Steel Challenge

The Steel Challenge is a the world speed shooting championship and governed by the Steel Challange Shooting Association (SCSA). The competition was founded by Mike Dalton and Mike Fichman. [May 2003 issue of American Handgunner magazine http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-99130368.html] The targets, made of steel, range in size from 10" round plates to 18"x24" square plates. The match is held every year in Piru, California and draws shooters from around the world.

History

The Steel Challenge World Speed Shooting Championships have grown to one of the largest professional pistol competitions in America. [January 2000 issue of American Hangunner http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BTT/is_144_24/ai_57886948] 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. [About Us http://steelchallenge.com/about/]

Competitors are scored based solely on the time it takes them to shoot each stage. The last target that is 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. 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 competitor's best four out of five runs are totaled for their stage score and the eight stage scores are added together to establish the competitor's match score. The winner is the competitor with the lowest overall time.

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) [USPSA press release http://www.steelchallenge.com/uspsa_acquires_scsa.html] which is the US sanctioning body of IPSC.

The Steel Challenge Stages

The Steel Challenge is comprised of 8 courses of fire called 'stages.' [Steel Challenge Stages http://steelchallenge.com/stages/] They are:
* Pendulum ( [http://steelchallenge.com/wp-content/gallery/stages/the_pendulum.jpgdiagram] )
* Roundabout ( [http://steelchallenge.com/wp-content/gallery/stages/roundabout.jpgdiagram] )
* Showdown ( [http://steelchallenge.com/wp-content/gallery/stages/showdown.jpgdiagram] )
* Five To Go ( [http://steelchallenge.com/wp-content/gallery/stages/5togo.jpgdiagram] )
* Speed Option ( [http://steelchallenge.com/wp-content/gallery/stages/speed-option.jpgdiagram] )
* Smoke & Hope ( [http://steelchallenge.com/wp-content/gallery/stages/smoke_hope.jpgdiagram] )
* Outer Limits ( [http://steelchallenge.com/wp-content/gallery/stages/outerlimits.jpgdiagram] )
* Accelerator ( [http://steelchallenge.com/wp-content/gallery/stages/accelerator.jpgdiagram] )

teel Challenge Men's World Records

Press Coverage Over The Years

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, [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BTT/is_144_24/ai_57886948 American Handgunner January 2000] ] [ [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-99130368.html American Handgunner May 2003] ] GunWeek, [ [http://www.gunweek.com/2001/featsteel0710.html GunWeek July 2001] ] and Outdoor Life. [ [http://www.outdoorlife.com/article.jsp?ID=21009470&typeID=688&categoryID=1243 Outdoor Life 2003] ]

References

External links

* [http://steelchallenge.com Steel Challenge]
* [http://www.USPSA.org USPSA]