Shooting at the 1932 Summer Olympics

There were no Olympic shooting events held in 1928, mainly because of controversies related to the amateur rules for shooters in 1928. These problems were resolved for 1932, but in a way that left out many top shooters. The amateur rules were interpreted so strictly that many shooters could not compete at the Olympics.

After the 1912, 1920, and 1924 Olympic Shooting programs, which featured numerous events, and several team events, the 1932 Olympic Shooting program was an austere one which featured only one pistol event and one rifle event. The shooting events were held at the Los Angeles Police Rifle Range at Elysian Fields. It was probably the worst shooting facility ever used for the Olympics. The pistol range was in reasonable condition, although one Italian coach stepped on a loose board at the range, fell and broke his hip. But the rifle range was a mess. The 50-metre firing line was not 50 metres from the targets, and it was not parallel to the line of shoot. To get close to 50-metres, the shooters were pushed back against the wall of the facility, but the distance still lacked a few feet of being 50 metres. This was solved by hanging the targets on a hinged framework set a few feet beyond the marking pit. Because of the depression, the difficulty traveling to Los Angeles, and the strict amateur rules, there were only 18 competitors in the pistol event, and 26 in the rifle event. Only 41 shooters from 11 nations competed at the 1932 Olympics.