Safe Shooting Practices Spreading with Growth of 3-Position Air Riflery

Three-Position Air Rifle Shooting is one of many competitive varsity sports offered at A.J. Dimond High School in Anchorage, Alaska. The fact that we offer riflery at A.J. Dimond is an indication of the high level of interest in shooting sports among the students and in the broader community. We compete in matches across our district in Cook Inlet Conference Region IV, either at home or at away meets. Our rifle team is comprised of both boys and girls at all grade levels from ninth through 12th grade. Currently, we shoot .177 caliber air rifles at a distance of 10 meters in the following positions: prone, off-hand and kneeling. A perfect individual score for a three-position match is 300. A.J. Dimond riflery has had many accomplished shooters over the past several years, including several Junior Olympic medalists and NCAA Division I athletes.

Firearm safety is the most important aspect of shooting sports. At our school, we utilize the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) rules of safe gun handling: 1) Always keep rifle muzzles pointed in a safe direction, 2) Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot, and 3) Always keep the rifle action open and unloaded until ready to use.

Every shooter must learn the proper air rifle nomenclature for their sport and follow all of these safety rules at all times. Every rifle must be treated as if it is loaded and ready to fire, with no exceptions. Also, keeping the muzzle pointed in a safe direction up or down range towards the target, never pointed at another person under any circumstances. We teach our student-athletes to place their shooting finger alongside their rifle above the trigger guard until ready to shoot, thus virtually eliminating accidental misfires. By keeping the action of your rifle open, you’re able to see directly inside the chamber and barrel and see that it is clear of any projectiles. Lastly, the rifle cannot fire with the action open. In addition, we take additional steps to ensure safety at our indoor rifle range and require each individual to uncase their rifles with the barrel pointed down range and immediately insert clear barrel indicators into the opened actions of their rifles so that they protrude out of the end of the barrel until shooting practice or competition begins.

Competitive Three-Position Air Rifle Shooting is one of the most demanding of the shooting sports, yet it is growing in popularity due to the intrinsic rewards of mastering the skills necessary to excel. At a distance of 10 meters, shooters fire from three different positions (prone, standing and kneeling) at targets with a center ring about the size of a pencil eraser. Competitive shooting sports create an equal playing field as both boys and girls shoot shoulder to shoulder during matches. All shooters learn the basic elements of safety, marksmanship fundamentals, competitive strategy, and the rewards gained from practicing one of the most challenging athletic sports.

Three-position air riflery (3-P) is a shooting sport wherein practice is the single most important factor for overall success. It is not the number of shots fired during a practice, but the quality of shots fired. Practicing each individual position correctly and repeatedly by yourself, with your teammates, and with your coaches, will develop the necessary skills to shoot accurately in prone, standing and the kneeling positions at the 10-meter distance.

Improvement often takes place slowly over time, so learning to be patient is a key component to overall success as an individual shooter, and to your team’s success. Your motivation and practice habits will determine your overall success as a shooter. Our best athletes practice daily, executing each shot exactly the same way until shooting consistency is achieved.

A.J. Dimond riflery uses two primary types of air rifles for competitive shooting: Feinwerkbau and Anschutz. Both brands of air rifles are imported from Germany. They fire a flat nose 4.5mm (.177 caliber) pellet at just less than 600-feet per second, but are capable of firing at much greater velocities if adjusted to do so. Make no mistake, these are not BB guns. Colleges and Olympic shooters all over the world use them. During controlled experiments, using a mix of both types of rifles, pellets penetrate ballistic gelatin to a depth between four and five inches deep at 10 meters. It is therefore absolutely imperative that each competitor practice safe gun handling at all times.

Shooters influence the outcome of each shot by limiting extraneous movement. Therefore, fine motor control is essential in precision shooting. It is a combination of both physical control and mental discipline for each individual athlete. In order to achieve optimal results when firing, you must maintain confidence in your abilities, retain emotional stability free of stress, and be able to repeatedly duplicate body positioning, sight picture, and accurate shot placement, including follow through-known as “calling the shot.”

In each of the three positions, athletes must do the following mental checklist for each and every shot in order to be a successful shooting athlete:

• Be attentive

• Be confident

• Concentrate

• Check natural point of aim

• Adjust body positioning

• Relax by controlling the heart rate

• Breathe normally

• Clear your mind

• Check sight picture alignments

• Maintain proper breathing control

• Hold for shot cycle or reject the shot and start over

• Squeeze with smooth rearward pressure, and

• Follow through, calling the shot or the location of the pellet impact.

Now execute exactly the same way for every shot while always improving on the last one. Being consistent is one of the vital elements of shooting sports.

During our practice and shooting competitions, a range officer is present and is responsible for the overall safe operation of the shooting range. No shooter is allowed to uncase and/or load their rifle until they have been given permission to do so. The shooting commands are as follows: “Load,” “Start” (commence firing), and “Stop” (cease firing). Once the “Stop” command has been given, everyone must open their actions and put their rifles down. If a pellet remains in the rifle, the shooter must ask the range officer for additional instructions. All shooters are allowed to give the “Stop” command if they become aware of a dangerous safety or emergency situation. Therefore, everyone on the range acts independently as a range officer to ensure safety. Eye protection is required in the form of safety glasses or prescription glasses. Contact lenses do not provide adequate eye protection. Hearing protection is recommended but not required for air rifles. Several of our athletes have custom earplugs made to form to their respective ears. Each of our indoor ranges have a red firing line that shooters are not allowed to cross at any time unless they have permission from the safety officer operating the range.

Three-Position Air Rifle Shooting is a sport where both boys and girls compete together in shoulder-to-shoulder competitions. Over the past years, more and more female athletes are entering shooting sports and achieving individual success and as vital teammates. Riflery is primarily a mental sport. An individual’s success in their marksmanship abilities derives from hours of practice that requires discipline, concentration, teamwork, and self-confidence in order to increase overall accuracy and consistency. Riflery teaches the student athlete safety by following the basic rules of safe gun handling, skill development, personal responsibility, and a lifelong rewarding personal activity.