USPSA Nationals
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 – September 20, 2026 · All day
Southern Utah Shooting Sports Park
What the Factory Gun Nationals Is
The United States Practical Shooting Association is the national governing body of practical, or "run-and-gun," pistol competition in the United States, operating as the American region of the International Practical Shooting Confederation, founded in 1976. USPSA now splits its national championship into two separate events grouped by division: a Race Gun match for its higher-capacity, fewer-restriction divisions, and a Factory Gun match for divisions built around more standard, less-modified equipment. The Factory Gun Nationals is the event that comes to the Southern Utah Shooting Sports Park each September, putting a national field on Washington County's own range rather than the weekend club matches it runs most of the year.
How a Practical-Shooting Match Works
Practical shooting is scored on speed and accuracy together, with competitors moving through a sequence of numbered stages rather than firing from a fixed line. Each stage is scored by hit factor: points earned for hits, divided by the time it took to shoot them, so a fast run with clean hits beats a slow run with the same hits. The shooter with the best hit factor on a stage earns full marks; everyone else is scored as a percentage of that top run. Divisions group competitors by the equipment they use, from allowed optics to magazine capacity, so a shooter only ever competes against others running the same class of gear.
A County Range With a National Resume
The Southern Utah Shooting Sports Park sits on land the Bureau of Land Management leased to Washington County in 1999, built on a former rock quarry next to the county fairgrounds outside Hurricane. County commissioners deliberately named it "Southern Utah" rather than "Washington County," a choice that helped the park draw regional and national bookings instead of staying a local club range. Several shooting disciplines now share the same grounds under volunteer clubs, with the county itself running day-to-day operations after the range's former special service district dissolved in 2017. It has hosted USPSA national championships repeatedly over the past decade, and after its most recent one the county closed the range for a ground-up rebuild of its berms and bay surfaces before reopening it for competition again.
Match Week
The Factory Gun Nationals runs across five days in September: a smaller early match for a limited number of squads, followed by the three-day main match that fills the range's full slate of stages. Squads move through the stage lineup on a rotating schedule for the length of the match, the same structure used at any major USPSA event, just built for several hundred competitors instead of a weekend club match.
Getting There and Making a Trip of It
The range sits east of St. George on Highway 9, sharing its turnoff with the Washington County fairgrounds on the way toward Hurricane. Competition runs during the day, and the surrounding week gives visiting families room to see more of the area: Hurricane sits close enough to Zion National Park to fold in as a Zion day trip, and out-of-state competitors staying the full match week often look at camping near St. George rather than a hotel. Between match days, Toquerville Falls and the Silver Reef Ghost Town & Museum are both a short drive from the range, and the list of free things to do around town is the practical answer to the long gaps a squad schedule leaves between stages.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need anything special to watch the match as a spectator?
Yes. USPSA range rules require eye and ear protection in the spectator area, the same as for competitors, and loaded firearms are limited to the firing line, so plan to bring your own hearing and eye protection rather than assume the range will have loaners on hand.
Which divisions actually compete in the Hurricane match?
The Factory Gun Nationals covers Carry Optics, Single Stack, Revolver, and Production, the divisions built around more standard, less-modified pistols. USPSA's other divisions, including Open, Limited, Limited Optics, Limited 10, and Pistol Caliber Carbine, compete at a separate Race Gun Nationals held the same year in Ohio.
Has a USPSA national championship been held here before?
Yes, repeatedly. Southern Utah Shooting Sports Park hosted USPSA Nationals in 2013, 2014, 2017, and 2019, and again in October 2025, when its Race Gun Nationals drew 616 competitors, the largest single Nationals in USPSA history.
How many competitors does a match like this bring in?
The main match alone is built for 468 competitors, thirty-six squads of thirteen shooters each working through the same stage lineup, plus a smaller early match of roughly six squads in the two days beforehand for shooters who can't make the main week.
Where do I park and how do I get to the range?
The Shooting Sports Park is off Highway 9 east of St. George, sharing its turnoff with the Washington County fairgrounds; follow the road along the fairgrounds rather than stopping at the fairgrounds arena itself, and continue to the range entrance beyond it.
Can I show up on any day of the match, or is there one day to watch?
There's no single finals day. Squads rotate through the stage lineup continuously across the match week, so a visitor can watch live competition on any of the five days, though the day-by-day schedule and any spectator guidance are published by the organizers close to the event rather than fixed year to year.
Does the range only host this kind of pistol shooting?
No. Practical pistol is one of several shooting disciplines based at the park, alongside rifle and pistol bench rest, shotgun clays, cowboy action, archery, and black powder, each run by its own volunteer club under the county's larger shooting sports park.
Address
1134 S Shooting Sports Pk RdWashington, UT 84780