You have read in a specialized magazine a report about something called
Practical Shooting or IPSC, in which a bunch of
loonies did strange things with stranger guns.
Or, browsing
through a catalog, your attention has been drawn by a gun design taken
right out of a sci-fi movie. And
you wonder:
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IPSC or Practical Shooting is a sport shooting
discipline that was born as a training for real life situations, where a
gun could be used in self-defense (evidently, in
countries where self-defense is allowed - it's not the case of Spain)
or in situations of police shootouts.
Essentially it consists in some shoot problems involving a
more or less realistic situation, with some targets to hit (the
" bad guys") and some targets you cannot shoot at (the
"hostages" or "grannies").
Each
exercise (or stage) can have some limitations imposed by the
designer (use of a single hand, mandatory actions, etc.) but, in general,
the shooter is free to solve the problem as he sees more convenient. As
what counts (like in a real case) is to solve the problem quickly, the
shooter is closely followed by a referee that, by means of a chronograph,
will check the time invested in solving the exercise, as well as the
number of shots fired.
Nevertheless, the referee's task is much more important that timing the
shooter. His main mission is to check that, in every moment, the shooter
handles the weapon with SAFETY. Indeed, no
concept is so reinforced in IPSC as this; practically the only thing that
can disqualify a shooter in a competition (and even to ban him from the
range) is his failure to accomplish some of the safety rules. Although
these norms are many and very rigid (and reinforced as much by the
referees as by the other shooters), their following makes that, according
to the sport insurance companies (that are those that are betting money),
the IPSC is, as for level of danger, at the same risk level as chess.
The
variety of situations that the shooter must face (shooting
from the interior of a helicopter, carrying a tray with drinks in one
hand, riding a mechanical horse or running with a mallet and a stake
through Dracula's castle are some of the recent examples that come now to
mind) make IPSC one of the most amusing and less monotonous
shooting modalities at the present time (no, it is
not an impartial opinion).
Although IPSC has left much of its origins like "practical shooting"
training, one of the aspects that still remembers its initial purpose is
the energy of the ammunition. This energy is defined as the result of
multiplying the weight of the projectile (in grains) by its muzzle
velocity (in feet per second), and to divide everything by one thousand;
if this result (or "factor of the ammunition") is
inferior to120, you cannot use it to compete (it's considered that in a
real situation it could not disable an opponent), between 120 and 175 it's
considered minor factor and from 175 on, as major factor"
(logically, it punctuates more than the minor). This bigger punctuation in
function of the factor rewards the bigger difficulty of controlling a more
powerful handgun and, therefore, bigger recoil. The minimum caliber
accepted in IPSC is 9mm, and there is not upper limit; in the practice,
the main calibers employed are the 9mm (or .38), the .40 and the .45.
Regarding the weapon type to use, the IPSC recognizes three categories:
Standard (or " Stock "), with "series guns",
practically without modification of the model as it leaves the factory;
Modified, in which there is only a limitation to the size of the weapon;
and " Open " where anything goes (or almost everything).
REQUIREMENTS to PRACTICE IPSC:
According
to the international norms, the IPSC "is open to all the honorable
people" (the exact meaning of this sentence
still arises controversies among the experts), and it specifies
that it is not limited to officials (police
officers, soldiers, or IRS officials, that are the three communities whose
profession implies a certain degree of violence).
To
practice IPSC it's, thus, necessary: - To be in possession of a shooting license (depending on the country).
- To be affiliated to IPSC (through your National Federation). In Spain, this represents to pay two annual licenses to the Federation, one to practice shooting, and another additional to practice IPSC.
- It is not indispensable in many countries, but it is advisable to have passed an IPSC training course (usually done by your Federation) that teachs the safety rules.
- A disguise, if you are an IRS official (remember, you'll be surrounded by armed taxpayers).
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