Equipment
Ammunition
The ammunition used in 10m events, both for pistols and for rifles, is a 4.5mm (0.177”) pellet.
For all but one of the 25m and 50m pistol & rifle events, 5.6mm (0.22”) rimfire bullets are used. The 25m Centre Fire Pistol event allows any calibre between 0.30” and 0.38”, although virtually every competitor will use a 0.32” round. The rifle shooters will test various brands and batches of ammunition to find the one which is the most accurate in their own rifles – significant differences can be found even between consecutive batches of ammunition made in the same factory from the same raw materials. The Fullbore Rifle event requires the use of 7.62mm ammunition, which is supplied by the competition organisers. For the clay target the normal ammunition is a 12-gauge cartridge, weighing not more than 24g.
Firearms
Competitors fire either with a shotgun, rifle or pistol.
The shotgun will normally be an “over and under”, which has two barrels, one above the other. Up to two cartridges may be loaded.
Rifles include air, smallbore and fullbore variants and are all single shot – in other words they must be manually reloaded after each shot is fired. The sights are consist of a circular foresight ring and a small circular peep-hole at the rear. Telescopic sights are not permitted.
Pistols used for the 10m and 50m events are all single shot, and must be reloaded after each shot. Those used for the 25m events take a five-shot magazine, and must be reloaded after each series.
Targets
Electronic targets are used for all 10m, 25m and 50m rifle and pistol events, and – for the first time in the Commonwealth Games – for the Fullbore events. The targets are all circular, and for the majority of events are divided into ten scoring rings. The “bulls-eye” or ten on the 10m air rifle target is a dot of 0.5mm diameter. The target for the fullbore rifle is divided into five scoring rings, and also contains an inner-bull, or ‘V’, ring which is used to break ties.
In the clay target events, the target is a clay disc of 11cm in diameter, 25 to26mm in thickness and 105g in weight.
Uniform
In the rifle events, competitors wear shooting clothing made according to ISSF regulations and of a specified thickness and toughness of material. Jackets, trousers and boots are used to minimise the movement of the rifle in the shooting position, while a thick and padded glove is normally worn on the supporting hand for comfort.
In the pistol events, competitors are not permitted to wear special shooting clothing, but may wear shooting shoes.
In the clay target events, shooters will normally wear a vest with a little padding in the shoulder and deep pocket to hold cartridges. Skeet competitors must have a line on their clothing at hip level so that it is possible to see whether the stock of the gun is above the hip or not as they wait to fire.