Like any activity, we have our share of
jargon and buzzwords. Here is an explanation of the intent and import of
them. Exceptions and nuances are left out for clarity; refer to the Official
Rules for the precise definitions and application.
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Divisions
USPSA recognizes 6 Divisions for competition:
- Open
- Limited
- Limited 10
- Production
- Single-Stack
- Revolver
The Division defines the permitted characteristics of
the gun and equipment you can use for competing in that
division.
In the Open Division, a gun may have optical sights,
with compensators and ports to control recoil. The
magazine capacity is not limited. These are the speed
demon guns; they are incredibly noisy, and shoot flames
out of all sides. You've gotta love 'em.
In the Limited Division, a gun may not have optical
sights, ports or compensators; it may have various other
recoil reducing mechanisms, trigger adjustments and
overall accuracy enhancements. The magazine capacity is
not limited. Major and Minor power
factors are recognized.
In the Limited 10 Division, constraints are the same as
in Limited except that the magazine capacity is
restricted to 10 rounds.
In the Production Division, the guns are intended to be
pretty much as the manufacturer made them with minimal
modifications allowed. They must be double-action or
double-action/single-action in the modern style (GLOCK,
Sig, Springfield XD, S&W, etc). Holsters and
magazine carriers are also restricted in that all
equipment must be behind the hip line. In Production
Division, all scoring is at the 'Minor'
power factor so 9mm guns predominate.
The Single-stack Division is for traditional
Government model 1911-style, single-action guns. Modern
equivalents with safety and reliability improvements are
permitted; .45/.40/10mm/9mm calibers are allowed.
Magazine capacity is restricted to 8 rounds
(.45/.40/10mm) or 10 rounds (9mm)
The Revolver Division is, as its name suggests, for
revolvers. These must be largely as the manufacturer
intended them with a maximum of 6 rounds. Single-action
revolvers must be downloaded so that the hammer rests on
an empty chamber initially. Speed-loading devices are
the norm (e.g. moon clips) to attain any sort of speed
on the course. Major and Minor
power factors are recognized.
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Classes/Classification
The Classification System is a national database which
grades all shooters in the country for the purposes of
comparison. A shooter is given a classification in each Division
as one of:
- Grand Master (GM)
- Master (M)
- A
- B
- C
- D
- Unclassified (U)
A Grand Master is expected to be able to shoot better
than 95% of all other shooters on a course of fire. A
'C' shooter is expected to take about twice as long
shooting a course as a GM. It takes work to become a GM.
The grades are derived by shooters regularly shooting
courses out of a 'book'
of special courses of fire for which shooters of
known ability have posted times. At GPSL we shoot one
such stage a month; and all local matches include one
such stage.
At a USPSA match, shooters of the same classification
compete against each other in each Division. So, there
is a best GM, best M, best A etc. Thus, even a 'D'
shooter can win his Class in his Division. At major
matches, Class winners usually receive prizes as well as
the overall winner of a Division. So, even the average
Joe can come away a winner.
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Categories
Categories are additional recognition levels in a match.
They are:
- Law enforcement
- Lady
- Junior (<21)
- Senior (>50)
- Super-Senior (>60)
- Military
At major matches the high shooter in each category
within a Division usually gets recognition if there are
enough in each. You can be in multiple categories such
as a super senior, law enforcement, lady and be eligible
for awards in all categories. |
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Power
Factor - Major/Minor - DVC
The IPSC motto is "Diligentia, Vis, Celeritas (DVC)",
which is Latin for for "Accuracy, Power,
Speed" and IPSC scoring accounts for all three.
Accuracy is hitting the target, speed is how fast you
complete the course of fire and Power is a measure of
the explosive forces generated when you pull the
trigger. All other things being equal, a more powerful
explosion is more difficult to control than a lesser
one, and so an accurate shot is more difficult to attain
at a higher shooting speed.
Power in IPSC is defined as either Major or Minor power
factor. Simplistically, a Major power factor rating
applies to factory .45 and .40 calibers; a Minor power
factor rating applies to factory 9mm and .357.
Nothing is simple though. Major really means a Power
Factor of at least 165; Minor means a Power factor of at
least 125, where:
Power Factor = bullet weight(grains) * muzzle
velocity(feet/sec) / 1000
At higher levels of involvement, competitors tune their
ammo to their gun to attain power factors at the bare
minimum for major/minor so as to optimize control and
scoring. Starting shooters just buy a box of ammo and
assume .45/.40 is Major and 9mm/.357 is Minor.
The outer zones on an IPSC target have reduced score
values for Minor than Major. An 'A' zone hit scores the
same in each case, but near misses score less in Minor.
Steel targets also fall easier with Major ammo. Thus is
power rewarded.
Note that in Production Division, all scoring is as
Minor. Therefore, there is no scoring advantage to
higher caliber handguns; ease of control to attain the
accuracy for a speedy 'A' hit is important. This is why
9mm is popular in Production, but not required. Some
folks might use .45 or .40 with a reduced powder load,
or just use standard ammo because they have a heavy
caliber handgun for personal protection and that is what
they want to shoot in IPSC.
See the USPSA website article http://www.uspsa.org/intro_power_factor.html
for more discussion.
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Hit Factor
- Points / Target Scoring Zones
The match scoring is based upon your "hit
factor", which in it's very simplest terms is points
scored per second. The targets have point scoring
areas--much like traditional bulls eye targets. The
scoring areas and points are shown below. Note the point
difference between using Major
and Minor power factor ammo -- in Minor, you drop an
extra point than you would in Major if you do not hit
the 'A' zone.
Your hit factor for the course of fire (a stage) is
simply your scored points total, less any penalty
points divided by your time in seconds.
If a match were only one stage, the winner would be the
shooter with the highest hit factor, but most matches
have four to six stages and each stage may require
anywhere from 6 to 36 rounds. We need a way to
"weight" the stages based on the round count.
This is done by calculating Stage Points and then Match
Points using a computerized scoring program, although it
can be done longhand.
For example, suppose Stage 1 is a 12 round course; it
has a maximum point score of 60 points (12 x 5). Suppose
Joe wins the stage with a high hit factor of 10.000; Joe
is awarded all 60 Stage Points even though he may have
actually scored less points by counting his hits on the
targets. Suppose Dave has a hit factor of 9.000; this is
90% of Joe's winning hit factor so Dave is awarded 90%
of the winner's points - 54. If Mel has a hit factor of
5.000 (50% of Joe's hit factor) he is awarded 50% of
Joe's points - 30.
The competitor's Stage Points from all the stages are
added to total Match Points and the Match winner is the
shooter with the most points.
With this system, a 36 round stage with 180 points
available will have a greater "weight" than
our example 12 round stage -- as it should.
You can also see that there is a trade-off in speed and
accuracy -- the 'D' and 'C' of
"DVC".
- If you can shoot all 'A's in 12 seconds, your hit
factor is (12*5)/12 = 5.000.
- If you crank it up a notch and score all 'C's but
in 9 seconds, your hit factor is (12*4)/9 = 5.333
(if Major). So the faster
shooter places higher despite a "worse"
point score (48 vs 60).
- If you take 10 secs for your 'C's though, your hit
factor is (12*4)/10=4.800; so the more accurate
shooter now places higher.
- If you score all 'C's in 9 seconds, but are
shooting Minor, your hit
factor is (12*3)/9 =4.000 and so you place lower
than the Major shooter who scored all 'C's in 10
seconds.
- If you are shooting Minor and get C's, you would
need to be better than 7.5 seconds to beat the Major
'C's in 10 seconds since (12*3)/7.5 = 4.800
Assessing this tradeoff is part of the planning each
shooter does for a stage. Suppose I believe my hit
factor will be 5.000 (points/second) if I take time to
hit all 'A's. Then, if I sacrifice 5 points but gain 1
second in time, then I come out even. If I can gain more
than 1 second, then I come out ahead. Sacrificing 5
points might mean that I am prepared to accept 5 'C'
zone hits instead of 5 'A' zone hits; this allows me to
expand my acceptable aiming area and so enables me to
shoot faster.
-- 12 'A' hits in 12 secs score: (12 x 5) /12 = 5.000
hit factor
-- 7 'A' hits + 5 'C' hits in 11 seconds scores: ((7x5)
+ (5x4)) /11 = 5.000 hit factor
For an in-depth discussion of scoring, see the article
on the USPSA website: USPSA
Targets and Scoring.
For a view of scoring in action, visit our Scores
pages and try to decipher the results. |
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Types of
Stage - Virginia, Comstock, Fixed Time
There are three types of stage scoring method:
- Comstock Count -- the most common
- Virginia Count -- often used in classifier
stages
- Fixed Time -- the least common
Comstock Count courses of fire have no
restrictions on the maximum number of shots that may be
fired, no restrictions on the maximum number of times
each target must be hit and no restriction on the amount
of time required to complete the course. Each competitor
may shoot at the targets until the competitor is
satisfied with the hits on the target. Each target will
require at least one hit on the target (usually two) and
if there are more hits on the target than required, then
the highest scoring hits are recorded on the score
sheet.
Virginia Count courses of fire have
restrictions on the number of shots that may be fired at
the targets and on the number of hits allowed on the
targets. The competitor can take as much time as is
needed to obtain the proper number of shots fired and
hits on the target. Shooting extra shots will cause a
penalty of ten points for each extra shot fired. If
those extra shots resulted in more than the specified
number of hits on a target, each extra hit on a target
is also penalized ten points.
Fixed Time courses of fire have
restrictions on the amount of time the competitor has to
complete the course of fire. There are also restrictions
placed upon the number of shots fired and the number of
hits allowed on each target. In most instances, not all
competitors are expected to be able to complete the
course of fire in the time allotted, so misses are not
penalized. However, extra shots and extra hits are
penalized as are no-shoot hits and procedural errors.
Also, if a competitor fires after the amount of time to
shoot the course has expired, each shot fired that is
overtime earns a five point penalty. There is a 0.3
second grace period before shots are considered over the
fixed time.
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Penalty
Points - No Shoots, Mikes and Procedurals
After the shooter has completed the course of fire, the
points are counted. The shooter scores points by hitting
the designated target, the designated number of times,
and in the designated manner as described in the stage
description. Failure to follow these "stage
procedures" results in penalty points being
assessed.
No Shoot Targets are designated targets
which must not be hit. Each hit on a "No
Shoot" is assessed 10 penalty points. No Shoot
targets are usually colored white (but do not have to
be) and are usually liberally sprinkled around a stage
to break up the direct line of sight to a scoring target
and to create a greater premium on achieving accuracy.
Mike is the term used to refer to a missed
shot on a scoring target. The stage description
specifies the number of scoring hits required on the
scoring area of each target; any less than that number
are "Mikes", and each Mike is assessed 10
penalty points. Note that a portion of the target may be
designated "hard cover"; a portion of the
target is colored black to designate hard cover. A hit
in a "hard cover" area is scored as a 'Mike'.
Procedural is the term used when the
shooter fails to comply with the stage description which
specifies which, where, how and when targets are to be
shot. For instance, the description might require that a
specific target is to be shot from behind a specific
line; if the shooter shoots from in front of that line a
"Procedural" is assessed and incurs 10 penalty
points. Depending on the nature of the Procedural, the
penalty might be 10 points per shot fired while in
breach, sometimes just one penalty of 10 points is
assessed. Penalties are also assessed for extra shots or
hits in a Virginia Count stage
and overtime shots in a Fixed Time
stage. There is also a 10 point penalty if you fail to
shoot at a scoring target.
Note that at all times during the shooting of a stage,
the Safety Rules always apply. The penalty
for any breach of one of these Safety Rules is instant
disqualification from the match. Read the Safety
Rules.
"Penalty points" however are part of the game
and are integral to the shooter's strategic management
of the course of fire under the pressures of time. For
instance, while shooting at a target partially obscured
by a No Shoot, suppose you hit the No Shoot instead.
Your choice, should you notice in time, would be to make
up the shot by firing again at the scoring target. If
you then hit the scoring target you would be assessed 10
penalty points for the "No Shoot" hit;
however, if you do not make up the scoring hit, you
would also be assessed 10 penalty points for the
"Mike", as well as losing the opportunity of
scoring the 5 points for the hit; however, to make up
the scoring hit you have to take additional time, which
contributes to decreasing your "hit factor"
for the stage. Normally, you would want to make up the
Mike if you see it in time; exceptions to that would be
if you had to back-track in the course to re-engage the
target and waste even more time, or if this is a
Virginia Count stage where extra shots themselves incur
a penalty.
Occasionally, the "gamer" type of shooter will
spot a chink in the stage description which provides an
opportunity to accept a penalty but in return gain a
significant overall improvement in hit
factor. For instance, there may be a partially
visible, distant steel target which the stage designer
imagined would be reached by running downrange so as to
attain a clear view. The shooter might choose to fire at
the downrange target from a long distance away, with
little hope (or intention) of hitting it, in return for
which he saves the time needed to run downrange. He
accepts the 10 penalty points for the Mike and the lost
opportunity for the 5 point hit, and saves, for
instance, 5 seconds on the running. Whether this
exchange is worth it is up to the shooter to decide, and
for the stage designer to consider when preparing the
stage.
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