A racegun or race gun is a firearm that has been modified for accuracy, speed, and reliability. Often a semi-automatic pistol, raceguns are used primarily in practical shooting competitions and are modified to function best within a certain set of rules, such as weight, size, and capacity requirements.
Raceguns are typically purpose-built for speed, [1] and may be based on common guns. Competitions they may be used in include The Bianchi Cup and the Steel Challenge, and various events organized by the International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA), International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC), or United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA).
Typical racegun modifications to semi-automatic firearms include a match-grade barrel fitted with a recoil compensator, electronic optical sight, match-grade hammer and sear, a tuned trigger, and cutouts to reduce mass ("skeletonizing"). [2] Depending upon competition requirements, some raceguns are modified with reduced-force recoil springs to allow the use of lightly loaded ammunition that is just powerful enough to cycle the gun's mechanism, in order to minimize recoil and permit a faster rate of accurate fire. [3]
Additionally, a typical pistol racegun specifically tailored for The Bianchi Cup open division has a "barricade shroud" that completely encircles the slide with "wings" attached to opposing sides, a "moving target scope mount" with a pivoting base adjustable for predetermined lead depending on the bullet's velocity and speed and direction of the moving target, and a form of grip extension that elevates the gun for better line of sight while shooting in the prone position. [4]
Some sanctioning bodies, such as IPSC and USPSA, require ammunition to meet specific power factors. [5] Other organizing bodies, such as the IDPA [6] and the production division of The Bianchi Cup, [7] ban most or all of the modifications that distinguish raceguns from stock firearms, as they feel that such extensive modifications turn the sport into a technology race rather than a true contest of skill, and thus are not "practical"—that is, applicable to real-life self-defense shooting situations. In the case of The Bianchi Cup, restrictions were put in place to increase participation at the grassroots level, [7] in order to reduce the equipment cost associated with competing in the open division. Cost can run upwards of $3,500 or more on a Bianchi racegun, as compared to $400 to $1,000 for a stock gun.[ citation needed ]
Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms and bows/crossbows.
The International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA), founded in 1996, is an organization based in Bogata, Texas, that has created a shooting sport based on defensive pistol techniques, using equipment including full-charge service ammunition to solve simulated "real world" self-defense scenarios. Shooters competing in defensive pistol events are required to use practical handguns and holsters that are deemed suitable for self-defense use and concealment garment that can conceal the handgun from view of bystanders.
The .38 Super, also known as .38 Super +P, .38 Super Auto, .38 Super Automatic, .38 Super Automatic +P, or 9×23mmSR, is a pistol cartridge that fires a 0.356-inch-diameter (9.04 mm) bullet. It was introduced in the late 1920s as a higher pressure loading of the .38 ACP, also known as .38 Auto. The older .38 ACP cartridge propels a 130-grain (8.4 g) bullet at 1,050 ft/s (320.0 m/s), whereas the .38 Super pushes the same bullet at 1,280 ft/s (390.1 m/s). The .38 Super has gained distinction as the caliber of choice for many top practical shooting competitors; it remains one of the dominant calibers in IPSC competition.
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. Miculek has once emptied a five-shot revolver in 0.57 seconds in a group the size of a playing card, thus being dubbed "The Greatest Shooter of all Time". 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 pistol, revolver, rifle, and shotgun, 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.
Robert Jennings Leatham is a professional shooter who is a 24-time USPSA National champion and 7-time International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) World Champion.
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 9×25mm Dillon is a pistol wildcat cartridge developed for use in USPSA/IPSC Open guns. The cartridge is made by necking down a 10mm Auto case to 9 mm.
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.
Power Factor (PF) in practical shooting competitions refers to a ranking system used to reward cartridges with more recoil. Power factor is a measure of the momentum of the bullet, which to some degree reflects the recoil impulse from the firearm onto the shooter.
The Bianchi Cup is a major action pistol tournament in the United States, usually held over three days in late May. Since 1984 the National Rifle Association of America has designated it their National Action Pistol Championship. It is normally held in Columbia, Missouri, at the Green Valley Rifle & Pistol Club. It has the largest purse of any tournament on the action pistol calendar and is the premier action pistol championship tournament in the world. The Bianchi Cup is the only major shooting tournament that has retained its original course of fire since its inception.
Todd Jarrett is an American competitive shooter, firearms instructor, and filmmaker. He has both national and World titles within practical shooting, holding four world titles, nine national titles and has won more than 50 US Area championships, as well as many other action shooting events. Jarrett is the only USPSA Triple Crown Winner and holds four USPSA National titles - Open, Limited, Production and Limited-10. Jarrett lives in Virginia.
Tori M. Nonaka is an American sport shooter with two IPSC Handgun World Shoot silver medals in the Standard division Lady category. She was one of three members of Team GLOCK. She grew up in Woodbridge, Virginia, where she began shooting at age 3. At age 12, Tori attended the US Shooting Academy, which sparked her interest in becoming a professional shooter and led her to begin shooting competitively. On March 2, 2011, GLOCK, Inc announced that 15-year-old Tori would be a member of Team GLOCK Shooting Squad. In March 2017 Tori went independent and left Team Glock. She was replaced by Ashley Rheuark.
Julie Goloski Golob is an American professional sport shooter with one gold (2017 Lady Classic and two silver medals, one bronze medal and seven Ladies Steel Challenge World Speed Shooting Championship gold medals. She also has 2 US IPSC Nationals Lady titles and 13 USPSA Handgun Nationals Lady titles, and is one of two seven Division USPSA National Champion in history.
Robert "Bob" Gordon Vogel is a professional marksman, competition shooter, and National/World champion. He is the only Law Enforcement Officer ever to win World and National Championships in the Practical Pistol Disciplines of IPSC and USPSA.
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.
Multigun, Multi Gun or Multi-Gun, often also called 2-Gun or 3-Gun depending on the types of firearms used, are practical shooting events where each of the stages require the competitor to use a combination of handguns, rifles, and/or shotguns Multigun has a lot in common with ordinary IPSC/ USPSA single gun matches, and matches generally have courses of fire where the shooter must move through different stages and engage targets in a variety of different positions.
Tim Yackley is an American sport shooter who won the 2018 NRA World Shooting Championship, becoming the youngest person to ever win the event. He took bronze in the Standard division Junior category at the 2015 IPSC Shotgun World Shoot in Italy. At the 2017 IPSC Rifle World Shoot he placed 10th overall in the Open division. In June 2018, Yackley competed at the 2018 IPSC Shotgun World Shoot in France, finishing seventh overall in standard and helping Team USA win a team silver medal. Tim was also the Bianchi Cup Junior National Champion for 4 years in a row (2015-2018) and the NRA Action Pistol Junior World Champion in 2018.
Shooting competitions for factory and service firearms refer to a set of shooting disciplines, usually called service rifle, service pistol, production, factory, or stock; where the types of permitted firearms are subject to type approval with few aftermarket modifications permitted. The terms often refer to the restrictions on permitted equipment and modifications rather than the type of match format. The names Service Rifle and Service Pistol stem from that the equipment permitted for these types of competitions traditionally were based on standard issue firearms used by one or several armed forces and civilian versions of these, while the terms production, factory and stock often are applied to more modern disciplines with similar restrictions on equipment classes.
Non-IDPA-Legal Features and Modifications for All Divisions
3.2.2 Production Firearm