Inside ISSF

Find out all the shooting sport medal winners since 1896. All the events, all the competitions, all the medals awarded in 122 years of history!

Olympic Games are organized every four years.

Youth Olympic Games are organized every four years, two years after the Olympic Games.

ISSF World Championship in all events is organized every fourth year, two years after each Olympic Games: the competition includes all the Olympic and non-Olympic Shooting events governed by the ISSF.

ISSF Shotgun World Championship is organized in the next year following the ISSF World Championships in all events and the Olympic Games.

Continental Championships are organized every one or two years, according to the respective Continental Confederation.

Continental Games are organized every four years.

ISSF World Cup Series are organized every year: stages are organized by Member Federations upon appointment of the ISSF.

ISSF World Cup Final is organized every two years, between the ISSF World Championship in all events and the Olympic Games.

For a complete overview of the next ISSF competitions and championships please visit the ISSF calendar page.

The ISSF recognizes shooting sport events in four disciplines:

• Rifle
• Pistol
• Shotgun
• Running Target
• Target Sprint

 

Target Sprint has been introduced in 2013, and it’s a combination of Air Rifle shooting at falling targets and mid-distance running.

All events can be conducted as individual and team events — with team being composed by three members each — in four categories: men, men junior, women and women junior.

RIFLE

Competition: In all Rifle events competitors earn points by shooting at a 10-ring target.

Olympic Rifle events consist of a qualification phase from which the top-eight shooters advance to the final phase. No qualification score is carried forward: all finalists start from zero.

All Rifle finals are knock-out style: after a given number of shots — which changes according to the event — the shooter with the lowest score is eliminated from the match while the others continue to shoot, and so forth until the three medalists are decided.

Distances: Olympic Rifle matches include 10 and 50 meters events. Non-Olympic Rifle matches include 10 meters, 50 meters and 300 meters events.

Positions: Rifle shooters fire from three different positions: standing, kneeling and prone, according to the events and the stage of the match.

In the standing position the rifle is held with both hands and rests on the shoulder; the left arm may be supported by the chest or the hip. In the kneeling position the right-handed shooter may touch the ground with the toe of the right foot, the right knee and the left foot. In the prone position the rifle cannot rest against or touch any object; the right-handed shooter’s left forearm must form an angle of at least 30 degrees from the ground.

Rifle sights: Only metallic sight are permitted: they have no lenses or system of lenses; color filters are allowed and the rear sight can have fine adjustment for windage and elevation.

PISTOL

Competition: In all Pistol events competitors earn points by shooting at a 10-ring target.

Olympic Pistol events consist of a qualification phase from which the top-six or top-eight shooters advance to the final phase. No qualification score is carried forward: all finalists start from zero.

All Pistol finals are knock-out style: after a given number of shots — which changes according to the event — the shooter with the lowest score is eliminated from the match while the others continue to shoot, and so forth until the three medalists are decided.

During the 25m Pistol Women and 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men final matches targets are set to record hit-or-miss scores, with the size of the hit varying according to the type of event. All the other final scores are realized on 10-ring targets.

Distances: Olympic Pistol matches include 10 meters and 25 meters events. Non-Olympic Pistol matches include 10 meters, 25 meters and 50 meters events.

Positions: Pistol shooters fire from a standing position and they must hold and fire the gun with one hand, with the wrist clearly free of support.

Pistol sights: Only open sights are permitted. The open sights consist of a post or blade sight at the front of the gun, and a notch at the rear. Any other type of sight — optical, mirror, telescope, laser beam or electronically projected beam — are prohibited. The rear sight usually has fine adjustments for windage and elevation.

SHOTGUN

Competition: In the three Shotgun events — Trap, Double Trap and Skeet — shooters are drawn in squad of six. They must stand on designated shooting stations and shoot at clay targets that are released after their command. A hit is declared when the target is shot at according to the rules and at least one piece of it is seen falling by the referees.

Olympic Shotgun events consist of a qualification phase from which the top-six shooters advance to the final phase. No qualification score is carried forward: all finalists start from zero.

Shotgun and cartridges: Shotguns must be smooth bored. They are invariably 12-gauge, single-triggered and over-under type — one barrel is placed above the other. They fire cartridges loaded with lead pellets: the weight of the pellet load must not exceed 24,5 grams per cartridge; the diameter of each pellet must not exceed 2,6 millimetres. Guns and cartridges are subject to official checks during the shooting program.

The maximum effective range of such a clay target shotgun is considered to be about 50 meters. Modern shooting ranges provide lead-recoil infrastructures and technologies.

Clay targets: The diameter of the flying clay target is about 110 millimeters or 4 inches, while the height measures about 25 millimeters or 1 inch. Actually, modern clays are not made of clay, but of modern and eco-friendly material.

Targets are bright orange for better sighting, and the ones used in the final matches contain a powder that makes it more easy for referees and spectators to understand a hit and a miss. This type of target is called flash target.

Clay target machines: The machine that launches the target is called trap. It’s a sophisticated automatic machine that are capable of throwing a target with trajectories and distances that are required by each event.

In Trap and Double Trap events targets are released from a trap; in Skeet events targets are released from two houses — a high and a low one. In all events a microphone system respond to the call of the shooter.

RUNNING TARGET

Competition: In all Running Target events competitors fire at a moving target. Most of the  events consist of two runs: a slow one and a fast one. A third type of event has mixed type of runs.

Two events — 10m Running Target Men and 10m Running Target Women — consist of a qualification phase followed by two semifinals and two medal matches.

Distances: Running Target matches include 10 meters and 50 meters events. All Running Target events are non-Olympic.

Positions: The shooters stand unsupported and fire in a standing position, starting with the rifle at hip-level and raising it only after the target appears.

Running Target sights: No optical sights are permitted.

TARGET SPRINT

Competition:

Junior shooters are those shooters who will be under the age of 21 on December 31st of the competition year. Junior may take part in all ISSF championships and Olympic Games as members of their national team.

Specific junior events can be added to the World Championship’s program by the Organizing Committee with the approval of the Executive Committee. Junior events can also be included in Continental Championships’ programs by the respective Continental Confederation.

Junior events for men and women should be chosen from the list of recognized ISSF events, or be events designed to support the development of junior shooters.

Tie-break procedures: Ties occurring during qualification phases will be broken according to the ISSF Rules, which vary from event to event.

Ties occurring in final phases of Rifle and Pistol events will be broken by shoot-offs; ties occurring in final phases of Shotgun events will be broken according to qualification scores for elimination in 6th, 5th, 4th and 3rd place, and by shoot-offs for the assignment of gold and silver medals.

Penalties and disqualification rules: A Shooter may make a score protest about the value of his or her shot. If this is denied, a two-point penalty is automatically imposed. Such protests are resolved by the Classification Jury using accredited techniques.

Other penalties or disqualifications take place in accordance with the ISSF Rules. The most common reason for penalties is cross-fired shots; the most common reasons for disqualification are: failure of rifle clothing being too stiff, and failure of pistol weight test.

Appeals and protests: In accordance with the ISSF Rules all shooting sport events have specific protest or appeal times. Official results are not published until any of these problems is resolved. For the benefit of media and spectators, preliminary results may be released for some events.

Records

OR - Olympic Records may be established only during Olympic Shooting events contested at the Olympic Games.

WR - World Records and WRJ - World Records Junior may be established at the following competitions: Olympic Games, ISSF World Championship, ISSF World Cup Series, ISSF World Cup Final, Continental Championships and Continental Games which have been conducted according to the ISSF rules. They are set during the final phase of any men, men junior, women or women junior event.

QWR - Qualification World Records and QWRJ - Qualification World Records Junior may be established at the same competitions, and they are set during the qualification phase of any men, men junior, women or women junior event.

On the program of the Olympic Games there are 15 shooting sport events.

At the ISSF World Championship there are some additional events: 300m Rifle, 50m Pistol, 50m Running Target and 10m Running Target events, as well as Target Sprint events and further 50m Rifle, 25m Pistol and Double Trap events. All matches are contested in men, men junior, women and women junior categories.

All events are held in individual and team formats, with teams being composed by three members each.