You’ll practice and study with your Legion affiliated club, but get to compete as an individual.

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Beginner: Safety basics & fundamentals: handling, loading, aiming, firing

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Intermediate: Once you have mastered the basics, you can take air rifle courses from the National Rifle Association or the Civilian Marksmanship Program through your club. These will help you develop your skills, set personal goals and work to achieve established performance standards.

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Advanced / Competition: Your club may hold competitions among its own members, or it may host or attend regional matches. The two basic kinds of competitions are postal and shoulder-to-shoulder. In a postal match, you and fellow participants shoot at targets and then mail them off to be scored. Shoulder-to-shoulder matches are in-person and scored in real-time. The American Legion Junior Three-Position Air Rifle Tournament begins with postal matches. The best 30 junior marksmen from across the country earn an expense paid opportunity to contend for the National Championship in Colorado Springs, Colo. In the same facility where Olympians train, those junior marksmen will compete in a shoulder-to-shoulder match for the title.