PISTOL SHOOTING IN NZ
Pistol New Zealand
Pistol New Zealand (known then as the NZPA) was founded in 1969, incorporated in 1970 and since that date has introduced, promoted, and administered pistol shooting throughout New Zealand
Pistol NZ has over 80 affiliated clubs which are located in every major town and city in New Zealand. We have a total membership in excess of 3300 pistol shooters of which more than 3000 have Police issued Category B (target pistol) endorsements to their firearms licence.
YouTube video - Pistol New Zealand Marketing Presentation (circa 2005).
In the beginning there were no provisions in New Zealand Law for target shooters to have pistols; we had to make great efforts to change the firearms laws of New Zealand and progress slowly and carefully.
Over many years Pistol NZ has advanced the sport of Pistol Shooting from using only single-shot .22 cal pistols, through the range of ISSF style shooting, until today when we shoot a wide variety of matches using pistols of many styles and calibres. The effort to gain acceptance for this was considerable.
Pistol NZ has committees and Sections to attend to all facets of pistol shooting. These include National Magazine (Bullshooter) Production, Competitions, Coaching, Finance, Team Selection, Police Liaison, Range Safety, Range Development and Target Manufacture.
Disciplines
As detailed in the Pistol New Zealand video (above) there are various pistol shooting disciplines, recognised by Pistol New Zealand. They can be breifly explained as follows:
Action: NRA Action Pistol is one of the most demanding handgun competitions available to the pistol shooting world. Developed in 1979 by former LAPD police officer John Bianchi, the NRA Action Pistol shooting comprises of 16 individual events. The coveted Bianchi Cup is held in Columbia Missouri every year and is regarded as the "Mecca" for all Action Pistol shooters.
Cowboy: Cowboy Action Shooting, a sport created in California in 1982, is run under international rules set be 'The Single Action Shooting Society' of the USA. Cowboy Action Shooting recreates life in the Wild West by shooting a course of fire designed to depict an old west historical shootout, a movie scene or just someone's idea of the wild west.
IPSC: The International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC), was formed in 1976, and now embraces 90 Regions. Competition includes National and Continental Championships with the pinnacle of IPSC competition being the tri annual World Shoot. IPSC, or Practical shooting as it's often called, is a dynamic sport that awards competitors equally for accuracy, power and speed, and which is represented by the Latin phrase "Diligentia, Vis Celeritas" or DVC. Diversity is the cornerstone of our matches, we never shoot the same courses, and so the challenge always changes. The IPSC shooter is a "jack of all trades", capable of pinpoint accuracy and blazing speed. For more information, please refer to the IPSC page.
Service: Way back in probably the 1960's the FBI developed a training pistol match which was soon used by civilian shooters and called the Combat Match. We shot a variant on this in the UK in the late '60s. Later this became the source of PPC and the 1500 Match - and the Australian (and New Zealand) Service Pistol Match. Service pistol matches test your entire pistol shooting skills in a 90 shot match, and doesn't require fancy or dedicated equipment.
Speed: Speed, referred to a Steel Challenge in the USA, started in the US in 1981 and over the next few years migrated to NZ. The first NZ Nationals are recorded as being held in 1987. Speed pistol shooting in New Zealand is based on seven specific courses of fire, utilising 5 steel targets each. Each course of fire is shot 5 times, as fast as possible. The shooters times from the fastest 4 of the 5 runs are combined, to give the shooters score for the course - lowest score wins.
Muzzle: Muzzle, or Black Powder pistol shooting, uses historic styled firearms from the 1700 and 1800's, with the shooters often having an associated interest in the old guns of the period.
Metal Silhouette: Referred to as HMS, HMS shooting is a group of target shooting disciplines that involves shooting at metal cutouts representing game animals at varying distances. Metallic silhouette shooting can be done with airguns, black powder firearms or modern handguns, The targets used are rams, turkeys, pigs, and chickens, which are cut to different scales and set at certain distances from the shooter depending on the specific discipline.
ISSF: The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) based in Munich controls shooting sports at the Olympic Games and all of the pistol events at the Commonwealth Games and the Oceania's. The main events are 10 and 50 metre pistol, and 25 metre pistol events which require autoloaders or revolvers. ISSF shooters compete at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, something unique to this discipline. In ISSF everything is done to emphasise the individual shooter and to minimise any technical or other advantages one person might have over another. Everything being equal and constant, the only variable is the shooter- and that person's skill, talent, motivation and determination.
3 Gun: Along with IPSC, 3 Gun is one of the fastest growing shooting disciplines in the world. 3 Gun is effectively an extension of IPSC, with the addition of rifles and shotguns to the mix.