Shooting

Shooting

The International Shooting Sport Federation recognizes several shooting events, some of which have Olympic status. They are divided into four disciplines: Rifle, Pistol, Shotgun and Running Target.
The main distinctions between different Rifle events are the distances to the target and the shooting positions used. For the other disciplines, the position is always standing, and changes include limits to shooting times and different types of targets.

Common principles

All ISSF shooting events consist of precision shooting in the sense that only the position of the shot on the target determines the result, not the time used to produce that shot (provided the time was within the set constraints, of course). This separates them from

IPSC events and other kinds of action shooting. In rifle, pistol and running target events, the maximum score for each shot is 10. In shotgun events, there is only hit and miss.

Elimination, Qualification, Final

In the 300 m rifle events and the 50 m rifle and pistol events, all participants of a main competition must compete at the same time. If the range capacity is not enough for this, an elimination round is conducted the day before the main competition. From this round, only so many shooters advance as the range capacity can allow. The program of the elimination round is the same as that of the match or qualification round.
The match, or qualification round in case of Olympic events, is then the major part of the competition. In all events except those where elimination rounds are held, shooters are divided as necessary into relays and shoot the match at different times during the competition day. In matches consisting of two stages, all shooters must complete the first stage before the second stage may commence. The stages are not seldom completed on two consecutive days (especially so in

25 m Rapid Fire Pistol, the shotgun events, and the running target events).
In larger matches, but only in the Olympic events, a final is added to the qualification round. (On the national level, there may be finals even in some non-Olympic events, such as 50 m Rifle Prone for women.) The top eight contestants (or top six in case of the shotgun events and 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol), qualify for the final. The final consists of 10 shots in the 50 m and 10 m events, 20 shots (four five-shot series) in the 25 m events, and one series in the shotgun events (that is, 25 shots in Trap and Skeet, and 25 doubles in Double Trap). In rifle and pistol finals, the score zones are divided into decimals, so that each final shot may give up to 10.9 points. In shotgun finals, there is still only a hit or a miss, but a special type of clay target with coloured powder is used to make it easier for spectators to immediately see the result. In all cases, the final score is added to the score of the qualification round, and the winner is the shooter with the best aggregate score. Ties are resolved by shooting as many additional shots (or series at 25 m) as needed to break them.

Scoring and tie-breaking

In all rifle, pistol and RT events results are recorded in ten-shot series, despite the fact that none of them are actually shot this way; the pure precision events at 300 m, 50 m and 10 m are shot at the shooter's own pace, the 25 m pistol events are shot in five-shot strings, and the RT events are shot one shot at the time. However, the recorded ten-shot series are used for tie-breaking, so that the participant with the better last series comes before the other. In events without finals this tie-breaking system can decide championships, while in Olympic events it only decides the qualification and starting order for the finals (or starting order only, in the case of six-shooter finals, where a special shoot-off is held if shooters are tied for the last final place). In 25 m Center-Fire Pistol and 25 m Standard Pistol, ties for medal places are resolved by a one-string shoot-off.
Shotgun events are recorded in series of 25 targets (Trap and Skeet), 40 targets (Women's Double Trap) or 50 targets (Men's Double Trap).