Objectives of a Good Course of Fire

Safety: IPSC competitions must be designed, constructed and conducted with due consideration to safety.
Quality: The value of IPSC shooting competition is determined by the quality of the challenge presented in the course design. Courses of fire shall be designed primarily to test a competitor's IPSC shooting skills, and not their physical strength or gymnastic abilities.
Balance: Accuracy, power and speed are equivalent elements of IPSC shooting, and are expressed in the Latin words "Diligentia, Vis, Celeritas" ("DVC"). A properly balanced course of fire will depend largely upon the nature of the challenges presented therein, however courses shall be designed, and IPSC shooting competitions shall be conducted in such a way, as to evaluate these elements equally.
Diversity: IPSC shooting challenges shall be diverse. While it is not necessary to construct new courses for each competition, no single course shall be repeated to allow its use to be considered a definitive measure of IPSC shooting skills.
Freestyle: IPSC competition is freestyle. With the exception of Standard Exercises, a course of fire may not specify a shooting position or stance. However, conditions may be created and constructed to compel a competitor into positions or stances required by stage design. These conditions may include barriers and other physical limitations. Competitors must be permitted to solve the challenge presented in a freestyle manner and must always be allowed to shoot the targets on an "as and when visible" basis. Mandatory reloads may not be specified except in Standard Exercises and Shoot-offs. Level I and Level II competitions and Classifiers are not required to comply strictly with the freestyle requirements, or the mandatory reload regulation, however, mandatory reloads may never be required in Long Courses. A course of fire may specify strong hand or weak hand. The specified hand must be used exclusively from the point stipulated for the remainder of the stage or string.
Difficulty: IPSC shooting competitions present varied degrees of difficulty. No shooting challenge or time limit may be protested as being prohibitive. This does not apply to non-shooting challenges. Specific requirements for non-shooting challenges should reasonably allow for differences in competitor's height and physical build.
Challenge: IPSC competitions recognise the difficulty of using full power firearms in dynamic shooting, and shall always employ a minimum caliber and power level to be attained by all competitors to reflect this challenge.

Return to What is IROA?

Last updated Sunday, 18-Mar-2007 10:15:27 EST