50 m Pistol

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50 m Pistol
Men
Number of shots:	60 + 10
Olympic Games:	Since 1896
World Championships:	Since 1900
Abbreviation:	FP

50 m Pistol (formerly called Free Pistol) is one of the ISSF shooting events. It provides the purest precision shooting among the pistol events, and is one of the oldest shooting types, dating back to the 19th century and only having seen marginal rule changes since the 1930s.

The pistol used must be in caliber .22, and may only be loaded with one round at a time. It must also be operated by one hand and not supported by any other part of the shooter's body. Apart from that, there are practically no rules for the pistol, explaining the former name of the event. Trigger force may be as low as the shooter pleases, the grip may be designed in any way and there are no restrictions on size and weight. Precision pistols with long barrels, grips fitted to the shooter's hand, very light trigger pull, etc., are often themselves called free pistols.

The course of fire is 60 shots within a maximum time of two hours. The target is the same as in 25 m Standard Pistol, and with double the distance this explains the lower result level. 570 out of the maximum 600 is considered a world-class result. The current world record, 581, was achieved already in the Moscow Olympics in 1980 by USSR's own Alexander Melentiev.

Most shooters excelling in 50 m Pistol also compete at the same level in 10 m Air Pistol, a similar precision event.

[edit] Current world records

Men - Qualification	581	Alexander Melentiev	1980, Moscow	Team	1719	Romania	1985, Osijek
Men - Final	676.2 577+99.2	William Demarest	2000, Milan
Junior Male	577	Spas Koprinkov	1990, Moscow	Team	1666	Bulgaria	1988, Joensuu

[edit] Olympic and World Champions since 1947

Year	Individual		Team
Olympics
1948 Olympics, London	Edwin Vasquez Cam	Peru
1952 Olympics, Helsinki	Huelet Benner	United States
1956 Olympics, Melbourne	Pentti Linnosvou	Finland
1960 Olympics, Rome	Alexei Gustchin	Soviet Union
1964 Olympics, Tokyo	Vaino Markkanen	Finland
1968 Olympics, Mexico City	Grigori Kosych	Soviet Union
1972 Olympics, Munich	Ragnar Skanåker	Sweden
1976 Olympics, Montreal	Uwe Potteck	East Germany
1980 Olympics, Moscow	Alexander Melentiev	Soviet Union
1984 Olympics, Los Angeles	Xu Haifeng	China
1988 Olympics, Seoul	Sorin Babii	Romania
1992 Olympics, Barcelona	Kanstantsin Lukashyk	Unified Team
1996 Olympics, Atlanta	Boris Kokorev	Russia
2000 Olympics, Sydney	Tanyu Kiryakov	Bulgaria
2004 Olympics, Athens	Mikhail Nestruev	Russia
World Championsip
1947 WCH, Stockholm	Torsten Ullman	Sweden	Argentina
1949 WCH, Buenos Aires	Beat Rhyner	Switzerland	Argentina
1950 WCH, Oslo	Torsten Ullman	Sweden	Sweden
1954 WCH, Caracas	Huelet Benner	United States	Soviet Union
1958 WCH, Moscow	Makhmud Umarov	Soviet Union	Soviet Union
1962 WCH, Cairo	Vladimir Stolipin	Soviet Union	Soviet Union
1966 WCH, Wiesbaden	Vladimir Stolipin	Soviet Union	Soviet Union
1970 WCH, Phoenix	Harald Vollmar	East Germany	Soviet Union
1974 WCH, Thun	Gregori Zapolski	Soviet Union	Soviet Union
1978 WCH, Seoul	Moritz Minder	Switzerland	Switzerland
1982 WCH, Caracas	Ragnar Skanåker	Sweden	Soviet Union
1986 WCH, Suhl	Sergei Pyzhianov	Soviet Union	Soviet Union
1990 WCH, Moscow	Spas Koprinkov	Bulgaria	Hungary
1994 WCH, Milan	Wang Yifu	China	Ukraine
1998 WCH, Barcelona	Franck Dumoulin	France	China
2002 WCH, Lahti	Tan Zongliang	China	China
2006 WCH, Zagreb	Tan Zongliang	China	China
Junior World Championship
1994 WCH, Milan	Anatolie Corovai	Moldova	Moldova
1998 WCH, Barcelona	Andrija Zlatić	Yugoslavia	Poland
2002 WCH, Lahti	Vladimir Issachenko	Kazakhstan	Ukraine
2006 WCH, Zagreb	Pu Qifeng	China	China

ISSF shooting events
300 m Rifle | 300 m Standard Rifle | 50 m Rifle | 10 m Air Rifle
50 m Pistol | 25 m Pistol | 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol | 25 m Center-Fire Pistol | 25 m Standard Pistol | 10 m Air Pistol
Trap | Double Trap | Skeet
50 m Running Target | 10 m Running Target