First steel shooting match today

S

Sigma 40 Blaster

New member
Man...it IS WAAAAAAAY harder than it looks. I'm looking at the steel targets thinking...this is nothing, those plates are the same size as the targets I shoot at.

The first stage was the easiest, 4 large plates with one small steel as the stop in the middle....so of course that's where everyone wanted to start.

I started in the middle, five small plates arranged as awkwardly as they could. I had a stock P95 with 2 15 round mags and 2 10 round mags...each stage had five strings of fire. I should have more than enough ammo right??? WRONG. Had to reload one of my 15 rounders. I settled down after that and posted some decent times.

I have to admit being a little intimidated by the guys with the custom STI's and scopes but I was hanging in (barely) with the guys shooting stock factory carry weapons.

How many of you guys who shoot competition actually invest in your own steels or USPSA target holders and drag em out to practice??? It's so much fun I think I'm going to have to go get a cheapo set just for kicks.

Any advice to a newb competition shooter (practice routines or whatever) would be appreciated too.
 
Yep, steel is a lot of fun. I have a pistol pit in my back yard, I made up lots of different steel targets. At first I made them so they fell like Bianci plates, but it was a pain to reset. So I bolted them down and after shooting them a few times I repaint, just like a Steel Challenge match. I made a rack of steel bowling pins also, they are challenging and a lot of fun. I have three steel IDPA/ISPC size targets to practice an El Presidante (sp). With the steel there is no pasters, they don't get ruined after a rain, etc. Hard to beat for the backyard practice.
 
I was primarily a steel guy for the past 3-4 years. Nothing replaces match pressure. Shoot as many steel matches as you can. Unlike USPSA/IPSC where you hose down a bunch of targets and look like a stud only to later find you got a bunch of sloppy hits, and a mike. Steel you find out right a way what is going down.

Bang, you suck, bang you suck, ping, bang you suck, bang you suck, ping.

You need to learn to call your shots of course, and you need to learn what targets you can sight picture 1,2,3 etc (read brian enos' book) but it comes down to how fast can you see what you need, and how you handle pressure.

One of my hardest lessons as a primarily steel shooter was trading my uber hardly ever miss accuracy for more speed.

I much more enjoy the run and gun steel as opposed to the stand and shoot stuff. I think this is more of a west coast thing made popular in so cal and AZ
 
Yes, it is highly addictive.

This was my first match and I was trying to match everyone's time instead of going for shot placement...I came in 19/25. I almost found myself trying to point shoot...there were small plate steels from 7 yards to 15 yards and point shooting isn't my specialty. I finished every stage of fire fairly strongly (last string was always under 1 second per hit) but my first couple of strings of fire were usually pretty BAD.

I'll check out the book mentioned...and will have to pick up some steels for practice.

Bang, you suck, bang you suck, ping, bang you suck, bang you suck, ping.
Click to expand...

LOL. I like the instant feedback...that happened to me more than a few times. The stages were a total of 25 shots each...I had 2 15 round mags and 2 10 round mags...all four were empty at 2 of the 4 stages. I also like being able to spray on some paint and observe patterns, easier than posting targets and replacing cardboard every 20 rounds or so.

I'm hooked now, IDPA and USPSA here I come.
 
Pin Shooting

has even better instant feedback. Use an IPSC load, and the pin will fall well short of the back edge of the table three feet away.

Only in bowling pin shooting will one find the original three wings of IPSC - speed, power, and accuracy.

Speed - time stops when the last pin hits the ground. The Second Chance record for five pins to the ground is 2.6 seconds. The gun starts on the rail, BTW.

Power - the unpredictable bowling pin weighs three or more pounds, and there is a long 36 inches behind every pin. Suitable calibers start with the .357 magnum. Starting power factor is 195,000.

Accuracy - the kill zone on the pin, standing 25 feet away from the firing line, is the size of a 12-ounce beverage can.

In other words, an M1911 .45 ACP pistol with 230-gr JHPs can win a pin match. One can also carry this classic firearm and ammuntion with full faith and confidence.

BTW, I enjoy steel shooting as well.
 
Otasan

The pin matches really died for some reason, they were a lot of fun. Get a low side hit and it would be spinning around on the table, it made a hard target to clear off the table. I still have some pins here, but its too much trouble re-settiing them, which is the reason I made some out of steel and bolted them down. When you know the kill zone, you can see by your hit what it would have done if it was a real pin on a table. I'll shoot it four or five times and repaint.
 
Pin shooting rocks, for all the above reasons and more as others have mentioned.

However, our local best time is better than 2.6 sec...:p

My cousin Robert ' Beep ' Keilkowicz was top gun this year at 2.54 sec...

http://www.ccbrockport.org/Newsletters/OCTOBERNewsletter2007.pdf

IIRC a His BIL Tom cleared the table in 2.37 sec last year at one match. It was a sight to see!!!

scroll down to page 3

My friend Gene did the .22 cal segment in 1.82 sec...nice!!!!!
 
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