Air pistol: from the first evening at the club to the 10 m match

10 m air pistol is shot standing, with one hand, at a card ten metres away — the ISSF 10 m air pistol target page has the card and how it is scored. In most countries it is the way into pistol shooting; in Sweden it is also the first step on the road to a firearm pistol.

This guide follows that road, one post per question. What every airgun shooter needs — the pellets, the power figures, training at home — is in the airguns guide; the stance, the trigger and the faults are in the technique guide; whether an air pistol needs a licence where you live is in the licence guides.

• 16 October 2026Air pistol

  Fitting an air pistol grip: size, angle, putty and the rules

  Take the largest grip your hand can use, set its angle so the barrel runs straight into your arm, rasp off wood and fill the gaps, and keep it inside the ISSF drawing: wrist free, no compressible material, the horn no longer than 40 mm.
• 16 October 2026Air pistol

  How to sight in an air pistol: clicks, groups and sight width

  Shoot a group of five or ten, find its centre, divide the offset by your pistol’s click value from the manual, turn the screws the way the manual says, and shoot another group.
• 16 October 2026Air pistol

  How to start shooting 10 m air pistol

  Find a club, book a try-out and shoot its pistols for a season before you buy; the first months are groups and sights, the first goal a badge, and in Sweden the air pistol is the first step on the road to a firearm pistol.
• 16 October 2026Air pistol

  10 m air pistol equipment: shoes, glasses, blinder and the rules

  Besides the pistol, a 10 m shooter needs little: flat low-sided shoes, glasses with a blinder for the other eye, pellets and a box, a trigger weight to check the 500 g, and nothing of the rifle shooter’s clothing.
• 16 October 2026Air pistol

  Spring, CO2, PCP, single-stroke and match air pistols

  Air pistols are named after what pushes the pellet — a spring, a CO2 capsule, one stroke of a lever, or a cylinder of compressed air — and today’s match pistols are the last of those, built to the ISSF table with a 500 g trigger.
• 16 October 2026Air pistol

  Your first air pistol competition

  Start with a club or postal match, pack the pistol in its box with the card and a trigger weight, use the 15 minutes of sighters, shoot the 60 shots to the commands, and read the result list before you read your nerves.
• 16 October 2026Air pistol

  Match air pistols: choosing your first for 10 m

  Shoot the club’s pistol for a season, then buy a compressed-air match pistol built to the ISSF table, new for the warranty and the fit or used with the cylinder’s date, the seals and a test group checked, and never a plinker sold as a target pistol.
• 16 October 2026Air pistol

  The pistol disciplines after 10 m air pistol

  After the air pistol come the ISSF’s 25 m events — sport, rapid-fire, standard and centre-fire pistol — and 50 m pistol, then each country’s own: Sweden’s precision and fält, Germany’s large-calibre events, France’s 25 m, Britain’s 20 yd and 50 m leagues, America’s bullseye.

For every airgun

• 13 October 2026Airguns

  Air rifle and air pistol pellets: 4.5 or 5.5 mm, and which shape

  How to choose the calibre, shape, head size and weight of your pellets, and how to test them from a rest until your groups close up.
• 13 October 2026Airguns

  Air rifle and air pistol power: joules, ft-lb and accuracy

  How to work out muzzle energy from a pellet’s weight and speed, convert joules, ft-lb, grains and fps, and why a more powerful rifle is not a more accurate one.
• 13 October 2026Airguns

  Training at home with an air rifle or air pistol

  Dry fire and hold where your gun’s maker allows it; shoot live only where the law allows, into a rated trap with safety glasses on; log what you trained.
• 16 October 2026Airguns

  Cleaning and maintaining an air rifle or air pistol

  An airgun needs little: wipe it after shooting, clean the barrel from the breech when groups open or on the maker’s interval, oil almost nothing and never with a petroleum oil, take the CO2 capsule out, and treat the PCP cylinder as the manual says.