Steel Challenge gear and general discussion

I went to a Steel Challenge match for the first time since 2014 yesterday. I had a blast running my 617 but was amazed at how many rifles/pcc's there were. It seemed every competitor was running one or both rifles(rimfire/pcc) with only 3 centerfire pistols in the whole match out of 85 guns. It lit the fire of my inner gear whore.

Some top 10 national level competitors were there and I got to see several low 1 second runs and 5 second agg's on several stages. That is a big motivator:cool:

What are your steel challenge setups? Favorite stages? Tips etc...


I had issues with eye sprinting and not snapping my eyes to the next target during transitions. At first I didn't trust my shot calling and despite knowing you don't wait to hear hits, when I couldn't hear the hits due to my ears going crazy with all the shooting (our match plus an nrl match next door) I hesitated and reshot targets i had hit previously. That eventually eased up as I warmed up but it was disheartening at first. I hovered middle pack running a stock 617 with a dot. Glad to be back out there and ready to work on improving.

I too am running a 617 for Steel Challenge, using DS-10 Speed Loaders. I really enjoy shooting revolvers.

The PCCs and .22 rimfire rifles have shown some unbelievable times. Under 60 seconds for the complete 8 stages is mind boggling.

I've converted a few local shooters to the dark side, with their revos. Not many have 617s but one shooter on my squad says he'll bring out his H&R next month. It takes the same speed loaders as my revolver.

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Originally Posted by AzShooter

I too am running a 617 for Steel Challenge, using DS-10 Speed Loaders. I really enjoy shooting revolvers.

The PCCs and .22 rimfire rifles have shown some unbelievable times. Under 60 seconds for the complete 8 stages is mind boggling.

I've converted a few local shooters to the dark side, with their revos. Not many have 617s but one shooter on my squad says he'll bring out his H&R next month. It takes the same speed loaders as my revolver.

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What optic and mount on your 617?

https://i.imgur.com/b1B7dHl.jpg

When shooting with optics I use a C-More Railway with a 12 MOA Dot and an Allchin Mount. For Iron Sights I'm putting a LPA Rear Sight with a Precision FO Front.

I ran a stock trigger 617 with a vortex viper on a raptor engineering mount and a set of nills.

Attachment 71810

I only had time to run 4 stages (packed crowd plus slow squads took 2 hours to get stage 3 and 4 shot) so i took dnf on two stages. But of the 4 stages i ran my single string pr's were

Showdown in 2.83
5 to go in 3.8
Smoke and hope in 2.55
And pendulum in 3.41

Certainly not burning it down by any means but a starting point nonetheless.

Something of note, i had the pleasure of squadding with some juniors from a scholastic steel challenge team. They were phenomenal shooters, one of which was a triple GM (iron sight rimfire pistol, pcc, and rimfire rifle optics) and the other who shot at least at the m level if not gm, winning a few stages overall.

It was amazing what these kid accomplished in 4 years and less of dedicated practice. They use steel challenge as practice for their big scholastic steel matches. Interesting and great fun/motivator.

Nice looking pistol. I love those Nil's grips. One of these days I'll order a pair. Right now I'm happy with the Hogues.

You had some great times there. We have a match coming up this Sunday so I'll see what I can do.

Keep in mind those were pr strings, my aggs wre b and c runs collectively according to practiscore. A decent amount of variation string to string.

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Originally Posted by backtrail540

Something of note, i had the pleasure of squadding with some juniors from a scholastic steel challenge team. They were phenomenal shooters, one of which was a triple GM (iron sight rimfire pistol, pcc, and rimfire rifle optics) and the other who shot at least at the m level if not gm, winning a few stages overall.

It was amazing what these kid accomplished in 4 years and less of dedicated practice. They use steel challenge as practice for their big scholastic steel matches. Interesting and great fun/motivator.

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Hmm. Maybe it’s time to get my 4 year old some Airsoft Steel
challenge targets...

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Originally Posted by JCN

Hmm. Maybe it’s time to get my 4 year old some Airsoft Steel
challenge targets...

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The youngest in the squad was shooting his first match and couldn't have been much out of 1st grade. He did just fine using a rimfire rifle. He placed 51st out of 85 guns!

Anybody here dabble in rimfire rifle irons or optics? That is where the heat was at the match last week and I got the bug. I have a wiland chassis and ti barrel on order...since I am on a rimfire only kick this year, I might as well dive in and enjoy myself.

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Originally Posted by backtrail540

Anybody here dabble in rimfire rifle irons or optics? That is where the heat was at the match last week and I got the bug. I have a wiland chassis and ti barrel on order...since I am on a rimfire only kick this year, I might as well dive in and enjoy myself.

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We run a steel plate match, gallery type, of 34 hanging plates every month with pistols (both rimfire and center-fire), revolvers, compacts, and finishing up with .22LR rifles. The .22LR rifle portion is everyone's favorite myself included.
Every other month we shoot a 2 stage Steel Challenge match. Again, the .22LR rifle is the most fun.
I use a M&P15-22 with an old Aimpoint Comp M3 and that combination works really well. I'm usually in the top 4 with that M&P15-22.

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Originally Posted by Exiledviking

We run a steel plate match, gallery type, of 34 hanging plates every month with pistols (both rimfire and center-fire), revolvers, compacts, and finishing up with .22LR rifles. The .22LR rifle portion is everyone's favorite myself included.
Every other month we shoot a 2 stage Steel Challenge match. Again, the .22LR rifle is the most fun.
I use a M&P15-22 with an old Aimpoint Comp M3 and that combination works really well. I'm usually in the top 4 with that M&P15-22.

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Any issues with the 15-22's not getting picked up on the timer? While practicing, I had trouble with missed shots from my belt. At a busy match I don't know if they'd be able to crank the sensitivity enough and keep from picking up the next bay's shots. My shooting buddy put a tandemkross brake on his gun to make it louder. I don't plan on running my 15-22 after this match since I should have my wiland built by the next one, but wanted to get some data anyway this match.

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Originally Posted by backtrail540

Any issues with the 15-22's not getting picked up on the timer? While practicing, I had trouble with missed shots from my belt. At a busy match I don't know if they'd be able to crank the sensitivity enough and keep from picking up the next bay's shots. My shooting buddy put a tandemkross brake on his gun to make it louder. I don't plan on running my 15-22 after this match since I should have my wiland built by the next one, but wanted to get some data anyway this match.

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Whoever is running the shot timer will stand fairly close to the shooter and extend the timer forward and the sensor angled towards the muzzle. That seems to work 98% of the time. Having a comp or flash suppressor seems to help quite a bit.

Hit up a match yesterday. Small turnout due to the holiday i believe. Ended up running two guns, my dotted 617 in rfpo and my 15-22 in rfro. It was all 8 classifiers so i got some good data for my log.

5 to go - 617 agg (15.24) best run (3.36) 15-22 agg (14.47) best run (3.31)

I beat my previous best run and agg with the 617. More comfortable and calling shots better than before. I suck at running a rifle and even did better with my 617 on a few stages.

Showdown - 617 agg (9.9) best run (2.18) 15-22 agg (10.51) best run (2.42)

The 2.18 was a real ripper. I had 4 solid runs already, and just hero or zero'd it and came through. Beat my rifle time largely due to that run alone. Definitely my fastest stage.

Smoke and hope - 617 agg (12.37) best run (2.65) 15-22 agg (9.30) best run (2.09)

I didn't shoot this as well with my 617 as the last match. Had some trouble pushing past the stop plate or just before the stop plate. My only sub 10 agg with the rifle. Hope to be able to get sub 2's with rifle by the end of the year.

Outer Limits - 617 agg (18.24) best run (5.31) 15-22 agg (18.43) best run (5.61)

First time running OL. The squad said I had super fast first hits but gave me some pointers on the movement and entry which helped me when I ran the 617 (ran rifle first).

Accelerator - 617 agg (17.3) best run (3.85) 15-22 agg (15.85) best run (2.35)

Dont' recall anything special about this stage. I have doubts about the fluke 2.35 with the rifle. I was focused and not paying attention at the time but I have my suspicion that the ro missed a shot with the timer here. We shot it early and had to adjust the sensitivity to pick up my rifle on the first stage and I can't recall which order I shot this stage.

Pendulum - 617 agg (14.53) best run (3.3) 15-22 agg (14.33) best run (3.35)

Beat my previous 617 best run and cut 3 seconds off my agg.

Speed Option - 617 agg (14.31) best run (3.26) 15-22 agg (16.05) best run (3.41)

The squad complained about this stage and said it was their least favorite stage. I didn't mind it. I shot it a bit different than everyone else, preferring to shoot both close plate from left to right then the far targets from right to left, driving toward the stop plate. Made more sense to me than the gas brake gas brake method they used and the times were similar but I'll explore it more later. Had trouble stopping the 15-22 and had a fair amount of misses hence being slower than my 617.

Roundabout - 617 agg (11.19) best run (2.51) 15-22 agg (11.53) best run (2.43)

I ran outside right, inside right, the drove from the outside left in toward the stop plate for 3 quick hits and felt it to be a good order of engagement. I think there is potential for a good amount of improvement here and can see myself pushing this fairly low later on.




I improved on each stage, excepting smoke and hope, during this match. That's good. Had a chance to run a squad mates wiland setup afterwards and am glad I have one on the way. I won't run the 15-22 again. Nothing wrong with it but a dedicated setup will be built prior to next match more than likely. I am enjoying pushing the 617 and will continue racing the volquartsen and tacsol fellas with it for the rest of the year. I've had a fair amount of A times with it and with some consistency I'm confident M times aren't too far off on some stages. Looking forward to next match.

WOW/!!! I'm impressed.

You did great with your 617. I enjoy shooting mine over all my other .22s as well. My times are no where near your. You'll get Master if you keep that up.

Got my RFRO build finished today. TacSol receiver, powder river trigger, wiland chassis and ti barrel. Just running a spare holosun for now. Next year i may get a more suitable dot. Maiden voyage this weekend to see if any bugs need worked out. If it runs them I'll hit up a match in the next few weeks and see what i can do with it. Pics later in the week.

Good luck with it. I'm sure your old sight will work fine but it's always nice to buy new stuff.

Anxious to see the pics.

Quick and dirty pic after dry practice. Made a few tweaks. Ready for some live practice!

Attachment 74080

Testing yesterday morning. Had intermittent stovepipes with automatch, some odd bolt drag on the first round with Winchester hv and cci velocitor, some but fewer stovepipes with federal bulk of a random flavor i had, and of course 100% with stingers. Everything i have runs with damn stingers.

Put in a powder river extractor that came with my trigger. Noticeably less play with a case under the new extractor vs the one from tacsol. May get to run it in the am to see the difference. If not, they're fairly simple to swap so no big deal. I dig how easy 10/22's are to work on.

Attachment 74179

I shot my first Steel Challenge match the other month and I really enjoyed it.

It was more mentally enjoyable of a day than some of the USPSA matches for me due to limited mental bandwidth with busy work schedules these days.

I really liked the challenge of shooting within capability and with consistency.

Anyone still doing this?

I was happy to shoot all M stages in CO on my first outing.

I think I might set myself the challenge to hit A/M in all divisions.

That might keep it fresh enough for me to not dwell on trying to get too gamey with it.

I almost bought a set of steel challenge targets for my range, but I don’t want to go that far yet because I don’t want it to become an exercise in memorization.

I’m hoping by setting modest goals, I don’t have to squeeze every ounce of equipment performance out there and I can just use the random stuff I have lying around.

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Originally Posted by JCN

I shot my first Steel Challenge match the other month and I really enjoyed it.

It was more mentally enjoyable of a day than some of the USPSA matches for me due to limited mental bandwidth with busy work schedules these days.

I really liked the challenge of shooting within capability and with consistency.

Anyone still doing this?

I was happy to shoot all M stages in CO on my first outing.

I think I might set myself the challenge to hit A/M in all divisions.

That might keep it fresh enough for me to not dwell on trying to get too gamey with it.

I almost bought a set of steel challenge targets for my range, but I don’t want to go that far yet because I don’t want it to become an exercise in memorization.

I’m hoping by setting modest goals, I don’t have to squeeze every ounce of equipment performance out there and I can just use the random stuff I have lying around.

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The only match I've managed to drag my ass to this year was when my brother and I did a Steel Challenge match together.

It was a lot of fun. Shot rimfire and centerfire pistols. Kept about even pace with the A class guys. Was told by the competitors that I didn't have to start hammer down on my Berettas, but it made no difference either way.

Watching some of the kids run stages was impressive. Very good transition skills, but I noticed a lot of issues with reliability for a lot of the PCC and rimfire guns.

Sent from my SM-A326U using Tapatalk

Attachment 95131

Bought a new 617 4 inch and set it up with my C-More with a 12 MOA dot. I've worked the trigger a little bit but it's still set at 8 pounds DA. I've got a RevUpAction Hammer on order whenever they finalize the design for the 617. It's a unique type of DA only hammer that I can't wait to try.

I normally run an Apex Mass Drive Hammer in my 6 inch 617. For some reason it wouldn't drop into the 4 inch so I can't use it there. Apex advertises you can get a 6.5 pound DA trigger pull. Best I've gotten reliably is just over 7 pounds and wow is it smooth. I can only run Federal BYOBs and Reminton Bucket O Bullets at that wait. I need to run 8 pounds with CCI Mini Mags.

I like the transition times better with the 4 inch. Made a holster for it and using an old setup for my DS-10 speed loaders. This is with the Bushnell First Strike but the C-More fits just as well.

Attachment 95132

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Originally Posted by AzShooter

Bought a new 617 4 inch and set it up with my C-More with a 12 MOA dot. I've worked the trigger a little bit but it's still set at 8 pounds DA. I've got a RevUpAction Hammer on order whenever they finalize the design for the 617. It's a unique type of DA only hammer that I can't wait to try.

I normally run an Apex Mass Drive Hammer in my 6 inch 617. For some reason it wouldn't drop into the 4 inch so I can't use it there. Apex advertises you can get a 6.5 pound DA trigger pull. Best I've gotten reliably is just over 7 pounds and wow is it smooth. I can only run Federal BYOBs and Reminton Bucket O Bullets at that wait. I need to run 8 pounds with CCI Mini Mags.

I like the transition times better with the 4 inch. Made a holster for it and using an old setup for my DS-10 speed loaders. This is with the Bushnell First Strike but the C-More fits just as well.

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I’m rocking a 929 set up like the Revo USPSA national champ’s (Eli at TK does great work).

Butter smooth 5 pound DA.

Attachment 95133

The plan is to turn it into an OSR too.

I've had the pleasure of watching some top 20 steel challenge shooters at a local I shot (Lance Bratcher Jr and Adam Reno). LBJ was working toward getting 100% in every division and I believe he has since completed that task. Great to see those guys compete. And I agree with you @JCN, that would be the approach to take to keep it from getting stale and having goals to work at after initial success.

From my perspective one of the Steel Challenge facts of life is the vanishing participation in certain divisions. The Idaho State Championship was just held in Nampa, ID. The gate comprised 114 guns and far fewer competitors. Limited, Open, Revolver, Production, Single Stack added up to 15 of the 114. Production was a big zero and Single Stack one entry. Rimfire added up to 71 of the 114 guns. I posted over at the Brian Enos forum the question of rejiggering the SC divisions to consolidate iron sights into autoloader and revolver divisions. It's just no longer interesting running Single Stack or Production in Steel Challenge if your into competition vs. self-improvement.

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Originally Posted by rdtompki

From my perspective one of the Steel Challenge facts of life is the vanishing participation in certain divisions. The Idaho State Championship was just held in Nampa, ID. The gate comprised 114 guns and far fewer competitors. Limited, Open, Revolver, Production, Single Stack added up to 15 of the 114. Production was a big zero and Single Stack one entry. Rimfire added up to 71 of the 114 guns. I posted over at the Brian Enos forum the question of rejiggering the SC divisions to consolidate iron sights into autoloader and revolver divisions. It's just no longer interesting running Single Stack or Production in Steel Challenge if your into competition vs. self-improvement.

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Can you expand on this a little?

I always thought this was kind of the draw of Steel Challenge that you could compete against the published standard par times and go for a personal best and compare across divisions that way.

I know you don’t get a trophy but you still kind of get to compare.

Unlike a USPSA event where you literally have no idea how you stack up against someone else on a novel field course unless you’re at the event with them.

On the PractiScore competitor app it even ranks people based off their division percent.

So for example, on PractiScore my raw time was well behind rimfire guys when I shot centerfire.

But on the PractiScore app it ranked us in relation to our performance percent of our division pars which I thought was cool.

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Originally Posted by JCN

Can you expand on this a little?

I always thought this was kind of the draw of Steel Challenge that you could compete against the published standard par times and go for a personal best and compare across divisions that way.

I know you don’t get a trophy but you still kind of get to compare.

Unlike a USPSA event where you literally have no idea how you stack up against someone else on a novel field course unless you’re at the event with them.

On the PractiScore competitor app it even ranks people based off their division percent.

So for example, on PractiScore my raw time was well behind rimfire guys when I shot centerfire.

But on the PractiScore app it ranked us in relation to our performance percent of our division pars which I thought was cool.

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The par (or peak) times are a very nice system and make the sport attractive to competitors of all experience levels. My wife and I go to 1-2 weekly 4 stage matches each week and pay little attention to others' scores, simply trying to improve despite advancing age. The larger matches might be less interesting given travel and hotel expenses for those shooting centerfire autoloader irons; The area 1 championship had 234 entries (guns) with 12 production, 11 limited and 2 single stack (plus 8 Open). Limited, which used to be a pretty hot division, had one Master level shooter, the rest B's and C's, which I expect is due to the migration to carry optics. So, my opinion: it's a great sport that is safe enough for beginners and challenging enough to compete in for decades. I'd like to see USPSA perhaps retain the centerfire irons divisions for classification purposes but aggregate the autoloaders into a single competitive division. Carry Optics is almost such and aggregated division; while not allowing single action handguns, the allowable modifications are substantial and include handguns that I expect nobody would actually carry. For the time being Steel Challenge is constrained to be in lock step with USPSA which, IMO, doesn't make sense.

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Originally Posted by JCN

I think I might set myself the challenge to hit A/M in all divisions.

That might keep it fresh enough for me to not dwell on trying to get too gamey with it.

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9 month update:

Attachment 107526

Also just picked up M in RFPO.

Having a lot of reliability issues in the JP22 so going to try an MCX
-CMMG conversion.

I like heavier guns because of the applicability to other sports and disciplines.

https://youtu.be/3AuXz3iw6ws

For me, the very best things about Steel Challenge is seeing friends, kids and families participating. Some of the most talented shooters I have ever seen are in their early teens and blow the doors off all the adults including some paper GM’s.

I have several friends who I brought into competition through SC and some have gone on to be serious USPSA competitors after the “entry level” experience.

I helped run stages at my area match earlier this year and some of the kids were simply amazing. And every one of them had great manners and sportsmanship. Kind of gives you hope for the future.

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Originally Posted by Archer1440

For me, the very best things about Steel Challenge is seeing friends, kids and families participating. Some of the most talented shooters I have ever seen are in their early teens and blow the doors off all the adults including some paper GM’s.

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I think Steel Challenge and Trap/Sporting Clays marry well together as a safe, wholesome teen sport.

Transitions and trigger control without need for extreme recoil control and movement.

It’s what I hope to do with my daughter when she’s old enough!