BCRider
Member
I attended one of my local clubs for a Speed Steel event. WHAT A BLAST! ! ! !
The stages involved 5 steel rounds or rectangeles of between 8 inch diameter (most of them), 12 inch diameter and a couple of rectangles of around 18 x 24. Ranges were from 10 yards to 20'ish yards. The aim of the event was to tag each of 4 white targets first and finish with tagging a black target. Shooting continues until all the targets are tagged or you hit 30 seconds elapsed time. Scoring was based on time only with penaties for missed targets if any.
By far the most nefarious setup was a 12 inch white disc in front of the black 18x24 finisher. It was to be 4 rounds into the white disc with a finisher to the black rectangle. If we missed early in the series and the black finisher in behind was hit then hefty penalties were incurred. Sounds easy until you try it. It was the butt of much ribbing at the lunch break since NO ONE managed to finish the string of shots at this devilish setup without fouling out.
Lots of ammo was consumned. Once we stepped up to a stage we would shoot 6 timed strings with the other shooters heping to keep the shooter's magazines loaded so action would be near non stop. The only break between each string was to load and the wait for the timer to beep after the "Shooter ready? Standby!". I went through 6 1/2 boxes of 9mm. And I managed somewhere around an 80 to 85% hit rate. Others that kept missing must have gone through more ammo than me.
All in all an expensive day ammo wise but man was it a hoot to be out in the sun and shooting in my first event. And it is SOOOOO much more satisfying to hear that steel target ring than to see yet another hole in some nondescript paper target appear.
They also have a .22 class. Silly me only took one pistol out thinking that I'd have enough to do with this being new and all. Next time it'll be rimfire for the morning to help curb the cost and centerfire pistol or revolver in the afternoon to get the max giggles.
I think I've explained it well enough for some of you to try a similar event and setup. It has much in common with IPSC and IDPA but without movement of the shooter or holster use. It's shot from a hand held 45 degree ready position and the shooter is not allowed to leave the mat at the shooting point. This avoids a lot of issues. But we shot at targets through openings in barrels and walls and in one case from a chair sitting beside a car door with care taken on the angles to ensure the gun faced down range at all times. Talk of future stages at lunch showed much the same sort of imagination about making it interesting with twists.
Next comes my IPSC debut...... Got the gun, holster, belt and just waiting on the mag pouches. But most importantly was how much fun I had shooting at things that reacted to being hit. I'm totally hooked!
The stages involved 5 steel rounds or rectangeles of between 8 inch diameter (most of them), 12 inch diameter and a couple of rectangles of around 18 x 24. Ranges were from 10 yards to 20'ish yards. The aim of the event was to tag each of 4 white targets first and finish with tagging a black target. Shooting continues until all the targets are tagged or you hit 30 seconds elapsed time. Scoring was based on time only with penaties for missed targets if any.
By far the most nefarious setup was a 12 inch white disc in front of the black 18x24 finisher. It was to be 4 rounds into the white disc with a finisher to the black rectangle. If we missed early in the series and the black finisher in behind was hit then hefty penalties were incurred. Sounds easy until you try it. It was the butt of much ribbing at the lunch break since NO ONE managed to finish the string of shots at this devilish setup without fouling out.
Lots of ammo was consumned. Once we stepped up to a stage we would shoot 6 timed strings with the other shooters heping to keep the shooter's magazines loaded so action would be near non stop. The only break between each string was to load and the wait for the timer to beep after the "Shooter ready? Standby!". I went through 6 1/2 boxes of 9mm. And I managed somewhere around an 80 to 85% hit rate. Others that kept missing must have gone through more ammo than me.
All in all an expensive day ammo wise but man was it a hoot to be out in the sun and shooting in my first event. And it is SOOOOO much more satisfying to hear that steel target ring than to see yet another hole in some nondescript paper target appear.
They also have a .22 class. Silly me only took one pistol out thinking that I'd have enough to do with this being new and all. Next time it'll be rimfire for the morning to help curb the cost and centerfire pistol or revolver in the afternoon to get the max giggles.
I think I've explained it well enough for some of you to try a similar event and setup. It has much in common with IPSC and IDPA but without movement of the shooter or holster use. It's shot from a hand held 45 degree ready position and the shooter is not allowed to leave the mat at the shooting point. This avoids a lot of issues. But we shot at targets through openings in barrels and walls and in one case from a chair sitting beside a car door with care taken on the angles to ensure the gun faced down range at all times. Talk of future stages at lunch showed much the same sort of imagination about making it interesting with twists.
Next comes my IPSC debut...... Got the gun, holster, belt and just waiting on the mag pouches. But most importantly was how much fun I had shooting at things that reacted to being hit. I'm totally hooked!
