Southern Vales Practical Shooting League Inc. (SVPSL Inc. ) was formed in 1986 with some original founding members still active in the club today.
Ours is a sporting firearms shooting club which practises the discipline of IPSC (International Practical Shooting Confederation) in handgun, rifle, and shotgun, and we adhere to the official IPSC International Rule Book. SVPSL Inc. is South Australia's largest club of its type with members from all walks of life, including students, doctors, tradesmen, public servants, business owners, ladies, juniors, seniors and entire families.
SVPSL Inc is affiliated to IPSC (SA) Inc. which is the governing body for the Section of South Australia and comes under the Regional Direction of IPSC Australia Inc. IPSC Australia Inc. is affiliated to the IPSC World Body and is our governing body and the organisation recognised by the Australian Government for the management and regulation of the sport of Practical Shooting in Australia.
Practical shooting is an International competition that is held on all continents of the world, with local, state, national, regional, international, and World championships happening on a regular basis. It is controlled Internationally by the IPSC World Body, with national and regional committees organising local membership and competitions.
In Practical competition, a variety of target types are used including paper and steel, stationary and moving. One of the attractions to the sport is that the courses of fire vary constantly with the arrangement of the targets and shooting scenarios. Stages, or courses of fire are constructed and changed from competition to competition and each week SVPSL Inc. features 5 different courses of fire set up on any of our 16 gazetted shooting ranges.
All participants (male, female, juniors & veterans) compete together over exactly the same stages, with the same rules and the same scoring procedures.
Only one competitor at a time shoots a stage. At all times this competitor is under the direct observation and control of a Range Officer whose primary task is to enforce the match safety rules. Practical shooting is a safe sport, and IPSC rules and procedures will ensure that this continues.
In Australia, Practical hand gun competition is for centre-fire pistols and revolvers of calibres from 9 mm to . 38. Stages are usually started with the pistol holstered on the belt. The competitor commences the course of fire under the instruction of the Range Officer, often reloading the firearm during the stage.
On completion of the stage, the competitor unloads and clears the firearm under supervision of the Range Officer who then confirms the firearm is unloaded and placed safely back into its holster.