Teemu Rintala from Finland, one of the World’s best rifle and shotgun shooters. Nordic Champion, and now aiming for World Rifle Shoot in Russia 2017. I really hope the best practical rifle shooters from all around the World will come to this competition, but I guess that for various reasons some will refuse (or won’t be allowed) to go.

Teemu is 35 years young, but as an IPSC shooter he has already achieved a whole lot within the IPSC disciplines. His day job is running up and down trees, he works as an arborist and lives in Järvenpää, in Finland.

The pictures below are mine, as I had the opportunity to go in the same squad as him during the JP Rifles Challenge. Teemu is a really fast and agile shooter, I feel like slow-motion in comparison.

Teemu shooting one of the more challenging short courses at WCRO. Those clam shell targets were very fast.

Here’s his background and story:

-“I began shooting when I got my hunting license in 2007. First it was just practicing for hunting, with a shotgun and a .22lr rifle. But after a couple of years, I found myself training semi-seriously in IPSC pistol.

In 2010, I started to practice IPSC rifle, and a year later IPSC shotgun. At the same time I also started practicing SRA (Finnish reservists 3-gun). My main discipline today is IPSC Rifle in open division but I also shoot IPSC Shotgun, IPSC Mini Rifle and SRA. I’m using mostly reloaded ammo. 51gr CEHP and 69gr Scenar-L bullets, Vihtavuori powders and Lapua Match brass. With MiniRifle (22LR) I’m using SK Rifle Match for training and Lapua Midas + for competition.”

Wonderful stage. Teemu at the Nordic IPSC Rifle Championship, which he won.

-“This year was a good competition year for me: I won the Nordic Championship in IPSC rifle and I also won the West Coast Rifle Open (Sweden) / JP Rifles challenge, which is the biggest rifle match in Europe this year. I try to constantly develop my shooting skills, and I want to continuously improve. My main goal for next year is Rifle World Shoot in Russia. And to be the best in the World!”

Aimpoint stage. Close targets, but with only mini size and a lot of soft cover plastics in front. Rifle is just cleaned, so that’s a lot of FrogLube going up in smoke.

-“When I’m not practicing my shooting skills, I like to drive old motorcycles, and I enjoy fixing them up. I have a Triumph Tiger 650 -71, and a K-750 -64, sidecar. Wish I had more time for those.

The biggest challenge in IPSC Rifle is that there are so many different things to learn. It’s not enough that you are fast, or that you are accurate. You have to be both at the same time, and that is the beauty of practical shooting.”

Teemu is shooting a JP Rifles CTR-02 in .223 Remington, with Swarovski Z6i and Aimpoint H-2 in a Spuhr mount. Pilla shooting glasses for high-visibility and eye protection.

In shotgun he uses Benelli from Teuvo Louhisola, which he feeds with Fiocchi shotgun ammunition.Italians prefer italian food, eh?

There are a few modifications from Toni Systems on that Benelli.

During the cold, dark finnish winter Teemu spends a lot of the time at the Ruutisavu indoor shooting range.

Teemu also opened up my eyes for a great bipod. In fact, he even let me borrow his long bipod in one stage as I had left mine in the car and it was a long walk back. They were perfect for shooting kneeling, and very light with carbon fiber. They were so good I had to buy my own pair a week ago, perfect help and marketing. The brand is called Nord Arms, and I hope to be able to review them after I’ve used them more.

He keeps his firearms clean and lubed with FrogLube.

Sweden will host the next European IPSC Rifle Championship in 2018, unless the EU forbids the rifles we compete with altogether before that. I hope not, we want to continue with our sport.

Above: the JP comp in full action. Long course, 40 rounds minimum. Taran Tactical helps.

Shooters agree: Any day at the shooting range is better than a day at work. Even if it would be raining, we’d rather be at a match.

Below: Another Finnish top shooter, Mika Riste, works as coach and mentor for Teemu. Next year Mika will for sure mess up the senior division, and I’m sure we’ll see him on the podium several times.

Below: Teemu Rintala at the top of the podium. Kim Leppänen (FIN) and Olle Ackehed (SWE) in the top 3 positions at WCRO. Kim is now doing a 3 month tour in 3 Gun in the USA.

GP Rifle Team wins the WCRO / JP Challenge team competition.

Germany, Sweden and Finland is represented in the GP Rifle Team.

GP Rifle is one of Europe’s leading suppliers of equipment for practical and long range shooting, with an excellent webshop. They work as an international dealer for JP Rifles, STAG Arms, Armalite, Firebird Precision, RnR Shotguns, Taran Tactical and similar brands.

Winning a JP Rifle is always nice. At the Nordic Championship Teemu won an H&K rifle.

I think that was an HK MR308, nice win.

There are some videos available at the GP Rifle Shooting Team page.