Tag Archives: IPSC

USPSA Membership Hits Record 45,000, and Why That’s Important

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The shooting sports have come and gone steadily over the past two centuries. Back in the 1890s, Schuetzen matches (which, ironically, are making a bit of a comeback) and festivals reached their golden age and drew entire towns to bask in the precision marksmanship.

Speaking of festivals, rimfire Gallery Shooting was a staple of carnivals, state fairs, and boardwalks across the first half of the 20th Century.

Hunting was a rite of passage going back to Colonial times but reached its modern peak in the U.S. in 1982, when measured participation hit an all-time high of 16.7 million hunters, well over 7 percent of the total population, while community Turkey Shoots began to nose-dive around the same period. Today, only about 4 percent of the population actively hunts, and turkey shoots are all but gone.

I grew up with DCM Rifle shooting, but, except for the National Matches, CMP and the Garand Association, the pastime is all but forgotten. Peak attendance for the National Matches occurred in 1962 with 7,762 registered competitors participating. Today, attendance hovers at about 4,500, even though the U.S. population has more than doubled since the 1960s.

Bullseye shooting reached its peak popularity during the 1950s and 1960s.

Then came the emergence of dynamic, faster-moving action shooting sports, like IPSC and IDPA, in the 1970s, which drew competitors away from static bullseye matches.

As a sign of the times, there are no fewer than 516 USPSA clubs and 304 Steel Challenge clubs right now, and they just hit a record.

Via Shooting Sports USA:

As of April 2026, USPSA and Steel Challenge reached a major milestone: 45,000 members. That’s the largest our organization has ever been, and it’s more than just a number, it’s a testament to the passion, growth and dedication happening across every level of the sport. Whether you’re running a club, working the timer or showing up for your first match, you’ve played a part in this.

To hit 45,000 members is exciting, but what’s even more important is what it represents. It reflects increased engagement at the local level, full squads at major matches, a surge of interest from new shooters and a wave of volunteers stepping up to keep everything moving. We’re averaging more than 46 new members every single day, and that trend shows no sign of slowing down.

While I am a fan of all of the shooting sports, practical shooting improves firearm handling, speed, and accuracy under pressure in a way that many other disciplines don’t. Plus, the core benefits of enhanced gun safety, stress inoculation, and refined mechanical skills can’t be beat.

If you aren’t partaking in some practical shooting, try it.

You’ll probably become 45,001.

Vale, Chip McCormick

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Texas pro-shooting icon, gunsmith, and firearms industry trendsetter Chip McCormick has passed. He not only pioneered the “drop-in” AR-15 trigger and the “modular” M1911, but also nearly perfected the M1911 magazine.

I remember getting into shooting 1911s in the mid-1990s and, finding myself plagued with mag issues, being told by several people that Chip McCormick mags were the tried-and-true solution to that and, to my delight, that advice held true.

Almost 30 years later and that advice still holds up.

Thanks for the mags, Mr. McCormick.

Disneyland for Shooters…

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I recently had the opportunity to visit the immaculate ranges used by the Civilian Marksmanship Program to support public firearms training.

The CMP is a federally-chartered non-profit corporation tasked with promoting firearms safety training and target practice. It originated as the Office of the Director of Civilian Marksmanship in 1903 under orders from Congress to improve the country’s marksmanship skills to minimize training in case of war.

Split off from the U.S. Army under the Clinton-administration in 1996, it still conducts training courses and holds shooting competitions and clinics nationwide but draws its primary source of funding through the sale of surplus firearms to qualifying members of the public which were donated to the organization by the Army.

With an eye to see just what all those M1 Garand sales have helped pay for, I visited the CMP’s Alabama operations to get a better idea about what they offer the public:

How about a covered 54-positon 600-yard range with targets at 100-200-600, all electronically scored with a monitor at your station…

15 different clays stands on golf-course quality grounds..

Olympic-quality 10m airgun ranges set up for 80 competitors at a time– also with electronic targets

It’s almost like they are into civilian marksmanship training or something…

More in my column at Guns.com.

SIG Out-Glocks Glock to get Army Modular Handgun System contract

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After the 7-year pistol search was brought up no less than 4 times during the recent confirmation hearings, the Army awards Sig a contract for $580 million for the XM17 (an FDE SIG Sauer P320 in two different configurations with a thumb safety).

A total of nine bids were submitted, including from Beretta, FN Herstal, Glock, Smith & Wesson and their partner General Dynamics Ordnance Tactical Systems (GDOTS), according to a separate Pentagon statement. Army Contracting Command, Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, is the contracting activity

m17-xm17-sig-p320

From SIG:

SIG SAUER, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Army has selected the SIG SAUER Model P320 to replace the M9 service pistol currently in use since the mid-1980’s. Released in 2014, the P320 is a polymer striker-fired pistol that has proven itself in both the United States and worldwide markets. The P320 is the first modular pistol with interchangeable grip modules that can also be adjusted in frame size and caliber by the operator. All pistols will be produced at the SIG SAUER facilities in New Hampshire.

The MHS Program provides for the delivery of both full size and compact P320’s, over a period of ten (10) years. All pistols will be configurable to receive silencers and will also include both standard and extended capacity magazines.

“I am tremendously proud of the Modular Handgun System Team,” said Army Acquisition Executive, Steffanie Easter in the release. “By maximizing full and open competition across our industry partners, we truly have optimized the private sector advancements in handguns, ammunition and magazines and the end result will ensure a decidedly superior weapon system for our warfighters.”

IPSC World Champion Max Michel set a Guinness World Record last week, splashing six plate targets from the draw in less than 2.5 seconds with a SIG P320RX. Granted, it’s a supped up gun in the hands of a world master, but still..

Of course, a lot of people are butthurt that Glock wasn’t chosen, as many G19s are in U.S. military use already.

“Do you mean to tell me that the DOD just spent $580M on a pistol that has barely been on the market for three years? A gun that will be carried by US soldiers for at least a decade, more likely two or three, that has only been issued to a handful of law enforcement agencies in the United States? (Love ya Hooksett, NH Police!)” reads TFB.