Why Olympic Rifle Shooters Wear Special Jackets: Explained

Indian fans witnessed the shooter, Swapnil Kusale, wear a finger ring like the iconic Olympic rings as he captured a historic bronze medal in the men's 50m rifle three positions final. Putting that aside, it was impossible to overlook the quantity of shooting equipment Kusale carried around during the competition. Performance is greatly impacted by the shooting jacket, particularly in rifle competitions. The shooter's body is supported by the jacket primarily.

Find out gears detail:

Trousers and Jacket:

A Jacket is an important part of the kit for a rifle Shooter. Costing up to EUR 2,000, the jacket and pants are often tailored from leather or canvas to meet the unique needs of a shooter. They minimize mobility while holding the shooter's body in position, because of their tremendous weight, the jackets guarantee that a shooter moves very little when firing. Additionally, because they are still wearing coats and pants, their shooting accuracy increases.

Gloves:

Gloves used for rifles have to be 12 pounds in weight and the shooter has to balance it on their palm or in the knucks in a comfortable position. The weight of the rifle is on the hand for a long time and gloves are used as cushion to the fingers. Gloves help the shooters as they train for long hours.

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Shooting Glass:

The shooting glasses, which are commonly used by 10m air rifle and pistol shooters, have a lens, a motorized iris, and blinders. The lens, with modifications designed to match the shooter's vision, aids in focusing on the target. A motorized iris lies just behind the lens, regulating the quantity of light that enters the shooter's eye. It functions similarly to the aperture of a camera. A narrower aperture allows the shooter to see distant objects while simultaneously focusing on the gun sight. Finally, the blinders restrict all extraneous motions that may distract a shooter and help in increased concentration.

Earplugs:

Earplugs are useful for shooters as they cut out the outside noise which is there at the time of the event. They cancel the crowd cheering and keep the shooter focused during the time of the shooting, Due to which helps the shooter with full concentration.

Vizor for Headgear:

The big vizor across the shooters' foreheads serves a similar purpose as daily baseball hats in keeping the sun out. Artificial lights on a shooting range might interfere with a shooter's line of sight. As a result, a shooter uses vizors to block out all external light and focus on the target, a dot the page in Times New Roman font.