The number of folks traveling to speed steel events around the country is growing, and with good reason.
Cost wise it’s a good return for the time and money spent. You can get to shoot a number of (up to five) different firearms at each event. The down side is you will be shooting a lot of rounds, which doesn’t suit everyone as some like to stretch their ammo to last as long as possible. This is not the case for most of my friends, we are kind of the other way and like to shoot as much as we can get away with, without getting in too much trouble at home due to the cost of the ammo at the moment. As the name suggests, we shoot steel plates and we do this as fast as we can.
Some guns are drawn from the holster while others are already in the hand. On the start signal five plates are shot with the last being the stop plate, this must be shot last otherwise a time penalty is added to your score. The same goes with any misses before the stop plate is hit. Some very good times are being done at speed steel. Like IPSC everyone competes together and no inch is given or asked for between the different ages or genders.
Speed steel is an international sport, with a good following. The targets are set to a precise layout, it is easy to see how you fare against others and also how you are improving. Extra shots cost you big time, so the old saying fast is smooth and smooth is fast really comes true here, because even the smallest mistake can cost big time as the seconds tick by. Distances vary from the shooting positions to the targets out as far as 35 meters, and while the plates aren’t all that small, they aren’t that big either , other than the large squares. Of course, even a big white plate can be missed when you try and go too fast, with this style a hit is a hit so no need to go for centre, just hit and move. You get five runs in most cases and the four best times count, so fast and steady is the key because two or three fast times just won’t cut it, four good times are required.
As there are .22 used in both pistol and rifle it can be a cheap way to try and get into speed steel, followed by a 9mm production pistol which is an out of the box without big expensive add ons or changes.
Why not give it a go? Contact a pistol club in your area, or have a look at the Pistol NZ web site at the nine different sections.
On a side note, I would like to take the opportunity to thank Tactical Solutions for their support of the Cable Bay members who are traveling to Bali in August for the Australasian’s as part of the New Zealand team. Look out for a write up about this event in the future.
