Practical shooting, also known as dynamic shooting or action shooting, is a set of shooting sports in which the competitors try 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 time. While scoring systems vary between organizations, each measures the time in 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 vary between shooters.
Jerry Charles Miculek Jr. is an American professional competition shooter known for his achievements in 3-Gun and speed shooting. He holds five officially sanctioned world records in revolver shooting and over 15 unsanctioned records with firearms ranging from 9mm semi-automatic pistols to the .50 BMG Barrett M107 anti-material rifle. Additional accomplishments include rapid-firing 12 shots from a six-shooter in 2.99 seconds, fast-shooting six shots in .98 seconds from a handheld Barrett M107, and a 1000-yard off-hand shot with his 9mm Smith & Wesson revolver.
The International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) is the world's largest shooting sport association, and the largest and oldest within practical shooting. Founded in 1976, the IPSC nowadays affiliates over 100 regions from Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania. Competitions are held with pistols, revolvers, rifles, and shotguns, and the competitors are divided into different divisions based on firearm and equipment features. While everyone in a division competes in the Overall category, there are also separate awards for the categories Lady, Super Junior, Junior, Senior, and Super Senior.
The United States Practical Shooting Association(USPSA) is the national governing body of practical shooting in the United States under the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC). Its over 35,000 active members and over 500 affiliated clubs make USPSA the largest practical shooting organization in the United States and the second largest region within IPSC after the Russian Federation of Practical Shooting. USPSA publishes a monthly member magazine called Front Sight.
The modern technique is a method for using a handgun for self-defense, originated by firearms expert Jeff Cooper. The modern technique uses a two-handed grip on the pistol and brings the weapon to eye level so that the sights may be used to aim at the target. This method was developed by Cooper into a teachable system beginning in the 1950s, based on the techniques of shooters like Jack Weaver, Mike Rousseau and others, after experiments with older techniques such as point shooting. The method was codified in book form in 1991 in The Modern Technique of the Pistol by Gregory B. Morrison and Cooper.
The Steel Challenge is a speed shooting competition governed by the Steel Challenge Shooting Association (SCSA) that consists of eight standardized stages with steel targets in three sizes; small circular, large circular and rectangular targets. Competitors are scored solely by the time it takes them to complete each stage, and the match winner is the competitor with the lowest overall time.
The Bianchi Cup is a major action pistol tournament in the United States, held in May at the Green Valley Rifle & Pistol Club in Missouri. The Bianchi Cup is the only major shooting tournament that has retained its original course of fire since its inception.
João Carlos Calvete Pereira da Costa is a Portuguese marksman who competed at the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympic Games representing Portugal.
Éric Grauffel is a French sport shooter and firearms instructor with eight overall IPSC Handgun World Champion titles and one Junior World Champion title. He is known for having an unprecedented winning streak, and has won 191 IPSC President Medals. He is the son of the French national team trainer Gérard Grauffel. Additionally he has won the IPSC European Handgun Championships seven times.
Dynamic Sports Shooting Norway (DSSN), NorwegianDynamisk Sportsskyting Norge (DSSN), is the Norwegian association for practical shooting under the International Practical Shooting Confederation. It was constituted in 1979 as Norges Forbund for Praktisk Skyting (NFPS), and changed its name to Dynamisk Sportsskyting Norge in 2013.
Jessie Harrison, formerly known as Jessie Duff, is an American sport shooter from McDonough, Georgia who took silver in the Open division Lady category at the 2017 IPSC Handgun World Shoot in Châteauroux, France and bronze at the 2011 IPSC Handgun World Shoot at Rhodes, Greece. In the IPSC US Handgun Championship she took gold in the Open division Lady category in 2015 and silver in 2013. She also has 16 USPSA Handgun Championship Lady category gold medals.
The IPSC Handgun World Shoot is the highest level handgun match within the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) which consists of several days and at least 30 separate courses of fire. The Handgun World Shoots are held triennially on a rotational cycle with the other two main IPSC disciplines Rifle and Shotgun.
Hilde Nakling is a Norwegian shooter who during the 2014 IPSC World Shoot claimed the title as World Champion in the Lady Standard Division. She is the daughter of Vidar Nakling, 1980 IPSC European Champion and an active shooter until 1996. Hilde visited the shooting range for the first time already three months old, and gradually got to try various small firearms. During the early years she only attended the range once or twice a year, and it was not until she took a beginners course in 2005 that she became seriously hooked. Since 2006 she has competed actively. To prepare for the 2014 World Shoot she quit her day job as a nurse at the Oslo University Hospital, and continued to work shifts as a nurse on the pediatric ward.
Raine J. Peltokoski is a Finnish sport shooter who has won the IPSC European Rifle Championship three times, and the IPSC European Shotgun Championship once (2006). He is sponsored by Lapua ammunition and Armi Dallera Custom rifles. He also has 7 Finnish Rifle Championship gold medals, one silver medal (2007) and one bronze medal (2005).
Vidar Nakling is a Norwegian competitive shooter who won the 1980 IPSC European Handgun Championship, and four time Norwegian IPSC Handgun Champion. He is the father and coach of IPSC World Champion Hilde Nakling and has written a book on how to succeed in dynamic pistol shooting.
The 1975 IPSC Handgun World Shoot I held at Zürich in Switzerland was the first IPSC Handgun World Shoot and was won by Ray Chapman of United States using a 1911 in .45 caliber. Ray had been central in the development the sport of practical shooting in the late 1950s. He was seeded as number one before the championship, and shot an almost perfect match dropping only one point. He continued to compete until 1979 when he retired.
The 1976 IPSC Handgun World Shoot II held in Berndorf, 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.
Lena Miculek is an American professional competitive shooter, firearms educator, and product developer in the firearms industry.
Ray Chapman was an American sport shooter and firearms instructor who was central to the development of practical shooting. He was one of the founders of the International Practical Shooting Confederation at the 1976 Columbia Conference. He won the first IPSC Handgun World Shoot in 1975 and took silver behind Jan Foss from Norway in the second World Shoot in 1976. He continued to compete until 1979 when he retired from competition.
