magazines, sometimes the pellets do not index to the breech. You end up jiggling the side lever to move the internals to align correctly.. The nice thing is air arms provides 4 of the 5 shot magazines. They are expensive to get as replacements from vendors here in the US. I went to the local hardware store and bought a o ring to replace one that broke on the pellet retainer.

From the factory my trigger was too light, i adjusted the trigger to have 550 gm pull weight - which is the minimum for winter biathlon rifles. The instructions explain how to adjust the first and second stages . You will use the supplied allen wrenches.

Is the air arms a good trainer compared to my 1827f ? yes and no. I can practice @ 10m in my backyard. Not the same as 50m with 22, but my range will not let me use metal targets out at 50 yards. I can get off my 5 shots in quick sucession without taking my eyes off the targets. It is not the same as a fortner. The rifle is also weighs less than a fully outfitted 1827f ( 9 lbs ) - there is no way to mount a larsen or anschutz biathlon shoulder harness to the left side of stock. You would need to route out the forearm area to mount a rail and also drill holes near the butt. Without the harness, you are not taking it skiing. I did test the s400 at altitude and temp last year .

Just be aware that this rifle is not issf compliant for 10m contest because the s400 biathlon is a repeater. I purchased my s400 to be an offseason trainer for biathlon. Am i happy with the S400? yes, and it was less expensive than the offerings from feinwerkbau or steyr. Feel free to contact me if you any specific questions or would like to see pictures of both the 1827f and s400 together.

[ArTee]

Thanks. I have a FWB 601 that can single hole at 10m ( I can almost single hole, the gun can). I was looking for a repeater FWB or Steyr but the $$ has me holding back. The AA was a question and I have a rear dioper that appears like the one sold with the gun that is not of the quality I would want. I'm kind of surprised that they didn't upgrade that aspect of the gun. I put the sight on a fun gun MP 61 and it would not hold the zero. I went back to pure iron.

I mainly shoot at home especially since the C19. On the range I use a Surgeon 591 short action 223 that I can place 10 shots c2c less than 1/8 @100 yards. I just like to shoot mainly single shot but occasionally repeaters are nice.

RT

[pcw]

Hey Eliot,
What biathlon club do you belong to?

[BigDogPhil]

I do not have experience with the Air Arms but do have a FWB P75 . P75 is very nice but doesn’t replicate an fortner bolt at all. Closest to a fortner pull/push would be the FX Biathlon Mk2 which has never been imported into the US as far as I’ve found.

[acorneau]

This just popped up in the buy and sell section...

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=63706