AR_James

Thanks for the clarification. And, thank you for all the work you do for the sport!

Sounds like you have an outstanding AD. Unfortunately that is not the case across the board. Just as an example, this was a response from a USPSA Section Coordinator when he was asked about supporting/growing Steel Challenge in his area: "not a function of my role as Section Coordinator", "steel challenge isn’t my purview. Steel Challenge isn’t even mentioned in the sections by-laws." I am not saying SC needs its own separate board of directors. But, forming a committee or something similar of dedicated steel challenge participants to make decisions/rules for the sport seems logical.

Same. Emailed him once. Never received a reply, but it is the only contact info I have for him.

The Area 4 Director is Chad Stanton (Area4@uspsa.org).

Nope. The assumption had nothing to do with the number of bays a club has.

Help me understand why adding additional stages would be a "HUGE" advantage. To get a classification you only have to shoot four out of the eight official stages. So, if a range can accommodate all the stages except Outer Limits and Speed Option, no issue there. A Tier 1 match only has to use two official stages to have a match. So, local matches are not an issue even if a range can not fit the two larger stages. And, a club can even hold a state championship without using Outer Limits or Speed Option. If two additional stages where added, I would expect to see all ten stages required at Tier 3/4 just as all the stages are required at this level currently. So, a range that cannot set-up Outer Limits and Speed Option still would not be able to host this level of match.

The top young folks currently shooting this sport are amazing. You put the same size plates that are currently being used into your 30' x 60' bay and these new stages will be super fast stages in short order. Peak Times might actually fall faster.

If you are trying to make a connection between USPSA and Steel Challenge, to be fair with your question, for the USPSA folks that would not be satisfied with matches that had the same pre-determined eight classifiers. You have to ask if the stage count was bumped to ten classifiers, would they change their answer. Based off of the local USPSA matches, to make Steel Challenge more like USPSA you would have matches with 6-7 non-classifier stages and 1-2 Steel Challenge classifiers. The serious SC folks I now, don't like these matches. Apples to oranges comparison.

Thank you!

What is/was its intent?

Perhaps, but looking at the revolver centerfire numbers it doesn't appear to be the case. Pre-Covid numbers for the combined revolver divisions at World Speed Shoot: 2015 = 37 participants between both divisions, 2016 = 42; compared to 29 entries in 2018 and only 16 entries in 2019. So, from 2015 to 2019 more than a 50% reduction in participation. While for a reference, RFRO went from 15 rifles in 2015, to 144 in 2019.

The Wilson grip has an "enlarged, integrated magwell opening for fast reloads", so would that make it illegal for USPSA Carry Optics?

I do not see any benefit in adding additional classifiers. Tier 1 matches already have the option of setting up non-official stages. So, if a club wants to do something to mix it up they already have that option.

I use a Competition Electronics Pocket Pro 2 clipped to a front pants pocket. No issues picking up my .22 pistols or rifles (no compensators). I have a CED 7000, but I can't hear the start beep with it attached to my belt while wearing hearing protection. The beep is too high pitched for me to pick up unless someone can operate the timer and point it at my ear. Seems to be age related as others don't have the same issue.

If i recall the rule correctly, plus/minus two inches is an acceptable deviation in height.

Currently starting on Speed Option when it is available as my cold string times are closer to my peak times than the other stages at this time. Five To Go and Accelerator are also on the list depending on what stages are available at the match. Like Thomas, I feel like it helps to have a few stages under my belt before taking on the faster stages. But, my local matches move squads around enough that I am use to not starting on the stage I signed up on. I do think it matters enough to put some effort into finding out if you do better starting on certain stages. As an example, at WSSC the person one place above me edged me out by 0.03 seconds and the person directly below me was only 0.01 seconds away. Seeing as how these three spots where only separated by 0.04 seconds, I'll take every advantage I can get.

So, that begs the question, Tier 3 matches must run all 8 Steel Challenge stages per the rulebook. So, if they only ran seven due to pulling Outer Limits, is it no longer a Tier 3 level match?

^^^^^This matches what I have seen at locals.

You are welcome.

Some of the scoring pad programs display this information for each stage. As apoc4lypse stated, each individual stage (SC-101, SC-102...) has a peak time. The Peak Time for the stage divided by your time on that stage will give you a Classification time for that individual stage. From the stages you listed: SC-101 Peak Time: 9.50 - Your Time: 15.36 - Stage Peak Time/Your Time (9.50/15.36) = 61.85% B SC-102 Peak Time: 7.00 - Your Time: 14.36 - Stage Peak Time/Your Time (7.00/14.36) = 48.75% C SC-103 Peak Time: 7.00 - Your Time: 14.11 - Stage Peak Time/Your Time (7.00/14.11) = 49.61% C SC-106 Peak Time: 9.00 - Your Time: 15.36 - Stage Peak Time/Your Time (9.00/15.36) = 58.60% C SC-107 Peak Time: 9.00 - Your Time: 16.75 - Stage Peak Time/Your Time (9.00/16.75) = 53.73% C SC-108 Peak Time: 7.00 - Your Time: 11.93 - Stage Peak Time/Your Time (7.00/11.93) = 58.68% C Now, combine all these individual stages into a Match to get your total match time of 87.87 seconds. Next, add up the Stage Peak Times: 48.50 seconds which is the Match Peak Time. Same as with the individual stage times, divide the Match Peak Time (48.50) by your total match time (87.87). 48.50/87.87 = 55.20% which gives you a classification of "C" for the match. Staying with the stages you mentioned: take the Match Peak Time (48.50) and divide that by the % of whichever class you are looking at. Example: for "B" you need to be at 60% or more of the Peak Time (48.50/.60 = 80.83 seconds). For "A" Class (48.50/.75 = 64.66 seconds). "M": 48.50/.85 = 57.05 seconds. "G" 48.50/.95 = 51.05 seconds. You can also do this for each individual stage too, just substitute the Stage Peak Time for the Match Peak Time. Example: SC-103 Peak Time: 7.00 - Your Time: 14.11 - Stage Peak Time/"B" Class % (7.00/0.6) = 11.66 seconds "B". So, on this stage you would need to shoot a 11.66 seconds Stage Time to move from "C" to "B". If all this gives you a headache, check out the Steel Challenge Match Tracker app. It will do all this for you. There is also a classification calculator on the Steel Challenge website.

Yes, sir. Set up just like it came out of the box except for adding a baseplate & optic.

Agreed, but the movement with mine does not go away after inserting a loaded mag.

Thanks!

Agreed. This is exactly what I am experiencing.

He has been to at least seven SCSA matches just based off his classifier dates. But, regardless, to show up at your first WSSC and have two guns under 60 seconds is beyond impressive. And he is just as nice of a young man as he is a shooter. It will be very interesting to see what he can accomplish if he continues with the sport. Grant Kunkel's RFRI 53.97 was 23.42 seconds faster than he was in the same division his first year at WSSC just three years ago. If Kenshiro only does 50% of that, he would be well below the 50 second mark.