For competitions, firearms are split according to their design date into a number of different classes.
- Muzzle Loaders. Muzzle loading firearms which date from several hundred years ago to the mid-19th Century.
- Vintage Breech Loading Firearms designed prior to the end of 1890.
- Classic Breech Loading Firearms designed between 1890 and the end of 1918.
- Veteran Breech Loading Firearms designed between 1919 and 1945.
- Post Veteran. Breech loading firearms designed after 1946.