International Air Rifle Competition

A Brief Overview of the Rules by Eric Gestl

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This is a brief overview of the rules for the International Air Rifle competition It is intended to give a shooter the basic concepts. The official rules are either the NRA International Rifle Rules or the USA Shooting Rulebook (depending upon which organization has sanctioned the match).

Equipment

Rifle - The rifle must meet the international "standard rifle" definition. This means the following items are not allowed: Hook Buttplate, Palm Rest, Thumbhole Stock. There is also an upper limit for the weight of the rifle which almost all air rifles meet. (.177 caliber only)

Sights - Metallic Sights only. Scopes are not permitted. The sights may not contain any lenses. Though not mandated by rule, Peep sights are almost exclusively used.

Clothing - Shooting Jacket, Pants, Boots, and Glove are allowed. There are thickness restrictions on all clothing. There additional restrictions on number and type of closures for the jacket and pants. There are also dimension restrictions on the boots. (most tennis shoes meet these requirements, combat boots, due to there highth at the ankles and the thickness of their soles do not meet the requirements.

Position

All firing is done from the standing position. The rifle may not be rested on any artificial support. It is however common to have a stand to rest the rifle on between shots. The use of a sling is not allowed in the standing position.

Target & Distance

All firing is done at 10 meters (33 feet). The AR-5/10 or the AR-5/1 targets are the most commonly used. One shot is fired at each bull. The AR-5/1 target contains a single bull. Each competitor is given 60 of these targets (plus 2 sighter targets) for 60 record shots. These targets are used only if the range has a target carrier system. The AR-5/10 target contains 10 record bulls and 2 sighters. This is the target used on ranges which do not have target carriers. Normally 2 targets are hung at once for a stage of 20 record shots.

Course of Fire

The course of fire is 60 record shots in the standing position. Junior matches are record 40 shots in the standing position. The time limit is 2 minutes per shot. Unlimited sighters are permitted but no additional time is given for sighting. Once a shooter has fired his first record shot, he is not permitted to go back to the sighter (unless he has to go down range to hang the next set of targets).

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