My first steel plate match

[Waveski]

I joined a local gun club recently , and participated in the informal Monday night weekly .22 Steel Plate Match. The format is : 5 steel plates of 10" dia. , 3 white , 1 red , 1 white in that order. 10 yards , muzzle down till timer starts , total time for hitting all 5 targets - red must be last. For all I know this is a standard format?

Having never participated in such an activity it was my fear that I would empty my magazine without hitting all 5 targets. Most of the 15 guys were really well equipped ; I was shooting my venerable Ruger MKI with iron sights w/custom color highlights. (daughter's nail polish.) On the first round I hit the 4 whites with 4 shots , but missed the red and foolishly stopped shooting. The timer guy suggested that I keep shooting ; I then got the red on the second try. Despite the pause I clocked a 7.5 seconds - enough to bolster my confidence. After a few more tries I managed to hit 5 in 5 , clocking 5.4 seconds - much better that I had anticipated. The best guy of the event clocked 3.4 - he had been there before.

So , is this a standard format? Any of you folks have similar experiences or advice to share? My take is : lots of fun , and a good confidence builder. Moving aim from target to target is challenging and rewarding. Glad I went to the club.

 

[Brian425]

That timer is like crack...there is no going back for you now

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

 

[1KPerDay]

One of my favorite types of matches. Not a standard format that I'm aware of. At my club they do a similar type of event once a year called Man versus man where you are shooting against another shooter on another plate rack and then there's a stop plate that indicates the winner of that match up. It is very addicting and very exciting.

 

[9mmepiphany]

Any of you folks have...advice to share?

The hardest thing to learn is to not wait to hear the bullet strike or the plate to fall before moving on to the next target.

The most dramatic improvement will be moving your eyes to the next plate and letting the sights follow...as opposed to tracking the sights between plates

 

[Waveski]

In the case of my club the plates are hanging in such a way that they move when struck , then right themselves.

As to moving eyes to the next plate and following with the sights - great advice! I am pretty sure that I was doing the opposite , thanks.

 

[BigJakeJ1s]

One of my favorite plate games is with plates hung on the points of a 5-point star that is free to rotate (the star faces you). When you start knocking the plates off the star, it becomes unbalanced, and rotates to re-balance itself. Think of it as a falling plate rack that starts moving!

Andy