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Todd's Steel Challenge


ToddKS

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A few months ago I discovered that there was a club within reasonable distance of me that shoots Steel Challenge. I had seen Steel Challenge many times on TV and always wanted to give it a try. They are not an "official/affiliated" club but I believe they are working towards that. At any rate the stages are set up per the diagrams and that is all that really matters to me.

Yesterday was the third time I had shot the monthly Steel Challenge match but it was the first time I had shot drawing from holster. As this is really just a fun shoot the club allows shooters to shoot center fire without drawing from holster. I think this is a great idea from a participation standpoint but I was looking to move forward so I brought my belt, holster, and mag holders and had at it.

I am shooting a 5.25" Springfield XDm in 9MM with a PRP trigger installed. My holster is a CompTac and my belt is an Uncle Mikes. Whenever I have a free $50 I am going to upgrade to a Double Alpha belt but for now I run what I have.

I also shot the RFRO division with my M&P15-22 with a Weaver red dot sight on it. This was the first time I had brought the rifle. This was a blast. I am definitely planning to shoot this division going forward as well. It is just too much fun not to. My only concern is the limited availability of 22LR but I have a good stash for now if I can keep the kids out of it.

At this time my goal is simply to continue to improve and now I have a benchmark to start that process. I do not believe Max and KC have anything to fear.

I have identified two areas that I am going to focus on for next month:

1. Draw speed: I spent a fair amount of time working on my draw prior to the match but I did not settle into a final holster position until the night before. I was having trouble getting my grip consistent when I tried to speed up. My primary goal for yesterday was to have a solid, and most importantly safe, draw with a consistent grip every time. I was generally successful in that goal with the exception of a couple draws where my grip was not quite right.

2. First shot speed: I have a tendency to not pull the trigger immediately when I get the front sight on the first target. There is a slight delay. The only stage where this is not a problem is Smoke and Hope. I am confident enough in my point shooting that I can grip it and rip it on the first shot there. Ironically on that stage I tend to hesitate at the stop plate...go figure.

There are many other things I need to improve on a well but I am choosing these two to focus on first and they seem to present a significant opportunity. I believe I should be able to reduce my overall stage time by 1-2 seconds or more on every stage by working these two issues. That is the goal I am setting for myself for next month.

The other nice thing about choosing these 2 items to work on is that I can easily address these with dry fire practice.

Here were my stage times from Saturday:

Production Pistol

Accelerator: 20.32 (first time I have shot this stage)

Pendulum: 22.60 (this stage has consistently given me problems but I felt better about my performance this time)

Smoke and Hope: 14.09 (Should have pushed harder on my early transitions on earlier runs. Had a couple stop plate misses.)

Round About: 16.84 (Probably the stage I felt best on)

5 To Go: 23.88 (Previously one of my better stages but had 3 train wrecks this time. Last stage on a hot day which could have been a contributing factor)

Rimfire Rifle Optics

Accelerator: 14.49

Pendulum: 12.91

Smoke and Hope: 9.58

Round About: 9.99

5 To Go: 11.80

Now if I could get my pistol times closer to my rifle times I would be getting somewhere.

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Your times are very good especially since you're just starting out. I've been shooting it monthly since October 2013 and I only have a faster time on 5 To Go than you do. Your times on the other stages are faster than mine. I'm currently a C class in USPSA and Steel Challenge. Looking forward to reading about your progress - good luck!

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Dry fire, of course. That's going to help with all shooting disciplines. Something I do is use white paper plates and set up "stages" with them. That way I have a smaller than normal target to hit and I don't rely on the ding on the steel to know I've made the hit. If you could get some video of you shooting the stages that may help. You'd be amazed at the things you can pick up by watching yourself shoot.

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A timer is at the top of my wish list. I have downloaded two different phone apps, each with varying results. On one the par time seems short, on the other one it seems long. I have decided for consistency just to use the one that seems short but I really have no idea what my actual draw time is which is frustrating. I can however tell if I am relatively faster or slower than my previous session and there is value in that.

Edited by ToddKS
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Shot some practice yesterday but not my most effective practice ever. I had too many things to do for one session and was trying to fit them all in. That never works well for me. To further complicate things I got a late start which just made things worse.

I was needing to do some load development/chrono work on my 9MM load. This activity is best performed when I do not have anyone else with me. I had planned to get the chrono work done before my buddy showed up to shoot, but due to the late start that did not happen. I was half way into it when I accidentally knocked over my most promising batch of loads thus making it impossible for me to continue with that batch. No way to sort the OAL's back out without my calipers which I did not have with me. That event put a serious dent in my focus and good humor. I should have stopped here but I was determined to work on my draw and first shot.

I set my plates up to work on my objective. I could not get a consistent grip on my draw and was not consistently bringing the pistol up level to the target. On top of those defects I was periodically yanking the heck out of the trigger. By this point between mowing the range and my clustered chrono attempt I had been out in the open sun for about 3 hours. I determined that I was likely doing more harm than good and decided to put the pistol away for the day.

I did some dry fire last night which felt much better than my live fire attempt earlier.

My lesson learned from this is that if I have activities such as load development where I really need solitude to effectively accomplish the task then I need to schedule that for a time when I do not have others coming to participate. I should have taken a pass on the chrono and worked on just my draw to first target instead.

Also, get out of bed! I know that things do not go well for me when I sleep in. Get up, get some coffee, and get on with it. Had I done that one thing I would have been at least 50% better off as I would not have been out as long in the hottest part of the day.

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I need to make sure I am getting my dry fire time in. Going to get 30 minutes of dry fire in tonight. I was busy last night with other things but will make the time tonight.

I am also playing around with an idea to build a set of targets out of some salvage material I have sitting around. I am still working the design out in my head.

Edited by ToddKS
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Shot a local USPSA match today. I had a screw up on one stage that pretty well tanked my day (posted it in the match screw ups section) but I did gain some valuable experience as this was only my second USPSA match.

1. My first shot off my draw is either slow and accurate, or fast and not well aimed. I have to keep working on this as this is critical for my steel challenge shooting. I am still not bringing the gun up level and square. Sometimes level, occasionally square.

2. I can shoot alpha's faster than I thought. As the day went on I was working on pushing the speed some. Did not have any real train wrecks and the last stage went really well even on several longer targets.

3. I am at times getting lazy with my grip with my left hand. I know that if I do not set my left hand then I tend to push left but there were a couple times where I was not thinking about it and caught myself half ass gripping the gun with my left hand.

4. I am coming too far forward off the trigger reset with my trigger finger. After the match I had the chance to set up "5 to go" for some practice. I was struggling until I realized I was not setting the trigger on each shot because I was coming way too far forward off the trigger with my finger. Once I made the correction I had some good runs. I am going to have to work on this because my unconscious tendency is clearly to come too far forward with my trigger finger. When I was doing it right I was having to think about it. That is no bueno. I believe this is partly due to some lazy dry fire habits. I did some dry fire tonight with my focus on not coming off the trigger to far.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I ordered a BOSS DOH holster hanger from the Ben Stoeger pro shop. I have been using my CompTac holster with the drop/offset but it wasn't quite right. I wanted some forward cant but the forward position with the CompTac hanger was way too much. The BOSS hanger allowed me to set my holster up with exactly the cant I was looking for. I did a fair amount of dry fire work tonight (new toy effect) and getting the cant where I wanted it seems to have really smoothed out my draw.

I have also been working to "snatch" the gun out of the holster rather than coming down on it, setting my grip, and then pulling the gun. I need some practice on the "snatch" technique but when I did it right it was definitely faster and smoother. I also seem to index the sights better this way.

I have my monthly steel challenge match on Saturday so I am eager to see if any of this is reflected in better times.

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Todd: SC is about doing 2 things well; high speed draw and high speed transitions. The most important skill to learn to become a great SC shooter is learning to call your shots so you know instantly when a shot is good and you are not waiting to hear a ping or see the plate move. Try one of Steve Anderson's metronome drills to help with your transition speed. Also you can setup the first shot for all 8 stages and learn what sight picture it takes to hit that first plate at speed since it sounds like you may be using the same sight picture for every shot which works but is very slow.

I have some SC match video posted under "My Videos" hyperlink if you want to see some of that in action ... good luck. SC is a lot of fun!

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Try one of Steve Anderson's metronome drills to help with your transition speed.

Would you briefly summarize what this drill is all about? Does Stoeger have anything similar in his books?

Todd: That BOSS hanger is just that - BOSS. I love mine.

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Try one of Steve Anderson's metronome drills to help with your transition speed.

Would you briefly summarize what this drill is all about? Does Stoeger have anything similar in his books?

Todd: That BOSS hanger is just that - BOSS. I love mine.

I did some more practice on my draw last night using my new BOSS. I try not to be a "gear geek" but this item appears to have solved a very real problem for me. Without the BOSS the pistol was not positioned such that my hand naturally came to the gun. I was adjusting myself to how I was forced to position the pistol. Now I can adjust the pistol to where my hands go naturally. Much better situation. We will see if that shows in my times on Saturday.

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Todd: SC is about doing 2 things well; high speed draw and high speed transitions. The most important skill to learn to become a great SC shooter is learning to call your shots so you know instantly when a shot is good and you are not waiting to hear a ping or see the plate move. Try one of Steve Anderson's metronome drills to help with your transition speed. Also you can setup the first shot for all 8 stages and learn what sight picture it takes to hit that first plate at speed since it sounds like you may be using the same sight picture for every shot which works but is very slow.

I have some SC match video posted under "My Videos" hyperlink if you want to see some of that in action ... good luck. SC is a lot of fun!

Can you explain what you mean by using the same sight picture for every shot? Are you referring to front sight focus vs. target focus or just learning what the first target looks like in front of the gun for each stage?

My ability to execute realistic practice is currently limited to my monthly matches which is not ideal. I am working on building some practice targets to set up out on my range but some other priorities have been in the way. Maybe I can get back on that project tonight. The targets will be square instead of round but that should be OK. The real problem is going to be the 18X24's. I am likely going to have to use undersized targets for those.

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I have been working on my draw that last few nights. It is definitely getting smoother and faster. The key for me seems to be consistently starting with my hands in the same place and making sure my shoulders are relaxed before the beep.

I am interested to see if this improvement is reflected in better times tomorrow.

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Shot my match this morning. I was not in the best physical condition possible. I had a friend from out of town come visit and we probably enjoyed a few more refreshing beverages than were optimum for next day activities.

The only thing I forgot this morning was my times from the last shoot. I had intended to bring those for reference. Without those I could only go by how I felt. Universally I felt like I was shooting worse with the pistol and better with the rifle. Reality was that compared to my last match my pistol times were faster and my rifle times were slower.

Here are my times:

Production Pistol

  • Accelerator: 19.40 (Last month 20.32) Last month was the first time I had shot this stage. This month I had decided to shoot it 1, 2, 4, 3, S. If I can get my head together I believe I can run this stage in 16 or less next month.
  • Pendulum: 23.61 (Last month 22.60) This stage is something of a nemesis for me. After the match I practiced this stage until the gun got to hot to hold on to. I am pushing for too much speed. I need to slow down and focus on getting 5 hits.
  • Smoke and Hope: 13.51 (Last month 14.09) Shot this stage pretty consistent. Felt pretty good about this one.
  • Round About: 15.98 (Last month 16.84) This should have been in the 14.80 range. I had 3 good runs and then crapped my pants twice. The first 3 runs on this stage were some of my better shooting for the day
  • 5 To Go: 23.48 (Last month 23.88) Less terrible than last month is about the best I can say for this one. I was having trouble getting to the stop plate. Did not figure out until the last run that the way I had my feet set was making it tough to get to 4 and even harder to get turned to 5.
  • Showdown: 15.89 (Did not shoot last month) This was the first stage of the day. My first run was terrible but I put together 4 solid runs after that. Overall I felt this was my best shooting for the day.

Rimfire Rifle Optics

  • Accelerator: 11.42 (Last month 14.49) This was the only stage that I did better on with my rifle than last month. Shot this 3, 4, 1, 2, S. Because you have the rifle pointed at the safety flag the move to 3 is straight up. This order did not work for me with the pistol, but with the rifle it was win.
  • Pendulum: 14.60 (12.91 Last month) See above. Not a great day for me on this stage all around. Lots of pick up shots.
  • Smoke and Hope: 10.03 (Last month 9.58) Last month I shot this 2, 1, 4, 3, S. This month I shot it 1, 2, 4, 3, S. With the rifle that shorter move off the safety flag to 2 may be a winner. Need to work this some more.
  • Round About: 10.62 (9.99 Last Month) Same as with the pistol. 3 good runs, 2 bad.
  • 5 To Go: 12.92 (11.8 last month) After my troubles with the pistol I was focused on getting 4 consistent runs. I did that but I was being overly deliberate.
  • Showdown: 10.02 (Did not shoot last month) Felt pretty good about this one. I think I can get this down into the 9's next time.

One thing I know is holding me back with the rifle is limited practice ammo. I am afraid to burn much if any ammo practicing because I fear I might not be able to replenish it. As soon as 22LR becomes available by the case again I think I am going to buy 10-20K so I don't have to worry about it any more.

Another issue I noticed was that my belt (really my pants) were shifting. I need to remember to check the position of my gear before each run. Sometimes I would go for my draw and the gun wasn't where my hand was looking for it.

My trigger control was not great today. Lots of yanking left. I am still thinking I need a little more over travel in my trigger. I think I am going to pull my PRP out and file a little off the back so it is more like my the trigger in my 45 XDm.

Last, and I hate this because I try not to be one of those guys who is constantly worrying about his gear, I believe I need a thinner front sight. I notice that what I am struggling on are the 10" plates at 18 yards. At that range the stock sight in my XDm almost completely obscures the target. I can hold 10" on a USPSA target at 18 yards no problem, but with the sight covering up the plate I lose my reference. Again, I hate this. I really don't want to get into "gear" mode but I believe this falls under needing the right set up for the game so I am going to check out some options in this regard. This means I am also going to need to buy a sight pusher. Sometimes I wish I were a Glock guy.

Edited by ToddKS
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I installed the new .100W Dawson on my gun last night. Did a little dry fire work with it and the initial results are promising. It seems easier to align with the target now.

I also seem to be more aware when my sight alignment is off left or right. I noticed that I was making small corrections in this regard without thinking about it.

One thing I noticed is that where I am applying force to the grip seems to impact whether or not the gun breaks left when the trigger sear releases. It seems that if I am applying pressure from 11:00 and 5:00 the results are much better than if I apply pressure from 12:00 and 6:00. This is all dry fire feedback so I am interested to see if this translates to live fire.

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Shot some live fire today but not my best ever. My normal routine is to mow the range and then practice. My mower broke down right in front of the berm after just barely getting started. I had to tow the mower off to the side with my truck so I could even shoot. Not the best start.

I shot my 22 rifle with a comp installed that I had sitting around. My primary goal here was to add a little weight to the muzzle, but also make the rifle louder. I have had to take several reshoots because the timer did not pick up shots. The comp seems to have accomplished the goal. I felt decent but right now the only practice ammo I can get is this Winchester 222 bulk box stuff. Not the best. Had some FTF as well as dud rounds.

First time shooting my pistol with the new sight. I still am having trouble with my first shot but the sight definitely improved some things. my 2,3,4,S shots were much more consistent. I am pleased. Still have to improve that draw/first shot. I figure there is 12 seconds a match I can gain just there.

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Thanks.

The 12 seconds is based on improving my draw time by half a second on average. With the exception of Smoke and Hope, I am 1.5 or more on my first shot, and sometimes I miss :surprise: I have been trying to figure out mathematically what it would take for me to get under 85 seconds. This seems to be one of the critical places I need to find that time. You draw 24 times for score so the volume alone makes it significant. I do not believe I can capture all 12 seconds now, but it is definitely something I am going to have to do if I am going to get under 85.

If I can fix my draw and stop crapping the bed on 5 to Go and Pendulum I would be there.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My normal monthly USPSA match did not work out this month. Apparently it was cancelled but someone forgot to send some of us the memo. This worked out OK for me as I turned it into a practice opportunity instead. Fired about 200 rounds.

I spent the first hundred shooting a couple stages that they had set up for a guy to practice for an upcoming LEO only shoot. I am not LEO but it was interesting to have a couple different challenges to shoot at.

After that I was able to set up Smoke and Hope and work it for about 100 rounds.

I am trying to take a little different approach to my practice. Up to this point I have always focused on going as fast as I could. This has led to predictably mixed results. As I am trying to plot my path to A class I have been calculating what my average time on each stage would have to be to get below 85 seconds. This has led me to change my mental approach. I am now trying to focus on what is repeatable. Essentially I am trying to learn to pace myself like runners do.

On my problem stages, my issue is make up shots. I am shooting 8-10 rounds per stage on average on Pendulum and 5 to Go. I believe the root cause is that I am trying to shoot these stages at a "4 second pace" when my skills are really more "5 second pace". The result is a 6 second average with a poor ratio of ping to bang. Rather than rushing and missing I am trying to learn what a clean 5 second run should feel like. How fast can I draw and get indexed to the first target clean? How fast can I transition to the next target without blowing past it and having to come back?

I used PowerPoint to draw out a set of reduced range targets. I got the dimensions from a fellow forum member. I cut those out and set them up on the wall at 8 yards. I have been working dry fire practice with a par timer to try to get a feel for the pace. Pendulum is on that I have been working on a lot in the last 2 days. I have been averaging close to 6 seconds per run with all the misses so I have been setting the timer at 5.3 seconds to start. I have gradually been working down to a 5 second par time which seems to be somewhat repeatable but not as much as I would like. Theory here is pretty simple. Learn to shoot 5 seconds consistently, then try to figure out the next step for that stage.

Here are the par times I am working on for the next match:

Accelerator: 4.30 per run. This is mildly aggressive but I think it is feasible. I had two runs under this time last match

Pendulum: 5.25 per run. I would like to set this goal even lower but I this would be a significant improvement. Based on my match history this is aggressive.

Smoke and Hope: 3.25 per run. I have had only had 3 runs under this time in the last two matches. I think this is may be a bit of a stretch.

Round About: 3.7 per run. I had 3 runs under 3.75 last month. I just need to put a 4th run with it

5 to Go: 5 per run. I have been shooting this stage after Smoke and Hope. I am going to try to not do that this month if possible. I just need to ease up and get my hits. I had two runs in the 4.6's at the June match so this is feasible.

Showdown: 3.8 per run. This is a bit of a stretch as I only have one run under this time but I feel pretty good about this stage overall.

All of that would add up to 101.20. I would take that.

This may not work out the way I think it should but at least I am trying something different and have a plan.

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What sizes did you end up using for your reduced size targets? I would imagine they are different sizes for different stages, right? The 18x24 for Speed Option would need to be a different size than the one needed for Smoke and Hope, right? Good luck making A class!

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That is correct. The size is relative to the distance. I took the sizing direct from Dan's spreadsheet so using dimensioned shapes in PowerPoint was pretty straight forward. Now I need to do the math for all the spacing. So far I only have Pendulum and Accelerator up on the wall and I figured out the I did the math wrong on Pendulum. There are 3 feet in a yard, not 2....

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I am continuing to work dry fire drills with the reduced range targets. I now have Pendulum, Accelerator, and 5 to Go pasted to my wall. I am spending at least 30 minutes a night running the stages. I am interested to see if this translates into faster times at next months match.

I have had a question in my mind regarding whether I should be shooting my 9mm XDm or my 45ACP 1911. I am actively suppressing that thought. I don't have a great reason for it other than my 1911 is more accurate than the XDm. My plan is to send the XDm off to Springfield for a match barrel install when the weather turns. Hopefully that will tighten the accuracy up a bit.

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