Dimensions for Shooting

Competitive shooting consists of a number of events across the four disciplines of rifle, pistol, running target and shotgun. All events are conducted as individual and team events.

Related topics: shooting

The information in this guide is general in nature and cannot be relied upon as professional advice concerning the design of, or marking out for, sporting facilities and playing areas. No assurance is given as to the accuracy of any information contained in this guide and readers should not rely on its accuracy. Readers should obtain their own independent and professional advice in relation to their proposed sporting activity.

Australian International Shooting Limited (AISL) is the peak body for the target shooting sports in Australia and comprises the following full member organisations:

Australian Clay Target Association
Field and Game Federation of Australia
National Rifle Association of Australia
Pistol Australia
Target Rifle Australia

AISL is the affiliated body to the following national and international organisations:

Australian Sports Commission
Australian Olympic Committee
Australian Commonwealth Games Association
International Shooting Sport Federation

The technical rules with regards to range sizes and equipment for all shooting disciplines are available on the International Shooting Sport Federation’s website at www.issf-shooting.org.
Following is a summary of competition events for shooting disciplines.

Small bore rilfe

There are two types of rifle shooting, 0.177 air rifle and 0.22 rimfire rifle. Air rifle shooting is done over 10m from a free standing position. Rimfire rifle shooting is done at a target 50m away. Rimfire shooting is done unsupported in the prone, kneeling or standing positions.

In all rifle events, competitors earn points with their shots at an appropriate sized 10-ring target, and the shooter with the most points at the end of the competition wins. 10m air rifle target

10m air rifle (60 shots) men

Shooters, in a free standing position, fire 60 competition shots and any number of sighters are fired in a maximum of 105 minutes at a target 10m away.

10m air rifle (40 shots) women

Shooters, in a free standing position, fire 40 competition shots and any number of sighters are fired in a maximum of 75 minutes at a target 10m away.

Fullbore rifle

Fullbore Target Rifle is an outdoor shooting discipline that uses high powered rifles. The most common class of competition, TR, is restricted to using 5.56mm NATO and 7.62mm NATO calibre rifles.

In Fullbore Target Rifle, competitors earn points with shots in a five-ring target, and the shooter with the most points at the end of the competition wins. Shooters always fire from a prone position.

Competitors shoot distances at ranges every 100m between 300m and 1000m. Galleries are typically from five to 40 targets wide, depending on the number of competitors for which the range has been designed.

Competitors normally shoot in groups of 12 shots over a single distance, with the best 10 consecutive shots making up the score for the match. A competition consists of a number matches each of which is shot at a different distance.

Information regarding design of a Fullbore Rifle Range is available from the Department of Defence document Fullbore Classification Ranges ─ Design Requirements.

Running target

Running target involves shooting at targets with dedicated target air rifles and four scopes from 10m. Maximum rifle weight is 5.5kg. The match consists of 30 shots 'slow runs' and 30 shots 'fast runs'. Slow runs means the target takes five seconds to pass across a 2m gap. Fast runs means the target passes the same gap in 2.5 seconds.

10m air rifle (60 shots) men

Shots fired in the standing position at a distance of 10m. Men shoot 60 shots in 105 minutes.

10m air rifle (40 shots) women

Shots are fired in the standing position at a distance of 10m. Women complete 40 shots in a maximum of 75 minutes.

Running target range

Pistol

Pistol shooting comprises a number of types including rapid fire, sports pistol, centre fire, standard pistol, 50m pistol, air pistol and others. For pistol events, targets are at 50m and 25m for the rapid fire and sport pistol events and 10m for the air pistol. The shooter must stand free, without support, with both feet and/or shoes completely within the firing point. The pistol must be held and fired with one hand only. The wrist must be visibly free of support.

10m air pistol (60 shots) men

Shooters fire from the standing position at targets 10m away. Men fire 60 competition shots in 105 minutes.

10m air pistol (40 shots) women

Shooters fire from the standing position at targets 10m away. 40 shots must be fired within 75 minutes at electronic targets.

25m rapid fire pistol (60 shot) men

There are two rounds of 30 shots each. One round consists of two series of five shots fired in eight seconds; two series of five shots fired in six seconds and two series of five shots fired in four seconds at a distance of 25m.

25m pistol (30+30 shot) women

At a 25m distance six series of five precision shots must be completed in five minutes each and six series of five rapid shots must be completed in three seconds each.

50m pistol (60 shots) men

Within 120 minutes, any number of sighting shots plus 60 competition shots are fired at a target 50m away.

Sporting clays

Sporting clays is a clay target discipline to simulate the type of shooting one could normally expect in the field while hunting. The size of the targets, their speed and angles of flight are all variable, making sporting clays a challenging clay target sport.

Unlike conventional clay target shooting, where all targets follow regular and standard trajectories from course to course, no two sporting clays grounds are the same and no two grounds have the same targets.
In sporting clays, aspects of natural terrain at the ground are utilised so that competitors are shooting amongst trees, rocks, uphill, downhill and overhead.

The different types of targets are:

standard clays
'midis' or 'minis' which are smaller
the larger but very thin 'battue' targets that turn on their side at the end of their trajectories
hard-rimmed 'rabbit' targets that roll along the ground
the smallest of all, the 'super-mini' is a high-speed midget

Targets are thrown in single and double formation, and in combinations of different sizes and at infinitely variable speeds, from angles of all points of the compass around the competitor. A single round of sporting clays consists of 25 targets.

Shotgun

Clay target shooting is one of the most popular target shooting sports. The firearm used is a shotgun with spinning saucer-shaped clay targets (normally 100mm in diameter and 20mm thick) that are thrown by machine at variable speeds and trajectories to provide the shooter with a small, moving target. Other clay target disciplines such as skeet and trap have set target trajectories.

Trap (125 targets) men

Shooters fire from five adjacent shooting stations. At each station, the targets are thrown one at a time from an underground bunker. The men’s match consists of 150 targets, shot over two days ─ 75 on the first day and 50 the second day. Then the top six contest a final series of 25 shots.

Trap (75 targets) women

Same as the men’s competition, except the women shoot three rounds of 25 targets for a total of 75. Then the top six contest a final series of 25 shots.

Double trap (120 targets) men

Competitors fire from five adjacent shooting stations. At each station, the targets are thrown two at a time from an underground bunker. Men shoot three rounds of 50 on one day at 150 targets. Then the top six contest a final series of 50 shots.

Skeet (125 targets) men

Targets are released from separate towers (high and low). The high tower is 3.05m above ground and the low target is 1.05m above ground. Each one is on either side of the range. Sometimes one skeet is thrown up and at other times two.

Shooters move through a semi-circular range featuring eight shooting stations.

The men’s match consists of 125 targets, shot in five rounds of 25 over two days. Three rounds are fired on day one, two rounds plus the final are shot on day two.