How to start shooting 10 m air rifle

A club gives you three things you cannot buy: a safe range, people who will teach you, and rifles to borrow. The NSRA (National Small-bore Rifle Association), whose field includes air rifles and pistols, says most clubs will let you use their equipment so that you can see whether you like target shooting before investing. The French federation’s booklet for newcomers says your club can usually lend you what you need for your first steps, and the 2022 course material of Svenska Skyttesportförbundet (SvSF) says that a new member can, as a rule, borrow the simple equipment needed to shoot.

Start with your national federation’s club search. Each lists only its own clubs, and not always all of them:

• Britain: the NSRA’s Club Finder lists the affiliated clubs that have asked to be on it.
• Sweden: SvSF’s “Sök förening” finds one of its member clubs near you.
• Germany: the DSB’s club search is being replaced. Its page says a new one is coming, and that about half of all shooting clubs are listed so far, so ask your regional shooting association (Landesverband) as well.
• France: the FFTir points newcomers to its website and to the people who run its affiliated clubs.
• United States: USA Shooting lists its certified training centers and clubs for the international events, and the CMP promotes three-position air rifle for young shooters and lists its affiliated clubs in a club search.

For any other country, sport shooting by country lists each country’s federations. Then call or write before you turn up, and ask:

• Do you shoot 10 m air rifle, and on which evenings?
• Is there a beginners’ evening, a try-out or a course?
• Can I borrow a rifle and a jacket, and is there a charge?
• What does membership cost, and is there a trial period first?
• Do you score on paper or on electronic targets?

In Britain, the NSRA lists three ways to try: Try a Shoot days at its own ranges at Bisley and Aldersley, Try a Shoot days at many affiliated clubs, and taster sessions at commercial ranges. In each case you shoot without buying any equipment.

Safety comes before the first shot. The French federation’s magazine calls the initial training an indispensable first step with safety at its heart: handling, loading and unloading a gun, understanding how it works, and above all making safe habits second nature. Expect the range rules next. The NSRA’s list for beginners includes these:

• Treat every gun as loaded, and never point one at anyone.
• Keep the rifle pointing down the range at all times, also while you load and unload it.
• Load only on the firing point.
• Never handle a gun while anyone is in front of the firing point, and never go past it without permission from a range official.
• Do what the Range Officer tells you, and when you hear “Stop”, stop at once.

Then you shoot. The NSRA says many clubs start beginners with both elbows resting on a bench, where you learn to aim, breathe, work the trigger and follow through before you try standing. Find out which of your eyes is dominant: it may not match your dominant hand, and the NSRA says it is often best to aim with it, even if that means working the trigger with your other hand.

Wear flat shoes and clothes you can move in, tell the coach if you wear glasses, and ask whether the club wants you in shooting or safety glasses. Pellets are made of lead, which is poisonous, the NSRA warns: wash your hands after handling them and never swallow one. For cleaning the range, it recommends goggles and a mask.

SvSF’s course material says clubs often use compressed-air and CO2 rifles as club rifles, because they are simple to handle. They need particular care all the same, it adds, because of the air cylinder, which may be at most ten years old.

Ask for the same rifle every time: SvSF’s course says that makes it easier to get used to its trigger, until the shot goes off without your thinking about it.

The jacket and trousers come next. The NSRA calls 10 m air rifle a more advanced discipline that needs extra kit, such as a shooting jacket and trousers, if you take it seriously, and adds that there is no need to buy them straight away. Ask whether the club has a jacket to lend, and try two or three: a borrowed jacket only helps if it fits.

What you buy first is small. SvSF’s course names hearing protection and a shooting glove for the hand that supports the rifle, and leaves your own rifle, jacket, trousers and boots until you have decided to commit. It also warns that poor technique can never be fixed with fine equipment. Air rifle equipment beyond the rifle goes through the rest, and in what order.

Expect a short probation or a course. The NSRA says clubs may ask for a short probationary period in which you show that you understand range safety and follow club rules. In Sweden, SvSF recommends that its members, once old enough, take the Skyttekort, a basic safety and introduction course, which is also needed to buy SvSF’s competition licence; in France, the federation says adults are introduced step by step, by a qualified coach or an experienced shooter.

The first months follow the order of the try-out: the bench first, then standing once the basics are sure. Do not chase the centre. The NSRA tells beginners to aim for consistency, how close together the shots land, because the smaller the group, the better you are shooting. A tight group in the wrong place is moved with the sights; a scattered one is a matter of technique.

In Sweden, air rifle has a season: SvSF says it is shot indoors, mostly in the winter half of the year from September to April, so late summer and autumn are the time to call a club there.

Give yourself a first goal you can measure. The NSRA’s proficiency badge scheme is open to everyone, members or not, with a minimum qualifying score for each class. In Sweden, SvSF places shooters in classes by the results they reach. The target you shoot at, its rings and how a match is scored are on the ISSF 10 m air rifle card.

Keep your own record. SvSF notes that the club usually keeps track of your class, but that it helps to note your own results from training and competitions. Electronic targets that show each shot on a screen are common now, SvSF adds. If you shoot on paper, keep the cards. A score for each evening is enough to start with, and once your groups hold steady, think about your first competition.

The NSRA calls air rifles an easy and cost-effective way into target shooting, and says the cost of starting equipment is minimal, depending on the discipline. The money goes out in this order:

1. The try-out, priced by the club or range.
2. Membership of the club. At an FFTir club you need both club membership and the federation’s licence, which includes insurance for shooting; for what the licence means in law, see the law where you live.
3. Pellets and targets. SvSF’s course says clubs often supply fairly cheap pellets for training, while dearer pellets of better quality are used in competition.
4. Small kit of your own: hearing protection and a shooting glove.
5. Your own rifle, jacket, trousers and boots, once you have decided to commit. Both SvSF and the NSRA point to the second-hand market; on a second-hand PCP or CO2 rifle, check the cylinder’s date. A PCP rifle also needs a way to fill it: a pump or a diving tank of your own, or the club’s.

None of the federations in this guide publishes a typical club fee, so ask the club. The one price range we found from a national body is American: the CMP’s page on sporter air rifles, read on 13 October 2026, puts them at $180 to $650. Sporter is a junior class of three-position air rifle, designed for new competitors or those who want to compete with a minimum of equipment and expense; the other class, precision, is modelled on Olympic shooting and allows specialised target rifles and equipment.

The costly mistake is buying a rifle before you know which kind you need. Shoot the club’s rifles for a season first. By then you will know what suits you, and the people at your club will know who is selling.