The United States Revolver Association was organized in 1900 and incorporated in the State of New York in 1904. The original reason the U.S.R.A. was formed was to establish and promote international competition in response to a challenge from France. The USA won. At that time, the NRA felt the handgun competition was just a fad and was not worth the effort to get involved. The founders of the U.S.R.A. felt a need for an organization that would be responsible for the promotion of pistol and revolver competition in an orderly manner with established rules, to make the sport more uniform, and to maintain records.

            The early competitions were held, as shoulder-to-shoulder matches using revolvers and single shot .22 pistols with fifty shots slowfire at fifty yards. It was found that the distances to be traveled by the shooters were such that some of the better shooters were unable to participate, thus, it was decided to offer Postal Matches which could be fired in front of witnesses, and have the scores sent to the U.S.R.A. headquarters for incorporation into a final report of the standings of the shooters. For many years the U.S.R.A. offered both Outdoor and Indoor Championship Matches for revolvers and single shot handguns.

            The Indoor Leagues were initiated for the 1909-1910 season. This first year had fourteen clubs sporting teams from across the United States with each team shooting the matches as specified by U.S.R.A. rules.

            Over the years, the shooting programs of the U.S.R.A. have kept up with the developments in the guns. Semi-automatic pistols began to be used in the pistol matches, and eventually, Free Pistol and Air Pistol matches were introduced as separate matches. In addition, the National Match Course was adopted as a separate match for the .22, centerfire, and .45 caliber revolvers and semi-auto pistols. Some of the types of matches that were unique to the early days of the U.S.R.A. have been retained or revived, but with some minor revisions to the rules.

            The U.S.R.A. was the governing authority for pistol shooting and was also represented on the U.S. Olympic Committee for many years. However, since the U.S.R.A. was involved only with Bullseye pistol shooting, it did not grow as rapidly as the National Rifle Association. The NRA started pistol competition approximately 1915, and there was a natural migration of the shooters to the NRA matches. Then as now, most U.S.R.A. members were and are also members of the NRA.

            The U.S.R.A. currently runs 50ft indoor pistol Winter League Matches, 50ft indoor Individual Championship Matches, Junior Rifle and Junior Air Pistol as the primary shooting program. In addition, regional shoulder-to-shoulder Sectional Championship matches are held outdoors at 25 and 50 yards.