The IPSC Handgun World Shoot is the highest level handgun match within the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) which consists of several days and at least 30 separate courses of fire.

[2] The Handgun World Shoots are held triennially on a rotational cycle with the other two main IPSC disciplines Rifle and Shotgun.

At the 1991 Handgun World Shoot in Adelaide, Australia, Doug Koenig of USA became the first competitor to win the World Shoot using a red dot sight.

In 1999 the Revolver and Production divisions were introduced, and became recognized divisions from January 2000, making their first appearance in World Level competition at the 2002 Handgun World Shoot.

In 2011 the Modified division was retired to make room for the Classic division, in commemoration of the 1911 single stack which historically had been so important for IPSC Handgun and handgun shooting sports in general for many years.