2025 IPSC Handgun World Shoot XX South Africa – Report on the event with over 1,800 participants from all over the world

The biggest competition in the history of the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) began on 11 September 2025 with the "Handgun World Shoot" at the Frontier Shooting Range in Matlosana, South Africa, and will continue until 28 September. More than 1,800 shooters from around 50 countries will compete in exciting courses for fame and honour, as well as for the titles of World Champions in the various categories and classes.

Speaking of history: the IPSC will be celebrating its 50th anniversary next year. The world umbrella organisation for dynamic handgun shooters was founded in May 1976 in Columbia, Missouri, by 40 founding members, including Ken Hackathorn, Ray Chapman, Dick Thomas and Raul Walters, at the International Combat Pistol Conference. Incidentally, other major events are scheduled for the anniversary year, such as the 2026 European IPSC Short Rifle Championships in Buzsàk, Hungary, in June, and the 2026 IPSC World Shotgun Championships in Corinth, Greece, in mid-October.

But back to the current handgun world championships in South Africa. The South Africa Practical Shooting Association (SAPSA) and the North West Practical Shooting Association with Regional Director M.Z. Osman and Match Director John Loupellis invited all participants to the World Championships at the Frontier Shooting Range in Buffeldoorn, Stilfontein. In five different shooting areas, 30 stages with a total of at least 558 shots await the starters. The courses are divided into 15 short courses (with 8-12 rounds to be fired), 10 medium courses (21-24 rounds) and 5 long courses (over 30 rounds).

CZ is the main sponsor of the 2025 Handgun World Shoot in South Africa and Canik is the Shoot Off sponsor. The event is also supported by well-known brands such as Beretta, SIG Sauer and Laser Ammo

As is so often the case, the main sponsor of the World Championship is CZ from the Czech Republic, a highly ambitious manufacturer in the IPSC sport, for whom nine-time IPSC World Champion Eric Grauffel and many other internationally successful top shooters are also there. The Shoot Off sponsor is the Turkish manufacturer Canik. Other sponsors are Beretta, Tanfoglio (Area Sponsors), Armscor (Safety Area Sponsor), Pieces-Or (Gold Stage Sponsor), Phoenix, Shooters Global (Silver Stage Sponsors), Laser Ammo and Universal Shooting Academy (Bronze Stage Sponsors). Standard Stage Sponsors are: SIG Sauer, Laugo Arms, Aimpoint, Earmor, Cesar Shop, Decima X Divsione Ballistica, Bosninja, Double Alpha Academy, Eemann Tech, CR Speed and Ghost.

It goes without saying that a whole host of shooters and competition judges (range officers from the IROA, the International Range Officers Association) from all over the world are on their way to the World Championships or are already on site. There were a number of qualifying competitions in the run-up to the World Championships, which had to be contested by athletes. These included the various national championships in 2023/24, the Walther Cup 2023, GECO Masters 2024, Rooster Mountain 2024 in Denmark and Extreme Euro Open 2024 in the Czech Republic. However, a different qualification concept has already been drawn up for the 2026 European Championships in Hungary in order to create a ranking for the allocation of starting places based on the match results. 

Impressions from South Africa: images from the preliminary competition of the 2025 IPSC Handgun World Shoot

The most important information about the 2025 IPSC Handgun World Shoot

As you can easily see from the following schedule, the 5-day main competition starts the day after the official opening ceremony on Sunday 21 September 2025, the shoot-off final is scheduled for 28 September, followed by the award ceremony. We will also provide you with more information about the IPSC Handgun World Shoot 2025 on our social media channels. Why not take a look at all4shooters.com from time to time?

Further information on this major shooting sport event in South Africa can be found on the official website of the 2025 IPSC Handgun World Shoot.