A few years ago, a few competitive shooters decided to get classified in every single division of Steel Challenge just for fun. SCSA liked the idea and made a challenge coin and a list of shooters across the country who have taken it on.
At the time, there were only 13 divisions, but they added one more in the last few years and there are now 14 you can earn a classification in.
A few months ago when I decided to focus on shooting a few more guns in a few more divisions than I would have otherwise to join Club 13, I counted 211 shooters in the country who had done it. As of last week, I am also a member.
I used 12 different guns to shoot all 14 divisions (you could definitely do this with less guns, but more guns made it more fun). Like my college grades, my classifications are a range of As, Bs, and unfortunately some Cs.
To explain classification, SCSA took the times from the World Shoot a few years ago and set "peak times" based on the fastest times shot on each stage by the best shooters, and then set classifications based on percentages of peak time. So to reach GM, you have to shoot within 5% points of the peak time on the stage.
GM >= 95%
M >= 85%
A >= 75%
B >= 60%
C >=40%
D >=0%
So As, Bc and Cs are....not super. From here, my goal is to drag all my Cs up to Bs, the Bs to As, and start working on M. Not sure how time consuming or realistic this will be to actually do, but GM in all 14 someday would be a heck of an accomplishment. (There's a shooter in the CS area who has done exactly that, plus in USPSA....freaking awesome).
Here's a video of some of the different guns and stages I shot. (the first stage recorded sideways and editing the flip made it smaller and I'm too video editing illiterate to fix it...sorry).
If you watch the video, my runs here range from between 84% and 56%. I have a couple 87% and 88% times, but naturally managed to not get them on video. So if you think any of these runs are decently fast, imagine watching a GM shooting. Or come shoot a match with me and see, a shoot with a few of them and it is always humbling to watch them burn down a stage.
My 12 guns:
I shot Rimfire Pistol (Iron and Open) with this Volquartsen Black Mamba. Absolutely great .22 for Steel Challenge, if you wanted to buy a gun to shot SC with this would be my pick every time.
Rimfire Rifle (Iron and Open) I shot with the Tippman M4-22. You can go hog wild tricking out a .22 for steel challenge, but this gun has run well for me and at least gives some training value crossover with an AR.
Pistol Caliber Carbine Iron I shot with the MKE AP5 full size MP5 clone. If I have to use irons, using some of the finest diopter irons ever put on a subgun made sense to me.
I could have slapped a dot on the MP5 clone for PCCO, but I went with the Flux Raider X instead.
Production I shot with the CZ Shadow 2 that was my USPSA competition gun before I tore my achilles.
Single Stack I shot with this Tisas Night Stalker, 5" 1911 in 9mm. Really enjoying this gun so far.
I shot Carry Optics with a Beretta M9A4. I know mil people hate on the M9 because they had cheap magazines, beat to crap guns etc but I really enjoy how Berettas shoot. Though I have a C in both CO and SS because as it turns out, shooting Single Stack with a single action trigger and irons and CO with a DA/SA trigger and a dot back to back is a great way to perform poorly with both.
For Open I shot my Glock 17 with ALG 6 Second Mount. Its not a good Open gun, but have you seen the price of open guns? I'm just going to keep shooting this thing.
In Limited I shot my USP Expert. Just a fun old school .45.
For Limited Optics I shot my DWX Compact. I really, really love this gun. Need to keep shooting it in competition.
Finally, Iron Sight Revolver: S&W 627. N frame, .357 4", 8 shot cylinder.
And Optical Sight Revolver. SCSA rules say that ISR can't have a comp or port on it, but you can in OSR, so instead of putting a dot on my 627 I pulled out my 586 L Comp for OSR. This gun is also a ton of fun to shoot.
Sorry for a long post, I was excited about getting classified in every division. I really love steel challenge, and also wanted to kind of show off the huge variety of guns you can shoot in SCSA matches. If you have any questions about the sport or ever want to shoot a match, theres a good group of Ags that shoot together here in Bell County (several of them much better shooters than I am at Steel Challenge). Come on out and join us. Believe it or not, I might even have a gun I can loan you for a match......
At the time, there were only 13 divisions, but they added one more in the last few years and there are now 14 you can earn a classification in.
A few months ago when I decided to focus on shooting a few more guns in a few more divisions than I would have otherwise to join Club 13, I counted 211 shooters in the country who had done it. As of last week, I am also a member.
I used 12 different guns to shoot all 14 divisions (you could definitely do this with less guns, but more guns made it more fun). Like my college grades, my classifications are a range of As, Bs, and unfortunately some Cs.
To explain classification, SCSA took the times from the World Shoot a few years ago and set "peak times" based on the fastest times shot on each stage by the best shooters, and then set classifications based on percentages of peak time. So to reach GM, you have to shoot within 5% points of the peak time on the stage.
GM >= 95%
M >= 85%
A >= 75%
B >= 60%
C >=40%
D >=0%
So As, Bc and Cs are....not super. From here, my goal is to drag all my Cs up to Bs, the Bs to As, and start working on M. Not sure how time consuming or realistic this will be to actually do, but GM in all 14 someday would be a heck of an accomplishment. (There's a shooter in the CS area who has done exactly that, plus in USPSA....freaking awesome).
Here's a video of some of the different guns and stages I shot. (the first stage recorded sideways and editing the flip made it smaller and I'm too video editing illiterate to fix it...sorry).
If you watch the video, my runs here range from between 84% and 56%. I have a couple 87% and 88% times, but naturally managed to not get them on video. So if you think any of these runs are decently fast, imagine watching a GM shooting. Or come shoot a match with me and see, a shoot with a few of them and it is always humbling to watch them burn down a stage.
My 12 guns:
I shot Rimfire Pistol (Iron and Open) with this Volquartsen Black Mamba. Absolutely great .22 for Steel Challenge, if you wanted to buy a gun to shot SC with this would be my pick every time.
Rimfire Rifle (Iron and Open) I shot with the Tippman M4-22. You can go hog wild tricking out a .22 for steel challenge, but this gun has run well for me and at least gives some training value crossover with an AR.
Pistol Caliber Carbine Iron I shot with the MKE AP5 full size MP5 clone. If I have to use irons, using some of the finest diopter irons ever put on a subgun made sense to me.
I could have slapped a dot on the MP5 clone for PCCO, but I went with the Flux Raider X instead.
Production I shot with the CZ Shadow 2 that was my USPSA competition gun before I tore my achilles.
Single Stack I shot with this Tisas Night Stalker, 5" 1911 in 9mm. Really enjoying this gun so far.
I shot Carry Optics with a Beretta M9A4. I know mil people hate on the M9 because they had cheap magazines, beat to crap guns etc but I really enjoy how Berettas shoot. Though I have a C in both CO and SS because as it turns out, shooting Single Stack with a single action trigger and irons and CO with a DA/SA trigger and a dot back to back is a great way to perform poorly with both.
For Open I shot my Glock 17 with ALG 6 Second Mount. Its not a good Open gun, but have you seen the price of open guns? I'm just going to keep shooting this thing.
In Limited I shot my USP Expert. Just a fun old school .45.
For Limited Optics I shot my DWX Compact. I really, really love this gun. Need to keep shooting it in competition.
Finally, Iron Sight Revolver: S&W 627. N frame, .357 4", 8 shot cylinder.
And Optical Sight Revolver. SCSA rules say that ISR can't have a comp or port on it, but you can in OSR, so instead of putting a dot on my 627 I pulled out my 586 L Comp for OSR. This gun is also a ton of fun to shoot.
Sorry for a long post, I was excited about getting classified in every division. I really love steel challenge, and also wanted to kind of show off the huge variety of guns you can shoot in SCSA matches. If you have any questions about the sport or ever want to shoot a match, theres a good group of Ags that shoot together here in Bell County (several of them much better shooters than I am at Steel Challenge). Come on out and join us. Believe it or not, I might even have a gun I can loan you for a match......
