UKPSA Graded Practical Pistol Competitions in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

With the loss of competitive pistol competition shooting in Great Britain, Northern Ireland UKPSA members assisted in keeping things going in with a series of locally organised club matches. We did get IPSC graded events running again in 2007 – 2008. After this things went quite, mainly due to the lack of a venue to run proper graded IPSC competition.

The UKPSA has appointed Chairman and Secretary have been selected to run a Handgun Commission and Develop graded competitions and to communicate with UKPSA members in Northern Ireland and also those UKPSA members who are interested in graded pistol competition and live in GB. The Handgun Commission will also communicate with our neighbouring IPSC Regions in the Isle of Man and Republic of Ireland, so that members of these two regions are also kept informed of UKPSA events that will take place in Northern Ireland.

Many of you who compete in Continental Europe will be familiar with UKPSA members who live in Northern Ireland and who regularly compete in the IPSC European Level III Match Circuit, the European Championship and also in the 2011 World Shoot in Rhodes. At home in Northern Ireland around 120 people compete in club level matches and UKPSA members have wished for the re-establishment of graded competitions. This wish will be reality in 2012 with the UKPSA organising a series club level and graded IPSC competitions run to IPSC rules.

In 2012 UKPSA members in Northern Ireland will have a venue, were graded IPSC competitions can be organised and run properly to IPSC rules. Over the past year the UKPSA has put in a lot of effort to try and re-establish properly organised and run events to IPSC rules. This will come to fruition in 2012 as outlined below.

Competition Calendar

The first competition of the year will be a Level 1 club match on 21st April. The Level 2 graded events that have been organised so far for 2012 are as follows.

Northern Ireland UKPSA 2012 Handgun Commission Competitions
Date	Match	Club	Location
11th May	The Jubilee Shoot	USASC	Kilkeel
21st July	Mourne Mountain Challenge	USASC	Kilkeel
18th August	Summer Sizzler Shoot	USASC	Kilkeel

As well as the competitors who will take part complying properly with IPSC rules and regulations, the event has to be run properly as well. To ensure this the UKPSA will also organise Range Officer training courses. There are a number of current UKPSA members and former members who live in Northern Ireland who where previously RO qualified. The UKPSA will also organise training courses that will enable current members and former members who rejoin, to re-qualify as Range Officers.

In the competitions that were run in 2008, a number of competitors from several other European IPSC Regions took part. To those who live outside the UK and who would be interested in combining a match with a short holiday in Northern Ireland you can obtain a visitors licence to bring you guns with you. If you come to Northern Ireland and combine a match with a holiday, you will also be able to visit the world famous Bushmills Distillery. Less than 10 minutes from Bushmills is the Giants Causeway, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. To find out more about everything else Northern Ireland has to offer have a look at

www.discovernorthernireland.com

For those who want to be kept informed of UKPSA competitions, training courses, joining or re-joining the UKPSA, travelling to Northern Ireland with firearms and when entry forms for competitions will be available send an e mail to

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This initiative has one goal; to train our members, Range Officers and Officials and to ensure that UKPSA members can shoot and enjoy properly organised IPSC handgun competition within the United Kingdom IPSC Region.

The Handgun Commission has its own section on the UKPSA web site. Announcements about competitions, training courses etc will be made at 

http://www.ukpsa.co.uk/handgunni.html