Backstop – mound of earth behind the targets that stops the bullets

Back gunning – shooting from the supine position (lying on one’s back)

Barrel – a straight shooting tube at the front end of a rifle, through which high-pressure gases propel a projectile 

Barrel tuner – adjustable knob to make a rifle shoot more accurately

Benchrest – a style of shooting where the shooter shoots from a bench

Bipod – two legged support for the fore-end of a rifle

Bird – a shot scoring 3 points, also called a magpie

Bolt action rifle – is a type of rifle which fires one round at a time and comprises a bolt as a major component

Bore – the hole up the centre of a barrel

Bullet – the common term for a projectile fired from a rifle

Bullet flight –  trajectory, the arc of flight.

Bulls Eye – A shot that scores 5 points

Butt – the broad part of a rifle stock that rests upon your shoulder

Butt plate – either rubber, metal or other material, the surface of the rifle butt that rests against your shoulder

Butt stock – the rear part of a rifle

Calibre – the diameter of the bore of a barrel 

Cartridge – a type of pre-assembled firearm ammunition (also called a bullet)

Centrefire – A centerfire cartridge is a cartridge whose primer is located at the centre of the base of its casing

Chamber – the precise part of a barrel that the bullet fits into to be fired.

Coat – the jacket worn for stability when shooting a target rifle

Counting shots – the shots in a string of shots that are counted towards a score (also see non counting shots)

Discipline – a particular type of target shooting (e.g. Target Rifle, F Class, FTR or Hunter/Sporter etc.)

Dry fire – the practice of simulating the discharge of a firearm without any live ammunition

DRA – a District Rifle Association which promotes the sport in a particular area

Electronic targets (or ETs) – A target designed to determine bullet placement acoustically and notify the shooter on a monitor or electronic screen.

Firearm – a barreled device that uses rapidly expanding high-pressure gas to launch a projectile towards a target

Target frame– the outside surrounding structure of a target. Not intended to be shot at, but shots can hit the frame through error.

Frame the target – a term for using a font ring size that encircles the whole target when sighting.

Front block –  the dovetailed block at the muzzle which holds the front tunnel.

Front tunnel – A tube shaped font sight that holds a sight ring

Forestock –  Fore-end, the part of the stock forward of the trigger.

Fullbore – the precision rifle shooting sport governed by the ICFRA

Ground sheet – the mat one lies on to shoot from the prone position. Used to keep clean and dry. Also used to stop elbows slipping while firing a shot.

Group – at least three shots form a group, the entire pattern of shots on a target

Gunsmith – a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds firearms

Heavy Gun  Class  – a class of bench rest rifle

Hexta – a manufacturer of electronic targets

Hunting rifle – a lightweight firearm

ICFRA -International Confederation of Fullbore Rifle Associations

Inner – A shot scoring 4 points (inside the aiming mark)

Iris –  the adjustable rear aperture of an aperture sight or the adjustable front ring of a front sight.

Jacket –  a coat worn when shooting target rifle designed to keep the rifle steady

Jackets (bullet) – Jackets are the “skin” of a bullet, starting as empty cylinders which are then filled with compressed core material, expanded to exact diameter, and shaped into the bullet desired.

A bullet jacket generally allows for higher muzzle velocities than bare lead without depositing significant amounts of metal in the bore.

Keyhole or keyholing: Refers to the end-over-end tumbling of the bullet which will often leave an elongated or keyhole shaped hole in a paper target.

This occurs when the bullet is insufficiently stabilised by the firearm’s rifling, either because the rifling is too slow or long for a given bullet, also meaning that the bullet is too long or tail heavy for said rifling. Or else due to poor fit of an undersize bullet in the gun barrel. In these cases the bullet has a natural tendency to wobble, and may start to tumble end-over-end just encountering the resistance of the air.

Kick: The recoil or backward momentum of a firearm when it is discharged.

Light Gun Class – a class of bench rest rifle

Live  firing – using live ammunition at a range

Magpie – a shot scoring 3 points, also called a bird

Mantlet – the mound of earth in front of a gallery of targets. Personnel can safely stay behind the mantlet while shooting is being conducted. Manual targets are marked by personnel while behind the mantlet. 

Minute of angle – a degree is divided into 60 minutes (of angle). One minute of angle equates to approximately 25 mm for every hundred metres. Bullet strike and the effect of wind is measured in minutes (of angle). Older shooters historically call them points. In Western Australia they call minutes “lines”. 

Mirage – a naturally occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays bend via refraction to produce a displaced image of distant objects

Miss – a shot fired without hitting the allocated target or a shot outside the scoring area of a target.

Muzzle brake (recoil compensator) – a device connected to, or a feature integral to the construction of, the muzzle or barrel of a firearm, that is intended to redirect a portion of propellant gases to counter recoil and unwanted muzzle rise

Muzzle energy – the kinetic energy of a bullet as it is expelled from the muzzle of a firearm