Website steelchallenge.com | ||
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Founder Mike Dalton and Mike Fichman Owner United States Practical Shooting Association | ||
The Steel Challenge is a speed shooting competition governed by the Steel Challenge Shooting Association (SCSA) that consists of eight standardized stages with steel targets, ranging in size from 10" (25 cm) round plates to 18x24" (45x60 cm) square plates. Competitors are scored solely by the time it takes them to complete each stage, and the match winner is the competitor with the lowest overall time.
Contents
The annual World Championship called the World Speed Shooting Championships (WSSC) is held in Frostproof, Florida (since 2012), and draws shooters from around the world. Up until 2011 the World Championship used to be held in Piru, California each year.
History
The competition was founded in 1981 by Mike Dalton and Mike Fichman. The Steel Challenge World Speed Shooting Championships have grown to one of the largest professional pistol competitions in America. In 2007, more than 220 competitors from the United States and around the world competed for a portion of the $390,000 in cash and prizes - the largest purse in competitive pistol shooting.
Seventy shooters competed in the first Steel Challenge in 1981. John Shaw claimed the first ‘World’s Fastest Shooter’ title along with his share of the $20,000 in cash and prizes.
In the winter of 2007, Dalton and Fichman sold the Steel Challenge to the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) which is the US sanctioning body of IPSC.
Stages
There are 8 stages with 5 steel targets on each. Shooters get five runs on each stage. Each competitor shoots each stage five times, with their slowest run dropped, excluding the stage Outer Limits where only four runs are shot and the top three counted. The counting times are totaled for their stage score, and the eight stage scores are added together to establish the competitor's match score.
For each run, one hit per target is required, with an unlimited number of rounds. The last target to be shot is known as the "stop plate", which stops the timer. All primary target hits made after the stop plate has been struck, will be scored with a 3 second penalty each. The maximum time permitted for a run is 30 seconds and a competitor will be stopped and asked to reload if they reach the 30 second limit.
The Steel Challenge comprises eight courses of fire called 'stages.' They are:
Target sizes
The steel targets used are:
World records
To be considered a world record, the run must come during the annual World Speed Shooting Championship.
Press coverage
Since at least 2003, the Shooting Gallery show on the nationally syndicated Outdoor Channel has covered each Steel Challenge championship. It has also been covered in other press, including notable articles in American Handgunner, GunWeek, and Outdoor Life.