The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol was one of the fifteen shooting events at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Ralf Schumann defended his title from Barcelona, setting two new Olympic records.

Emil Milev of Bulgaria (silver) and Vladimir Vokhmyanin of Kazakhstan (bronze) each won their nation's first medals in the event, though Vokhmyanin was a repeat bronze medalist (having also won for the Unified Team in 1992), making him the 10th man to win multiple medals in the event.

Seven of the eight semifinalists from 1992 returned: gold medalist (and 1988 silver medalist) Ralf Schumann of Germany, silver medalist (and 1988 gold medalist) Afanasijs Kuzmins of Latvia, bronze medalist Vladimir Vokhmyanin of the Unified Team (now competing for Kazakhstan), fourth-place finisher Krzysztof Kucharczyk of Poland, fifth-place finisher (and 1988 finalist) John McNally of the United States, sixth-place finisher Miroslav Ignatiuk of the Unified Team (now competing for Ukraine), and eighth-place finisher (and 1988 finalist) Bernardo Tobar of Colombia.

The 1992 competition had introduced round targets rather than the silhouettes used from 1948 to 1988 as well as many pre-World War II versions of the event.

Ralf Schumann broke his own Olympic record in the qualifying round with 596 points.