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Thread: The Riddle of Steel (Challenge)

  1. #1
    Member
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    Oct 2011
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    Texas

    The Riddle of Steel (Challenge)

    Any aficionados of Steel Challenge here? Want to talk about it?

    Rankings, favorite stages, strategies, etc.

    I’m about to take a drive but would love to hear some good conversations and banter.
    When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk. -Tuco
    Today is victory over yourself of yesterday... -Miyamoto Musashi

  2. #2
    The standard Steel Challenge stages need to become, more or less, classifiers (as in USPSA). One or two should be shot each match, then many different (and changing match to match) combinations of plates should be used for the other stages.

  3. #3
    While I wouldn’t give up USPSA for Steel Challenge, I love it as an additional activity. We had a thread on it, started back in December.

    https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....ls-development

    I shoot PCC and Carry Optics in Steel Challenge, and my wife shoots Carry Optics.
    Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.

  4. #4
    I shoot outlaw steel matches at my local club occasionally. I really like it a lot.
    David S.

  5. #5
    Member olstyn's Avatar
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    Sep 2014
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    Minnesota
    Quote Originally Posted by Stony Lane View Post
    The standard Steel Challenge stages need to become, more or less, classifiers (as in USPSA). One or two should be shot each match, then many different (and changing match to match) combinations of plates should be used for the other stages.
    On the outside looking in, I'm confused that it doesn't operate that way. Wouldn't people get extremely bored extremely quickly otherwise?

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by olstyn View Post
    On the outside looking in, I'm confused that it doesn't operate that way. Wouldn't people get extremely bored extremely quickly otherwise?
    Each stage is simultaneously simple, in that there are just five targets, and very intense in that there are just five targets. We are not shooting against other competitors at a local match, we are shooting against the national 100 percent peak times. It is very hard to lay down four good runs on each stage in a Steel Challenge match, and striving for that level of performance with the required consistency to have 4/5 good runs can be a life time pursuit.
    Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.

  7. #7
    As it often happens, the experience is will be affected by the way things are run by your local club. I shot exactly one match, on GJM's encouragement. As far as shooting is concerned, I enjoyed the challenge. Very few formats show in such a definitive way that shooting is not about your best run and hosing but about consistency and going one for one. That said, by the end of a match I was nearly infuriated by the flow. We shot four stages, starting at about 9 am, and finished at 1 or 2 pm. That thing, by my estimate, should've been done in 2 - 2.5 hours. However, everyone shoots two divisions and nearly everyone's second division is some sort of rifle, be it .22 or PCC, with the whole unbagging, chamber flags and stuff. Based on that, at this point I relegated the SC into "unless I have absolutely nothing better to do" category. Hopefully, your experience is faster.
    Doesn't read posts longer than two paragraphs.

  8. #8
    Banned
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    Jan 2019
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    I recently started steel challenge as supplemental to idpa and USPSA. I enjoy it, and feel each discipline helps with the others. I’m new at everything still, this being about the fifth month of my first season.

    I do agree with a certain amount of frustration at numerous .22 lr malfs, long guns being slow to deploy, etc., and almost wish they had a day just for pistols from the holster. But then again, i truly enjoy meeting older shooters who maybe used to do USPSA but don’t want all the movement as they’ve aged. Lots of them still flat get it done on steel, and that makes me happy.

  9. #9
    Member olstyn's Avatar
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    Sep 2014
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    Minnesota
    Quote Originally Posted by GJM View Post
    Each stage is simultaneously simple, in that there are just five targets, and very intense in that there are just five targets. We are not shooting against other competitors at a local match, we are shooting against the national 100 percent peak times. It is very hard to lay down four good runs on each stage in a Steel Challenge match, and striving for that level of performance with the required consistency to have 4/5 good runs can be a life time pursuit.
    I absolutely get that it's technically challenging and skill building, but I feel like it would become a mental slog very quickly for me, given that a significant part of what I enjoy about USPSA is the puzzle solving aspect of stage planning. Steel challenge, if run with only the same standard stages each time, would completely remove that aspect. I still think it would be fun to do a few times, or occasionally over the long term, but I can't see myself doing steel challenge anywhere near as regularly as I do USPSA.

  10. #10
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    Apr 2014
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    The Garden State
    Quote Originally Posted by YVK View Post
    However, everyone shoots two divisions and nearly everyone's second division is some sort of rifle, be it .22 or PCC, with the whole unbagging, chamber flags and stuff. Based on that, at this point I relegated the SC into "unless I have absolutely nothing better to do" category. Hopefully, your experience is faster.
    I believe they recently changed the rule. If you're shooting PCC or rimfire rifle, you unbag at the safe table and walk the gun to the line with muzzle pointed straight up and gun flagged when it's your turn. Saves a lot of time.

    Annoying to me is the time taken dealing with malfunctions, particularly rimfire, but also with reloaded ammunition. Always seem to have somebody who brings a new gun to a match and doesn't know the point of impact. He tries to figure it out while expending the full 30 seconds per run sending lots of ammo down range. None of these guys are P.E. Kelley. . I think a match should be limited to using only one gun instead of two; this would really move things along.
    Real guns have hammers.

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