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.
In the United States (U.S.), a marksmanship badge is a U.S. military badge or a civilian badge which is awarded to personnel upon successful completion of a weapons qualification course or high achievement in an official marksmanship competition. The U.S. Army and the U.S. Marine Corps are the only military services that award marksmanship qualification badges. However, marksmanship medals and/or marksmanship ribbons are awarded by the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Air Force for weapons qualifications. For non-military personnel, different U.S. law enforcement organizations and the National Rifle Association (NRA) award marksmanship qualification badges to those involved in law enforcement. Additionally, the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) and the NRA award marksmanship qualification badges to U.S. civilians. Most of these organizations and the U.S. National Guard award marksmanship competition badges to the people they support who succeed in official competitions.
Camp Perry is a National Guard training facility located on the shore of Lake Erie in northern Ohio near Port Clinton. In addition to its regular mission as a military training base, Camp Perry also boasts the second largest outdoor rifle range in the world after the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, New Mexico. The firing is done in the direction of the open water of the lake, that lies just beyond an earthen berm and the targets.
Springfield Armory, Inc., is an American commercial firearms manufacturer and importer based in Geneseo, Illinois. Founded in 1974 by Bob Reese and family, the company produces rifles such as the M1A and imports handguns such as the XD series and Hellcat. The company is unrelated to the like-named former manufacturer of US military firearms in Massachusetts, Springfield Armory.
Metallic silhouette shooting is a group of target shooting disciplines that involves shooting at steel targets representing game animals at varying distances, seeking to knock the metal target over. Metallic silhouette is shot with large bore rifles fired freehand without support out to 500 meters, and with large bore handguns from the prone position with only body support out to 200 meters. Competitions are also held with airguns and black-powder firearms. A related genre is shot with bow and arrow, the metal targets being replaced with cardboard or foam. The targets used are rams, turkeys, pigs, and chickens, which are cut to different scales and set at certain distances from the shooter depending on the specific discipline.
The Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) is a national organization dedicated to training and educating U.S. citizens in responsible uses of firearms and airguns through gun safety training, marksmanship training, and competitions. The CMP is a federally chartered 501(c)(3) corporation that places a priority on serving youth through gun safety and marksmanship activities that encourage personal growth and build life skills.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is the governing body for full bore rifle and pistol shooting sports in the United Kingdom. The Association was founded in 1859 with the founding aim of raising funds for an annual national rifle meeting to improve standards of marksmanship. Today the NRA continues this objective as well as organising civilian target shooting and selecting British teams to contest the ICFRA World Championships. The National Shooting Centre at Bisley is a wholly owned subsidiary of the association.
Fullbore Target Rifle (TR) is a precision rifle shooting sport discipline governed by the International Confederation of Fullbore Rifle Associations (ICFRA). The sport evolved as a distinct British and Commonwealth of Nations discipline from Service rifle (SR) shooting in the late 1960s. Its development was heavily influenced by the British National Rifle Association (NRA). Due to this history, it is usually contested amongst the shooting events at the Commonwealth Games, although not at the Olympics. World Championships are held on a four-year cycle. The annual NRA Imperial Meeting at Bisley in the UK is globally recognised as an historic annual meeting for the discipline.
The NRA National Firearms Museum is a museum located at the NRA Headquarters Building in Fairfax County, Virginia. Approximated 2,500 guns are displayed in 15,000 square feet. The NRA National Firearms Museum is operated by the Museums Division of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), with partial funding provided by the NRA Foundation, a 501(c)3 corporation. It was established in 1935 at the old NRA Headquarters in Washington DC, and moved to its current location in 1998.
The Elcho Shield is an annual long range shooting competition between national teams of eight from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. The trophy holder was originally able to choose the venue of the competition, however, since the NRA's move to Surrey from Wimbledon in 1890, the competition has been held at National Shooting Centre, Bisley in Surrey, England. It is usually contested during the NRA Imperial Meeting.
High Power Rifle, also called XTC from "Across the Course", is a shooting sport using fullbore target rifles which is arranged in the United States by the National Rifle Association of America (NRA). The sport is divided into classes by equipment, and popular types of matches include Service Rifle, Open, Axis and Allies and metallic silhouette. The term High Power Rifle sometimes also includes the international shooting disciplines of Palma and F-Class by the International Confederation of Fullbore Rifle Associations (ICFRA) which are represented by the NRA in the United States.
Black powder cartridge rifle (BPCR) refers to modern shooting sports which employ black powder cartridge rifles. These firearms, often of the type referred to as "buffalo rifles", are single-shot firearms using a fixed metallic cartridge containing black powder, which launch heavy projectiles at relatively low velocities.
Shooting sports in Canada are practised across the country at recreational and competitive levels, including internationally and at the Olympics. Each province has its own organizations that govern the various disciplines. Many of the disciplines are connected nationally and some are part of larger international organizations.
Shooting targets are objects in various forms and shapes that are used for pistol, rifle, shotgun and other shooting sports, as well as in darts, target archery, crossbow shooting and other non-firearm related sports. The center is often called the bullseye. Targets can for instance be made of paper, "self healing" rubber or steel. There are also electronic targets that electronically can provide the shooter with precise feedback of the shot placement.
The National Shooting Centre is the UK's largest shooting sports complex, comprising several shooting ranges as well as the large Bisley Camp complex of accommodation, clubhouses and support services. The centre is located near the village of Bisley in Surrey, from which it takes its colloquial name "Bisley ranges". The site is wholly owned by the National Rifle Association (NRA). The NSC is the trading name of the facility.
Bullseye shooting is a category of shooting sport disciplines where the objective is to score points with carefully placed precision fire by hitting a target as close to its center as possible. The name refers to the target center's nickname, the "bull's eye". In Scandinavia, this type of shooting competition is referred to as Range-Shooting, as it usually takes place at dedicated shooting range.
The International Confederation of Fullbore Rifle Associations (ICFRA) is the international association for the fullbore rifle shooting sports of Target Rifle ('TR') (in the US 'Palma' Rifle) and F-Class, which are long range competitions shot at distances between 300 and 900 meters or 300 to 1,000 yards depending on the range. F-Class shooters often shoot concurrently with the world's long-range TR shooters and use the same targets, except that the F-Class target has an extra ring half the diameter of the smallest in use for TR. ICFRA manages the programme of World Championships and other major matches for Fullbore Rifle and seeks to standardize the competition rules for TR and F-Class around the world.
Shooting competitions for factory and service firearms refer to a set of shooting disciplines, usually called service rifle, service pistol, production, factory, or stock; where the types of permitted firearms are subject to type approval with few aftermarket modifications permitted. The terms often refer to the restrictions on permitted equipment and modifications rather than the type of match format. 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.
This article lists the main target shooting events and their results for 2013.
The Japan Rifle Shooting Sport Federation is the governing body for rifle, pistol and laser shooting in Japan. The federation represents rifle shooting sports within the Japanese Olympic Committee and Paralympic Committee, and is a member of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) which governs Olympic shooting, as well as the International Confederation of Fullbore Rifle Associations (ICFRA). The Federation is headquartered in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo.