Shooting sports can be categorized by equipment, shooting distances,
targets,
time limits and degrees of
athleticism involved. Shooting sports may involve both team and individual competition, and team performance is usually assessed by summing the scores of the individual team members. Due to the noise[6] of shooting and the high (and often lethal)
impact energy of the
projectiles, shooting sports are typically conducted at either designated permanent
shooting ranges[7] or temporary shooting fields in the area away from settlements.
History
Great Britain
The
National Rifle Association (NRA) was founded in 1859 to raise the funds for an annual national rifle meeting "for the encouragement of Volunteer Rifle Corps and the promotion of Rifle-shooting throughout Great Britain".[8]
United States
Target shooting was a favorite sport in
colonial America, with the New England Puritans regularly testing their shooting skills for recreation and at militia training days. The Scotch Irish settlers on the frontier favored shooting matches sponsored by Tavern keepers.
Turkey shoots were popular after harvest time. Contestants would pay an entry fee, and everyone who killed a tethered turkey at 110 yards for muskets or 165 yards for rifles could keep the bird. German gunsmiths in Pennsylvania began to manufacture Flintlock rifles in the 1720s, which became especially popular among hunters because of its long-range accuracy. It could be accurate to 200 yards. Along about 1820, percussion caps, and the locks that ignited them, became available, and nearly all new firearms began to be constructed using this ignition system. Many flintlock firearms were also subsequently converted to the percussion system, which was a relatively simple procedure that could be accomplished by local gunsmiths. Although percussion ignition did not add to the accuracy of the firearm, the time between when the firearm firing mechanism (or "lock") started the sequence that lead to the ignition of the propellant in the barrel, was shortened drastically. This made getting smaller shot groups on the target more attainable as the possibility of the firearm moving off the aiming point after the shooter pressed the trigger was lessened. This shortened ignition time, which is referred to as "lock time" was (and still is) a very important factor in target shooting. The closed design of the percussion system materially improved reliability of the firearm, especially in rainy or damp conditions.[relevant?] The faster "lock time" also made hitting fast-moving aerial targets with a cloud of tiny lead pellets ("shot") fired from a smooth-bore firearm a real possibility. Practicing for game hunting by shooting at artificial aerial targets launched from spring-powered launching devices ("traps") became highly popular and led to the development of the modern Trap, Skeet, and Sporting Clays shooting sports.
In 1831 a sportsman club in Cincinnati Ohio held a competitive shoot at pigeons and quail released from ground traps. German ethnic communities set up athletic clubs and shooting clubs, especially in the Midwestern states In the 1850–1917. period[9] Breach loading shotguns introduced in the 1860s, and the knowledge of rifles by Civil War soldiers, made trap shooting popular. However, there was human humanitarian opposition to killing live birds—and the passenger pigeon was dying out—so glass or clay targets were used instead.[10][11]
Concerned over poor marksmanship during the American Civil War, veteran Union officers Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate formed the
National Rifle Association of America in 1871 for the purpose of promoting and encouraging rifle shooting on a "scientific" basis.[12] In 1872, with financial help from New York state, a site on Long Island, the Creed Farm, was purchased for the purpose of building a rifle range. Named
Creedmoor, the range opened in 1872, and became the site of the first National Matches until New York politics forced the NRAoA to move the matches to
Sea Girt, New Jersey. The popularity of the National Matches soon forced the event to be moved to its present, much larger location:
Camp Perry. In 1903, the U.S. Congress created the
National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice (NBPRP), an advisory board to the Secretary of the Army, with a nearly identical charter to the NRAoA. The NBPRP (now known as the
Civilian Marksmanship Program) also participates in the National Matches at Camp Perry.[13][14][15]
In 1903, the NRA of America began to establish rifle clubs at all major colleges, universities, and military academies. By 1906, youth programs were in full swing with more than 200 boys competing in the
National Matches. Today, more than one million youth participate in shooting sports events and affiliated programs through groups such as
4-H, the
Boy Scouts of America, the
American Legion, U.S.
Jaycees,
NCAA, The
USA High School Clay Target League, the Scholastic Clay Target Program,
National Guard Bureau,
ROTC, and
JROTC.
Olympics
French pistol champion and founder of the modern Olympics,
Pierre de Coubertin, participated in many of these early competitions. This fact certainly contributed to the inclusion of five shooting events in the
1896 Olympics. Over the years, the events have been changed a number of times in order to keep up with technology and social standards. The targets that formerly resembled humans or animals in their shape and size have are now a circular shape in order to avoid associating the sport with any form of violence. At the same time, some events have been dropped and new ones have been added. The 2004 Olympics featured three shooting disciplines (rifle, pistol, and shotgun) where athletes competed for 51 medals in 10 men's and 7 women's events—slightly fewer than the previous Olympic schedule.[16]
In the Olympic Games, the shooting sport has always enjoyed the distinction of awarding the first medals of the Games. Internationally, the
International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) has oversight of all Olympic shooting events worldwide, while National Governing Bodies (NGBs) administer the sport within each country.
Competition disciplines
Shooting at the Summer Olympics (at last edition
Tokyo 2020) includes fifteen medal events, covering seven disciplines. Medal events are evenly distributed between rifle, pistol and shotgun with five events each. Three Mixed Pairs events were introduced to ensure gender equity between men's and women's events. They replaced 50M Prone Rifle, 50M Free Pistol and Double Trap which were all men-only events.[17]
Rifle
50 meter rifle three positions (individual - men and women)
Handguns are handheld
small arms designed to be shot off-hand without needing a
shoulder stock. The two main subtypes of handguns are
pistols and
revolvers. They are much more convenient to carry in general, but usually have a shorter effective range and less
accuracy compared to
long guns such as rifles. In shooting sports, revolvers and
semi-automatic pistols are the most commonly used.
A
rifle is a
long gun with a
rifledbarrel, and requires the use of both hands to hold and brace against the shoulder via a
stock in order to shoot steadily. They generally have a longer range and greater accuracy than handguns, and are popular for hunting. In shooting sports,
bolt-action or
semi-automatic rifles are the most commonly used.
Bullseye shooting is a category of pistol and rifle shooting disciplines where the objective is to achieve as many points as possible by hitting a round shooting target as close to the middle as possible with slow precision fire. These disciplines place a large emphasis on precision and accuracy through sight picture, breath and trigger control.[citation needed] Fixed and relatively long time limits give the competitors time to concentrate for a perfect shot. An example of bullseye shooting is the
ISSF pistol and rifle disciplines, but there are also many other national and international disciplines which can be classified as bullseye shooting. The shooting distances are typically given in round numbers, such as 10, 25, 50, 100, 200 or 300 meters depending on firearm type and discipline. Competitions are usually shot from permanent
shooting ranges and with the same target arrangement and distance from match to match. Usually the competitors each have their own
shooting target and shoot beside each other simultaneously. Because of the relatively simple match format, beginners are often recommended bullseye shooting in order to learn the fundamentals of marksmanship.[citation needed] Bullseye shooting is part of the
Summer Olympic Games, and a considerable amount of training is needed to become proficient.
Bullseye shooting with handguns
There are six
ISSF shooting events with pistols. These include three Olympic events, plus three events not included in the Olympic program but contested at World Championships. Their roots date back to the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, consisting of both precision slow-fire and rapid-fire target shooting from distances of 10, 25, and 50 meters. The specialised pistols offer anatomic grips, with competitors shooting one-handed. In the UK (except for Northern Ireland), it is no longer possible to practice for some of the Olympic events following the
Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997, legislation brought in after the
Dunblane Massacre.
NRA Precision Pistol is a bullseye shooting event where up to 3 handguns of differing calibers are used. Its history is almost as old as ISSF events. Shooters must fire the pistol one-handed at 6- and 8-inch bullseye targets placed 25 and 50 yards downrange respectively.
Fullbore target rifle involves prone shooting with single-shot rifles at distances of 300yds to 1200yds. It is particularly popular in Britain and within the
Commonwealth of Nations (mostly former constituents of the British Empire).
Gallery rifle shooting is popular in the UK, using carbine rifles chambered in pistol calibres. Gallery Rifle was introduced as a substitute for many pistol shooting disciplines following the 1997
handgun ban.
High Power Rifle (also known as "Across the Course" or 'traditional' High power) in the United States is a format that shoots 3-position (standing, kneeling, or sitting, and prone) at 200, 300, and 600 yards. The term "Across the Course" is used because the match format requires the competitors to shoot at different distances to complete the course of fire.
Military
Service Rifle shooting is a shooting discipline that involves the use of rifles that are used by military forces and law-enforcement agencies, both past and present use. Ex-military rifles, sniper rifles (both past and present) and civilian versions of current use service rifles are commonly used in the Military Service Rifle shooting competitions. It is popular in the United States and culminates each year with the National Matches being held at
Camp Perry, Ohio. Some countries have outlawed civilian shooting at human-silhouette targets; silhouette targets are not used in the National Match Course of Fire. Bullseye targets are used. High Power Rifle competition often is held at the same events as Service Rifle, such as the U.S. national championships each year at Camp Perry. High Power competitors generally are civilians using whatever rifles they prefer within the rules, whereas Service Rifle entrants are limited to current or previous U.S. armed forces weapons. Under NRA of America rules only certain matches allow optical sights, normally those conducted at ranges over 600 yards.
Project Appleseed is a rifle marksmanship program by The Revolutionary War Veterans Association that teaches both rifle marksmanship and oral history regarding the American Revolutionary War. It shoots 3-position (standing, sitting, and prone) at 25 meters at reduced scale targets, simulating shooting at 100, 200, 300, and 400 yards. The techniques taught easily apply to transitioning to
High Power Rifle.
Full bore and small bore rifle shooting in the United Kingdom.
Field-Shooting or Terrain-Shooting [20][21] refer to a set of pistol and rifle shooting disciplines that usually are shot from temporary shooting ranges in outdoor terrain at varying (and sometimes unknown) distances, rather than at permanent shooting ranges at fixed distances.
Swiss field shooting with handguns is a discipline under the
Swiss Shooting Sport Federation arranged under a common Swiss ruleset, and has been part of the annual field shooting championship since 1919 alongside field shooting with rifles, which have been arranged since 1899.
Nordic Handgun Field Shooting in
Arendal,
Norway in 2007.
Swiss field shooting with rifles is a discipline under the
Swiss Shooting Sport Federation arranged under a common Swiss ruleset. The annual Swiss Field Shooting Championship has been held since 1899. From 1919, Swiss field shooting with handguns has also been av part of the Swiss Field Shooting Championship.
Precision rifle competitions, like the
Precision Rifle Series (PRS), is both a field and long range shooting discipline where rifles with intermediate or battle rifle cartridges are shot in the terrain at varying distances from about 10 to 1000 meters.
The Bianchi Cup, a fusion of
IPSC (without the "run and gun" element) and bullseye shooting (except shot with two hands and going prone whenever rules allow it) where accuracy under tight time limits in four simulated scenarios, known as the "Event(s)", is the basis of this competition. Shooters must start with gun in the holster on every strings of fire and distances range from 10 to 50 yards.
Fast draw, also known as quick draw, a form of pistol action shooting from North America, based on the romanticized art of the gunslingers in the American Old West, using traditional single action revolvers. But unlike Cowboy action shooting, Fast Draw is done with special blanks or wax bullets. While some competitions are strictly against the clock, with the fastest time winning, many are set up as head-to-head single or double elimination matches.
Running target shooting refers to a number of disciplines involving a shooting target—sometimes called a
boar,
moose, or
deer—that is made to move as if it is a running animal. Events of this type include:
Practical shooting, also known as
action shooting or
dynamic shooting, is a generic term applicable to shooting sports where speed is of equal importance as precision. Many of the disciplines involve movement, and when using handguns they are often drawn from a
holster.
The
International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) is the oldest and largest sanctioning body within practical shooting. IPSC is sometimes considered the "Formula One" of shooting sports, and is shot with handguns, rifles and shotguns. While the
United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) is the U.S. regional affiliate of IPSC, many of USPSA's rules differ slightly from those used internationally. IPSC was developed by former police and civilian marksmen and later used as a basis for modern military and police exercises. It is a variation where the shooter often moves during shooting, and hits scored and shooting time are equally important. Stage procedure is generally not dictated (freestyle) and the shooter is allowed to determine the order and manner in which he or she engages the targets.
International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) is an action shooting sport that uses semi-automatic handguns and revolvers with a strong emphasis on concealed shooting. Many aspects of stage engagement are dictated to competitors and penalties are given to competitors whom the safety officer determines attempted to gain a competitive advantage or engaged in a forbidden action with a "guilty mind" - that he knowingly failed to do right.
Multigun are practical shooting events where each of the stages generally require the competitor to use and transition between a combination of rifles, handguns, and/ or shotguns[27] or other types of firearms. 3-Gun has a lot in common with ordinary IPSC/USPSA matches, having courses of fire where the shooter must move through different stages and engage targets in a variety of different positions.
Steel Challenge is a speed shooting championship solely about shooting steel targets as fast as possible, and is governed by the Steel Challenge Shooting Association (SCSA). There are eight standardized courses of fire, and a special "stop plate" must be shot last to stop the timer.
International Confederation of Revolver Enthusiasts (ICORE) is an international community which promotes action shooting competitions with revolvers. Founded in 1991, the sport has elements from the Bianchi Cup, IPSC, and the Steel Challenge.[28]
IPSC Action Air follows the same principle of
IPSC, using
airsoft instead of real firearms. The ranges, paper targets and poppers are scaled down to suit airsoft, and the sport enjoys popularity in countries such as
Taiwan,
Hong Kong, and
Japan where civilian ownership of real firearms are either illegal or extremely difficult to obtain.
Bowling pin shooting (primarily shot with handguns) has the competitors race against one another to knock standard bowling pins from a table in the shortest elapsed time.
An Open division practical pistol shooter during a stage.
Long range shooting is shooting held at such distances that sight adjustment based from judging atmospherical conditions become critical.
Fullbore target shooting is concerned with shooting at targets at ranges of 300–1200 yards. The sport is internationally governed by
ICFRA, and is popular in the UK, US, Germany and Commonwealth countries. Similar disciplines called bullseye and field shooting are popular in Scandinavia, although fired at shorter distances.
"Target Rifle" (also known as
Palma rifle) is an ICFRA fullbore competition format that dates from 1876, featuring long-range rifle shooting out to 1,000 yards. The first Palma match was contested by teams from the U.S., Australia, Canada, Scotland and Ireland (with muzzle loaded rifles at that time). The matches continued to the late 1920s, and the Palma trophy was eventually lost in Washington DC around the outbreak of WW2. The match was revived in the modern era in 1966 in Canada, and continues between teams from around the world. Regulations stipulate bolt-action rifles chambered in 7.62mm NATO caliber (Winchester .308) and firing Match Grade ammunition using a 155 grain bullet using micrometer aperture (iron) sights, or a 5.56mm NATO (.223 Remington) with a max bullet weight of 90 grains, and iron sights. Due to developments in modern bullet technology, an 85.5 grain bullet out of a .223 can out shoot a .308, with the right load.[29] The last two International Long-range Target Rifle Matches were held in Australia in 2011 and the U.S. in 2015, were won by Great Britain.[30]
F-Class is another ICFRA fullbore competition format shot with Fullbore Target Rifles at ranges up to 1000 yards, the rifles being fitted with telescopic sights and the use of fore-end and butt rests being permitted. This is a fast-growing variant of Fullbore Target Rifle. The 'F' honours George Farquharson, the Canadian inventor of F-Class.
Precision Rifle Competitions, a relatively new long range competition format which seeks to find a balance between speed and precision, often involving movement and shooting from unusual positions with a time limit, at both known and unknown distances.
National Rifle League (NRL) is a
501(c)(3)non-profit organization dedicated to the growth and education of precision rifle shooting in the United States. Their match format allows any caliber between .224 to .308 and not to exceed 3,200 feet per second (980 m/s), involving at least 50 shooters with each firing minimum 140 rounds in at least 12 individual stages, over the course of at least two days. Since its debut in 2017, currently 11 clubs from eight states are involved in the league.[31]
National Rifle League 22 (NRL22) is a sub-league under the National Rifle League dedicated to
.22 Long Riflerimfire rifles. It was established to address the fact that most localities do not have access to 1000 yard ranges, but nearly all localities have 100-yard ranges and most shooters own .22 rifles. Their championship match consist of minimum 170 rounds fired in at least 15 individual stages. Currently 68 clubs from 31 states in the US participate in NRL22 matches, with addition to two overseas clubs from UK and Australia.[32]
T-Class Shooting Sport Competitions. Practical sniping with precision rifle systems is a shooting sport, which gains tremendous popularity worldwide over a short period of time. It concentrates on shooting onto static or dynamic targets of various distances (known and unknown), from different positions, under artificially created, but realistic stressful circumstances. It proves to be extremely interesting both for implementation and observation, due to its demanding level of difficulty.
The International T-Class Confederation (ITCC) is a non-profit organization, which is founded in 2014 for the purpose of promotion of the T-Class shooting sport internationally, with headquarters residing in Bulgaria. It offers a Set of Rules for designing and managing T-Class Competitions.
An
Anschütz 1903 rifle in caliber .22 LR used for benchrest shooting at 50 meters.
A BCM Europearms single shot benchrest rifle.
Metallic silhouette
Metallic silhouette competitors shoot at animal-shaped steel silhouettes (chickens, pigs, turkeys and rams) that must be knocked down to score. Banks of 5 targets are placed at up to 500 meters, with distance and size of target determined by firearm class. Classes include Handguns, Small Bore Rifle (Hunter, Silhouette), High Power Rifle (Hunter, Silhouette), air rifle and black powder rifle. Handguns used in the Unlimited Categories are rifle-like in appearance;
Thompson Contender,
Remington XP-100, and other pistols are chambered in rifle calibers with the power,
aerodynamic efficiency, and
external ballistics required for precise shooting at 200 meters. There are silhouette categories appropriate for virtually all types of adjustable sight pistols and rifles, only excluding high-velocity armor-piercing rounds that would damage targets. Targets for open sighted guns are placed between 25 and 200 meters, and are designed to provide a usable size of the hit zone of about 1.5
milliradians (or 5
minutes of arc).
Chicken, pig, turkey, and ram. The different targets are placed at different distances, and in this image the targets are scaled to how they would appear to the shooter in
angular sizes (
mil or
moa).
Western
Cowboy action shooting (CAS), almost identical to USPSA and IDPA stage design but with Western cowboy themed props, shot with long guns and revolvers of the same era. Mere act of shooting itself is not enough. Competitors must choose and go by a cowboy nickname or alias and are required to look the part by donning authentic cowboy and cowgirl garments.
Cowboy mounted shooting, also called Western Mounted Shooting or simply Mounted Shooting, is a competitive equestrian sport involving the riding of a
horse to negotiate a shooting pattern. Rule sets vary between shooting sport organizations, it can be based on the
historical reenactment of historic shooting events held at
Wild West shows in the late 19th century. Modern events use
blank ammunition instead of live rounds, certified to break a target balloon within twenty feet.[33]
The shooter uses different firearms during a stage. In this stage revolvers were used at the close range blue targets and a lever action at the red targets furthest away.
Cowboy mounted shooting at the 2012 AQHA Mounted Shooting World Championship.
The events mirror to some extent the shooting events at the Olympic Games. Air Pistol is typically shot from a seated position with the pistol unsupported. The amount of back-support permitted is determined by the athlete's level of disability. The Air Rifle events include Rifle "Standing", which is shot seated like Air Pistol, with variable levels of back support. "Prone" Rifle uses the basic
prone shooting position utilising a sling for the supporting arm, but is shot rested on a table with the athlete seated either in a chair or wheelchair.
Para shooting with a rifle sitting in a
wheelchair.
Shooting competitions for factory and service firearms, usually called Service Rifle, Service Pistol, Production, Factory or Stock, describe a set of disciplines or equipment classes where the types of permitted firearms are subject to
type approval and few aftermarket modifications are permitted. Thus the terms refer to permitted equipment and modifications rather than the type of shooting format itself. The names Service Rifle and Service Pistol stem from that the equipment permitted for these types of competitions traditionally were based on
standard issue firearms used by one or several armed forces and civilian versions of these, while the terms Production, Factory and Stock often are applied to more modern disciplines with similar restrictions on equipment classes. Factory and service classes are often restrictive in nature, and the types of firearms permitted are usually rugged, versatile and affordable. In comparison, more expensive custom competition equipment are popular in more permissive equipment classes. Both types of equipment classes can be found within many disciplines, such as
bullseye,
field,
practical and
long range shooting.
Plinking refers to informal
target shooting done for pleasure or practice typically at non-standard targets such as
tin cans,
logs,
cartons,
fruits, or any other homemade or naturally occurring objects like rocks (however, it is unsafe to shoot at rocks) or tree branches. The primary appeals of plinking as a sport are the broad variety of easily available locations, minimal costs, freedom in practice styles, and more relaxing and less restrictive shooting experience.
The flexibility of target choice is also why plinking is popular. A small, three-dimensional target in an outdoors setting is much more akin to a real-world
hunting and
varminting scenario, presenting a better simulated opportunity to practice shooting skills. A plinking target will also often react much more positively to a hit than a
paper target used in formal competitions, either audibly with a sharp impact sound (hence the name "plink") or visually by bouncing, splattering or falling over.
Steel targets used for formal
action and
long range shooting competitions are also popular for plinking due to the ease of setting up and confirming good hits.
A woman plinking with a Hi-Point pistol in .40 S&W in Alaska.
Plinking with a Ruger 10/22 rifle in Burro Canyon, Arizona, US.
Plinking on a Saturday in Burro Canyon, Arizona, US. On this range firearms must be kept unloaded in the rack, except when on the firing line.
Athletic shooting sports
Athletic shooting sports are hybrid events of normally stationary shooting sport competitions and the
sport of athletics or other physically demanding non-shooting sports. Many were borne from military exercises and emphasize physical endurance.
IBU Biathlon is a
Winter Olympic sport combining
cross-country skiing (normally freestyle skate skiing) and shooting with .22 LR rifles.[13] In Scandinavia the discipline is simply known as "Ski Shooting" (Swedish: skidskytte, Danish: skiskydning, Norwegian: skiskyting).
Nordic Ski Field Shooting (Norwegian: skifeltskyting, Swedish: skidfältskytte) is a Nordic discipline organised by the
National Rifle Association of Norway and the
Swedish Shooting Sport Association which is based on the origins of modern biathlon. It is normally held using
classic (in-track) skiing, but competitions can also be held in a freestyle
skate skiing format. Furthermore, shooting is done with fullbore calibers and usually in the field from temporary shooting ranges. The discipline is considered as a near precursor to modern biathlon.
Moose biathon (Finnish Hirvenhiihto) is a variation of biathlon comprising cross-country skiing, range estimation and rifle shooting at paper targets of moose.
Moose shooting with cross-country running (Finnish Hirvenjuoksu) is a summer variant where the skiing part is replaced with running.
Pistol skiing (Norwegian pistollangren, Swedish pistolskidskytte, Finnish pistooliammuntahiihto) is biathlon with pistols and revolvers, and is organised in Norway by
NROF, in Sweden by
SPSA and in Finland by the
FRSF.
Summer biathlon, with skiing replaced by either running or rollerskis, is popular in
Germany.
Ski Archery is a variation of biathlon combining archery marksmanship with cross country skiing.
Modern competitive archery involves shooting
arrows at a target for accuracy from a set distance or distances. A person who participates in archery is typically called an archer or a bowman, and a person who is fond of or an expert at archery is sometimes called a toxophilite. The most popular competitions worldwide are called
target archery. Another form, particularly popular in Europe and America, is
field archery, which generally is shot at targets set at various distances in a wooded setting. 3D archery, which differs from field archery in that the targets are animal models, is also quite popular in the same regions. There are also several other lesser-known and historical forms, as well as archery novelty games. The tournament rules vary from organization to organization.
World Archery Federation rules are often considered normative, but large non-WA-affiliated archery organizations do exist with different rules. Competitive archery in the United States is governed by USA Archery and National Field Archery Association (NFAA), which also certifies instructors.
Run archery is a shooting discipline connecting archery with running.
The
International Crossbow Shooting Union (Internationale Armbrustschützen Union or IAU) was founded in
Landshut,
Germany on June 24, 1956, as the world governing body for
crossbow target shooting. The IAU supervises World, Continental and International crossbow shooting championships in 3 disciplines; 30 m Match-crossbow, 10 m Match-crossbow and Field-crossbow shooting. IAU World Championships take place every two years with Continental Championships on intervening years. Other International and IAU-Cup events take place annually.[13]World Crossbow Shooting Association (WCSA) organises competitions in 7 disciplines: Target, Target match play, Forest, Forest match play, 3D, Bench & prone target and Indoor target.[39]
Anna Sushko of Russia, 2006 Junior World Champion, holding an ICU 10 m Match Crossbow
A competitor at the 30 meter event at the 2008 ICU Match-Crossbow World Championships in
Sulgen,
Switzerland.
Dart shooting sports
Sport blowgun
There are several competition styles of
sport blowgun practised around the world. A standardization of competition style is based upon
fukiya, and governed by the International Fukiyado Association. It is a 10-metre target shooting, using a standardized barrel caliber and length, and a standardized dart length and weight as outlined by IFA.
There are two more styles, both based upon the Cherokee Annual Gathering Blowgun Competition. The Field Style competition is similar to the winter Biathlon, where the shooter runs from a starting line to a target lane, shoots and retrieves the darts, and continues to the next station. The course length varies from 400 to 800 m with from 9 to 16 targets at various heights and shooting distances. The final style is the Long Distance target shoot. The target is a circle of 24 cm diameter, and the firing line is 20 m away. Three darts are fired by each shooter, at least one of which must stick in the target. All successful shooters move to the next round, moving back 2 m each time.
Confrontational shooting sports
Confrontational shooting sports is a set of relatively new
team sports using
non-lethal ranged weapons that are safe enough to shoot at other people. Previously such games were not possible due to safety concerns since bows and guns are generally too lethal and dangerous for human targets, but the development of newer
airgun and
infrared technologies allowed for the development of safe confrontational disciplines. While initially only for sport and recreations, professional sport competitions are now held. These type of games are also used for tactical
gunfight training by military and law enforcement agencies to some extent.[40]
Portrait shots of Olympic duelists, showing their safety equipment and modified guns.
Paintball
Paintball is a competitive sport in which players from opposing teams eliminate opponents out of play by hitting them with round, breakable,
dye-filled
oil and
gelatin pellets ("paintballs"), shot from
HPA/
CO2-powered
air guns called
paintball markers. It can be played on indoor or outdoor fields scattered with natural or artificial terrain, which players use for tactical cover. Paintball game types vary, but can include
capture the flag, elimination, ammunition limits, defending or attacking a particular point or area, or capturing objects of interest hidden in the playing area. Depending on the variant played, games can last from seconds to hours, or even days in
scenario play. The game was developed in the 1980s and is now regularly played at a formal sporting level with organized competition involving major tournaments, professional teams and players.
National Xball League is the
United States' professional paintball circuit. The league consists of a Professional Division, consisting of the best players the sport has to offer, that extends down to the beginner ranks of "Division 5" for those newer to the tournament atmosphere. The league hosts five national events across the country in places such as
Las Vegas,
Dallas,
Nashville,
Cleveland,
Chicago,
Atlantic City and
Orlando throughout the year, starting in March and ending their season in early November. The league's largest event each year is the season finale known as the World Cup, with the 2016 World Cup hosted 3,554 players from 35 countries.
National Collegiate Paintball Association is an all-volunteer,
non-profit organization created by United States college players. The goal of the NCPA is to promote the positive aspects of the sport in an intercollegiate manner. The NCPA consists of two distinct classes which competes separately — Class AA is an open-class division where any college may enter and compete in regional and national tournaments. Class A is a closed-class division where only certain colleges may compete after securing a bid in the previous season, and represents the best talent of college paintball and includes universities such as
Drexel University,
University of Maryland,
Illinois State University,
Purdue University,
University of Connecticut,
Penn State University and 10 other teams across three conferences all fighting for a national title. The association's 2007 playoff tournament was aired on
Fox Sports Net's digital cable college sports network,
Fox College Sports.
View of a course during a
speedball game in progress.
Airsoft
Airsoft is a competitive sport similar in concept to paintball, in which participants from opposing teams eliminate opponents by hitting each other with
solid round plastic pellets launched from low-powered
smoothboreair guns called
airsoft guns. It is different from paintball in that airsoft pellets do not visibly mark the targets like paintballs, and thus the sport relies heavily on an
honor system where a hit player has the ethical duty to call himself out of play, regardless of whether anyone else sees it happen. Most airsoft guns are also magazine-fed (unlike the commonly top-mounting pellet loader of paintball markers) with mounting platforms compatible with real firearm accessories, and tend to more closely resemble real guns in appearance, making them more popular for
military simulation and
historical reenactments. The greater toughness of airsoft pellets also allows the use of better powerplants and apparatus such as
hop-up device for improved
external ballistics, making the gameplay more accurately resemble real gunfights. They are also much cheaper for casual players to participate than paintball.
Airsoft gameplay varies in style and composition just like paintball and is played in both indoor and outdoor courses. Situations on the field frequently involve the use of real-life
military tactics to achieve objectives, and it is not uncommon for participants to emulate the uniforms and equipment of real military and police organizations for a sense of realism. Games are normally supervised (and sometimes umpired) by trained on-site administrators, and players' airsoft guns are usually checked through a
chronograph to enforce power output restrictions.
There are currently no formal national or international
governing bodies for the airsoft sport. Competitive tournaments are usually organized by private clubs or among enthusiasts and
professional/
semi-professional teams (often referred to as "clans"), with rules and restrictions varying from event to event.
Three airsoft team members defending an area during an indoor CQB game.
From an outdoor airsoft game.
Three airsoft team members during a field game.
Laser tag
Laser tag (despite the name,
laser is actually not used due to
safety concerns) is a
tag game played with
infraredlight guns and
sensors worn on the body of the players. Since its birth in 1979, laser tag has evolved in both indoor and outdoor games, each with gameplay styles such as annihilation,
capture the flag, domination, VIP protection, (usually
sci-fi)
role playing, etc. When compared to
paintball and
airsoft, laser tag is painless and very safe because it involves no
projectile impacts, and indoor games may be considered less physically demanding because most indoor venues prohibit running or roughhousing.
Zone Laser Tag World Championships were international tournaments among professional/semi-professional teams from North American, Europe and Australia, hosted every few years since 2003.
Bi-lateral international championships have included USA vs. Australia and Australia vs. South Africa.
National tournaments in various countries including Australia, US, Sweden, Finland, UK, etc.
Private club-level events such as TagCon (annual in UK and US), Tagfest (annual in US), Dropzone (annual in UK), LaserStorm (annual in Australia), etc.
More sophisticated forms of laser tag, such as
MILES, are used (in conjunction with
blanks) by militaries to allow for non-lethal combat training.
Soldiers equipped with laser tag training equipment
Archery Tag
Archery Tag is a form of combat archery sport where participants shoot one another using a bow with arrows with large
foam tips. The game's rules closely resemble
dodgeball. The game begins with a number of arrows in the center of the arena. At the whistle, players race to collect them, before firing them at one another across the playing field. A player is eliminated if struck by an arrow, and a player can bring an eliminated teammate back into play by catching an arrow. To avoid injury, participants wear
protective facemasks and use bows with less than 30 pounds (14 kg) draw weight. It was invented in 2011 by John Jackson of
Ashley, Indiana, and experienced a boost in popularity from the Hunger Games books and
film series, which feature a bow-wielding protagonist
Katniss Everdeen. Jackson staged Archery Tag games at local premieres of the films. By 2014, Jackson had licensed the game to 170 locations, mostly in the
United States, but also in
Russia,
Peru and
Saudi Arabia.
Esports is the competitive playing of
video games, often referring to play at the professional level. While the term esports includes many types of video games unrelated to shooting sports, a major subset of esports are the
shooters, namely
first-person shooters and
third-person shooters. Matches of these games can take a variety of forms but traditionally take formats similar to paintball, involving teams of players whose objective is to eliminate the opposing team in simulated combat, often while also focusing other key objectives. Major games of these styles currently in professional play include (among others) Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch, Team Fortress 2, and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Organized play is done both
online or in-person. While there has been serious interest to
include esports in the Olympics and similar events, the inclusion of shooters has been less welcomed due to their often violent visual content.
^Kardous, C. A.; Willson, R. D.; Hayden, C. S.; Szlapa, P.; Murphy, W. J.; Reeves, E. R. (2003). "Noise exposure assessment and abatement strategies at an indoor firing range". Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene. 18 (8): 629–36.
doi:
10.1080/10473220301409.
PMID12851012.
^Richard L. Hummel, and Gary S. Foster, "Germanic/American shooting societies: continuity and change of schuetzenvereins." International Journal of the History of Sport 15.2 (1998): 186-193.
^"Pottery Pigeons" Timeline (March/April 1994) 11#2 pp. 22-27 identifies George Ligowsky of Cincinnati as an inventor of clay pigeons.
^Steven A. Riess, ed. Sports in America from Colonial Times to the Twenty-First Century: An Encyclopedia (Sharpe, 2011), 3:828.
^Russell Gilmore, "'The New Courage': Rifles And Soldier Individualism, 1876-1918." Journal of Military History 40.3 (1976): 97+
^Marlin, Marlin, Jeffrey A. "The National Guard, the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice, and the National Rifle Association: Public Institutions and the Rise of a Lobby for Private Gun Ownership." (Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2013).
online
^James B. Trefethen, Americans and their guns: The National Rifle Association story through nearly a century (1967)
^"Duel With Wax Bullets"(PDF). The New York Times. February 26, 1909. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
Further reading
Axford, Ray. Archery Anatomy: An introduction to techniques for improved performance (Souvenir Press, 2017).
Björklund, Glenn. "Shooting efficiency for winners of World Cup and World Championship races in men's and women's biathlon: where is the cut-off?" International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport 18.4 (2018): 545-553.
Chen, Yin-Ting, and Derick Mordus. "Shooting sports (archery, air rifle, trapshooting)." in Adaptive Sports Medicine (Springer, Cham, 2018) pp. 313–322.
George, Judith Jenkins. "Women's Riflery Teams: A Collegiate Anomaly of the Post World War I Period." Sport History Review 23.1 (1992): 32-45.
Goldschmied, Nadav, and Jason Kowalczyk. "Gender performance in the NCAA rifle championships: where is the gap?" Sex Roles 74.7 (2016): 310-322.
online
Ihalainen, Simo, et al. "Relation of elite rifle shooters' technique-test measures to competition performance." International journal of sports physiology and performance 11.5 (2016): 671-677.
Ihalainen, Simo, et al. "Which technical factors explain competition performance in air rifle shooting?" International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching 13.1 (2018): 78-85.
Reeves, W. P. "The Adoption of Military Rifle Shooting as an Intercollegiate Sport." American Physical Education Review 23.3 (1918): 157-159.
Spancken, Sina, Hannah Steingrebe, and Thorsten Stein. "Factors that influence performance in Olympic air-rifle and small-bore shooting: A systematic review" PLOS ONE 16.3 (2021): e0247353
online.
Wadge, Richard. Archery in Medieval England: Who Were the Bowmen of Crecy? (The History Press, 2012).
Wallace, Lacey N. "College Student Involvement in Hunting and Shooting Sports: What Drives Participation?" Recreational Sports Journal 44.2 (2020): 126-138.