About Outdoor Shooting
While many TSNZ members only shoot over 20 or 25 yards at indoor ranges throughout New Zealand over winter, there are also those who shoot 50m Outdoors over summer. Matches are held in Prone, 3 Position, and Benchrest events, and the Outdoor season runs from 1 October to 31 March.
Target Sprint which was launched in NZ in 2022 which combines running with Air Rifle shooting. Click here to go to the Target Sprint page.
Many NZ outdoor ranges use paper targets in target changers such as those shown here, where the single target is rolled through with the push of a button, while others use 6-bull targets which are manually changed after they are shot. Currently there are no NZ ranges fully set up with electronic targets but this is definitely a goal for the future. Two lines of flags are set up across the range (at 10m and 30m from the shooters) and these are used to judge wind speed and direction during shooting.
Outdoor matches are 60 shots, and if target changers are used the match is over a period of 1 hour. Extra time is allowed before the match starts for preparation and 15 minutes is allowed for unlimited sighters prior to counting shots. Matches that are shot on 6-bull targets will generally be split into two 30 shot matches with shooters changing their targets between, and sighting time is added onto each match.
Shooters are graded at the end of each Outdoor Season, and can move either up or down depending on how they have shot that year. Grades are D (up to 92.49), C (92.50-94.99), B (95.00-96.99), and A (97.00-100). There is no Master Grade as there is with Indoor shooting. A new shooter who has not shot at all will usually enter at D Grade, while an already-graded Indoor shooter will start at an Outdoor grade one below their Indoor grade.
Outdoor shooters can participate at Club level only if they want to, shooting once a week at their local range, or can compete at events around NZ:
- TNSZ Open Championships - these are a number of these run during the season. All TSNZ members can enter these competitions, and as the entries are graded shooters from D Grade upwards, so all have the chance to compete and win at their own level.
- Designated Matches - these matches are run under as far as is practicable under ISSF rules, and are used by NZ Shooting Federation to rank shooters for International matches. Non-ISSF shooters can also enter these matches, but their scores will not count towards the NZSF ranking lists.
- Nationals - the Outdoor Nationals are at the end of February each year and alternate between the North and South Islands. All TSNZ members can enter the Nationals in their Grades, and shooting takes place over a week, with events including Air Rifle, Benchrest and 3P in addition to Prone matches. Shooters can qualify to represent their Island and NZ at the Nationals, and will then shoot in international postal matches.
- Oceania Championships - this match is held every 2 years in Australia, and events wil include prone as well as 3P and Air Rifle.
- Commonwealth Games - currently 50m Prone for both Men and Women is included at Commonwealth Games.
- ISSF World Cups - 50m Prone and 3P events for both Men and Women take place at the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cups.
The 3P event involves shooting over 50m Outdoor from 3 distinct positions - standing, kneeling and prone. This is truly a marathon event, with the match being 20 shots in each position and taking 2 hours.
3P is a Commonwealth Games and World Cup competition.
Benchrest shooting is relatively new in NZ and was shot at the Nationals for the first time in 2015, and currently there are TSNZ Guidelines for Benchrest shooting which will continue to be moved into Rules as the sport develops. Shooters can use their standard rifles but these are clamped into a rest on a bench, and scopes are used for highly accurate sighting. In some matches shooters can use their own flags of whatever design they may wish, and these can vary hugely from bright windmills to ribbons or discs. However when a benchrest match is shot in conjunction with a prone match, only standard prone flags are used.
Click here for TSNZ Benchrest Guidelines - for both Outdoor and Indoor shooting
A TSNZ Outdoor Committee is now underway to help develop and promote Outdoor Shooting in NZ.
Members of the Outdoor Committee are:
Owen Bennett, David Green, Martin Hunt, Luke Sigvertsen and Eddie Love.
If anyone has questions, feedback or suggestions about TSNZ Outdoor shooting, or wants to know how to get to their local Outdoor Range or competition,
please feel free to talk to one of the Outdoor Committee.
If you would like to try the sport of Target Shooting please contact the TSNZ Office