The International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) events provide our athletes with the chance to compete at the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and Oceania Shooting Championships.
50 METRE (FREE) PISTOL:
One of the oldest matches, the 50m Pistol match consists of shooting sixty shots at precision targets, over 50 metres. The 10 ring is 50 mm in diameter. The handguns normally used are long barrelled 0.22 Long Rifle single shots that are exceptionally accurate, and have full wrap around orthopaedic grips, very light set triggers and high precision sights. Scoring well in this match is very difficult if the shooter has not mastered the elements of accurate hand gunning. Our club has 50m Pistol facilities. While presenting the new shooter with a formidable challenge, 50m Pistol shooting is an excellent way of learning how to shoot handguns, as there is no time pressure to hurry through the match.
STANDARD PISTOL:
The Standard Pistol match is shot at 25 metres with a .22 semi-auto on a standard Precision target with a 50mm 10 ring, in timed series of five shots on turning targets. Four series, each of 150 seconds, four series each of 20 seconds and four series each of 10 seconds are fired for a total of 60 shots. Each series starts with the shooter’s arm at 45 degrees to the horizontal. The handgun used in this event must have a barrel no longer than 150mm and a trigger no lighter than 1000gm. Recoil handling characteristics are important in a Standard Pistol, especially in the 10 seconds series.
The original Standard Pistol match was conceived to allow shooters to have an event to shoot with the standard sporting .22 semi-auto’s that were available. Ruger, S&W, High Standard, Browning, Margolin and others make appropriate handguns that fit the original concept and are popular for use at club level. Standard Pistol is a challenge to old and new shooters alike, as a momentary lapse in concentration in the faster series can see many points disappear from the score. The Standard Pistol match combines both precision and rapid fire techniques in its course of fire, and the mixture of both guarantees an interesting match.
CENTRE FIRE:
The Centre Fire match remains one of the most popular events, although it too has been around for a long time. The match consists of two separate 30 shot stages of fire. One is the “Precision” stage shot at 25 metres on a precision target (50 mm 10 ring), with five minutes allowed for each 5 shot series. The other is the “Rapid Fire” stage that is also shot at 25 metres, but on turning targets. One shot is fired with each exposure of the target as it turns toward the shooter for 3 seconds and away for 7 seconds, with the shooter lowering his arm to 45 degrees between each exposure of the target.
Any centrefire calibre from 0.32 to 0.38 can be used in a revolver or semi-auto, with a barrel no longer than 150mm and a trigger pull no lighter than 1000 grams. Many target grade revolvers are available for this match, mainly in 0.38 Special or 0.357 Magnum, although there are some 0.32 calibre revolvers and semi-auto’s available.
25 Metre Pistol Women and Juniors:
These matches are identical to the Centrefire match except that the handguns are .22 semi-auto’s that comply with the Standard Pistol specifications. Some manufacturers make special lightweight versions of their Standard Pistols for these matches, among them Walther and Pardini Fiocchi.
AIR PISTOL:
The Air Pistol match is a slow fire match demanding similar levels of precision to Free Pistol except that it is shot at 10 metres on a target with a 12mm Ten-ring. The match consists of 60 shots in the Men’s and Junior Men’s events and 40 shots for Ladies and Junior Ladies. Air pistol is a great teacher of handgun shooting fundamentals, as the highly accurate handguns, with their minimum allowable trigger weight of 500 grams are easy to control and have little recoil. They are also very economical to shoot and have considerably less noise compared to cartridge firearms. There are three types of Air Pistol operating systems used on target air pistols; spring and piston, gas and pneumatic (compressed air) powered. The more modern gas operated systems use CO2 or compressed air, and are easy to operate but require a separate gas supply or pump.
All good quality target Air Pistols have adjustable grips, sights and triggers, and are highly refined shooting machines that leave the shooter in no doubt who is at fault if scores are down. Our Air Pistol range is indoors, and this offers shooters the advantage of shooting in the evening and getting plenty of low cost practice. We shoot an organized Air Pistol match at our club on Wednesday nights starting at 7pm. Once a month on Wednesday night we shoot a handicapped match with a small prize being awarded to the 1st place getter each month.
RAPID FIRE:
The match is shot on five turning targets, spaced 75cm apart. The match consists of four series of five shots each in 8 seconds, 6 seconds and 4 seconds. The course of fire is in two 30 shot stages of two series in each time sequence. The shooter must wait with the shooting arm at 45 degrees to horizontal until the targets start to turn. Rapid fire handguns are the same as Standard Pistols. When the handgun is raised to the shooting position, it must point and recover from recoil with a minimum of effort, as the shooter has little time to make corrections in the faster time series. Well fitting orthopaedic grips, adjustable triggers and reliable functioning are characteristics of a good Rapid Fire handgun.
BLACK POWDER:
There are two Black Powder matches, the Aggregate Match and the 50 Metre match. Cap and ball revolvers must be used in the Aggregate match, while single shot handguns are permitted in the 50 metre match. The calibre is restricted to 0.46 maximum and projectiles must be round balls or conical pointed bullets. The Aggregate match is identical to the Centrefire match except that it consists of 20 Precision shots at 25 metres on a standard Precision target and 20 shots Rapid Fire on a standard Rapid Fire target.
The 50 Metre Match consists of four series of 10 shots, fired in 2 hours on an NRA 50 yard target which has a larger Ten-Ring than the standard 50 metre target. The 50 metre match can be shot with revolvers, but some interesting hybrid single shots have been put together by black powder enthusiasts out of single shot cartridge handguns like the Thompson Contender.
The above matches are all classified under the general banner of ISSF matches. You don’t need a dedicated pistol for Sports Pistol, Standard Pistol, Free Pistol or Rapid Fire if you are only competing at Club Level, so you can enjoy shooting all these events with the one .22 semi auto pistol.
Our club members compete in all the Victorian Amateur Pistol Association Postal matches every week. This is an opportunity to compete against other Victorian Clubs while staying at your own club.
ISSF Matches:
Competition shooting times for matches are Saturday 9.30am & 1.00pm. Sunday 9.30am. Wednesday nights 5.00pm onwards.
ISSF Matches are shot on most Saturdays
All matches are listed on your calendar.