Air rifles: from the garden to the 10 m range

Most people meet the air rifle in a garden, shooting at cans. Some of them find that they want to hit the same spot every time, and that is where the sport starts: paper targets, a club, and in time the 10 m range.

This guide follows that road: each part below answers one question a shooter on it asks, in order or wherever yours is. The card a 10 m match is shot on, and how it is scored, is on the ISSF 10 m air rifle target page.

• 13 October 2026Air rifle

  Spring, gas ram, PCP, CO2 and match air rifles

  How each kind of air rifle makes its shot, how it feels and repeats, and which suits the garden, field target or the 10 m range.
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  How to start shooting 10 m air rifle

  Start at a club on borrowed equipment, learn on the bench and then standing, and spend money only once you know you will stay.
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  Choosing your first air rifle

  Decide what you will shoot before you buy, try a club’s rifle first, and check a used rifle’s cylinder date, seals, barrel and fit.
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  Standing, kneeling, prone: air rifle positions and technique

  Build a position that points at the target by itself and rests on bone, then fire every shot the same way: breath, trigger, follow-through.
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  Air rifle equipment beyond the rifle

  Borrow what can be shared, buy a glove first, and leave the jacket, trousers, shooting shoes and your own rifle until you know you will stay.
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  Your first air rifle competition

  Start with a club or postal match, learn the commands and the kit check before the day, and treat nerves and the result as part of your training.

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.
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  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.
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  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.