Fundamentals

Contributors’ Note The ISSF shotgun events are Trap, Double Trap and Skeet.

Trap

In Trap, shooters in squads of six stand on designated shooting stations to shoot at targets released on or after the shooter’s call. The target must be hit according to the rules of the ISSFwith at least one visible piece seen by the referee. Shooter to hit the most targets in qualification rounds plus final wins.

Double Trap

Skeet

The Firearms

Shotguns used must be smoothbored and are invariably 12-gauge single-trigger over & unders. Loads must not exceed 24.5g (about 7/8-ounce). Shot size is also limited.

Starting Out

Everyone has to start somewhere, and your local gun club is probably the best place.

• In the USA
  • contributors to beginning ISSF shotgun are welcome…

See also

• the ISSF Shotgun Step-by-step Forum
• ISSF Manual for Juries and Range Officers
• “Mental Training”
• “Keeping Your Peak”

Selection of Equipment

Rifle

Clothing and Footwear

Eyewear

Ammunition

10m – 4.5mm Air Rifle Pellets

• The simple consideration is shape and weight – the 8.3grain waisted wadcutter reigns supreme.
• Pellet diameter is a different matter and is a matter of matching the diameter to your particulat rifle to get the best accuracy. Target quality pellets come in a range of diameters (usually) from 4.48mm through to 4.52mm, and the batch diameter is usally located on the packaging.

50m – .22Long Rifle

300m – CentreFire Rifle

Sighting

The Sights

Whether for 10m or 50m events, the sighting equipment and principles are the same:

• a tubular front sight unit that contains the sighting ‘element’ (invariably a black circle). The inside of the circle is slightly larger than the apparent size of the black aiming mark on the target.
• a micrometer-adjustable rear sight unit holding an aperture rear sight.
• Riser Blocks are used by some shooters to raise the sights higher above the bore line to enable a more upright head position.

Sighting Principles

• the shooting eye should be focussed at the front sight (it is not good to focus at the target) For most people this will require some corrective lens in the shooting glasses.
• the non-shooting eye should be open:
  • closing the non-shooting eye will give unequal light level to the eyes – this will repaidly bring on eye fatigue
  • balance is improved if both eyes are open
  • an occluder can be used in front of part of the non-shooting eye so that the shooter is not distracted by the non-shooting eye discerning the front sight and/or the target.
    • The ISSF rules limit the occluder width to 30mm.
    • a translucent material for the occluder is preferable to opaque material
• The shooter sights through the aperture of the rear sight and centers the front sight around the aiming mark

Position

Prone

Standing

Kneeling

Training is everything!

The Fundamentals

Contributers’ Note

This section has been provided for the ‘Beginning Rifle Shooter’. It provides information in this context – beginning shooters should be aware that much of the general information available regarding rifle shooting techniques are based on shooters already having the ‘basics’.

‘Stance’ (Position)

There are three ‘positions’ for ISSF Rifle events:

• 10 M Rifle is conducted in the Standing position only
• 50 M Rifle has
  • Prone event, and
  • 3 Position events (prone, standing, kneeling in that order)
• 300 M Rifle has
  • Prone event, and
  • 3 Position events (prone, standing, kneeling in that order)

Prone Position

Support

In the prone position, the rifle is supported (for a right-handed shooter) by:

• the butt plate against the shoulder, and
• the left arm / sling / hand to handstop
  • the forearms must be at 30 degrees or more to the horizontal

Little if any support is provided by the right arm and hand

The Shooting Mat

At an ISSF Championship (World Cups, etc.) and many other competitions shooting mats are supplied (7.4.7.12.4 Shooting Mats The use of private mats is prohibited); but at many clubs, shooters supply their own shooting mats.

There are ISSF specifications for shooting mats – and these differ from the specifications for other rifle organisations!

For ISSF – 6.3.12.2.2 a mat for shooting in the prone and kneeling positions.

• The front portion of the mat must be of a compressible material not more than 50 mm thick, and approximately 50 cm x 75 cm in size and measuring not less than 10 mm when compressed with the measuring device used to measure the thickness of rifle clothing.
• The remainder of the mat must have a maximum thickness of 50 mm and a minimum thickness of 2 mm. The minimum overall size must

be 80 cm x 200 cm. An alternative of two mats is permitted, one thick and one thin, but together they must not exceed the dimensions indicated in this Rule.

• The use of private mats is prohibited;

Cheek Weld

Consistency in sighting begins with proper “cheek weld”, positioning the cheek at the same place along the stock. Besides fore and aft placement of the “weld”, also it determines the height of the eyes in relation to the sights or scope.

Standing Position

Support

Cheek Weld

Kneeling Position

Support

The Kneeling Roll

Cheek Weld

Clothing

Rifle Shooting Jacket

Rifle Shooting Tousers

Rifle Shooting Boots

Shooting Glove

Sights and Sighting

Breathing

Trigger

Follow Through

Competitors shoot at a stationary target consisting of ten concentric rings, with the innermost being the ‘inner ten’ with a diameter of 5 mm. The targets are placed 50m away and shooters fire from the prone position.

The Rifle is of .22 (“Small-bore”) calibre with an maximum permissible weight of 8kg for men and 6.5 kg for women.

60 shots (including unlimited sighters) are fired in 75minutes. This gives a score out of 600.

In the Men’s 50m Prone event, the best eight shooters from this opening program qualify for the final, which consists of ten further shots, each fired on command. Each shot is evaluated in decimal tenths (10.9 being the maximum). The decimal score gives a maximum “Final” score of 109. The “Final” Score is added to the score from the opening program, giving a maximum score of 709.

The Women’s 50m Prone event has no “Final” Event and positions are decided from the 60-shot score.

From Shooting Wiki

Formerly known as ‘Free Pistol’, the ISSF 50m Pistol event is the pinnacle of precision pistol competition in the world. The shooter is given plenty of time and the rules are very liberal, without allowing technology to usurp shooter skills.

The rules are straight-forward:

• Sixty shots must be fired in 2 hours
• The pistol must have
  • open sights and
  • be loaded one shot at a time.
• The shooter must shoot one handed and use the same hand to support and trigger the gun.
• The grip cannot touch beyond the hand; i.e. the wrist must be visibly free when the pistol is held in the normal firing position.
• The shooter cannot wear clothing that offers additional support.

Of course there are many more details but that summarizes the spirit of the rules.

Matches

Sighting Shots

In the 50m Pistol event, shooters may take an unlimited number of Sighting Shots before they start shooting for record. Once the first Record Shot is fired, the shooter cannot take any more sighting shots. The only exceptions are rare instances when there is a gun malfunction that cannot be fixed on the line or the range is shut down for some reason.

Shooters can take as much time as they like within the time limit. They may shoot at their own pace. They may take breaks as they wish. Shooters may Dry Fire at anytime from the start of the Preparation Period until the match time limit has expired.

International and Major matches are typically fired on Electronic Targets. When Electronic targets, or automatic target changers for paper targets are used the shooters are given the full time limit without interruption. The shooter can fire as many sighting shots as desired and when ready press a button to start Shooting for Record. If the match is divided into two or more segments to facilitate target changing, the time segments for shooting still total two hours.

When electronic targets or automatic target changers are not available, the time limit will typically be divided into smaller segments and Paper Targets will be changed between time periods. In this case shooters are typically given one time period for sighter shots, then the entire line changes targets and starts shooting for record. Sometimes two or more targets will be hung and a longer time interval used. In this case shooters may be given one sighter target and one (or more) record target for the first time inteval.

Range Commands

• Preparation Time Begins now

after 10 minutes

• Start

10 minutes before the completion of shooting time

• 10 minutes

5 minutes before the completion of shooting time

• 5 minutes

at the completion of shooting time

• Stop

Malfunctions

50m / Free Pistols

Specification

Almost any .22LR pistol that has open sights can be used in a Free Pistol competition and some very good scores have been fired with Standard Pistols. Pistols used for this event must conform to the ISSF Free Pistol Specification, which covers such items as sights, and grip styles. One point to note is that only one shot may be loaded at a time.

Free Pistols