Steel Challenge At GBR-IV

A Steel Challenge Stage

This year we will be going out to the Washoe County Shooting Facility on Saturday and will be the Guests of the Western Nevada Pistol League and will be using one of their pistol bays for Shooting a few Steel Challenge stages. For those of you unfamiliar with Steel Challenge, here's the basics:

What does a Steel Challenge Stage look like?
There are five steel targets, or plates, per stage at various distances from 7 to 35 yards away. The plates will be either 10", 12", or 18" x 24" in size. All of the plates are relatively easy to hit, just hard to hit if you try to go too fast! One specific plate, called the Stop Plate, must be shot last. The others must each be hit at least once prior to hitting the stop plate. You can shoot the first four plates in any order. (Except on Outer Limits, but we probably won't shoot Outer Limits as it also includes movement). Each shooter makes five runs, or shot strings, on each stage. Your slowest run is thrown out, and your four best runs on the stage are added together. Your score is your total time to shoot all of the stages.

There are eight standard Steel Challenge stages. Here's the specific stages:

Accelerator

Five To Go

Outer_Limits

Pendulum

Roundabout

Showdown

Smoke and Hope

Speed Option

We will be using Steel Challenge rules in Reno, with the exception that there will be no drawing from a holster. Instead, we will use the rimfire start position, which is with the gun pointed at a marker on the ground directly in front of the shooter's position and 12' away.

Some basic Range Safety rules:

It is a "Cold" range. ALL weapons must be unloaded at all times, unless you are in the shooter's box and under the direction of the Range Officer. That means concealed carry permit holders, too. If you are packing, Just drop the magazine, put it in your pocket, clear the chamber, and re-holster.

No handling of weapons outside of the shooter's box. If you need to work on a weapon, there is a designated safety area close by. No ammunition allowed in the safety area. You can load and unload magazines at any time behind the line.

What can I shoot:
You can shoot any handgun; revolver, semi-auto, or rimfire. If you've got a .22 you like, bring it along. Rimfire steel is a lot of fun, and is also usually the fastest category. Single action revolver? Sure! Bring what you've got.

Ammo:
For obvious reasons, no armor-piercing rounds! You do not have to knock anything over, just hit the plates hard enough to leave a mark. If you load your own ammo, stick to relatively light loads, hot enough to cycle and feed reliably, but no more than that is needed. Please save your maxed out mega-blaster hunting loads for use on the rifle range on Friday. Any factory standard loads are fine, and Plus P's aren't needed. How much ammo should you bring? It depends on how many times you miss, but I'd figure on at least 150 rounds as a minimum.

For a full set of the rules and a lot more information about Steel Challenge, check out the Steel Challenge Shooting Association website.

We will have a brief shooter's meeting at the range prior to getting started to review safety rules, procedures, and range commands.

Bangin' and Clangin', here we come.

See you in Reno!