Steel Challenge is a speed shooting competition governed by the Steel Challenge Shooting Association (SCSA) that consists of eight standardized stages with steel targets in three sizes; small circular, large circular and rectangular targets. Competitors are scored solely by the time it takes them to complete each stage, and the match winner is the competitor with the lowest overall time.

Steel Challenge has many similarities with IPSC, but has a more TV- and spectator friendly format because of simpler rules and the stages being the same from year to year. Because of this, Steel Challenge has become a place where speed records are set and broken.

Stages

There are 8 stages with 5 steel targets on each. Shooters get five runs on each stage. Each competitor shoots each stage five times, with their slowest run dropped, excluding the stage Outer Limits where only four runs are shot and the top three counted. The counting times are totaled for their stage score, and the eight stage scores are added together to establish the competitor's match score.

For each run, one hit per target is required, with an unlimited number of rounds. The last target to be shot is known as the "stop plate", which stops the timer. All primary target hits made after the stop plate has been struck, will be scored with a 3-second penalty each. The maximum time permitted for a run is 30 seconds and a competitor will be stopped and asked to reload if they reach the 30 second limit.

The Steel Challenge comprises eight courses of fire called 'stages.'[6] They are:

Five To Go
Showdown
Smoke & Hope
Outer Limits
Accelerator
Pendulum
Speed Option
Roundabout

Steel Challenge target sizes

Type and numbers

Small round plates (9 pieces) 25,4 cm (10")

Large round plates (20 pieces) 30.48 cm (12")

Square plates (11 pieces) 45.72 x 60.96 cm (18 x 24")

Steel Challenge Pistol

Home

All stages have competitors fire from square boxes. In Steel Challenge, the boxes have side lengths of 3 ft (91.44 cm), except the stage Outer Limits where the boxes' sides are 4 ft (1.22 m).

Showdown has two boxes, and requires the competitor to make the first two runs from one of the boxes, and the two following runs from the other box. On the fifth and final run the competitor can choose which box to shoot from. There is no movement, so each run is to be shot from one box only. The competitor can choose whether to make the two first runs from the left or right box.

Outer Limits has the longest shots in the match, and is also the only stage with movement. Contrary to the other stages, Outer Limits only has four runs (instead of five), which with one throwaway run makes for three counting runs in the aggregate score.

In Steel Challenge the shooting boxes on Outer Limits are larger than those on the other stages. The stage has three boxes, and the competitor starts on their weak hand side. For example, for a right handed shooter, the procedure is to start in the leftmost box from where they are to engage the leftmost 12 in (30.48 cm) plate at 20 yd (18.29 m) and the leftmost 18×24 in plate (45.7×60.9 cm) plate at 35 yards (32 m). Thereafter the shooter is to move to the center box and engage the two similar plates on their stronghand side, before engaging the stop plate.

Handguns

Open (OPN)
Limited (LTD)
Production (PROD)
Single Stack (SS)
Iron Sight Revolver (ISR)
Open Revolver (OSR)
Carry Optics (CO)
Rimfire Pistol Irons (RFPI)
Rimfire Pistol Open (RFPO)

Long guns

Rimfire Rifle Irons (RFRI)
Rimfire Rifle Open (RFRO)
Pistol Caliber Carbine Irons (PCCI)
Pistol Caliber Carbine Open (PCCO)