Standard competitor at the 2013 IPSC Australasian Handgun Championship

The IPSC Handgun World Shoot is the highest level handgun match within the

International Practical Shooting Confederation The International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) is the world's largest shooting sport association, and the largest and oldest within practical shooting. Founded in 1976, the IPSC nowadays affiliates over 100 regions from Africa, America ...

(IPSC) which consists of several days and at least 30 separate courses of fire. The Handgun World Shoots are held

triennially An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded. Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the List of national independence days, date of independen ...

on a rotational cycle with the other two main IPSC disciplines

Rifle A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...

and

Shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...

. World Shoot main matches are held over six days with five days of shooting and one rest day, making the competition a shooting marathon where strategy and mental focus is of critical importance.

History

The first IPSC World Shoot was held in 1975 in Zurich, and the two following were held with one year intervals. After 1977 the World Shoots were held at two year intervals until 1983 when the schedule was changed to the three year intervals used today. Until and including 1991 there were no equipment divisions, but equipment had gradually become more and more specialized with extended front sights, compensators and even optical sights. At the 1991 Handgun World Shoot in Adelaide, Australia, Doug Koenig of USA became the first competitor to win the World Shoot using a

red dot sight A red dot sight is a common classification for a non- magnifying reflector (or reflex) sight that provides an illuminated red dot to the user as a point of aim. A standard design uses a red light-emitting diode (LED) at the focus of collimati ...

. In the following 1993 Handgun World Shoot competitors would be divided into divisions based on the equipment, thereof whether the firearm had an optical sight and compensator (Open or Modified division) or iron sights (Standard division). In 1999 the Revolver and Production divisions were introduced, and became recognized divisions from January 2000, making their first appearance in World Level competition at the 2002 Handgun World Shoot. In 2011 the Modified division was retired to make room for the Classic division, in commemoration of the 1911 single stack which historically had been so important for IPSC Handgun and handgun shooting sports in general for many years.

List of Handgun World Shoots

* 1975 Handgun World Shoot in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, Switzerland * 1976 Handgun World Shoot in

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

, Austria * 1977 Handgun World Shoot in

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

* 1979 Handgun World Shoot in

Roodepoort Roodepoort ( ) is a city in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Formerly an independent municipality, Roodepoort became part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, Johannesburg municipality in the late 1990s, along with Randburg ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, South Africa * 1981 Handgun World Shoot in

, South Africa * 1983 Handgun World Shoot in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, United States * 1986 Handgun World Shoot in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, United States * 1988 Handgun World Shoot in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

, Venezuela * 1990 Handgun World Shoot in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, Australia * 1991 Individual Handgun World Championship,

, South Africa * 1993 Handgun World Shoot at the

National Shooting Centre at Bisley The National Shooting Centre, commonly referred to as Bisley, is the UK's largest shooting sports complex, comprising several shooting ranges as well as the large Bisley Camp complex of accommodation, clubhouses and support services. The centre ...

Bisley, Surrey Bisley is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately southwest of central London. It is midway between Woking (to the east) and Camberley (to the west). The village had a population of 3,965 in ...

, England * 1996 Handgun World Shoot in

Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...

, Brazil * 1999 Handgun World Shoot in

Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...

, Philippines * 2002 Handgun World Shoot in

Pietersburg Polokwane (, meaning "Sanctuary" in Northern SothoPolokwane - The Heart of the Limpopo Provin ...

, South Africa * 2005 Handgun World Shoot in

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

, Ecuador * 2008 Handgun World Shoot in

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

, Indonesia * 2011 Handgun World Shoot in

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

, Greece * 2014 Handgun World Shoot in

Frostproof, Florida Frostproof is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. The city is located in southern Polk County on the Lake Wales Ridge. It is part of the Lakeland– Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,877 at the 2 ...

, United States * 2017 Handgun World Shoot at the

National Shooting Centre The National Shooting Centre, commonly referred to as Bisley, is the UK's largest shooting sports complex, comprising several shooting ranges as well as the large Bisley Camp complex of accommodation, clubhouses and support services. The centre ...

Châteauroux Châteauroux ( ; ; ) is the capital city of the French department of Indre, central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called ''Castelroussins'' () in French. Climate Châteauroux te ...

, France * 2022 Handgun World Shoot in Thailand

Individual Champions

IPSC Handgun World Champion Eric Grauffel at the 2007 IPSC European Handgun Championship

The following is a list of previous and current Handgun World Champions:IPSC History of Champions
, accessed February 11, 2015.

Overall category

Lady category

Ashley Rheuark at the 2017 IPSC Rifle World Shoot

Junior category

Senior category

Super Senior category

Teams

Teams can consist of up to four athletes, with the three highest individual scores counting for the team results.

Overall teams

Lady teams

References

External links

Promo: 2014 IPSC Handgun World Shoot, Florida, United States
{{Main world championships IPSC World Shoots