Shotgun Divisions
All Divisions compete together on the same stages and on the same days in a match, however, when calculating match standings, only Divisional stage scores are compared. Thus, the top shooter in Open on a stage is the measure for all other Open shooters, and likewise for all other Divisions. More information can be found in the IPSC rulebook in Appendix D.
There are 4 divisions currently recognized in IPSC Shotgun Competition:
- Open
Open Division is the shotgun equivalent of top fuel dragsters. The guns have compensators, optical or electronic sights, and almost all now feature detachable box magazines. There is a ten round limit when loading magazines so a loaded chamber start means 11 rounds for box fed guns. - Modified
Modified guns can have almost all the same features as Open guns with the exception of detachable box magazines, meaning these guns are tube fed, red dot sight, and ported or compensated barrel. These shotguns do not have a load limit but there is an overall length restriction of 1320mm. Keep this in mind before travelling. Keep this mind as USPSA does not currently use a box to measure the overall length while IPSC does. - Standard
These are tube fed guns but unlike Modified, optical or electronic sights and compensators are not permitted. They have an initial load limitation of 9 rounds but interestingly no overall length limit. - Standard Manual
Standard Manual is similar to Standard except the guns are not self-loading, which in practice means pump actions, although under-lever or even double barrell qualify for this division.
Firearms
There are countless choices but looking at what the top competitors at the last World Shoot used, we can see that the dominant firearms in Standard and Modified are the Benelli M2 and the Beretta 1301. In Standard Manual the Benelli Supernova is very popular followed by the Remington 870. Open is a technology race, with guns derived from Kalashnikov and AR/M4 platforms being made made from scratch or custom tuned in a wide variety of countries.
Loading Belt and Shooting Bag
Cartridges or magazines are most commonly carried on a belt worn at waist or chest level although single cartridges can be mounted on the gun or on armbands. When you have established which Division you will compete in you need to read and understand rules 5.2.3 through 5.2.8 in order to comply
with specific measurements.
A good (high quality) shooting bag will allow you to carry the necessary accessories to a match, for example: cleaning equipment, eye protection, hearing protection, spare ammo, spare parts, and your paperwork.
