The medal could be won multiple times and each subsequent award was indicated by the addition of a Bar.

[1][4] The position of the SADF Champion Shot Medal in the official order of precedence was revised three times after 1975, to accommodate the inclusion or institution of new decorations and medals, first upon the integration into the South African National Defence Force on 27 April 1994, again in April 1996 when decorations and medals were belatedly instituted for the two former non-statutory forces, the Azanian People's Liberation Army and Umkhonto we Sizwe, and again upon the institution of a new set of awards on 27 April 2003, but it remained unchanged on all three occasions.

The SADF Champion Shot Medal is a medallion struck in silver, 3 millimetres thick at the centre and 38 millimetres in diameter, depicting the five-pointed outline of the Castle of Good Hope, with a laurel between the two points at the bottom and proteas between the others.

It is inscribed "SAW KAMPIOENSKUT-MEDALJE" and "SADF CHAMPION SHOT MEDAL" below the target, each language in two lines.

An award of a bar to a recipient of the defunct Commandant General's Medal is denoted by "(CGM)" after his surname.