25 m Rapid Fire Pistol

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25 m Rapid Fire Pistol is one of the ISSF shooting events. The event has been a part of the Olympic program ever since the beginning in 1896, although its rules changed greatly before World War II, after which they were only slightly changed until the two major revisions of 1989 and 2005. The latter conformed the equipment rules to those of 25 m Standard Pistol, thereby banning .22 Short cartridges as well as encircling grips and low trigger-pull weight. This caused a decline in results: the pre-2005 world record was 597, while the present world record is 591.

Instead of dropping specialized rapid fire pistols, manufacturers designed new pistols, such as the Walther SSP, conforming to the Standard pistol requirements, but optimized for the rapid fire event.

[edit] Course of fire

The centers of the targets are 75 cm apart, and the 10 score zone has a diameter of 10 cm.

When paper targets (as opposed to electronic scoring systems) are used, thin scoring rings are printed on the target. The thick aiming lines are present in both versions.

Traditionally, RFP competitions use paper targets that are able to turn 90 degrees to appear to the shooter and then turn back to disappear when the shooting time is up. During the last few decades, these targets have gradually been replaced by electronic devices which use red and green lights to indicate the beginning and the end of the shooting time, and which automatically handle late shots. As these systems are expensive, they are normally only used in international competitions.

A series (or string) consists of five shots fired at one target each within a limited time. The targets stand next to each other at a 25 m distance from the shooter. When the targets appear, the competitor must raise his arm from a 45 degree angle, and fire his five shots. If a shot is too late, it will score as a miss.

There are three different time limits for the series: 8 seconds, 6 seconds, and 4 seconds. A stage consists of two series of each type, and a full course of fire comprises two such stages, or a total of 60 shots. Since the targets are divided into concentric score zones with 10 being the most central part, the total maximum score is 600.

In major competitions, the top six shooters qualify for a final round of four additional 4-second series, using decimals of points. The results of the qualification round and the final are added together, and any ties are broken by firing an additional 4-second series.

[edit] Current world records

Current world records in 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol
Men	Qualification	591	Alexei Klimov (RUS)  Christian Reitz (GER)	October 6, 2006 May 28, 2008	Granada (ESP) Milan (ITA)	edit
	Final	794.0	Christian Reitz (GER) (591+203.0)	May 28, 2008	Milan (ITA)	edit
	Teams	1743	China (Liu G., Liu Zh., Zhang)	July 29, 2006	Zagreb (CRO)	edit
Junior Men	Individual	588	Ding Feng (CHN)	April 5, 2007	Fort Benning (USA)	edit
	Teams	1716	Germany (Moses, Reitz, Wagenitz)	July 5, 2005	Belgrade (SCG)	edit

[edit] World and Olympic Champions

Further information: List of Olympic medalists in shooting: 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol

The dominant shooter of the event has been Ralf Schumann of Germany with a total of five major worldwide championship titles. He is also the only shooter overall who has won three individual Olympic titles.

A rare double is that between this rapid fire event and its direct opposite 50 m Pistol; this has only been accomplished by Alfred Lane (completed in 1912), Torsten Ullman (1939), Huelet Benner (1952) and Pentti Linnosvuo (1964), with Lane and Linnosvuo using only Olympic titles. Benner, on the other hand, is the only shooter with two titles in both events.

Year	Venue	Individual	Team
1896	Athens	Ioannis Phrangoudis (GRE)		Alfred Lane at the 1912 Olympics
1900	Paris	Maurice Larrouy (FRA)
1912	Stockholm	Alfred Lane (USA)	Sweden
1920	Antwerp	Guilherme Paraense (BRA)	United States
1924	Paris	Henry Bailey (USA)
1932	Los Angeles	Renzo Morigi (ITA)
1933	Granada	Charles Des Jammonières (FRA)
1935	Rome	Walter Boninsegni (ITA)
1936	Berlin	Cornelius van Oyen (GER)
1937	Helsinki	Karlis Klava (LAT)	Finland
1939	Luzern	Torsten Ullman (SWE)	Hungary
1947	Stockholm	Carlos Enrique Diaz Saenz Valiente (ARG)	Italy
1948	London	Károly Takács (HUN)
1949	Buenos Aires	Huelet Benner (USA)	Argentina
1952	Oslo	Huelet Benner (USA)	United States
1952	Helsinki	Károly Takács (HUN)
1954	Caracas	N. Kalinichenko (URS)	Soviet Union
1956	Melbourne	Ştefan Petrescu (ROU)
1958	Moscow	Alexander Kropotin (URS)	Soviet Union	Károly Takács, the first double Olympic Champion, competing in 1961
1960	Rome	William McMillan (USA)
1962	Cairo	Alexander Zabelin (URS)	Soviet Union
1964	Tokyo	Pentti Linnosvuo (FIN)
1966	Wiesbaden	Virgil Atanasiu (ROU)	Soviet Union
1968	Mexico City	Józef Zapędzki (POL)
1970	Phoenix	Giovanni Liverzani (ITA)	Czechoslovakia
1972	Munich	Józef Zapędzki (POL)
1974	Thun	Alfred Radke (FRG)	Soviet Union
1976	Montreal	Norbert Klaar (GDR)
1978	Seoul	Ove Gunnarsson (SWE)	West Germany
1980	Moscow	Corneliu Ion (ROU)
1982	Caracas	Igor Puzirev (URS)	Soviet Union
1984	Los Angeles	Takeo Kamachi (JPN)
1986	Suhl	Adam Kaczmarek (POL)	Soviet Union
1988	Seoul	Afanasijs Kuzmins (URS)
1990	Moscow	Ralf Schumann (GDR)	Soviet Union	Juniors
1992	Barcelona	Ralf Schumann (GER)		Individual	Team
1994	Milan	Krzysztof Kucharczyk (POL)	Poland	Joseph Gonzalez (USA)	Germany
1996	Atlanta	Ralf Schumann (GER)
1998	Barcelona	Ralf Schumann (GER)	Germany	Jorge Llames (ESP)	Germany
2000	Sydney	Sergei Alifirenko (RUS)
2002	Lahti	Marco Spangenberg (GER)	Germany	Martin Behrendt (GER)	Germany
2004	Athens	Ralf Schumann (GER)
2006	Zagreb	Zhang Penghui (CHN)	China	Christian Reitz (GER)	Russia

[edit] External links

• The International Shooting Sport Federation - Official site