10 meter Air rifle

This page is always under maintenance. Rules change regularly and it can always be improved. And I am not a saint as a trainer/coach.
No wisdom is absolute, but with this website you should be able to do pretty well at a competition.

First and most important rule in sport shooting

Weapons should NEVER be pointed at anyone under ANY circumstances.

SAFETY must be the highest priority when handling a weapons, air or firearms.
The weapons MUST ONLY be loaded with ammunition on the range, with the weapon pointed down and when it is ready to fire.
Each weapon must be handled as if it is loaded at all times, even if you are certain that the weapon is not loaded.
The weapons must be transported safely both on and off the range.
When resting during a series, the weapon must have a flag in the chamber and for air weapons a cord through the entire barrel.
When transporting, a bolt-rifle must the bolt be removed and weapons without a bolt must have a flag in the chamber with the slide closed.
A trigger lock is recommended for ALL weapons.
Keep your finger of the trigger when not aiming.

Contents

First and most important rule in sport shooting

ISSF Rules and Regulations

Special training in aiming and alignment

Training, tips and tricks

Tips from Matt Emmons and Tino Mohaupt.

Poster in PDF

ISSF Rules and Regulations

Not everyone likes to read the rules, but if you want to continue in shooting sports and national and/or international competitions, it is important that you learn the rules for your discipline.

During Intershoot, an international air pistol and rifle event, I often experience that people do not fully understand the rules for their sport.

It is therefore advisable to take time to do this and read the rules.

Alle documents regarding ISSF can be found here (PDF)

ISSF Rifle Rules

ISSF Rules and Regulation

Choice of weapon

Weapon choice, this is a subject that will be entirely personal.

The choice of weapon is not bound by rules, one will like brand A and the other brand G. So it is an entirely personal choice.

But I can help you make a choice.

First, try out as many different brands and types as possible. If possible and allowed, try a weapon from another shooter. But many gun dealers also have weapons that you can try out. But don't buy because you like it, this weapon will usually not meet your expectations.

Then we have the recreational weapons. We always say, nice to hang on the wall, but not suitable for sport shooting. So if you want to shoot fun in the garden, go ahead, but for sport shooting we will look at the competition weapons.

Brands most suitable for competition and ISSF regulation

Air Venturi
Feinwerkbau
Hammerli
Pardini
Steyer
Walther

Target

ISSF 10 meter air rifle

10 meter air rifle is an International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) shooting event, shot at a bullseye target over a distance of 10 meters (10.94 yards) using a 4.5 mm (0.177 in) calibre air rifle with a maximum weight of 5.5 kg (12.13 lb).

There are some restrictions on the rifle regarding its dimensions, weight. The shooter decides their own tempo as long as the maximum time is not exceeded.

Not only the weapon is inspected, but also the jacket, trousers and shoes.

For example, the jacket is inspected for stiffness and buttons. The trousers are also stiff, but the band is also checked.

The shoes also have a certain dimension and must also be flexible. For this, it is better to invest in shoes as a beginner than in a complete shooting suit. The shooting suits vary in price and quality, but are and remain a considerable investment. Also because the purchase of a weapon is a costly history.

Of course there is enough to find on the internet, but the rules are adjusted every now and then by the ISSF. Check regularly whether you still meet the ISSF rules.

The trigger pressure is measured with a special weight. The image also shows how this should be done. For this I also refer to the ISSF document: Pistol rules book Chapter 8.4.2, 8.4.2.1 and 8.12

In this document you can find more about the air pistol discipline.
ISSF Rules rifle (PDF)

Of course there is enough to find on the internet, but the rules are adjusted every now and then by the ISSF. Check regularly whether you still meet the ISSF rules.

When you participate in official competitions, you will usually have to pass the inspection with your weapon(s), clothing and accessories. Everything must comply with the ISSF rules, so take your time to read them and make sure your equipment is in order.

The photos below were taken during Intershoot, an international air rifle and pistol competition in the Netherlands.

The photos were taken by various volunteers who help during this international competition.
Frank Streng, Arno Brinkman, Walter Jaegermann and Ab de Jong.

Ammunition

Match pellets

Match pellets are used for the 10 metre air rifle and 10 metre air pistol disciplines. These 4.5 mm (0.177 in) calibre pellets have wadcutter heads, meaning the front is (nearly) flat, that leave clean, hole punch-like round holes in paper targets for easy scoring. Match pellets are offered in tins and more elaborate packagings that avoid deformation and other damage that could impair their uniformity.

Most match pellets are made of soft lead (a lead alloy with low antimony content), but some companies offer lead-free versions. The antimony content is used to control the hardness of the soft lead alloy. It is a very soft alloy, which makes it easy to process. Since the soft lead alloy is prone to strongly deform when striking a bullet catcher, it rapidly loses its kinetic energy and will not easily bounce off. Lead is toxic and hazardous to the environment, so precautions should be taken if shooting with lead pellets. For this reason, many shooters use lead-free match pellets, produced by H&N Sport, Predator International, JSB, RWS, Olympia Shot, Gamo, or Daisy.

Match air gun shooters are encouraged to perform shooting group tests with their gun clamped in a fixed rest in order to establish which particular pellet type performs best for their air gun. To facilitate maximum performance out of various air guns the leading match pellet manufacturers produce pellets in graduated weight variants (the light/high speed variants are often marketed for air pistol use) and with graduated "head sizes", which means the pellets are offered with front diameters from 4.48 mm (0.176 in) up to 4.52 mm (0.178 in).

Eyes

Always shoot with both eyes open, why?

Light has a great effect on the eyes, so the pupil will always react to the light by becoming larger or smaller. On a shooting range there is usually a lot of light and the pupil will become smaller.

If you close the non-dominant eye, the pupil will be in the dark and will become larger while the open eye gets a lot of light and becomes smaller.

In this case, the brain sometimes cannot process the effect properly. One person will not suffer from this, but another can get a splitting headache.

Is there a solution for this? Yes!

Invest, especially if you also wear glasses, in a pair of shooting glasses. There are special models for rifle shooters, but just start with a base.

There are blinders available that fit the diopter. These cover the non-aiming eye. Do not use a black blinder but a translucent one. Otherwise the effect will disappear again.

More can be found in the ISSF rules rifle (PDF) chapter 7.4.1.6.

Position

For left-handed shooters the stance is in the opposite direction.

Positioning in Air Rifle

Among different shooting positions, standing is the most unstable position, because it has a small support area and the center of gravity is high. In order to make a stable position, we need to have an exceptional sense of balance and muscles control. Muscles need to be relatively relaxed, but at the same time, they need to give us the required stability.

To take a standing position, the shooter should stand with an almost 90 degrees angle to the right of the target. The distance between feet should be about shoulder width. This distance depends on height of the shooter, his/her body shape, strength of the muscles, etc.

Feet should be parallel, however, toes may point out slightly to achieve better balance and control.

Has been said that weight of the body-rifle system should be equally distributed on both legs. But practically, left leg supports the most weight. This leg should be straight.

The right leg supports and adjusts direction of the position.

When placing the feet and adjusting their direction, the shooter needs to concentrate on their optimal angle, ensuring a good hip alignment, which needs to be as straight as possible towards the target.

The upper body leans back to get weight of the rifle over the support area and the pelvis tilts to provide a solid platform for the supporting elbow. Hips must remain aligned with the line of the target.

Left arm rests against the rib cage and left elbow sits on the iliac crest or a little in or out, according length of the arm, fore-arm and upper body, but it must be positioned at the same place for all shots.

Weight of the rifle needs to be transferred through the bones, via left hand, forearm, elbow, pelvis, thigh, leg and foot to the ground.

Butt-plate must be firmly placed at the upper part of the right arm, right shoulder is completely relaxed. The left shoulder needs to be relaxed too.

The left forearm should almost be vertical. Hand-rest which brings the rifle up, is placed on the heel of the left hand or on the fisted hand or any other position of the left hand. Since the new rules let you having depth of the fore-end up to 12 centimeters, putting the rifle on the palm is recommended, in order to reduce the number of joints at left hand position! Muscles of the left arm, forearm and hand must be relaxed and they mustn’t push the barrel to the target. For this purpose, you need to find your zero point accurately.

The right arm should be relaxed, and the right hand grasps the pistol grip comfortably, in the position that the index finger places with the best position on the trigger blade and produces the straight trigger pull without disturbing the rifle and the holding. Right wrist should be as straight as possible

Head is upright and the cheek-bone is placed on the cheek-piece of the butt. This piece must be adjusted in the manner that the dominant eye can look the target through the sights straight, without any tension in neck muscles.

Centre of gravity of the rifle needs to be as close to the body centre line as possible, to achieve a good balance and hold. The muscles in front and behind of lower part of the body are equally little tensed and the agonist and antagonist muscles have an optimal relationship. If the balance is ok, heels and toes will be both equally loaded, be aware of the pressure receptors at your feet.

Setting up the rifle depends on: length of arm and fore-arm, shoulder width, neck length, hip shape, length of upper body compares to the legs, etc.

The parts of the rifle which need to be adjusted precisely are: height of the sight raisers, length of the butt, height and direction of the butt-plate and cheek piece, trigger distance, depth of the hand-rest, orientation and place of the grip, etc.

You need to adjust all of them properly to take a comfortable and balanced position. To check your zero point, you may close your eyes or look down and relax your muscles (omit the extra tensions) and be on your skeletal position for about 30 seconds and then open your eyes and check where you are. When you are looking through the sights, you usually push the barrel to the centre with some muscles effort and you feel your zero point is ok, however it’s not and you push the rifle to the centre by your muscles!

After checking the zero point, if the barrel is higher or lower than the centre, you may adjust it with the butt-plate. If the barrel is up, push the butt-plate down and vice versa. If your barrel is left or right of the centre of the target, you can adjust your position by your feet. But if the distance to the centre is small, you can adjust it with your right foot position.

Sorry gentlemen, but ladies are a bit more flexible with their hips, they can expand them further than men. So if it doesn't work, try to put them in a comfortable postite.

When you have found the right position for you, make sure that every time you assume the posture, you return to that position.

There are handy tools for the feet position. The most commonly used is a ruler.

OK, if you are stil here after reading this, you going to make it.
I know, it’s a lot but for air rifle, but also for small bore 3-positions, it’s very importend to have the correct position.

I have to admit that I get this from the internet, but this complete tekst neald it. So why type als you can copy-page.

Aiming

There are various types of sighting devices available for air rifle weapons, but for now the standard supplied sighting devices will suffice. Advanced shooters will probably purchase a rear sighting device with smaller adjustment steps.

As for the front sight, it is a different story.

Nowadays, weapons are sold with ‘floating’ front sight. These are available in various sizes.

It is advisable to buy a set with various sizes, which size you can/should use is entirely a personal choice.

However, beginning shooters can better start with a somewhat larger diameter, this gives more insight compared to the visual.

Now that we know more about the sights, let's focus on the visual aiming.

At first you will find that the aiming is a bit more wobbly than expected. This can only be improved with training and lots and lots of shooting. Eventually it will be a lot more stable.

First we assume the correct posture and ensure that we are aligned. We have already discussed alignment in the chapter ‘Position’.

Also ensure that breathing is calm. We breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth over the stomach. Not over the chest because then the movement is transferred to the weapon.

Once we have the sights in position we can execute the shot.

Please note: Breathing in combination with the trigger assembly is described in the chapter ‘Breathing’.

Concentrate. Aiming a rifle requires patience and concentration. Sloppy aim will result in a sloppy shot.

Before firing the rifle, make sure your shots are correctly aligned.

Be patient when pressing the trigger. If you feel anxious about firing the gun and concentrate on applying more pressure to the trigger, even for a moment, you will lose concentration on your aim and will probably have a poor shot.

Special training in aiming and alignment

When I was still training the youth, we also did some alignment training.

Turn the target around so that you only see a blank target. Take 10 shots and see what happens. If you are aligned correctly, you will see a group. If they are spread out, you need to work on your alignment.

Only the more experienced group sometimes did it with the light off.

If the shooter is aligned correctly, the shots will also be groups. You can also try this once, provided that it is possible to make it really dark, you should not see the target.

Once you are aligned and have taken a few shots, have someone turn off the light and then take 5 or 10 shots. Then see where you end up and if you are aligned correctly, they will end up as a group in the right place.

The shots may end up somewhere other than in the middle, but they should be a group.

If they are very spread out, you can practice your alignment.

Trigger

Focusing on the target and using the breathing technique, slowly increase the pressure on the trigger until the shot is released. If you can maintain a steady aim during this process, the resulting shot placement should be on target.

And you repeat this process every time you want to take a new shot.

But of course, a lot precedes this.

Air rifle triggers come in various shapes and sizes. Here too, what you find most comfortable applies. Never take a trigger that everyone likes so much, if it doesn't fit well and you don't like it, this will be reflected in the results.

The best way is to start with the standart trigger, later you can always decide to take a fancy one.

Howe to place your finger on the trigger.

Always place the trigger finger perpendicular to the trigger and make sure the grip places the finger at 90 degrees. This is possible because the trigger can be moved forward or backward. Sometimes it may also be necessary to adjust the position of the grip slightly, but make sure that the weapon still fits in the inspection box.

If the finger is not placed correctly on the trigger, you are pushing or pulling the weapon in the wrong direction.

Also do not put too much pressure on it, you only build that up when you are aiming and are start with the procedure build-up for the shot.

Breathing

Breathing in shooting sports is also important, it doesn't seem like much, but it is also an important part of the whole process.

First, breathing is done through the nose and out through the mouth. Breathe over the belly and not the chest. Breathing over the chest affects aiming.

The picture shows that the build-up of the shot is done in the exhaled state. Hold your breath for a maximum of 5 to 10 seconds but let the shot fall before the 8th second. Longer has an effect on the muscles. Your muscles use oxygen and if you aim for too long, acidification occurs. If that happens, it has an effect on the rest of your series. So be sensible, if you don't succeed within 8 seconds, take off and start the aiming process again after a short rest.

During the 8 seconds in which the shot must be fired, you build up the pressure on the trigger. Many weapons have a dead point. Find this point and set the pressure for the aiming process to the dead point. But be careful, too much pressure and the shot will go off at a moment when you don't want it to.

Once you have found the dead point, practice a lot on it so that it becomes automatic.

Finally, shooting

Now that you all know how to do it, we can fire the first shots. I know it's a lot, but you can train bit by bit on components.

Don't go for those 10 points right away. Then the concentration is in the completely wrong place. The concentration should be on handling the weapon correctly to get a good shot.

Beginner shooter, take your time and make meters. That means shooting a lot, but in the right way. We always say, after 1000 shots you will see a big difference compared to the first shots.

Another piece of advice for training. Shoot 5 shots on a visual. Make sure the group gets smaller and smaller.

BUT NEVER correct by moving the weapon. The aiming devices on the weapon are adjustable for this, learn how this works here too. During competitions it can happen that you even have to correct the aiming devices halfway through.

But during training with 5 shots on a card, never turn the aiming devices. We want to try to make the group as small as possible and do not go for points.

Even if the group is at the top left or elsewhere on the map, that's no problem, as long as the perimeter of the group becomes smaller.

Clothing and shoes

All requirements that weapons and clothing must meet can be found in the ISSF rules rifle.

Weapon and clothing regulations for the air rifle disciplines seem like a lot, and they are.

But don't let this discourage you, you don't have to buy everything at once. I certainly wouldn't do that because everything together costs a small fortune.

Especially in the beginning, the weapon alone is sufficient and you can slowly build up if you decide to continue.

What I always advised the youth to do was to buy a military jacket as a shooting jacket. This does not meet all the requirements, but does provide some stability. I certainly recommend that to the beginning shooter.

The first and for the time being only investment is the weapon. As it gets better and you continue to enjoy it, you can slowly start expanding.

If you wear glasses, I would buy this first, followed by shoes, a shooting jacket and shooting trousers. You don't have to buy the jacket and trousers at once, it is best to start with the jacket.

You will soon discover that after buying something new again, the scores will go down. Don't worry, they will come back and are guaranteed to be a lot better. This will not only happen when you have bought something new, but also when you make adjustments to your weapon and clothing.

Just don't tinker with the weapon every time, wait a few weeks until you see if the results improve or not.

Standards for 10m Air Rifle

Chapter 7.4.2
ISSF boek: ISSF Rules rifle(PDF)

Shooting Jacket

Chapter 7.5.4
ISSF boek: ISSF Rules rifle(PDF)

Shooting Trousers

Chapter 7.5.5
ISSF boek: ISSF Rules rifle(PDF)

Shooting Shoes

Chapter 7.5.3
ISSF boek: ISSF Rules rifle(PDF)

Shooting Gloves

Chapter 7.5.6
ISSF boek: ISSF Rules rifle(PDF)

Underclothing

Chapter 7.5.7
ISSF boek: ISSF Rules rifle(PDF)

Normal street type or light athletic shoes are permitted in all positions. Special shooting shoes not exceeding the following specifications may be worn only in 1Om and 50m and 300m 3 Positions events. Special shooting shoes must not be worn in Rifle Prone events.

It is permitted to use a support in the standing position. These can be adjusted in different sizes for both tall and short shooters. There are also (large) differences in quality. When purchasing, do not buy the first one that comes along, but compare which one feels best to you. Pay particular attention to the legs on which the pole rests. Does this cause problems in the standing position (feet) or is the stability not good.

The weapon and clothing are subject to stricter rules for air rifle shooting than for air pistol shooting. You always see air rifle shooters lugging bags and suitcases around while air pistol shooters usually have a backpack with their belongings, including their weapon.

Air rifle shooters also take longer to inspect the weapon and clothing than air pistol shooters.
Everyone has their own preferences regarding shooting sports. We always jokingly say that air pistol shooters are lazy shooters.

Training exercises

The Dutch sports care foundation has set up a number of video training courses that are extremely suitable for shooting sports, among other things.
The training videos are in Dutch, but the essence of the training is easy to follow.

These training courses are suitable for all aspects of shooting sports.

Training exercises for shooting sports

Training, tips and tricks

Be aware that every change can have a downward effect. Don't change all the time but keep going for a while after a change. Eventually the results will come back and in most cases they will be better.

Tips from Matt Emmons and Tino Mohaupt.

Klik on the picture to get the PDF version

Poster in PDF

Here are some tips to help the beginning shooter.
No wisdom is absolute, but with this collection of Tips & Tricks you should be able to do pretty well at a competition.

There are a few tips for training with air rifles. But for everything, too much is also not good, so train with friends.

Keep a report/diary, so that you can keep track of your shooting and training. A report of small adjustments can be worth gold in the future.

Swimming is a very good general training, you can certainly strengthen the strength of your arms and upper body here.

Dry practice, all weapons have a position where no shot is fired, but this position is very suitable for the trigger technique.

Hang a visual at the right height on the wall and use it to train during dry firing.

For training 3 positions, the kneeling position, a kneeling cushion can be trained while you watch television.

Do you watch television in the evening? Then do it standing with your legs positioned while you shoot, so that your feet are as wide as your shoulders. Try to build this up to 90 minutes. Then a series is not so tiring.

I hope this will help to practice the shooting sport and and result in a better shooting.

Wish you all a good shot.

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