Practical shooting evolved from experimentation with firearms for hunting and self-defense.
The researchers of what were to become practical shooting were an international group of private individuals, law enforcement officers, and military people generally operating independently of each other, challenging the then-accepted standards of technique, training practices, and equipment.
The work was, for the most part, conducted for their own purposes without official sanction.
Even so, what they learned has had a great impact on police and military training forever.

Some consider the previous Olympic event 100 meter running deer as the first practical rifle shooting competition, which originated in Wimbledon, London in 1862.
Other notable rifle speed shooting events are Stang shooting (stangskyting) which has been arranged since 1912, and Nordic field rapid shooting (called felthurtig, sekundfält and sekundskydning in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, respectively) which has been a part of the Nordic Fullbore Rifle Championship since 1953.
Around 1900, efforts were done to develop more effective uses of handguns in combat shooting, mainly through experiments by British officers.
The first known attempts at developing practical shooting as a handgun sport were done in the U.S. before the second world war, but the attempts resulted in little.

Shortly after the second world war a distinct combat shooting sport for handguns known as stridsskyting became popular in Norway.
This form of shooting had few similarities with the practical pistol sport which would later emerge.
During the 10 to 12 years of its existence, what today is known as field shooting gradually took over as the more popular form of pistol shooting in Norway, and the original stridsskyting was completely gone as a discipline in the beginning of the 1960s.
Stridsskyting later also was used separately to describe the completely different sport of IPSC-style practical shooting during its infancy in Norway.

In the early 1950s, practical handgun competitions as we know them today emerged in the USA.
Competitions begun with the leather slap quick draw events, which had grown out of America's love affair with the TV westerns of that era.
However, many wished for a forum that would more directly test the results of the experimentation in modern technique that had been going on at the Bear Valley Gunslingers at Big Bear Lake, California and other places.
Competitions were set up to test what had been learned, and they soon grew into a distinct sport, requiring competitors to deal with constantly changing scenarios.
The first public competition was at the Big Bear Lake in 1957.
In 1969, the South-West-Pistol-League was formed by individual shooters and clubs from California, which to this day is one of the oldest clubs for practical shooting.

The first IPSC World Shoot was held in 1975 in Zurich, about two years before IPSC was formally founded.
Ray Chapman from the U.S. became the first ever world class practical pistol champion.
The next year, the 1976 IPSC Handgun World Shoot followed with Jan Foss from Norway taking gold.
On 24 May 1976 the International Practical Shooting Confederation was formally founded at the Columbia conference in Columbia, Missouri, with representation in fourteen nations.
Jeff Cooper was unanimously chosen as the first president.
Between 1974 and 1979, stridsskytterligaen (literally the Combat Shooting League) had been the forerunner of IPSC shooting in Norway, until the Norwegian Association for Practical Shooting took over and was incorporated into IPSC in 1979.

Finland pioneered IPSC Rifle in Scandinavia in the beginning of the 1980s, and the discipline soon spread to Norway where the first competitions were held in Stavanger February 1984.
In 1987 the first official Norwegian Rifle Championship was held, and the championship has been held annually since.
South Africa has held IPSC Rifle and Shotgun matches since 1983, and IPSC multigun matches since 1984.

The United Kingdom Practical Shooting Association (UKPSA) was founded in 1977, and initiall
Practical shooting evolved from experimentation with firearms for hunting and self-defense. The researchers of what were to become practical shooting were an international group of private individuals, law enforcement officers, and military people generally operating independently of each other, challenging the then-accepted standards of technique, training practices, and equipment. The work was, for the most part, conducted for their own purposes without official sanction. Even so, what they learned has had a great impact on police and military training forever.
Some consider the previous Olympic event 100 meter running deer as the first practical rifle shooting competition, which originated in Wimbledon, London in 1862. Other notable rifle speed shooting events are Stang shooting (stangskyting) which has been arranged since 1912, and Nordic field rapid shooting (called felthurtig, sekundfält and sekundskydning in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, respectively) which has been a part of the Nordic Fullbore Rifle Championship since 1953. Around 1900, efforts were done to develop more effective uses of handguns in combat shooting, mainly through experiments by British officers. The first known attempts at developing practical shooting as a handgun sport were done in the U.S. before the second world war, but the attempts resulted in little.
Shortly after the second world war a distinct combat shooting sport for handguns known as stridsskyting became popular in Norway. This form of shooting had few similarities with the practical pistol sport which would later emerge. During the 10 to 12 years of its existence, what today is known as field shooting gradually took over as the more popular form of pistol shooting in Norway, and the original stridsskyting was completely gone as a discipline in the beginning of the 1960s. Stridsskyting later also was used separately to describe the completely different sport of IPSC-style practical shooting during its infancy in Norway.
In the early 1950s, practical handgun competitions as we know them today emerged in the USA. Competitions begun with the leather slap quick draw events, which had grown out of America's love affair with the TV westerns of that era. However, many wished for a forum that would more directly test the results of the experimentation in modern technique that had been going on at the Bear Valley Gunslingers at Big Bear Lake, California and other places. Competitions were set up to test what had been learned, and they soon grew into a distinct sport, requiring competitors to deal with constantly changing scenarios. The first public competition was at the Big Bear Lake in 1957. In 1969, the South-West-Pistol-League was formed by individual shooters and clubs from California, which to this day is one of the oldest clubs for practical shooting.
The first IPSC World Shoot was held in 1975 in Zurich, about two years before IPSC was formally founded. Ray Chapman from the U.S. became the first ever world class practical pistol champion. The next year, the 1976 IPSC Handgun World Shoot followed with Jan Foss from Norway taking gold. On 24 May 1976 the International Practical Shooting Confederation was formally founded at the Columbia conference in Columbia, Missouri, with representation in fourteen nations. Jeff Cooper was unanimously chosen as the first president. Between 1974 and 1979, stridsskytterligaen (literally the Combat Shooting League) had been the forerunner of IPSC shooting in Norway, until the Norwegian Association for Practical Shooting took over and was incorporated into IPSC in 1979.
Finland pioneered IPSC Rifle in Scandinavia in the beginning of the 1980s, and the discipline soon spread to Norway where the first competitions were held in Stavanger February 1984. In 1987 the first official Norwegian Rifle Championship was held, and the championship has been held annually since. South Africa has held IPSC Rifle and Shotgun matches since 1983, and IPSC multigun matches since 1984.
The United Kingdom Practical Shooting Association (UKPSA) was founded in 1977, and initiall
Practical shooting