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HomeUSPSA Gear and Divisions

USPSA
United States Practical Shooting Association

at River Bend Gun Club

Divisions & Gear Requirements

Stock Division

Single Stack: 

Bring out your 1911 and shoot skinny style with us. This division caters to the 1911 purist and thus requires barrel bushings for barrels over 4.25". Major Power Factor (higher recoiling rounds that score more points per hit on a target) requires a minimum of .40 caliber ammunition, but most guns in this division are chambered in good old .45ACP. No race holsters allowed in this division and the holster and mag pouches must be carried behind your hip bones. Since most 1911 mags are 8 rounders or less, this division will require more magazines to shoot the longer 30+ round courses so plan accordingly with extra magazines and magazine pouches. Iron sights of the notch and post design only for this divisions so nothing electronic and no scopes for your sighting. No compensators or ported barrels allowed as this is a stock and not a race division. The gun (with an unloaded magazine inserted) must be able to fit within a box of dimensions 8.938" x 6" x 1.625"
Production: 

First rule of production is no single action handguns. This is the place for the plastic fantastic (Glock, XD, M&P etc), Beretta, Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Sig Sauer and similar handguns that are the typical gun you can purchase at gun stores across America. They are all striker fired, double action only, or double action first pull and single action subsequent in design. DA/SA pistols must start hammer down. All scoring for this division is scored using Minor Power Factor (lighter recoiling ammunition that scores less for each hit on a target) so the vast majority of pistols are chambered in 9x19 for the reduced recoil and the economy of the ammunition. Note that .38 or 9x19 caliber is the minimum caliber required for this division so no rimfires, .380 or .25 handguns are allowed. Magazines are limited to 10 rounds but you may start the stage with a round in the chamber and 10 in the magazine. The round limitation means that you will usually be good with 4 or 5 magazines and at least 4 magazine pouches on your belt. Like the Single Stack division, no race holsters are allowed and both holster and all mag pouches must be carried behind your hip bones. This is a stock division so iron sights of the notch and post design only; nothing electronic and no scopes for your sighting. No compensators or ported barrels allowed so be aware that ported barrels on Glock "C" pistols aren't allowed. Factory available slide ports are allowed so guns like the Glock 34/35 are allowed. There is a published list of approved pistols at the www.USPSA.org website in the "Match Rules" section. The gun (with an unloaded magazine inserted) must be able to fit within a box of dimensions 8.938" x 6" x 1.625".

Race Division

Revolver: 

Wheelgunners rejoice! You are very welcome in this sport. This is considered a race division due to the allowance of race style holsters and speedloaders or moonclips that can be worn anywhere on your belt. Minimum caliber is .38 or 9x19 so 6, 7, and 8 shooters are seen in this division but there is a catch. You may only shoot 6 rounds before a mandatory reload is required. Revolvers shooting high enough power rounds to make Major Power Factor get the benefit of the increased scoring values in this division. For that reason you will typically see most revolvers shooting .40SW or .45ACP ammunition and often using moonclips for reloading quickly. Barrel ports are not permitted and sights must be of a notch and post design so nothing electronic and no scopes for your sighting. This division has no limitation on the size or weight of the handgun.
Limited Division & Limited 10:

Now we really start getting into the race ready competition guns with these divisions. The only difference between the two is that Limited-10 requires all magazines be limited to 10 rounds. This makes the division neutral for those states with legal limitations for magazine capacity so they too can run in this division.

Limited division is about pushing the envelope so high capacity handguns dominate this division as the magazine limitations are due to length (140mm) so as many rounds as you can reliably get into your mags is how many you can shoot. These divisions are iron sight only, so notch and post design sights with no electronic sighting or scopes usable. There is no weight or size restriction on this division. While barrel porting and compensators are not allowed, slides can be ported or lightened through machining and other methods. .40 caliber ammunition is the minimum required to make Major Power Factor (higher recoiling rounds that score more points per hit on a target) and thusly .40SW is the dominant chambering on all

Limited and Limited-10 handguns to gain this advantage. Race holsters and magazine pouches are allowed and can be placed anywhere on the competitor's gun belt. While you will still see Para Ordinance and some plastic fantastic (Glock G35) pistols in this division, it is dominated by custom STI and SVI double-stack, high capacity framed pistols. This is the realm of the race gun folks and these things are a blast to shoot, let me tell you.
Open:

Alright, up until this all the divisions have been about what limits you have to live with to shoot. This division is all about excess. Pistols can make Major Power Factor with 9x19 or greater caliber ammunition. Barrels may be compensated and/or ported and slides can be ported too. Magazine length is extended to 170mm so very high capacity "big stick" mags allowing 27+ rounds in them are common in this division. Race holsters are pretty much mandatory as these custom guns don't really fit in anything else. Holsters and mag pouches can be located anywhere on the competitor's gun belt. There are no limitations on size or weight of your handgun in the Open Division. Sighting can be had through means of electronic sights and optical sights so you will see "dot sights" on about every pistol in this division. These handguns are loud and minimally recoiling and shoot fast and flat. Speed is the name of their game and it's fast and furiously fun. When people think of USPSA or IPSC style shooting, these are the guns that come to mind.
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