Technical determinants of air rifle and pistol shooting performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Vasanth Sundaram, Viswanath Sundar, Kane Middleton
Abstract
The study aimed to investigate the influence of key technical determinants on shooting performance in both air rifle and pistol shooting disciplines. Following a systematic search across four databases (PubMed, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, and Cochrane Library), a total of 22 articles were included. The findings indicate that there was a significant correlation between the stability of hold component, as measured by DEV_X ( r = −0.60; 95% confidence interval (CI) = −0.69 to −0.49; p < 0.001) and HIT f ( r = 0.69; 95% CI = 0.56 to 0.79; p < 0.001) and shooting performance in both shooting disciplines. In addition, HIT r , another stability component, revealed a significant positive correlation for shooting performance ( r = 0.60; 95% CI = 0.35 to 0.77; p < 0.001) in air pistol shooting. Furthermore, in both disciplines, there was a significant positive correlation between shooting performance and measures of aiming accuracy such as COG hit ( r = 0.64; 95% CI = 0.49 to 0.75; p < 0.001), Target f ( r = 0.75; 95% CI = 0.63 to 0.84; p < 0.001), and Target r ( r = 0.60; 95% CI = 0.33 to 0.78; p < 0.001). In both disciplines, there was a strong negative correlation between the cleanliness of triggering and shooting performance ( r = −0.63; 95% CI = −0.75 to −0.48; p < 0.001). Time on target measure significantly correlated with shooting performance ( r = 0.52; 95% CI = 0.31 to 0.68; p < 0.001) across both disciplines. The relationship between postural balance and shooting performance in air rifle shooting was negative, indicating that better postural balance is associated with improved shooting ( r = −0.53; 95% CI = −0.69 to −0.33; p < 0.001). This review emphasizes the significance of various technical components in both air rifle and pistol disciplines.