W. Washington's First Full Steel Challenge Saturday

Western Washington State's very first full eight stage Steel Challenge match will be held this Saturday at the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club near Bremerton/Silverdale.  The stages will be carefully measured out and straight out of the rule book so you will be able to compare your times against the times on the Steel Challenge website or any of the times posted at any of the other clubs who shoot Steel Challenge matches.

If you are familiar with the Steel Challenge rules, all centerfire shooters start from the holster and rimfire shooters start from a low ready with the muzzle pointed at a marker on the ground twelve feet in front of the shooter's box. However, there will be additional center fire classes at this match using the rimfire start position, so if you are a centerfire shooter and don't want to have to draw from a holster, there will be a class for you too. Entry fee has been kept very reasonable at ten bucks. There is no prize table, but I think you can win free entries in future matches, but I don't know the details. Since this will be all eight stages, be sure to be at the range at 9am sharp, or even earlier, so the match can start on time. Bring plenty of ammo, too, as even if you don't miss a single shot all day, you will need 200 rounds, and you'd be wise to bring a lot more than that!

For those of you somewhat unfamiliar with Steel Challenge, here's a basic summary. There will be eight sets of targets, or stages. Each stage will have five steel plate targets. The plates may be 10", 12", or 18"x24" in size. One plate is designated as the stop plate, and must be shot last. You must hit each plate once, and then the stop plate last. You can shoot the plates in any order you like, as long as the last one shot is the stop plate. The stage layouts can be found on the Steel Challenge website above. There are no really difficult shots at small targets and far down range. An average shooter can make all the shots, but the difficulty comes from trying to shoot them quickly! Adrenaline, of course, doesn't help either. You will shoot each stage five times, and your slowest time will be discarded, with your four best times being added towards your total time for the day for all eight stages. If you miss a plate and you don't shoot it again and hit it, there is a three second penalty per plate left un-hit. The shooters are split up into squads of around eight or ten, and travel from stage to stage as a group. All of the rules will be reviewed at the shooter's meeting before the match, and you can print out your own copy of the rules from the Steel Challenge website.

If you've heard about Steel Challenge, maybe seem it on TV, and would like to give it a try, this Saturday is your chance! In addition, you get to make history shooting in Western Washington's very first full Steel Challenge match. Even if you don't feel like shooting in the match, but would like to see what it's all about, Steel Challenge is very "Spectator Friendly" so you can stand behind the shooters but still close enough to get a good view of the action and watch the match unfold. Some of the best and fastest shooters in the Northwest will be there, so there will be some excellent shooting going on. Some spectators will find the squad of shooters with the fastest shooters on it and follow that squad around from stage to stage, sort of like golf. If you'd like to spectate, bring your own eye protection and either hearing protectors or ear plugs. There is no charge to be a spectator.

KeeWee and  I will be there, and KeeWee will be debuting the new custom barrel, sight mount, and compensator I built for her. I will be there, too, shooting my 12" barreled High Standard .22, also sporting a brand new compensator I machined a few weeks ago.

Come on over to KRRC and see what true Steel Challenge is all about. It's a blast!!