What is IPSC ?
What is IPSC ?
Practical pistol shooting as a sport is quite simply the use of practical equipment including full charge service ammunition to solve simulated "real world" self-defense scenarios.
Shooters competing in Practical Pistol events are required to use practical handguns and holsters
that are truly suitable for self-defense use.
No "competition only" equipment is permitted in Pistol matches since the main goal is to
test the skill and ability of an individual, not his or her equipment or gamesmanship.
This new and exciting style of shooting had its origins in California,
USA in the early 50's. It quickly spread over the years to many other
continents including Europe, Australia, Central and South America, and Africa.
The International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC)
was officially founded at the International Combat Pistol Conference
held in Columbia, Missouri, in May 1976. Forty people from
around the world were invited to attend this Conference to determine
the nature and the future of practical marksmanship. Colonel Jeff
Cooper was acting Chairman and was acclaimed as the first IPSC World President.
The promotion of accuracy, power, and speed as three equal elements was the prime objective of the Conference along with procedures and rules for safe gun handling. A constitution was established and the Confederation was born. The eight orgins of practical shooting were developed and the motto "DVC" Diligentia, Vis, Celeritas (Accuracy, Power, Speed) was introduced to reflect this balanced objective.
Today, the International Practical Shooting Confederation is promoted in more than sixty countries (called IPSC Regions) from Argentina to Zimbabwe. Every year, the elected representitives of these Regions meet at the IPSC General Assembly.
In practical shooting, the competitor must try to blend accuracy, power, and speed, into a winning combination. Targets are 75 centimeters by 45 centimeters with a 15 centimeter center representing the "A zone" or bullseye. Most shooting takes place at close range, with rare shots out to 45 meters. Hitting a 15 centimeter A zone at 4 meters or less might seem easy to an experienced pistol shooter, but in IPSC only full power pistols are allowed (9mm or larger). This power minimum reflects the practical heritage of this modern sport, and mastering a full power handgun is considerably more difficult than shooting a light recoiling target pistol especially when the competitor is trying to go fast as possible. Time, also plays a factor. In Comstock scored stages, the scores are divided by the time, adding to the challenge.
Multiple targets, moving targets, targets that react when hit, penalty carrying no-shoot targets mixed-in or even partially covering shoot targets, obstacles, movement, competitive tactics, and, in general, any other relevant difficulty the course designer can dream up all combine to keep the competitors enthusiastic and the spectators entertained. While the rules of IPSC state that the course of fire should be realistic and practical, they also state that diversity is to be encouraged, to keep the sport from becoming too formalized or standardized. In fact, some matches even contain stages where no one knows in advance what to expect.
Although the roots are martial in origin, the sport matured from these beginnings, just as karate, fencing, or archery developed from their origins. Now, practical shooting is an internatioal sport, emphasizing safety and safe gun handling, accuracy, power, and speed, in major competitions around the globe. The crowning glory for practical shooting is to become the IPSC World Champion.
