Centre Fire Pistol

The Guns: Centre Fire pistols shoot .32, .38 or .357 calibre ammunition from a five-shot 'semi automatic' pistols or revolvers without the advantage of ported baffles or wrap-around grips, as in rapid-fire. A good gun for someone starting in this form of competition is the Smith & Wesson 686 pictured to the left - these are currently selling for $300-$400 on the used market in Canada. World-class guns for this event, like the Walther GSP, Hammerli, Fas. or Pardini, cost $1400. - $1800. As is the case with Standard Pistol as well, the 500% price difference between a low-end and a high-end target pistol might "buy" a 1-2% improvement in score, so if you're not within a couple of percent of the winning score in a match, don't feel too disadvantaged.

Course of Fire: The 60-shot match is divided into 30 shots precision and 30 shots rapid-fire. The precision, or slow-fire stage, is fired in six series of five shots, and competitors have six minutes per series. In the 30-shot rapid-fire stage, competitors shoot strings of five shots. Three seconds are allotted for each shot, followed by seven seconds of rest.

Perfect Match Score: 600 is a perfect score, with 585 being world-class.

Finals: Finals are not contested in this event, however, if two or more shooters are tied for 1st, 2nd or 3rd, a 'shoot off' is held This consists of 3 sets of 5 shots as per the rapid fire stage. A perfect shoot of score is 150.

Sport Pistol

Sport pistol has been a women's Olympic event since 1984 (when Linda Thom of the RA Centre Gun Club in Ottawa won a Gold Medal). Athletes use.22 calibre standard pistols to shoot precision and rapid-fire competition from a distance of 25 meters. The precision target has a 5 cm 10-ring, while the rapid-fire target has a 10cm centre.

The Guns: Sport pistols shoot.22 calibre ammunition from a five-shot magazine without the advantage of ported baffles or wrap-around grips, as in rapid-fire. World-class guns for this event, like the Walther GSP, Hammerli, Fas. or Pardini, cost $800-$1400.

Course of Fire: The 60-shot match is divided into 30 shots precision and 30 shots rapid-fire. The precision, or slow-fire stage, is fired in six series of five shots, and competitors have six minutes per series. In the 30-shot rapid-fire stage, competitors shoot strings of five shots. Three seconds are allotted for each shot, followed by seven seconds of rest.

Perfect Match Score: 600 is a perfect score, with 585 being world-class.

Finals: The top eight competitors advance to a final, which consists of 10 shots fired one a time in a time limit of 75 seconds at the precision target. Targets are scored in 10ths after each shot and added to the match score to determine medallists. A perfect final score is 109.

Perfect Aggregate (Match + Final) Score: 709 points.

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