Educate Me on Various Pistol Competition

USPSA.

Limited division is what you want. Just about any iron sighted pistol, and you can fill your mags all the way up. The other divisions are a bit more specialized with fairly ignorant rules.

Steel Challenge is fun as well.

I agree 100% with the above from Zerodefect.

Steel Challenge is the gateway drug to action shooting.
Little to no movement with gun in hand but the reward of "clang" for hits.
He could start with a .22 from low ready and move up to a centerfire when he was ready for the fast draw.
I see more Juniors at SC than any other match.
But when he is ready to run and gun, SCSA is a department of USPSA so he will already have a membership and gun divisions are the same.

The problem with GSSF is that it is built around large widely separated events with maybe 300 competitors, most shooting multiple Divisions over two or three days.
I do not know of a regular monthly local match like SC, USPSA, or IDPA.
The range here does put on GSSF Indoor matches at a rate of 9 a year, but that is an entirely different affair.

Any shooting sport is good to get him into. IDPA, Three-Gun, Trap….

Really, the absolute must is to find a great venue. And have something to fill the time. Example. When my son and I shot trap, we brought everything to have supper while we shot. Grill and extra food to share with others in the parking lot nearby.

30 people at an IDPA match, and you do a lot of waiting. Be the guy / son that always runs up to paste targets, etc. Help set up, take down, etc.

What's your zip code? I ran the local match for years and there were still people asking where to shoot. USPSA/SCSA and IDPA have club finders.

If you can make First Contact with a competitor, you might learn of outlaw matches. There are many organizers smarter than Jeff Cooper or Bill Wilson who are running their own games. "Speed Steel" is a common knockoff of Steel Challenge. In fact a club here ran their own layouts but eventually affiliated and have regulation matches.

I shot a lot of USPSA when I was younger and more nimble. Ru4real is correct. Match takes 5-6 hours and you shoot for a few minutes. But it is really fun and I learned a great deal about shooting on the move, from non-standard positions, and figuring out how to solve a shooting problem. So yeah, fill the down time helping the match run.

here's where you can find matches

https://uspsa.org/matches

Where are you located and how old is he?

In terms of athleticism vs. shooting:

1. Steel challenge, acquiring targets, being accurate, building speed in these. No running around. Start with a 22 LR hangun.
2. IDPA - mildly athletic, emphasizes reasonable accuracy, good for practice on semi-realistic targets. Good practice on reloads, drawing.
3. Heavy emphasis on running - Track and field with guns. Heavily tech'ed up guns for most serious competitiors. Unrealistic planning of reloads to save time. Dropping still loaded mags, etc. Still lots of fun and trigger time if you don't take the gaming aspects seriously at first.

None are 'realistic' or really 'tactical' training, They all have useful skill aspects. I'd go with some steel first and move up to 2 and 3. However, steel is lots of fun. Can shoot it with 22 LR, PCC also.

In all these to start, don't chase the technology to begin. So for iron sights for a bit in a pretty standard gun without modifications. That can come later.

USPSA near Greenville
https://uspsa.org/find-a-club?
Belton Gun Club
Belton, SC (15 miles)
Spartanburg Practical Shooting Assn
Moore, SC (27 miles)
C & C Indoor Range
Boiling Springs, SC (36 miles)
Mid Carolina Rifle Club
Gaston, SC (72 miles)

Steel Challenge near Greenville
https://scsa.org/find-a-club?
Belton Gun Club
Belton, SC (22 miles)
Foothills Public Shooting Complex
Cherryville, NC (63 miles)
Central Carolina Shooting Club
EDGEMOOR, SC (83 miles)
Kershaw County Practical Shooters
Lugoff, SC (108 miles)

IDPA in SC, can't locate from Greenville but Belton does it, too.
Anderson Practical Pistol Club
Anderson, South Carolina
864-940-6276
http://www.skipjrange.com
PRIMARY CLUB CONTACT
Terry Candler

Belton Gun Club
Belton, South Carolina
864-369-6767
https://beltongunclubinc.wildapricot.org/page-1855517
PRIMARY CLUB CONTACT
Dave Valenti

Central Carolinas Shooting Club
Rock Hill, South Carolina
http://www.ccshootingclub.net
PRIMARY CLUB CONTACT
Tom Switzer

Lowcountry Shooters-IDPA
Mt Pleasant, SC
843-906-7674
https://www.facebook.com/groups/LowcountryShooters/
PRIMARY CLUB CONTACT
Bob Harris

Mid Carolina Rifle Club IDPA
Gaston, South Carolina
803.530.9135
http://www.midcarolinarifleclub.com
PRIMARY CLUB CONTACT
Mike Phillips

Palmetto Gun Club
Ridgeville, SC
http://www.palmettogunclub.org

GEM said:

In terms of athleticism vs. shooting:

1. Steel challenge, acquiring targets, being accurate, building speed in these. No running around. Start with a 22 LR hangun.
2. IDPA - mildly athletic, emphasizes reasonable accuracy, good for practice on semi-realistic targets. Good practice on reloads, drawing.
3. Heavy emphasis on running - Track and field with guns. Heavily tech'ed up guns for most serious competitiors. Unrealistic planning of reloads to save time. Dropping still loaded mags, etc. Still lots of fun and trigger time if you don't take the gaming aspects seriously at first.

Click to expand...

IDPA - Smaller (18 round max), easier stages, one reload per stage at most, stage plans and target engagement orders dictated to you by the stage description. Less additional mag pouch and spare mag requirements in general. Scoring rules favor accuracy.
USPSA- Larger(32 round max) stages, reload where you want, figure out your own stage plan. Divisions for stock guns and race guns. Higher skill level in general of the competitors. Scoring rules balance speed and accuracy.

You can see the difference in pace in general between the two sports in these two videos. This is because IDPA penalized you 1 second for each hit outside the center 8 inch circle and most stage plans involve shooting your mag empty

Just going to vouch for bullseye. Let him shoot 22 for one 900 and as the match director to put him near someone good to show what's possible. If it doesn't take, it doesn't take.

I’m a little biased considering I recently started shooting USPSA, but if you’re looking for a pistol related shooting sport I would recommend USPSA. At 16 he shouldn’t have any issues running the guns (I was pretty deep into competitive trap at 16) and the movement, speed shooting, and different stage presentations are going to make for a more interesting match in my opinion. There are also age based classifications, so he will be competing against shooters in his age range.

Just a warning: as a father/financier in chief, if he really gets into it, prepare your wallet. Shooting sports can get VERY expensive. Guns and gear are one thing, but the ammo to sustain a competitive shooting habit is where the real costs start appearing.

For USPSA, most any pistol you have that is 9mm or larger will work. “Limited” division is probably where you’ll want to be starting out, but just be aware that the division also allows for some highly modified guns as well. From what I’ve seen it’s hard to be competitive in Limited with something like a stock Glock, but it’s still a great place to learn (and have fun!)

You can use something like a stock Glock to shoot in “Production” division, but that limits you to 10 rounds per mag which means he will need to get good at mag changes AND (more importantly) stage planning. Starting off I think it’s easier to just start in Limited so that you can have large mags and get used to just running the stages. Then worry about potentially moving to limited capacity divisions.

Another note - if you want to buy a gun for USPSA, I would recommend getting one that has the ability to accept an optic as that gives you the most flexibility. Something like the Glock MOS, Walther PDP, etc. You can start off just using irons and compete in Limited (or Limited 10 or Production), but all you have to do is add an optic and you can compete in the “Carry Optics” division too (which at least in my area is really big).

Also take a look at the USPSA rule book for the weapon division rules before you buy guns/gear (things like allowed modifications, mag length, etc). It’s a large rule book, but the appendix with the gun divisions is pretty straight forward. Had a guy show up to a match who was really excited about his new 33 round Glock mags until he learned that they weren’t legal for the division he was shooting in.

Agree. IMO a 16 year old is not going to enjoy Steel Challenge and definitely not Bullseye. I'm almost 40 and those are boring as hell to me.

Then there's IHMSA and NRA Silhouette. If you like revolvers there's the revolver only ICORE, which is like USPSA, but with fewer limitations on targets. If he's really good there's NRA Action Pistol also known as Bianchi Cup.

You know your son better than we. Some take to Bullseye and Steel Challenge. Some like GSSF and some just want more "action".

All of those are boring matches for boomers my man. I'd never recommend any of that to a teenager.

waktasz said:

All of those are boring matches for boomers my man. I'd never recommend any of that to a teenager.

Click to expand...

Are you perhaps projecting what you dis-like? There seem to be quite a few "juniors" shooting Steel Challenge. At this years nationals, I count 20+ juniors or pre-teens out of a169 entries in just the RimFire Pistol division. Not all youngsters hate it evidently.

All I'm saying is these are options. DMW and his kids will have to decide for themselves which they like best.

alfsauve said:

Are you perhaps projecting what you dis-like? There seem to be quite a few "juniors" shooting Steel Challenge. At this years nationals, I count 20+ juniors or pre-teens out of a169 entries in just the RimFire Pistol division. Not all youngsters hate it evidently.

All I'm saying is these are options. DMW and his kids will have to decide for themselves which they like best.

Click to expand...

You'll have to forgive him, he's a world class shooter far above anyone on this planet.


As to the OP, USPSA, IDPA or Steel Challenge are probably the most commonly seen matches on a broad general scale. See if you can get a line on one of those to get your sons feet wet.

Just remember, in any comp SAFETY is the first priority. Understand the rules and have him go slow initially. Finishing bottom of the barrel without a DQ is preferable to not finishing at all.

alfsauve said:

Are you perhaps projecting what you dis-like? There seem to be quite a few "juniors" shooting Steel Challenge. At this years nationals, I count 20+ juniors or pre-teens out of a169 entries in just the RimFire Pistol division. Not all youngsters hate it evidently.

All I'm saying is these are options. DMW and his kids will have to decide for themselves which they like best.

Click to expand...

The few steel matches I've been to I see a fair amount of little kids and tweens but not a lot of mid-teens or 20ish year olds. I'm sure it varies by region also