Target Shooting

Target Shooting, indoor and outdoor sport in which contestants fire small arms at stationary targets. The sport is similar to trap-shooting, which uses catapulted targets.

The standard target is a square of cardboard with concentric black and white rings around a black circular centre known as the bull's-eye. The object in target-shooting contests is to place a series of shots inside the bull's-eye. Both rifle and pistol matches are contested with various classes and calibres of firearms. Typical events include team and individual matches for women, men, and juniors. Contestants are classified, in ascending order, as beginners, marksmen, sharpshooters, experts, and masters. Shooting events are also included in the Olympic Games.

Rifle matches are divided into small-bore and high-power events. High-power rifles are .30-calibre arms that are fired at distances ranging from 200 to 1,000 yd (182.9 to 914.4 m); small-bore rifles are .22-calibre arms that are fired at distances ranging from 50 to 200 yd (45.7 to 182.9 m). Both types usually weigh considerably more than standard hunting guns, a characteristic that lends the target arms great stability and accuracy. The small-bore and high-power events are subdivided into contests for firearms with optical sights and those with conventional metallic sights. The chief component of an optical sight is a small telescope which, mounted on the barrel, provides a magnified view of the target. Metallic sights are comparatively simple mechanical guides affixed to the barrel that are designed to facilitate the accurate aiming of a rifle; such sights provide no magnification and thus impose a more severe test of shooting skill than do optical sights. Contestants in rifle matches fire in turn from prone, sitting, kneeling, and standing positions. The highest overall score determines the winner of the competition.

In pistol shooting, contestants fire hand weapons at targets 20 to 50 yd (22.9 to 45.7 m) distant. The arms used are .22-calibre, .38-calibre, and .45-calibre revolvers and automatic pistols. Each contestant fires 30 rounds in a typical match: 10 rapid-fire shots at 25 yd (about 23 m), 10 slow-fire shots at 50 yd (about 46 m), and 10 timed-fire shots at 25 yd (about 23 m). In rapid-fire events competitors get mere seconds to hit their targets, in contrast to the free pistol where they have up to two-and-a-half hours.

The sport of small-arms target shooting dates from the invention of the pistol and the rifle. The first shooting club, the Lucerne Shooting Guild (Switzerland) was formed about 1466 and the first recorded shooting match was at Zurich in 1472. Target shooting grew rapidly in Europe and North America during the 19th century. The National Rifle Association of Great Britain was created in 1860, and the American National Rifle Association came into being in 1871. The international governing body for the sport, the Union Internationale de Tir (UIT), was formed in Zurich in 1907. Shooting has been part of the Olympic programme since the first modern Games in 1896, its inclusion then no doubt encouraged by the Games' founder, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who was a first-class shot. Separate events for women were introduced in 1984, though they had competed alongside their male counterparts since 1968.

The most famous ranges in Britain are situated at Bisley in Surrey. There the National Small-bore Rifle Association stages an annual National Prize Meeting. The Queen's Prize, the “blue riband” of British and Commonwealth shooting, was founded by Queen Victoria in 1860.