The Best Air Rifle Paper Targets

Air guns date back thousands of years with the invention of the blowgun. Lewis and Clark carried an air rifle with them on their famous expedition in the early 1800s. Many of us learned to shoot using an air rifle and they are still widely popular today. Air rifles appeal to the novice and expert competitive shooter alike. Air rifle competitions are held all over the world and it is an Olympic event in the Summer Games.

  1. Targets for Beginners

    • The best target for you depends on what type of shooting you are doing with your air rifle. The novice shooter spends much shooting time learning and practicing aiming. For this type of shooting a high contrast target serves the uses best. A black target area printed on a bright yellow paper provides the shooter with the highest contrast and makes spotting the target hits easier from a distance.

    Competition Targets

    • For more advanced shooters practicing for competition, official Nation Rifle Association targets make the best ones. Practicing with the same target you will use in competition makes the transition from practice to competitive shooting much easier. Many target manufactures produce official NRA targets and you can purchase them in nearly any sporting goods store.

    BB Rifles Targets

    • Younger shooters may begin with a BB rifle or BB gun and they can compete with their BB gun as well. The AR-4 target at five meters is the most common official NRA BB gun target used in competition. The number of targets printed on a 8.5 by 11-inch paper varies and the target will be marked AR-4/# where # is the number of targets per page. The bulls eye is 18.415 mm in diameter and covers the innermost three circles of the target. Ten concentric circles make up each target with a numeric designator for each of area of the circle.

    Air Rifle Targets

    • More advanced shooters with air rifles use the AR-4 10-meter target. The official NRA AR-4 air rifle targets are marked the same way as the BB gun targets with the target identification number followed by a slash and the number of targets per page. The Bulls eye on an AR-4 target is 30.5 mm and covers the inner six of the concentric circles of the target.