Any advice for a steel shoot?

ghbucky01

New member
My local indoor range has started up a center fire shoot series. This is my first encounter with competitive shooting, and I am having a blast.

They are doing a six shoot series, every other week. We have done 2 so far.

The way this works is that we are shooting at 5 steel "flip" targets. When I say flip, what I mean is that there is a vertical wood 4x4, and at the top of it is a bracket with a 6" diameter steel plate on a hing. One side is painted red, the other white. Get a solid hit on the red, and it flips to the other side of the post and shows red. The target must flip to the other side to count, and if you shoot out of order it is a DQ.

They are situated, from lef to right, at 7, 15, 10, 15 and 7 yards. Fastest time to clear the plates wins. The best part is that they are giving away a S&W Core pistol to the fastest time for the series. (I'm sure there is probably standard nomenclature to describe this event, I just don't know it. Sorry. I would welcome some explanation how to explain this.)

But, I more or less suck at this.

My approach so far has been to be pretty deliberate about making sure I get a hit, but my times are abysmal.

Can anyone give me advice about how to go about this?

Should I be trying to get sight picture rapidly, deliver a hit, repeat as necessary, or should I be trying to sweep and 'catch' the shot as I sweep through the target.

Also, I don't have any real place to practice this, only the indoor range where the shoot occurs, and so I am restricted to practicing at one target at a time. I have been shooting 50 ft slow fire targets at 15 yds trying to consistently deliver groups that can hit the 6" target at that range.

Can anyone recommend drills that I can run in a single lane indoor range?
 
This kind of sounds like a dueling tree that has been separated into five targets, at five different distances.
So, you only have to hit one plate at each of the five distances?
If that's the arrangement, you should be able to practice with five different size circles, on one target backing, that represent the five 6" plates at the distances they are at your matches.
If your practice range target is at 15 yards, make that one 6" and the others relative in size accordingly.

The best way to hit multiple targets quickly is to actually stop for each one, shoot it, transition to the next and so on.
Lead from target to target with your leading eye, (right eye going right, left eye going left), keep the gun and body rigidly together, and turn them like a tank turret to the next target.
In other words, find the next target first with your leading eye and then swivel the rest of yourself to it, without losing the gun and body connection.
Watch some of the online steel challenge videos for examples.
Here's a few good ones:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=steel+challenge&sm=1
 
Last edited:
Back
Top