Peter Halmosi and David Norris scored to give Plymouth a first league win since the opening day of the season. The pair struck early in the second half, Hungarian Halmosi rifling in from the edge of the box and Norris latching on to a Sylvain Ebanks-Blake header.
QPR had chances, notably early on when Luke McCormick denied Stefan Moore and Daniel Nardiello headed on to the bar.
John Gregory's side are mired at the wrong end of the table and McCormick also tipped a late Ben Sahar shot wide.
QPR manager John Gregory:
"I've been through everything in football - I'm very philosophical about life.
"We must carry on working as hard as we can. We just need to get a win.
"Plymouth took the lead and you could see the confidence drain out of a few of our boys, who are finding things a little bit difficult at the moment."
Plymouth manager Ian Holloway:
"It could have gone either way. I anticipated an exciting game and it definitely was.
"We look sharp - that's as good an away performance as I've seen from my lot.
We looked like a team who believed they could win.
"It was a special feeling to come back here."
QPR: Camp, Rehman (Bignot 59), Cullip, Stewart, Barker, Rowlands, Nardiello (Sahar 81), Bolder, Leigertwood, Moore (Ephraim 59), Blackstock.
Subs Not Used: Cole, Curtis.
Plymouth: McCormick, Connolly, Seip, Timar, Sawyer, Norris, Buzsaky, Nalis, Halmosi, Hayles (Hodges 90), Ebanks-Blake.
Subs Not Used: Larrieu, Chadwick, Doumbe, Fallon.
Booked: Seip, Timar.
Goals: Halmosi 50, Norris 62.
Att: 10,850.
Ref: Andre Marriner (W Midlands).
Bookmark with:
What are these?