Gold & Silver Forum - Airguns: NRA comp rules, biathalon, and other topics

Hey guys, I recently have been getting into air rifles. Basically, it started out as a way to practice biathalon in a safer way (instead of using .22LR), and at first i considered airsoft, due to the realistic looking guns, but the ammo is so light and relatively slow, so wind carries it too easily. But then I discovered competition air rifles and the fact that there is a lot of NRA air rifle competition shooting out there (in fact, international standards shoot .177 cal airguns), so I decided to jump in. I purchased a low end but high velocity gun to start practicing with, but definitely going to score a match grade rifle soon.

Now, as far as biathalon practice goes, this crosman quest will do fine. I also got some daisy clay targets with stands (shatterblasters) which are perfect for this purpose, as they are dayglo orange, and obviously easily register hit and miss. Its been snowing good already and I could probably ski right now if i wanted, but waiting for a bit better base.

Does anyone here shoot competitively and have ordered the NRA rules booklets? To me it seems like a real turnoff to charge for these and not make them freely available online, but I guess Im gonna have to cough up. Anyway, my question is about rifles and what is legal at NRA shoots. I would like a bolt action, co2 as opposed to PCP rifle, are they OK to use? Then I could use the rifle for both biathalon and NRA shoots.

Also I was wondering about homemade targets. Check out the GAMO running target system, it simulates deer hunting with air rifles, and is getting excellent reviews. I know some engineers out there can think of an easy way for me to make a moving target that will pop back up, or a "hogans alley" type system, or something! Id really appreciate any thoughts on homemade stuff!