Chapter 1 · Course Design · p.9
1.1General Principles
Safety – USPSA matches must be designed, constructed and conducted with due consideration to safety.
Quality – The value of a USPSA match is determined by the quality of the challenge presented in the course design. Courses of fire must be designed primarily to test a competitor’s USPSA shooting skills, not their physical abilities.
Balance – Accuracy, Power and Speed are equivalent elements of USPSA shooting, and are expressed in the Latin words “Diligentia, Vis, Celeritas” (“DVC”). A properly balanced will depend largely upon the nature of the challenges presented therein, however, courses must be designed, and USPSA matches must be conducted in such a way, as to evaluate these elements equally.
Diversity – USPSA shooting challenges are diverse. While it is not necessary to construct new courses for each match, no single must be repeated to allow its use to be considered a definitive measure of USPSA shooting skills.
– USPSA matches are freestyle. Competitors must be permitted to solve the challenge presented in a freestyle manner, and to shoot targets on an “as and when visible” basis. Courses of fire must not require mandatory reloads nor dictate a , location or stance, except as specified below. However, conditions may be created, and barriers or other physical limitations may be constructed, to compel a competitor into shooting positions, locations or stances.
Level I matches may use shooting boxes, specify where or when specific target arrays may be engaged and specify mandatory reloads in short and medium courses only. Long courses are exclusively governed by 1.1.5.
Standard Exercises and Classifiers may include mandatory reloads and may dictate a , location or stance. Speed Shoots may include mandatory reloads.
Short courses of fire may stipulate the use of either strong or /side, provided that only one hand/side, either strong or weak, is used for the entire stage. Stages of this type must be limited to 8 rounds maximum if the stage stipulates weak hand only. Medium or Long courses of fire may stipulate the use of either strong or weak hand/side, provided that only one hand/side, either strong or weak, is specified for no more than the last 6 shots required. Stage procedures may never require the to be fired using only one hand.
A which, through the use of props, requires a competitor to shoot both strong-hand-only and weak-hand-only must not require that the shooter transition directly from one to the other. The course of fire must provide movement and unencumbered target engagement between the two.
The Written Stage Briefing may specify that competitors must stay within the fault lines for the entire . outside the fault lines will incur a per shot procedural penalty for any targets engaged after such movement. Drop steps are allowed, as are inadvertent steps outside the fault lines, as long as the competitor steps back into the fault lines in the same location.
In any stage or string procedure that stipulates or use, the specified hand/side must be used exclusively from the point stipulated for the remainder of the stage or string.
Difficulty – USPSA matches present varied degrees of difficulty. No shooting challenge or time limit may be appealed as being prohibitive. This does not apply to non-shooting challenges, which should reasonably allow for differences in competitor’s height and physical build.
Challenge – USPSA matches recognize the difficulty of using full power firearms in dynamic shooting and must always employ a minimum caliber and power level to be attained by all competitors to reflect this challenge.
Scenarios and Stage Props — The use of scenarios and reasonable stage props is encouraged. Care must be exercised, however, to avoid unrealistic non- shooting requirements which detract from the shooting challenge and/or may expose competitors to potentially unsafe conditions.