Shooting at the 1952 Summer Olympics

The 1952 shooting events saw the first appearance of the Soviet Union in Olympic shooting. They introduced a new rifle with sites on the left side of the barrel. The other big news was that the Union Internationale de Tir (UIT) had stabilized the Olympic Programme. There were seven individual events in 1952 and these would be relatively standard over the next 30 years at the Olympic Games. No team events were scheduled, and no team events would be held in Olympic shooting until Tokyo 2020. Trap shooting and running target shooting returned to the programme, as did the 3-position small-bore rifle match, which had not been held at the Olympics since 1912.

Because of the increase in the number of nations entering the shooting, the entries in each event were limited to two per nation. Germany was allowed to compete again, but was handicapped because shooting for sport and teaching to shoot were forbidden until 1952. No women competed in 1952 Olympic shooting, although they had been allowed to compete at the 1950 World Championships.

Most of the shooting events in 1952 were held at the Malmi Shooting Range, which was 11 kms north of the center of Helsinki. The range had been constructed for the 1937 World Championships, and was, by 1952, the property of the Finnish Defense Service. The clay-pigeon trap shooting was held at Huopalahti, 8 kms from the main events at Malmi, on a range owned by the Finnish Hunting Society.