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 42,000 active members USPSA Membership Data https://uspsa.org/bod_minutes
(Published at the in-person USPSA BOD Meeting Each Year) and over 500 affiliated clubs make USPSA the largest practical shooting organization in the United States and the second largest region within the IPSC after the Russian Federation of Practical Shooting. USPSA publishes a monthly member magazine called Front Sight.
History
IPSC was formed in 1976 at a meeting in Columbia, Missouri, led by Jeff Cooper.Columbia Conference Minutes http://www.uspsa.org/document_library/IPSC%201976%20Columbia%20Conference%20Minutes.pdf It was here that the sport of Practical Shooting was formally established after years of independent efforts around the country to build upon the handgun skills and training for self-defense. The early days of the sport can be traced back to the 1950s and the quick draw "leather slap" competitions that grew out of America's love affair with the TV westerns of that era.
In 1984 USPSA was incorporated as the US Region of IPSC.
Practical Shooting challenged the then accepted standards of technique, training practices and equipment. Its early pioneers developed scenario-based competitions to accurately measure the effectiveness of their own shooting techniques and equipment. The rapid shooting on-the-move style of Practical Shooting gave birth to the term "Run and Gun" so commonly used today to describe the sport.
For more than 30 years the sport has served as the test bed for new products and the unofficial R&D for the firearms industry. With some competitors annually shooting in excess of 100,000 rounds, no other venue offers a better in-service assessment of a firearm's performance or the brutal gauntlet of high-level competition through which a gun must survive to be declared reliable.
Organization USPSA is a 501c(3) non-profit Delaware corporation and currently headquartered in Sedro Woolley, Washington. The association is organized into 8 "Areas", each of which is represented by an Area Director at the board meetings of the organization. Further, each Area is divided into sections which is represented by a Section Coordinator responsible for coordinating the activities of clubs within his/ her section, and managing the nationals slot distribution process.
Besides IPSC, USPSA has its own international Foreign Club Affiliations (FCA) program to allow foreign USPSA members to earn a USPSA classification before competing in USPSA matches. FCA clubs and organizations at some point existed in 14 countries, and some are still affiliated.
Area states The USPSA is divided into of eight areas, each area having several member states.
Area 1: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming Area 2: Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, and New Mexico Area 3: Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, and South Dakota Area 4: Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas Area 5: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and West Virginia Area 6: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee Area 7: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont Area 8: District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Virginia
Board The Board of Directors comprises the Director at large and the 8 Area Directors. Each member of the Board has an equal voice, with the president breaking any ties.
The Director at large is elected by all of the members to a 4-year term. Each Area Director is elected by the members in that Area to a three-year term. The Board of Directors' responsibilities include financial strategy, including budget, planning and investment strategies, membership recruitment and retention strategies, marketing strategies, strategies for the format and location of the USPSA Handgun Championship, USPSA Multigun Championship and IPSC US Handgun Championship matches, strategies for the establishment and/or management of relationships with other shooting organizations, including IPSC, drafting and revising the rules that USPSA matches are conducted under, and review and ratification of National Range Officer Institute (NROI) policies and procedures.
As of Aug. 2025, the Board is:USPSA Staff Accessed 8/02/2025 https://uspsa.org/contact
Title Name Director At Large Daniel ClickArea 1 DirectorJim BooneArea 2 DirectorTom Chesterman Area 3 DirectorAndrew EricksonArea 4 DirectorAlexander AcostaArea 5 DirectorLafe KunkelArea 6 DirectorBen BerryArea 7 Director Frank RizziArea 8 Director and Vice PresidentRussell Fortney
Managing directors TitleNameManaging DirectorAlen TurnerDirector of Media & EventsJacob Martens Regional Director Leighton OosthuisenDirector of Information TechnologyRick BrotzelDirector of NROITroy McManus
Competitive divisions As the governing body of IPSC shooting in the United States, USPSA provides a wide range of competitive opportunities for shooters with regulated competition in eight distinct divisions. Each division within USPSA is determined by the kind of firearm used and ranges from production guns, the "stock cars" of the sport, to fully customized open guns that are the Formula 1 cars of Practical Shooting. The following is an explanation of the eight divisions within USPSA.
Handgun Although very similar, there are some equipment differences between the USPSA and IPSC handgun divisions. Both IPSC and USPSA Open require 9×19mm loaded to a power factor of 125 kgr·ft/s as the minimum caliber for minor scoring
Open As its name implies, the Open Division allows for the greatest range of pistol and sight modification.USPSA 2024 Handgun Rules, Appendix D1, Open Division Rules Pistols used in Open division competition are the shooting sport equivalent to the Formula One race car. They are custom built with parts and features specifically designed for competition. The most notable modifications are the use of recoil compensators and red dot optical sighting systems. A normal Open division rig setup contains at least one 170 mm and four 140 mm magazines. The longer 170 mm magazines provide more capacity, but the shorter 140 mm magazines are also popular because of easier handling and often more reliable feeding, leaving the competitor a choice of equipment according to the stage at hand. Competitors may declare major scoring with a 9 mm (.354") or larger bullet, and the most popular cartridges in the Open division are the .38 Super and 9×19mm handloaded to major power factor. For a while USPSA de facto (but not by rule) prohibited 9×19mm from scoring major power factor in the Open Division due to too high pressures, but 9×19mm loaded to major became popular again as the power factor was relaxed from 175 kgr·ft/s to 160 kgr·ft/s, and later raised to 165 kgr·ft/s.
There are some differences between the IPSC and USPSA Handgun Open divisions regarding major power factor requirements and maximum magazine length rules. While IPSC Open still require the major power factor of 160 kgr·ft/s which was proposed by USPSA at the 1999 General Assembly,Minutes of the Twenty-Third IPSC General Assembly, Cebu, Philippines, October 1999 USPSA changed the major power factor of USPSA Open division to 165 kgr·ft/s the following year in 2000.USPSA Board of Directors Meeting March 2, 2000 Thus, the threshold for making major power factor is 165 kgr·ft/s in all USPSA handgun divisions, while IPSC separates its power factor requirements into 160 kgr·ft/s for Open and 170 kgr·ft/s for all other all other handgun divisions.
While IPSC Open limits the magazine length to 170 mm (approximately 6.69 inches), USPSA Open changed the maximum magazine length from 170 mm to 171.25 mmUSPSA 2024 Handgun Rules, Appendix D2, Limited Division Rules (6.742 inches) somewhere between 2004 and 2009. Confusingly, some 171.25 mm magazine setups are marketed and referred to as 170 mm while they in reality measure 171.25 mm, making their configuration illegal for IPSC competitions. Since the magazine tubes themselves always are shorter than 170 mm, the overall magazine length will be dependent on the particular basepad used. I.e. using a 167 mm long magazine tube with a 3 mm basepad would yield an overall length of 170 mm making its configuration approved for international competition, while a 167 mm magazine tube with a 4 mm basepad would yield an overall length of 171 mm making it restricted to USPSA matches only. Adding to the confusion, some manufacturers lists their magazine tube length as the length of the tube itself, while others lists the length with a basepad assembled.
For a 2011 pattern handgun, aftermarket parts and magazine can give a magazine capacity of 29 rounds (reloadable) of 9×19mm for a 171.25 mm USPSA Open magazine (28 rounds for a shorter 170 mm IPSC Open magazine), or up to 26 rounds of .40 S&W for a 171.25 mm USPSA Open magazine, although the .40 S&W caliber is less commonly used in Open.
Limited Most modifications are permitted in Limited division except optical sights or compensators. Although most handguns can be used for Limited, some popular choices are the 2011 frame STI and SVI pistols. Competitors can make various modifications such as change sights, grips, slide stops, magazine releases and mainspring housings.
Limited is often thought of as the USPSA equivalent of the IPSC Standard division, but there are some differences. In Limited division there is no restriction on holster position, while in the Standard division the holster and allied equipment must be worn behind the hip bone. While Standard handguns must fit inside the IPSC box with any of its magazines inserted, there is no box for Limited division and instead there is a restriction on magazine length of 141.25 mm for double stack magazines (5.561 inches, which is often incorrectly referred to as 140 mm magazines) or 171.25 mm for single stack magazines (6.742 inches) (often incorrectly referred to as 170 mm magazines). The maximum magazine length in Limited was changed from 140 and 170 mm to 141.25 and 171.25 mm respectively by USPSA somewhere between 2004 and 2009. On the other hand, if for instance a 2011 pattern pistol is used in the Standard division, either 124 or 126 mm magazines will usually give the maximum capacity and still fit the box.
Minimum caliber for minor scoring is 9×19mm loaded to a power factor of 125 kgr·ft/s while minimum caliber for major scoring is a 10 mm (.40") cartridge loaded to a power factor of 165 kgr·ft/s, making for an interesting choice between minor and major scoring taken in mind the differences in recoil, magazine capacity and scoring points. An example of differences in magazine capacity depending on caliber can be seen when comparing stock 141.25 mm STI 2011 double stack magazines, which according to the manufacturer yields a capacity of either 14 rounds for .45 ACP, 17 rounds for .40 S&W or 20 rounds for 9×19mm. Magazine capacity can be further increased using aftermarket springs, followers and basepads as long as each magazine still fits the 141.25 mm gauge. For a 2011 pattern handgun, aftermarket parts and magazine tuning can increase the (reloadable) capacity from 14 to 18 rounds for .45 ACP, from 17 to 21 rounds for .40 S&W and from 20 to 24 rounds for 9×19mm.