Welcome to our in-depth look into USPSA. This will be a five-part series where we cover the organization as a whole, general rules and guidelines, equipment, scoring, divisions, and classifications. In Part I, we will look at what USPSA is, its purpose, and the basic rules and philosophy of the sport. For Part II, we will go over targets and penalties. Part III will cover hit factor scoring and match points. Part IV will discuss USPSA divisions. Finally, Part V will cover the classification system.

What is USPSA?

The United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) is the governing body of practical shooting under the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC). USPSA is all about practical performance with your firearm. Unlike IDPA, defensive tactics are not incorporated into the rules or stages and the scoring system places more emphasis on your time while maintaining high accuracy. This is the sport where you will see anything from stock polymer striker fired guns to full house custom open-class race guns on the same field.

Now for Part I, we will go over general rules and guidelines, equipment, and basic range commands to get you started.

General Rules and Guidelines

First, let’s talk about how not to get disqualified at your first match. A common piece of advice for new competitive shooters is to have fun and don’t get DQ’d. You can be a completely safe and capable gun owner and still easily get dropped from a match if you’re not familiar with some common rules.

• Do not handle your firearm unless instructed by the Range Officer (RO) when it is your turn to shoot the stage or at a designated safe area/safe table.
• Next, remember the “180 rule” when you’re shooting each stage. This is an imaginary line extending from the shooter’s position directly left and right (9 o’clock and 3 o’clock) when looking straight downrange in the shooting bay. Do not point your muzzle outside of the 180-degree plane when moving about the stage during a course of fire. This is especially important when reloading, as the muzzle point away from where we are facing and looking. For example, a right handed shooter running to the left may easily point their muzzle up-range if they’re not careful.
• Your finger must remain outside the trigger guard during any reload or movement during the stage, unless you are actively engaging targets during that movement.
• It should go without saying, but do not under any circumstance point your firearm at yourself or anyone else.
• Any accidental/negligent discharge of your firearm will also get you DQ’d.
• Last, do not drop your gun. Drop it and you’re out. If you do happen to drop it, do not attempt to catch it in flight for safety reasons. These rules are covered in Chapter 10 of the USPSA Rulebook linked below.

OK, with that out of the way, let’s move on. USPSA in general allows much more freedom in how you tackle each stage when compared to IDPA. You will not find rules in USPSA dictating how and where you may reload, leave magazines, or use cover unless specified in the written stage brief (more later). For the most part, all you need to do is start in the position given by the written stage brief, fire the required number of rounds at all targets, and fire your shots from within the boundaries of the fault lines. The order in which you engage targets, your path through the stage, and many other options are often left up to the shooter to decide. While there are exceptions, this series will be discussing the most common stages and scenarios in USPSA to get you started. Fully understanding this sport comes with experience and attending matches.

Firearms, Holsters, and Equipment

USPSA rules govern holsters and equipment per division. However, just about any quality belt mounted holster and magazine carrier should get you started. Some divisions, such as Limited, Limited Optics, or Open, allow a LOT more modifications over your typical service pistol, to include race holster, magwells, or other “gamer” mods. Exact positioning of the holster and magazine pouches are covered per division in the rulebook. Just like IDPA, a quality pistol, belt, holster, and ability to carry 2-3 magazines should be plenty to get you started. Concealment is not required in USPSA, but is allowed if you choose to shoot your concealed carry setup.

Depending on the division, magazines may be limited to a certain number of rounds or a certain overall length. If you are in a division with a limited capacity, such as Production with 15 rounds, you may load your firearm with a full magazine plus one in the chamber (15+1). For divisions with a magazine length restriction, such as Carry Optics 141mm length limit, you may shove as many rounds in the magazine and chamber as you wish. Some magazine base pad, spring, and follower combinations will allow 24 rounds of 9mm in a 141mm magazine.

Range Commands

“Make Ready” – When the RO issues this command, the shooter will assume the start position and prepare themselves and their equipment per the stage brief. This usually means simply loading the gun and holstering. Once the shooter has safely loaded and holstered, or otherwise assumed the starting position and equipment configuration, the RO will move on. USPSA does allow competitors to acquire a sight picture during the Make Ready phase. This is a great time to get one (or two or three) last dry rep and sight picture on your first target.

“Are You Ready?” – After Make Ready, this question is given to the shooter. A positive response, nodding of the head, or simply remaining silent tells the RO you are ready. If you are not ready, simply say “Not ready” and fix whatever issue is present.

“Standby” – This is given after the shooter is ready and approximately 1-4 seconds before the start signal. You may not move or change positions between “Standby” and the start signal. The start signal will be a loud beep from the shot timer which records the time of your shots throughout the stage.

After it appears the shooter fires their last shot, the RO will say, “If finished, unload and show clear”. The shooter will then remove and stow the magazine and open the slide to show the RO. The RO will then say, “If clear, slide forward, hammer down”. Once the shooter has cleared the firearm, closed the slide, pointed the firearm in a safe direction and pulled the trigger on an empty chamber, they will be instructed to holster. “Range is clear” is given to indicate the stage is complete for this shooter. Scorers and target pasters may move forward of the shooter at this time.

If at any time any unsafe action is observed or is about to happen, the RO will say “Stop”. The shooter must cease all movement, take the trigger finger outside the trigger guard, and await further instruction. This is often given when a safety violation has been observed. Don’t sweat it or get nervous if you hear “stop”. Odds are, the RO is just doing their job to keep you and others safe.

A few more commands are explained in the Rulebook, but these are the most common and what you will hear on every stage. Well, hopefully you don’t hear “stop.”

That does it for Part I. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out to me directly.

Current USPSA rules (as of this writing) are available at the link below.

USPSA Rulebook: https://uspsa.org/viewer/2024-USPSA-Competition-Rules.pdf