Morini Competition Arm S.A. is a Swiss manufacturer of target pistols aimed at ISSF shooting events as governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF, formerly UIT) and competed in at the Olympics.
The company was formed in 1973 in Italy as a maker of anatomical grips for target pistols and still supply these grips to many other companies in addition to producing competition arms themselves.
During the following years, complying with laws and regulations governing guns become more and more complicated in Italy, and in 1985 the company decided to move to Lamone, Canton Ticino, the Italian speaking region of Switzerland.
In 1990 the company moved to Bedano, its current headquarters, which is another small village of the Italian speaking region of Switzerland.
Currently their CM 162 EI air pistol and CM 84E free pistol are amongst the most popular choices, for 10 m Air Pistol and 50 m Pistol respectively, amongst top international competitors. These pistols are most notable for an electronic trigger mechanism.
Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms and bows/crossbows.
An air gun or airgun is a gun that uses energy from compressed air or other gases that are mechanically pressurized and then released to propel and accelerate projectiles, similar to the principle of the primitive blowgun. This is in contrast to a firearm, which shoots projectiles using energy generated via exothermic combustion (deflagration) of chemical propellants, most often black powder or smokeless powder.
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.
25 meter rapid fire pistol is one of the ISSF shooting events and is shot with .22 LR pistols. The event has been a part of the Olympic program ever since the beginning in 1896, although its rules changed greatly before World War II, after which they were only slightly changed until the two major revisions of 1989 and 2005. The latter restricted the event to sport pistols, thereby banning .22 Short cartridge as well as encircling grips and low trigger-pull weight. This caused a decline in results, as evidenced by a comparison of the world records under the pre-2005 rules (597) and post-2005 rules (593).
25 meter center-fire pistol is one of the ISSF shooting events, and is normally a men-only event. Its origin lies in competitions with military-style service pistols, and as such its history dates back to the 19th century.
50 meter pistol, formerly and unofficially still often called Free Pistol, is one of the ISSF shooting events. It is one of the oldest shooting disciplines, dating back to the 19th century and only having seen marginal rule changes since 1936. It is considered to provide some of the purest precision shooting among the pistol events. The target of this event has not changed since 1900, and the 50m distance has remained the standard since 1912. The sport traced back to the beginning of indoor Flobert pistol parlour shooting in Europe during the 1870s.
The 10 meter air pistol is an Olympic shooting event governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF). It is similar to 10 meter air rifle in that it is shot with 4.5 mm caliber air guns at a distance of 10 metres (11 yards), and that the match consists of a qualification round of 60 competition shots within 75 minutes. If an Electronic Scoring System (EST) is not available, 15 minutes are added to the time limit. Competitors are allowed to shoot an unlimited number of shots during the 15 minutes preparation and sighting time. Along with the 50 meter pistol, it is considered a precision shooting event. Thus, numerous shooters compete in both events.
The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) is the governing body of the Olympic shooting events. It also regulates several non-Olympic shooting sport events. The Federation's activities include regulation of the sport, managing Olympic qualification events and quota places, as well as organization of international competitions such as the ISSF World Cup series and ISSF World Championships.
The ISSF World Shooting Championships are governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation. World Shooting Championships began in 1897, after the successful 1896 Summer Olympics, and although the ISSF was not founded until 1907, these early competitions are still seen by the organization as the beginning of a continuous row of championships. By this logic, the 2006 competition in Zagreb was called the 49th ISSF World Shooting Championships. These championships, including all ISSF shooting events, are held every four years since 1954. For the shotgun events only, there is an additional World Championship competition in odd-numbered years. These extra competitions are not numbered. In running target, there will be World Championships in Olympic years.
Feinwerkbau, often abbreviated FWB, is a German manufacturer of firearms and air guns aimed mainly at competitive ISSF shooting events, including some contested at the Olympic Games as governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF).
The Steyr LP 10 is a single shot 4.5 mm (0.177 in) calibre pre-charged pneumatic air pistol designed for the 10 metre air pistol ISSF shooting events. It is manufactured by Steyr Sportwaffen GmbH of Austria.
The Walther GSP, Gebrauchs Sportpistole, is a semi automatic, precision targetshooting pistol with an unlocked breech action made in Germany by Walther Sportwaffen. It has the same technical base as the Walther OSP and thus is almost identical in outward appearance, albeit slightly longer and heavier than the OSP.
The Swiss Shooting Sport Federation, German: Schweizer Schiesssportverband (SSSV), is an association for sport shooting in Switzerland. It was founded in its current form in 2001, but has roots as far back as in 1824. It is associated with the International Shooting Sport Federation and the European Shooting Confederation.
The Walther OSP is manufactured by Walther, it is a pistol chambered in the .22 Short caliber. The OSP was designed for the Olympic 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol event and became the perennial winner of the event. The pistol features a Morini grip, which places the bore at a lower level to reduce recoil. The barrel is weighted and ported, and felt recoil is virtually none. It comes with either a 2.2 lb (1,000 g) or 3 lb (1,400 g) trigger.
The men's ISSF 50 meter pistol event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on August 12 at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall. There were 45 competitors from 32 nations. The event was won by Jin Jong-oh of South Korea, the first of his three consecutive victories in the free pistol. It was his second medal, after taking silver in 2004; he was the 10th man to win multiple medals in the event.
The Benelli Kite is a single shot .177 inch calibre pre-charged pneumatic air pistol designed for the 10 m Air Pistol ISSF shooting event. It is manufactured by Benelli Armi SpA of Italy.
The men's ISSF 50 meter pistol event at the 2012 Olympic Games took place on 5 August 2012 at the Royal Artillery Barracks. There were 38 competitors from 27 nations. The event was won by Jin Jong-oh of South Korea, the second of his three consecutive victories in the free pistol. He was the first shooter to win two individual free pistol gold medals. It was his third medal in the event, making him the fourth man to earn three free pistol medals. His countryman Choi Young-rae took silver, the first time since 1976 that a nation had finished 1–2 in the event. Chinese shooter Wang Zhiwei received bronze.
This article details the qualifying phase for shooting at the 2016 Summer Olympics. 366 quota places for the Games are entitled to the shooters coming from their respective NOCs, based on the results at designated ISSF supervised Championships subjected to the ISSF rules from August 1, 2014, to March 31, 2016, while the remaining twenty-four are available to the eligible NOCs under the Tripartite Commission Invitation to get a total quota of 390. Host nation Brazil has been guaranteed nine quota places with one in each of the following events: 50 m rifle prone, 25 m rapid fire pistol, 10 m air pistol, 10 m air rifle (women), trap, and skeet.
The men's ISSF 50 meter pistol event at the 2016 Olympic Games took place on 10 August 2016 at the National Shooting Center. There were 41 competitors from 29 nations. The event was won by Jin Jong-oh of South Korea, his third consecutive victory in the free pistol. He was the only man to win two gold medals in the event, much less three. Jin was also the second man to win four medals of any color in the event, after Ragnar Skanåker of Sweden from 1972 to 1992. Hoàng Xuân Vinh took silver, the first medal for Vietnam in the event. Kim Song-guk's bronze was North Korea's first medal in the free pistol since 2004.
The laser pistol is a piece of sports equipment used to imitate firearms and is used in some sports including modern pentathlon, laser-run and triathle competitions. Laser pistols do not fire projectiles and can therefore be safer for spectators and participants. They can also be used in more places since the requirements for a backstop are not as strict except for laser eye safety. Regulation varies between jurisdictions, but they are usually not subject to laws concerning air guns or firearms and are often sold freely.
