Oh Goodie! Another excuse to proselytize USPSA/IPSC. I don't know if I'm really up to the challenge, but that never stopped me before.
As long as you're already open to accepting Phil Strader as one of The Best Of The Best in what he does (IPSC Competition), you might benefit from knowing how difficult ... and yet, simple and FUN ... this form of competition really is.
Basically, IPSC is Practical Pistol. It's ludicrous to ignore that Practical Pistol evolved from Combat Pistol (as it was in the 1960's), so let's dump the pretense and affirm that:
Practical Pistol simulates defensive use of a pistol against targets which roughly equates to the human form, and assumes that you are engaging aggressors who mean you harm.
You usually start with a loaded, holstered pistol. When the timer starts (denoted by a loud BEEP!), you draw and engage each target. The arrangement of targets, usually 3 to ... well, up to 25 targets! ... is different for every stage. You are usually requried to hit each target at least two times. This incorporates the concept of ACCURACY, in that if you don't hit the target your lose points. Also, the closer to center of the target, the more your hits count.
The targets are typically cardboard sillouettes, although oftern the stage includes steel targets of various shapes. You have to knock down the steel targets in order for your hits to count (usually requiring only one hit), but if your ammunition is loaded too 'light' you may find that it requires two fast hits to knock them down. This incorporates the concept of POWER. The standard is a full-power load from a .45acp.
Your score for the stage is the number of POINTS you have accumulated during engagement of all targets on each stage, divided by the amount of time (in seconds) you needed to hit them. This incorporates the concept of SPEED.
SPEED, POWER, ACCURACY ... this is the mantra of IPSC competition. Anybody can hit all the targets, and anybody can shoot ammunition powerful enough to knock down the steel targets, but the trick is to do so in the least possible time.
This is not your father's Bullseye competition, folks.
There are actually four factors in IPSC competition: SAFETY, ACCURACY, POWER and SPEED.
SAFETY: Everybody at an IPSC match must consider safety to be the most important priority. If you don't compete safely, you are Disqualified from further competition for the rest of the match. Some safety rules include: you mus not load or handle your pistol anywhere except on the firing line. (exceptions exist ... a 'safety area' is proviced where you can work on your pistol, for example, but you must NOT handle ammunition in that area. On the other hand, you can handle ammunition ... such as loading magazines but NOT loading pistols ... anywhere on the range.) Other primary safety rules: do not allow the muzzle of your pistol to point back toward the spectators while you are shooting a stage, do not have your finger on the trigger while you are moving or reloading, do not allow a round to leave the range.)
ACCURACY: A hit in the 8" x 6" center of the target scores five points. A hit in the 4" border around that are scores 4 points. A hit in the 4" border around THAT scores 2 points. Steel which is knocked down scores 5 points.
POWER: apart from the need to knock down steel targets, if you are shooting wimpy ammunition (9mm as opposed to , say, .45acp), your hits on targets score 5/3/1 point rather than 5/4/2 points, depending on the scoring ring in which your rounds hit.
SPEED: Again, your number of points accumulated during a stage is a RAW score ... it is modified by dividing this point score by the time. Thus, if you accumulate the same number of points on a stage as your competitior, but he/she shoots faster ... you lose.
PROTOCOL: Usually you begin with a pistol which is holstered, or it is bagged. The "Range Officer" (Safety Officer) is right behind you from the time you move to the starting position until you quit the stage. He orders you to "LOAD AND MAKE READY", at which time you load your pistol with a pre-loaded magazine (or otherwise load ammunition into your pistol, if for example you are shooting a revolver.) When the pistol is loade, you are required to assume a specified starting position, such as "hands naturally at sides" . The Range Officer (RO) asks "Are You Ready", and if you are ready he presses the 'start' button on the timer which he holds. As soon as the timer sounds a buzzer, you are free to draw your pistol and engage (shoot at) all the targets on the stage. (The 'stage' is the arrangement of targets in the shooting bay on the range.)
When you appear to have engaged all of the targets, he will tell you "If your are finished, unload and show clear." If you ARE finished, you will unload your pistol. The RO then checks to see that the pistol is safely unloade, and give the command "Gun clear, hammer down!". You drop the hammer by pulling the trigger, thus demonstrating that your pistol is unloadeed. The RO says "Holster" at which time you return the pistol to the holster. Or put it into a gun-bag, or other such arrangement as will safely remove your pistol from the factors which the RO must consider to insure that the range is safe. The RO then declares "Range is safe", and the RO procedes to score your targets after insuring that the time required for you to shoot the stage has been recorded.
I realize that this description is excessively detailed, but it serves to illustrate that there is an almost anal-retentive emphasis on safety in the conduct of an IPSC match. (A "Match" is the total of 'stages' which you will shoot, usually 4 to 7 stages depending on the resources available to the host range.)
As a summary, let me say that the characteristics of an IPSC (Practical Pistol) match are that you start with a loaded, holstered pistol; at the command you shoot at many targets in an array which is unique to this particular stage ... all stages are different, you should rarely shoot the same stage more than once no matter how manny matches you shoot ... and usually the stage procedure requires you to move from one place to another in the execution of a stage. At higher levels of competion, you will shoot WHILE MOVING, but at the most basic level of competion you will be required to shoot at some targets from one place, then move to another place on the same stage so you can shoot at other targets.
Also, most stages will be designed so that you will need to shoot more rounds than can be loaded into a single magazine (assuming that you are using an auto-loader pistol design.) Usually, we reload ON THE MOVE, which is to say that we drop the magazine from the pistol onto the ground, remove a magazine from magazine carriers on our belt, and insert the new magazine into the the pistol before we re-engage new targets. This is a special skill which is not typical of other shooting sports, and it is obviously important to be able to plan WHEN you will reload.
Sound complicated?
Well, it is. But this description covers most of the skills and procedures which typify an IPSC stage.
* IPSC ISN'T FOR EVERYONE! *
However, if you like Extreme Sports and adrenallin rush, it's something you should consider. I've seen 10-year-old kids shoot IPSC, and do well. I'm 59 years old, and I do well. It isn't just a matter of knowing how to shoot safely, or accurately, or quickly. It isn't a matter of having the 'best equipment'. It's knowing your own limitations, and being able to use your individual skills to achieve the best possible results in terms of shooting safely, accurately, and quickly with a full-power ammunition load.
What a RUSH!
If you want to know more about IPSC shooting, go to
www.uspsa.org
Jerry the Geek
:banghead: 
