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New Shooters

Introduction

Traditional shooting practice limits you to slow, deliberate, and intermittent shooting at bland, non-reactive targets. Practical Shooting frees you from those limitations, emphasizing both movement and as much speed as you desire. The Steel Challenge, well, challenges your swiftness and accuracy with arrays of reactive steel targets that clang loudly with every hit. For even more movement and speed, USPSA mixes static, reactive, paper, and steel targets to test your vision and reflexes. SWPL’s outdoor ranges are designed for Practical Shooting, allowing you to move and shoot safely. And though SWPL is a private club, club membership isn’t required to shoot The Steel Challenge and USPSA matches.

If you’re new to shooting, we recommend either the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) First Shots Program or the National Rifle Association (NRA) First Steps Basic Pistol Orientation to get you started. Once you’ve mastered gun safety and handling, you’re ready for the Steel Challenge, or USPSA, or both!

The Steel Challenge matches consist of 150 rounds fired in Six Stages. Each stage is its own bay, with five Steel Targets of varying sizes. You have a choice of shooting either a centerfire handgun or pistol-caliber carbine, a .22 rim-fire handgun, or a .22 rim-fire rifle. Each stage starts with the firearm held at a low-ready position, or by drawing a handgun from a holster. You’ll engage the targets from a designated spot, but move your firearm to engage all the targets. You’ll shoot each stage five times, reloading off the clock between each string.

Your First Match

 

Nervous about your first “public performance”? Most people are! Relax and enjoy it! Everyone you’ll meet at SWPL matches had a first time, too. You’ll find that both experienced shooters and Range Safety Officers (RO’s) are friendly and helpful to new shooters. We all enjoy Practical Shooting, and want to get you started right! Matches are just as much social gatherings as they are shooting contests. Here’s how we suggest you approach your match, either The Steel Challenge or USPSA:

 

First – Concentrate on Safety while handling your Firearm. Nobody wants to see you disqualified for a safety violation. This can happen, as the saying goes, if you run before you learn to walk. Learn safe gun handling first. Increased speed will come with practice. Slow or fast, you should always pay attention to where the muzzle of your gun points and where your trigger finger rests!

 

Next – Don’t worry about your stage times. Instead, slow down and concentrate on hitting the targets. Focusing on a clear sight picture and precise trigger control will make you a better shooter.

 

Finally – Get out on the range and have fun!

What Gear Will I Need?

You won’t need camo outfits and black face paint to shoot the Steel Challenge. But, you will need:

  • Eye and Hearing protection! For your eyes, this means shooting glasses or industrial safety glasses. For your ears, ear plugs or ear muffs will preserve your precious hearing.

  • A safe and serviceable, handgun (semiauto or revolver) chambered for 9mm/.38 caliber or larger, with which you are functionally familiar. Please leave your ultra-powerful bear, cape buffalo, or velociraptor guns at home, though. Calibers larger than .45acp will damage the steel targets and scare the living daylights out of your fellow competitors. Oh! Oh! Oh! No magnum loads, either.

  • Or, an equally safe and serviceable rimfire (.22 Long Rifle) handgun or rifle.

  • While 200 rounds should be enough to complete the Steel Challenge, we recommend bringing at least 250 rounds. It never hurts to have more than you need.

  • For semiauto handguns and rifles: At least four magazines. For revolvers: perhaps double that number of speedloaders or moon clips. You’ll shoot each stage five times, that’s five “strings” of fire. So it will be handy to have that much ready to go at the start of each stage. Frantically stuffing cartridges into magazines or individual revolver chambers between strings will play havoc with your concentration.

  • We recommend a small shooting bag, to carry to each stage. Rather than stuffing your pockets with charged magazines, speedloaders, or moon clips, then leaving them strewn about when empty, your handy-dandy bag will neatly corral them.

  • While optional, it’s convenient to carry a handgun in a holster on your strong side, one that covers the trigger guard of your gun. The tacti-cool and ultra stylish, cross-draw, shoulder, FBI cant, inside-the-waistband, or small-of-the-back holsters could result in pointing your muzzle at your fellow shooters as you move about the range. And when you draw from these kinds of holsters, you’ll certainly violate the “180 Rule”. So, please consider something more traditional.

  • When you wear a handgun holster, a sturdy belt that fits through the loops on your pants or a double competition belt (a flexible inner belt through your belt loops that attaches to a  sturdy outer) will keep your holster stable and distribute your gun’s weight comfortably.

  • Along with a holster, magazine, speedloader, or moon clip holders are optional, but nice. Having all the reloads for a stage on your belt allows you to stroll happily along, with nary a care in the world.

  • If this is your first Steel Challenge and you don’t have a holster for your handgun, it’s cool. You can start at the Low-Ready position on the stages. Remember to carry your gun in its case as you move between stages.

  • How about if you decide to shoot with a rimfire rifle? Resist the urge to sling it over your shoulder, commando-style. Instead, please carry it in a case between stages.