Nervous about your first “public performance”?   

Everybody goes through this initial nervousness, and the experienced competitors and range officers understand this and only expect one thing:   you must be safe. You'll find that both experienced shooters and Range Officers are friendly and helpful. Matches are often as much social gathering as they are shooting contest. Please ask questions!

Forget speed! Walk through the stages. Don't try to imitate the "hosers" that zip through a course, flying with cleats in a shower of brass. Relax and enjoy it!

A number of interested first-time shooters say they will just watch the first match they visit – and that's fine – but you should know this: virtually every "just wants to watch" person wants to shoot after watching the first stage.   So bring your equipment, ask for help, and plan on shooting. You'll be glad you did.  

To be good at this (or any other) sport, you have to pay your dues, learning the fundamentals, and be able to apply them on demand.   For your first match,   think safe and smooth!   Forget the time, and concentrate on getting all A-zone hits . Forget winning (nobody does their first match) - think about your front sight and staying safe.   After some practice, my personal goal for my second match was to do better than last place.

Find the SAFE AREA

At the ORPCI pistol range, the safe area is facing the berm behind the parking area

All USPSA practical shooting clubs use a cold range. This means that all guns must be unloaded, and holstered (or cased/bagged) at all times . Guns are not to be removed from holsters or cases, unless and until so directed by a Range Officer, or in the designated safe area . Guns must be empty (no live ammo, no snap caps, empty cases, or magazines ), with actions closed and hammers down, when holstered or cased. Gear up only in the specially designated Safe Area . ASK where the safe area is. Do NOT handle ammunition including snap caps or loaded magazines in a Safe Area! Arrive at the range with your empty gun secured in a suitable bag or case. The idea is to keep guns and ammo separated.

Firearm safety is a matter of personal responsibility and self control, two key qualities stressed in practical shooting. The shooter is always responsible for his or her actions and safe gun handling.   Unsafe handling or ignoring safety rules will get you disqualified from the match.    If you shoot yourself or someone else it's your fault. If you can't or won't accept this responsibility, then this isn't the sport for you!

Types of targets

You'll most commonly encounter IPSC cardboard targets, which are tan/buff in color. Scoring zones are defined by lightly perforated lines. Cardboard "no-shoot" targets are white - sometimes with an “X” across them. Hits on no-shoot targets are penalized 10 points each – to be avoided.  

Round and square steel plates, usually white, must fall to score. These, along with regulation “poppers”, are the only legal steel targets in IPSC competition.

Almost every stage will include some combination of IPSC cardboard, black hard-cover, and/or no-shoot targets, and will often include steel targets.

You'll also encounter partial / combination targets overlaid by no-shoots, another shoot target, or hard cover.  

Partial Hard-Cover targets have a black obstructed portion that is considered impenetrable “to a full bullet diameter”. Hits in hard cover are considered misses. In Comstock scored stages, you may fire extra shots to make up for misses and hits in hard cover.

Large and small   “ poppers ” are steel reactive targets that must fall to score. Poppers are also commonly used to activate moving targets when they're knocked down.  They are usually white.

All targets are considered “impenetrable” to a full bullet diameter, so, a hole through two targets only scores on the “top” target (the first one the bullet passes through). This includes no-shoots and hard cover.   For example, a full bullet diameter through the center of the no-shoots flanking the first target above would not score on the shoot target behind it. Likewise, a full bullet diameter through the right-hand “D” zone of the angled left-hand target in the second array above would not score a “C” on the center target!   A hit “on the line” counts for the higher valued scoring area, or in the case of no-shoot targets, counts for both scoring and penalty areas.

Scoring

At its most basic level, Practical Shooting matches are scored on a “points per second” basis. The scoring system rewards accuracy with more points, and assesses penalties for misses. It rewards speed by dividing the number of points by the time taken, yielding points-per-second which is called “hit factor”. To reward power, two ammunition power levels are recognized – “Major” and “Minor.” Major and Minor “A” hits both score 5 points, but “Minor' hits score fewer points in the B, C, and D zones.   

POWER FACTOR = (bullet weight in grains) x (muzzle velocity, fps) divided by 1,000. "Major" = 165 or greater. "Minor" = 125 - 164.99   Some matches may include a chronograph stage.

Scoring for MAJOR (A=5 B&C=4 D=2)

Scoring for MINOR (A=5 B&C=3 D=1)

38 & 9mm Luger are usually minor, .40 & 45 are usually Major, but these can vary depending upon loading.

HIT FACTOR = total points ÷ total time

Highest hit factor wins and receives all available points for the stage. Other shooters in the same division are scored relative to the stage winner.