Practical shooting, also known as dynamic shooting or action shooting, is a set of shooting sports where the competitors are trying to unite the three principles of precision, power and speed, by using a firearm of a certain minimum power factor to score as many points as possible during the shortest amount of time. While scoring systems vary between organizations, each measures the time of which the course is completed, with penalties for inaccurate shooting. The courses are called "stages", and are shot individually by the shooters. Usually the shooter must move and shoot from several positions, fire under or over obstacles and in other unfamiliar positions. There are no standard exercises or set arrangement of the targets, and the courses are often designed so that the shooter must be inventive, and therefore the solutions of exercises sometimes varies between shooters.
The IPSC US Handgun Championship are yearly IPSC level 3 matches held by the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) run under IPSC-rules. Sometimes, all of the pistol IPSC nationals are held at the same time, other years, they have been broken up between different ranges. In order to attend the nationals a competitor usually has to win a "slot" by placing well enough at various regional and Area Championship matches held throughout the year.
The IPSC Shotgun World Shoot is the highest level shotgun match within the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) and consists of several days and at least 30 separate courses of fire. The Shotgun World Shoots are held triennially on a rotational cycle with the other two main IPSC disciplines Handgun and Rifle.
The 1976 IPSC Handgun World Shoot II held in Salzburg, Austria was the second IPSC Handgun World Shoot, and was won by Jan Foss of Norway in front of Ray Chapman of United States by a small margin. Foss had been unknown before the championship and did not participate internationally afterwards.
The 1977 IPSC Handgun World Shoot III was held in Salisbury, Rhodesia at the end of August, and was the third IPSC Handgun World Shoot, and was won by Dave Westerhout in front of his Rhodesian teammate and second place winner Peter Maunder by 116.403 points and third place winner Raul Walters of United States with further 41.741 points.
The 1979 IPSC Handgun World Shoot IV held in Johannesburg, South Africa was the fourth IPSC Handgun World Shoot, and was won by Jimmy Von Sorgenfrei, one of the top seeds before the championship. Leading up to the championship, the South African team had many good competitors, making the team selection tough. Seemingly out of nowhere Jimmy Von Sorgenfrei had appeared on the competition circuit, improving his performances consistently throughout the year before the championship, and was selected for the South African National Team of five men.
The 1981 IPSC Handgun World Shoot V held in Johannesburg, South Africa, was the fifth IPSC Handgun World Shoot, and was won by Ross Seyfried of United States, using a relatively stock firearm compared to the highly tuned firearms of many other shooters. Well known in the U.S., Ross had previously won the 1978 U.S. National Championship, and was member of the US National Team who placed second in the previous 1979 World Shoot. The 1981 championship showed the Americans return with a vengeance when both Ross Seyfried took the individual World Title and the US National Team took gold in the team classification.
The 1986 IPSC Handgun World Shoot VII held in Florida, United States was the seventh IPSC Handgun World Shoot, and was won by Rob Leatham of United States.
The 1988 IPSC Handgun World Shoot VIII held in Caracas, Venezuela was the eighth IPSC Handgun World Shoot, and was won by Ross Seyfried of the United States.
The 1990 IPSC Handgun World Shoot IV held in Adelaide, Australia was the 9th IPSC Handgun World Shoot, and was won by Doug Koenig of USA, the first competitor using a red dot sight at a World Shoot. Having been interested in shooting since being eleven years old, Koenig had been spotted at a local shooting club for his good natural abilities with a handgun.
The 1993 IPSC Handgun World Shoot X held in Bisley, England was the 10th IPSC Handgun World Shoot, and consisted of 5 days with 34 stages, teams from over 27 countries and a lot of rain. The competition had been divided into the Open, Standard and Modified divisions. The Standard division was won by Ted Bonnet of United States, the Modified division by Robert Buntschu of Switzerland and the Open division by Matthew McLearn of United States. Born in Nova Scotia, Mclearn had moved to the U.S. five years prior the world championship to pursue gunsmithing training and advance in the competitive arena. Right before winning the World Shoot he also placed first in the U.S. IPSC Handgun Nationals.
The 1996 IPSC Handgun World Shoot XI held in Brasilia, Brazil was the 11th IPSC Handgun World Shoot. The match had 609 competitors, teams from 31 nations and consisted of 35 stages. The Open division was won by Todd Jarrett, while the Standard division once again was won by Ted Bonnet of USA. Todd Jarret from Virginia had established himself as a major player before the event, having placed in the top four of the US Nationals every year since 1990 except one. According to himself he had trained well before the World Shoot in Brazil, and was quoted saying "It's really amazing, the harder I work, the luckier I get."
The 1999 IPSC Handgun World Shoot XII held in Cebu, Philippines was the 12th IPSC Handgun World Shoot. Eric Grauffel of France became Open World Champion, Pavel Jasansky of the Czech Republic became Modified World Champion and Michael Voigt of the United States took the Standard World Champion title.
The 2002 IPSC Handgun World Shoot XIII held in Pietersburg, South Africa was the 13th IPSC Handgun World Shoot.
The 2008 IPSC Handgun World Shoot XV held in Bali, Indonesia, was the 15th IPSC Handgun World Shoot.
The 2011 IPSC Handgun World Shoot XVI held at Rhodes, Greece was the 16th IPSC Handgun World Shoot. There were 30 stages which all had a Greek theme.
The 2014 IPSC Handgun World Shoot XVII held at the Universal Shooting Academy in Frostproof, Florida, United States, was the 17th IPSC Handgun World Shoot.
The 2017 IPSC Handgun World Shoot XVIII was the 18th IPSC Handgun World Shoot held at the new National Shooting Center in Châteauroux, France during the end of August and start of September. There were 30 stages divided into 5 areas, with each area being named after and having themes from one of the 5 continents Africa, Asia, America, Australia or Europe.
The 2012 IPSC Shotgun World Shoot I held in Debrecen, Hungary was the 1st IPSC Shotgun World Shoot, and consisted of 30 stages over 5 days and over 400 competitors.
