Shooting competitions for factory and service firearms refer to a set of shooting disciplines, usually called service rifle, service pistol, production, factory, or stock; where the types of permitted firearms are subject to

type approval Type approval or certificate of conformity is granted to a product that meets a minimum set of regulatory, technical and safety requirements. Generally, type approval is required before a product is allowed to be sold in a particular country, so ...

with few aftermarket modifications permitted. The terms often refer to the restrictions on permitted equipment and modifications rather than the type of match format. The names Service Rifle and Service Pistol stem from that the equipment permitted for these types of competitions traditionally were based on standard issue firearms used by one or several armed forces and civilian versions of these, while the terms production, factory and stock often are applied to more modern disciplines with similar restrictions on equipment classes. Service firearm competitions can refer to whole disciplines like

NRA Service Rifle High Power Rifle, also called XTC from "Across the Course", is a shooting sport using fullbore target rifles which is arranged in the United States by the National Rifle Association of America (NRA). The sport is divided into classes by equipment, ...

NRA NRA may refer to: Organizations Asia and Oceania * National Railway Administration, the national railway regulator of China * National Recruitment Agency, Central Recruiting Agency of the Indian Government * New Revolutionary Alternative, an anar ...

in the U.S. and the

Tir aux Armes Règlementaires The French Shooting Federation (FFTir), ''French language, French'' Fédération Française de Tir, is the umbrella organization for sport shooting in France. It was founded in its current form in 1967, but has roots as far back as 1866. FFTir is ...

competitions by the

French Shooting Federation The French Shooting Federation (FFTir), '' French'' Fédération Française de Tir, is the umbrella organization for sport shooting in France. It was founded in its current form in 1967, but has roots as far back as 1866. FFTir is France's represe ...

, or it can refer to a subset of equipment classes within one shooting discipline, such as the Production division in

practical shooting Practical shooting, also known as dynamic shooting or action shooting, is a set of shooting sports in which the competitors try to unite the three principles of precision, power, and speed, by using a firearm of a certain minimum power factor to ...

, F-Class F/TR (Standard) in F-Class and several national disciplines within

bullseye Bullseye or Bull's Eye may refer to: Symbols * ◎ (Unicode U+25CE BULLSEYE), in the Geometric Shapes Unicode block * (Unicode U+0298 LATIN LETTER BILABIAL CLICK), the phonetic symbol for bilabial click Animals and plants * Bull's Eye, '' Eury ...

and

field shooting Field-shooting or terrain-shooting (Danish: ''terrænskydning'', Norwegian: ''feltskyting'', Swedish: ''fältskytte''{{Cite web , url=http://www.sandvikensskyttegille.se/fs_info.php , title=Swedish: Fältskytte gevär förklarat {{! Sandvikens Sk ...

. The types of handguns or rifles permitted for these types of competitions are often rugged, versatile and affordable compared to custom competition firearms used in separate equipment classes within the same type of shooting disciplines. Equipment classes for factory or service firearms are usually ''restrictive'' in nature in that most modifications generally are prohibited, and upgrade and replacement parts usually must have been produced by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). In comparison, other more open equipment classes usually are ''permissive'' in nature, permitting most equipment and modifications as long as the firearm still functions safely, while also satisfying some minimum requirements like for instance a weight limit, size restriction or a type of sights (i.e. any

iron sights Iron sights are a system of physical alignment markers used as a sighting device to assist the accurate aiming of ranged weapons such as firearms, airguns, crossbows, and bows, or less commonly as a primitive finder sight for optical telescop ...

red dot The Red Dot Design Award is an international, annual design competition for product and industrial design, brand and communication design as well as design concepts, in which the Red Dot quality label is awarded to winners. The Red Dot Design A ...

or scope sight).

History

The modern

ISSF 300 meter standard rifle 300 m standard rifle is one of the ISSF shooting events. It is similar to 300 metre rifle but there are more restrictions on the rifle (quite similar to those in 10 metre air rifle). The course of fire is a three positions program of 3x20 shots ...

event has roots dating back to at least the 19th century as a service rifle competition, and the early championships had a true army rifle event where the rifle model used was provided at the host country's choice. Today's format created in 1947 allows for custom firearms, and as such is no longer a service rifle competition. However, shooting disciplines requiring equipment type approval continues to enjoy large popularity in several other national and international disciplines due to simple equipment rules. For instance national service rifle competitions are popular in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

by NRA, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

by NRA UK and in

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

Disciplines

* The Production division in IPSC, USPSA and other

disciplines, where handguns used must be listed in a type approval list.IPSC :: Production Division List
/ref> * The Standard class (F/TR) in ICFRA F-Class

long range shooting Long range shooting is a collective term for shooting sport, shooting disciplines where the distance to the target is significant enough that the shooter has to put effort into calculating external ballistics, various ballistic factors, esp ...

, where the ammunition must be one of the type approved cartridges 7.62mm NATO or 5.56mm NATO. * Civilian Service Rifle (CSR) in the U.K. by NRA UK. *

in the U.S. by

, an equipment class within high power rifle. * Nordic bullseye rifle and field rifle competitions by the

National Rifle Association of Norway Det frivillige Skyttervesen (DFS) (), known in English as the National Rifle Association of Norway, and by DFS themselves as the Norwegian Civilian Marksmanship Association since 2020, is a civilian marksmanship association in Norway and the lar ...

(DFS), the

Danish Gymnastics and Sports Associations DGI (DGI, literally ''Danish Gymnastics and Sports Associations'') is a Danish association of sports clubs which includes 6,400 local sports clubs and 1.6 million athletes. DGI was formed in November 1992 as a merger of ''De Danske Gymnastik- og U ...

(DGI Shooting) and the

Swedish Shooting Sport Association Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

(SvSF). *

pistol and rifle competitions by the

(FFTir). Jungschütze in einer Praxisübung.jpg, A junior shooter in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

exercising

bullseye shooting Bullseye shooting is a category of shooting sport disciplines where the objective is to score points with carefully placed precision fire by hitting a shooting target, target as close to its center as possible. The name refers to the target cen ...

with a

SIG 550 The SG 550 is an assault rifle manufactured by Swiss Arms, SIG Sauer AG (formerly a division of Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft, now known as SIG Holding AG) in Switzerland. "SG" is an abbreviation for ''Sturmgewehr'' ("assault rifle"). T ...

. The rifle is equipped with a brass catcher to avoid disturbing other shooters with the ejection. Merjenje z M48.jpg, Service rifle shooting in

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

with the Zastava M48 rifle. US Navy 070712-N-6832D-055 Senior Chief Machinist's Mate Curtis Norris peers down the sight of his service rifle.jpg, Service rifle shooting in

with an

M16 The M16 (officially Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of assault rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-round magazine. In 1964, th ...

/ AR-15 style rifle.

References

{{Reflist Shooting sports

History

Disciplines

See also

References