FFTIR TAR 830 and TAR 832 explained: precision and gongs

Most precision events reward one skill done slowly. TAR 830 asks for two that fight each other: dead-still one-handed accuracy on paper, then enough speed to knock five plates down in ten seconds with the same gun. If you come from 25m sport pistol, the first half will feel familiar. The second half will not.

What is FFTIR TAR 830?

It is a French federation event for service-type pistols and revolvers, shot at 25 metres. The trigger must lift at least 1.360 kg, calibre must fall between 7.62 and 11.60 mm, and sights must be fixed and open: think 9 mm parabellum, .38 Special, .45 ACP. No match guns, no optics, no anatomical revolver grips returning the hand to the same place every time.

One card and one rack of steel later you have a score out of 200, split evenly between precision and gongs. That balance is what makes the event interesting to train for, because the two halves pull your technique in opposite directions.

What is TAR 832 and how does it differ?

Same course of fire, same targets, same trigger weight. The difference is the hardware. TAR 832 is the classification for pre-1970 military service weapons, the Luger P08 or Mauser C96 generation, with one explicit exclusion: SIG P210 pistols are not admitted. TAR 830 covers modern standard handguns that do not appear on the authentic-weapon list.

You may enter both classifications at the same competition, including through the qualifying rounds up to the French Championship, provided you use a different compliant weapon for each. What you cannot do is swap guns mid-event or bring a replacement if one fails, so reliability matters more here than in most disciplines.

The TAR 830 course of fire step by step

Here is the full sequence under the current FFTIR rulebook. Total shot count is 35, of which 30 count for score.

1. Preparation, 5 minutes. Set up, dry-fire, get your position sorted.
2. Sighters: 5 shots in 3 minutes on C50, one or two hands. These do not count.
3. Precision: 2 series of 10 shots in 7 minutes each, one hand, strong side, unsupported. One C50 card per series, magazines loaded with no more than 5 rounds at a time. You may keep several magazines or speed loaders ready. This half is worth up to 100 points.
4. Gongs: 4 series of 5 shots. Two series in 20 seconds, then two in 10 seconds, one or two hands allowed. Five white steel gongs, 20 cm squares, worth 5 points each. Another 100 points on the table.

On paper the precision stage looks gentle. Seven minutes for ten shots is an eternity next to rapid fire pistol. The trap is that one-handed shooting with a 1.36 kg trigger on a service gun punishes every wobble, and a 9 on the C50 looks identical to a 7 until you walk downrange.

Precision stage: reading the C50 target

The C50 is a 50 cm card with rings 1 through 10, the same physical target used for the precision half of ISSF 25m sport pistol. Rings 7 to 10 sit in the black. Ten rings deep means one full scoring ring of drop costs you a point per shot, so a slightly loose hold on a service trigger turns a 95 into an 88 fast.

Two habits keep the precision half alive. First, treat the two 10-shot series as separate matches: settle, fire five deliberate shots, check your grouping tendency, adjust. Second, use the sighter series properly. Five shots is enough to confirm zero at 25 m if you put them all in the same place; it tells you nothing if you spray them.

If your groups sit low-left or low-right on the card, that is trigger compression or grip pressure, not sight error. The sight alignment basics transfer directly: a consistent sight picture with imperfect alignment still beats a perfect picture you cannot repeat.

Gong stage: 20 seconds, then 10

After the precision series the range crew swaps cards for steel: five white gongs, 20 by 20 cm. Two series at 20 seconds, two at 10. Load five rounds, take your ready position, wait for the command.

The classic failure is treating 20 seconds as generous. Five aimed shots in 20 seconds means four seconds per gong including transitions, and with a heavy double-action first shot most service pistols demand, that budget disappears quickly. By the 10-second series you are at two seconds per plate, which only works if the gun comes up to the same sight picture every time without you hunting for it.

Coaches who train this stage work transitions, not trigger speed. Pick a gong order and keep it. Move the eyes to the next plate before the arms follow. A miss on steel scores zero and costs the same time a hit does, so a missed gong in a 10-second series is usually two lost points: the one you missed and the one you never got to fire.

Scoring, ties, and the 830 final

At the French Championship the TAR 830 classification adds a finale for the top 8 qualifiers, and it is a knockout format unlike anything in ISSF shooting: single 6-round magazines, 5-gong series without a time limit, eliminations until two shooters face each other first-to-three in manches. TAR 832 has no finale; classification stands on the qualification score alone. Ties on the C50 half resolve like any precision event, inner tens and countback deciding who takes the placing.

Do you need a specific gun for TAR 830 or TAR 832?

Nothing exotic. A standard fixed-sight service pistol in 9 mm with a stock trigger already meeting 1.360 kg is the common choice, and revolvers in .38 Special remain popular precisely because a double-action pull over the minimum is easy to guarantee. Optics, ported barrels and threaded muzzles beyond 13 cm total barrel length are out. For TAR 832, condition matters as much as model: a 1940s pistol with a tired mainspring is a frustration generator, so budget for a gun that actually runs.

Trigger work on a TAR gun deserves a caution. Polishing sear surfaces to shave the pull below the limit helps nobody; the ISSF-style trigger weight rules explain why minimums exist and how they get checked at equipment control.

How to train for a hybrid event

Split your sessions by half, then join them late in the week. Precision days: one-handed slow fire on C50 cards, ten-shot series with a full seven-minute clock so the rhythm of the match becomes normal. Gong days: dry transitions at home against a timer app, then live five-shot runs starting at 20 seconds and working down.

The join matters because the event forces a mode switch mid-match. After twenty slow shots your pulse is down and your timing is glacial; the first gong series starts minutes later. Practise the switch itself: finish a precision card, then immediately run one 20-second gong series. A structured weekly plan built around this split covers both skills without letting either atrophy.

Scoring the precision half at practice is where most French shooters burn time, since hand-scoring C50 cards with a plug gauge is slow. Photographing the card with TargetLog does the ring counting on the C50 geometry directly, which leaves more of the session for the steel.

faq

Is TAR 830 the same as ISSF center fire pistol?

No. The target for the precision half is the same C50, but center fire is precision-only over 60 shots with different equipment rules and no minimum trigger weight of the TAR kind. TAR 830 adds the gong stages and tighter service-weapon constraints.

How many shots is a TAR 830 match?

You fire 35 in total: 5 sighters plus 20 scored precision shots on the C50, then 20 scored shots on the gongs.

Can you use two hands in TAR 830?

Only in the right places: sighters and gongs allow one or two hands. The precision series must be fired one-handed, strong side, unsupported.

What calibre do you need?

Anything from 7.62 to 11.60 mm qualifies, which covers 7.62 Tokarev, 9 mm parabellum, .38 Special, .45 ACP and .455 Webley. The gong stage punishes light loads that fail to knock steel down cleanly, so test your ammunition on plates before match day.