Do Steel Challenge Matches Improve Your Tactical Shooting Skills?

Does participating in Steel Challenge competitions improve your tactical shooting skills? I believe it does. The Steel Challenge is a speed shooting competition that currently consists of eight standardized stages. Steel Challenge scores competitors solely by the time it takes them to complete each stage and the match winner is the competitor with the lowest overall time.

Webster’s dictionary defines tactics as: “the art or skill of employing available means to accomplish an end.” Shooting “tactics” are simply procedures designed to position you to make an effective shot. Your tactics can be outstanding; however, they are wasted if you cannot quickly and accurately hit your target when you get in position.

So how does Steel Challenge improve tactical performance? If you are going to do well in Steel Challenge, you must be able to rapidly perform several critical shooting skills. Among these are:

    -- Maintain your sight alignment. Steel Challenge uses three targets: a 10-inch plate, a 12-inch plate, and a 24 x 36-inch square or gong. These targets are placed at distances ranging from seven to thirty-five yards. As a result, you absolutely must be able to maintain sight alignment as you fire the shot or you will miss the target.

    -- Call your shots. Depending upon where you hit it, Steel Challenge targets typically ring when they are struck. However, if you wait to hear your shot’s “ring” before you move on to the next target, you will never be particularly fast in Steel Challenge stages. You must cultivate your ability to call your shots and see what you need to see as the shot breaks so you can move on.

    -- Rapid and precise transitions between targets. Steel Challenge stages typically require four to fifteen feet transitions between targets. Any over or under transition will eat time as you try to reset for a make-up shot.

Steel Challenge scoring is unforgiving; you either hit the target or you do not. There are no “points down” like in IDPA matches nor are there any points earned for almost hitting the “A” or “B” zone like you find in USPSA scoring. The clock is ticking from the moment the timer starts until you fire the last shot that hits the stop plate.

There were three members of a local police department’s SWAT team on my squad for a recent Steel Challenge match. I always appreciate having police officers in any type of competition match. Their participation demonstrates a commitment to improving marksmanship skills beyond what their agency typically requires. One of SWAT officers remarked before the match that they expected to get “smoked” by a bunch of old guys pushing baby strollers around.* Although they shot fairly well – that was pretty much the case.

The officers all shot the match with their duty pistols in level three retention holsters. Two officers had authorized, personally purchased Staccato P 2011 pistols in 9mm while the other officer used his issue Glock 17 9mm with modifications. All pistols had Trijicon RMR dot optics and lights installed.

I asked the officers why they were participating in the Steel Challenge match.  All responded that they were interested in improving their duty pistols shooting skills because they were preparing for the 2025 Texas Tactical Police Officer's Association SWAT team competition. 

These three SWAT officers did well in the match with one turning in a solid “B” classification for the match and the other two turning in mid-level “C” performances. By way of comparison, B class in Steel Challenge is the general equivalent to a solid high Expert in IDPA and C class would be a very high IDPA Sharpshooter. 

This performance is much better than the typical police officers that I have observed shooting in competition over the years and I suspect well above the average patrol officer’s skill level. Great job guys and I hope you do well in the SWAT team competition.

If you enjoy reading these please subscribe. The link is on the upper right side of the page. Your information will never be distributed.

* Most regular competitors use collapsible wagons or used bob jogging strollers (or similar brands) modified to haul their firearms and ammunition between stages during a match.

Maintain Your Carry Pistol

I recently took what is becoming my primary carry pistol (a SIG P365) to the SSD Short Range Match. I periodically use my carry pistols in matches to ensure that they function correctly, that they have maintained zero, and remind myself how carry ammo feels when fired. I had not shot this pistol in a while because we’ve had bad luck with weather cancelling several of the Short Range matches and I have been concentrating on improving my performance in Steel Challenge.

I have been carrying the SIG P365 as my primary every day carry pistol in the very humid south-central Texas summer heat. I always wipe down the pistol to remove perspiration when I take it out of the holster; however, I do not unload it. Instead, I immediately place a trigger guard holster or cover over the trigger guard (I’ll abbreviate it TGH). See more on this topic below.

When I arrived at the match, I proceeded to unload the P365 (all local matches that I am aware of require cold ranges). I was unpleasantly surprised when I discovered that the pistol required considerable force to retract the slide to the rear. As mentioned above, since I do not load/unload the pistol in my normal carry routine I had not noticed that some rust had started to appear inside the pistol slide rails.

A quick lubrication solved the problem and the pistol functioned perfectly during the match. A lesson learned. Even though I was not shooting the pistol, I still needed to periodically check the pistol and ensure that no hidden corrosion was present.

I mentioned that I normally do not unload my EDC pistols when I remove them from the holster for the evening. Administratively loading and unloading your pistol requires periodically rotating your ammunition in the magazine to prevent bullet set-back.

If I am unholstering my EDC for the evening, I attach the TGH and then place the pistol on the nightstand. All members of my household are responsible adults so having a loaded pistol on the nightstand is no issue. Your circumstances may be different. If children were present, I would not keep a loaded pistol accessible on my nightstand.

If I am holstering the pistol for carry, I remove the TGH and place the pistol in the holster. Using the TGH is a deliberate act that encourages you to pay closer attention to what you are doing and you are less likely to inadvertently touch the trigger.

A Sampling of Trigger Guard Holsters

I added a glow-in-the-dark paracord lanyard to one of my TGHs (you can buy the paracord online). The glowing paracord enables me to determine the pistol’s location in the dark and it retains enough glow that it is visible throughout the night. In the event that something wakes me and I must grab my pistol, the TGH prevents me from inadvertently touching the trigger. The glowing paracord tells me exactly where the pistol is located and where to grab the cord if I do need to expose the trigger. 

Glow in the Dark Paracord

When placing the TGH on the pistol, always come straight up from the bottom of the trigger guard—never from front to back. Although a properly designed TGH does not touch the trigger, coming straight up when placing it on the pistol makes inadvertently pulling the trigger when placing the TGH almost impossible. When removing the TGH, simply pull straight down. These techniques for placing and removing the TGH also ensure that your hand does not stray in front of the pistol’s muzzle.

If you enjoy reading these please subscribe. The link is on the upper right side of the page. All that will happen is that you will receive an e-mail when I post an article. Your information will never be distributed.