Steel Challenge

The competition was founded in 1981 by Mike Dalton and Mike Fichman.[2] The Steel Challenge World Speed Shooting Championships have grown to one of the largest professional pistol competitions in America.[3] 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.[4]

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)[5] which is the US sanctioning body of IPSC. Since 2007, USPSA has been organizing US National Steel Championship every year in US.

There are 8 stages with 5 steel targets on each. Shooters get five runs on each stage. 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 counting times are totaled for their stage score, and the eight stage scores are added together to establish the competitor's match score.

For each run, one hit per target is required, with an unlimited number of rounds. The last target to be 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.

The Steel Challenge comprises eight courses of fire called 'stages.'[6] They are:

1. Five To Go (diagram)
2. Showdown (diagram)
3. Smoke & Hope (diagram)
4. Outer Limits (diagram)
5. Accelerator (diagram)
6. Pendulum (diagram)
7. Speed Option (diagram)
8. Roundabout (diagram)

• 
  The stage "Outer Limits" set up on a shooting range in Germany.

All stages have competitors fire from square boxes. In the American Steel Challenge, the boxes have side lengths of 3 ft (91.44 cm), except the stage Outer Limits where the boxes' sides are 4 ft (1.22 m). The European Steel Challenge has used boxes of 1×1 meter on all stages.

Showdown has two boxes, and requires the competitor to make the first two runs from one of the boxes, and the two following runs from the other box. On the fifth and final run the competitor can choose which box to shoot from. There is no movement, so each run is to be shot from one box only. The competitor can choose whether to make the two first runs from the left or right box.

Outer Limits has the longest shots in the match, and is also the only stage with movement. Contrary to the other stages, Outer Limits only has four runs (instead of five), which with one throwaway run makes for three counting runs in the aggregate score. In the American Steel Challenge the shooting boxes on Outer Limits are larger than those on the other stages. The stage has three boxes, and the competitor starts on their weakhand side. For example, for a right handed shooter, the procedure is to start in the leftmost box from where they are to engage the leftmost 12 in (30.48 cm) plate at 20 yd (18.29 m) and the leftmost 18×24 in plate (45.7×60.9 cm) plate at 35 yards (32 m). Thereafter the shooter is to move to the center box and engage the two similar plates on their stronghand side, before engaging the stop plate.

The equipment divisions in Steel Challenge have varied past the years. The 2017 Steel Challenge World Championship had the following divisions:[9]

Handguns

• Open (OPN)
• Limited (LTD)
• Production (PROD)
• Single Stack (SS)
• Iron Sight Revolver (ISR)
• Open Revolver (OSR)
• Carry Optics (CO)
• Rimfire Pistol Irons (RFPI)
• Rimfire Pistol Open (RFPO)

Long guns

• Rimfire Rifle Irons (RFRI)
• Rimfire Rifle Open (RFRO)
• Pistol Caliber Carbine Irons (PCCI)
• Pistol Caliber Carbine Open (PCCO)

To be considered a world record, the run must come during the annual World Speed Shooting Championship.

Current World Speed Shooting Records for Men and Women

Stage	Time	Competitor	Avg. Run	Year
Match Record	74.84 s	Max Michel		2016
	88.62 s	Jessie Harrison		2018
1. Five To Go	8.73 s	KC Eusebio	2.18 s	2018
	11.94 s	Jessie Duff	2.98 s	2014
2. Showdown	7.71 s	KC Eusebio	1.93 s	2018
	10.27 s	Jessie Duff	2.57 s	2010
3. Smoke & Hope	6.81 s	Max Michel	1.70 s	2018
	9.05 s	Kaci Cochran	2.26 s	2013
4. Outer Limits	10.95 s	Max Michel	3.65 s	2016
	13.26 s	Kaci Cochran	4.42 s	2013
5. Accelerator	8.70 s	Max Michel	2.18 s	2013
	11.19 s	Jessie Duff	2.80 s	2009
6. Pendulum	9.56 s	BJ Norris	2.39 s	2016
	11.75 s	Jessie Duff	2.94 s	2013
7. Speed Option	9.09 s	Max Michel	2.27 s	2013
	11.65 s	Jessie Duff	2.91 s	2013
8. Roundabout	7.51 s	Max Michel	1.88 s	2013
	9.41 s	Jessie Duff	2.35 s	2009

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,[11][12] GunWeek,[13] and Outdoor Life.[14]

• List of shooting sports organizations
• Bianchi Cup

• Steel Challenge
• USPSA