1972
At the beginning of the 1970s, ANSCHÜTZ also entered the increasingly popular sport of biathlon. When the large-caliber biathlon rifle was introduced at that time, nobody could have guessed how much ANSCHÜTZ would influence this sport.
The first ANSCHÜTZ produced biathlon rifle, manufactured from approx. 1970 onwards
Probably one of the most sensational successes of all time in shooting sports was achieved by the US team in the three-position competition at an international competition in Mexico in 1973. The now legendary team of Lones Wigger, Margaret Murdock, John Writer and Lanny Bassham had already won numerous medals at World Championships and Olympic Games, in team competitions as well as in the individual disciplines. The greatest success, however, was to be that at the aforementioned competition in Mexico. On the Olympic shooting range in Mexico City the team achieved a world record with its ANSCHÜTZ rifles in each firing mode and thus also in the overall ranking! This was the sensation par excellence and has not been achieved by any other team until today.
The results of the team:
prone position 1595 rings (world record!) standing position 1498 rings (world record!)
Kneeling 1563 rings (world record!) Total 4656 rings (world record!)
The U.S. sensation team full of world records and international success. From left: Lones Wigger, Margaret Murdock, John Writer and Lanny Bassham. The picture was taken in 1968.
With a total of 1167 rings in the individual discipline, Lones Wigger also set another world record. Looking back on his great successes, he wrote a letter to Dieter Anschütz in which he thanked him for his consistently good advice and the outstanding quality of Anschütz products. The letter literally reads:
"I tried around with different match rifles for three years. It was only when I used an ANSCHÜTZ rifle that my shooting performance improved and I went from being an average shooter to an Olympic champion and world record holder within only nine months. From then on I only shot with ANSCHÜTZ rifles at my international appearances and I still shoot them at international competitions.
Lones Wigger, 1964
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lones_Wigger
I owe my success to Dieter Anschütz and his great rifles. There has never been a competition rifle that even came close to the quality of the Model 54, cal. .22. In my 26-year international shooting career, I set 29 world records, 13 of them in individual matches. I won three Olympic medals, two gold and one silver. I also won 51 world championship medals, 22 of which were gold, and 89 U.S. championships. In total, I won 111 medals, 65 of which were gold. Except for two competitions - at that time, however, I didn't know Anschütz yet - I won everything with ANSCHÜTZ rifles from Ulm."
Just over a year later, at the World Shooting Championships in Thun, Switzerland, Margaret Murdock won another gold medal in the "50m prone position Team Ladies" discipline. She shared the success with her teammates Diana Zimmermann and Schuylen "Shy" Helbing. Helbing also contributed to the team success with an ANSCHÜTZ rifle.
Dieter Anschütz with world champion Schuylen "Shy" Helbing at the world championships in Thun, 1974
Thanks to the countless national and international successes, many shooters often referred to ANSCHÜTZ as "Meistermacher". In 1972, the slogan "DIE MEISTER MACHER" made it into the ANSCHÜTZ company logo and remained there until 2016.
