The mixed 300 m rifle three positions was an event at the 1972 Summer Olympics. This was the final time that free rifle was contested at the Olympics. Soviet shooter Boris Melnik was leading 1155 to 1154 when the unofficial scores were posted, but the official scoring brought American Lones Wigger up to 1155, Wigger won the tie breaker with a better score on the last string fired kneeling, 97, versus 96 for Melnik. It was the third consecutive victory in the event for the United States; the Soviet Union had taken at least one medal each of the six times it competed before the event was discontinued. Lajos Papp of Hungary took bronze.