2013 Arizona Spring Steel Shooting Match

The 2013 Spring Steel match was held last Sunday at the Rio Salado Sportsman's club in Mesa Arizona and as always, it was a lot of fun. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this event, this is an annual shooting competition which requires the participants to draw from a holster, shoot, reload, run to multiple positions, and hit moving targets, all while trying to remember which targets to shoot, remember where to run, and being timed.

It sounds complicated, but once you figure out the pattern, it's not too bad.

Here's what a typical stage looks like. Well, actually this is just half of it, the other half is out of the frame on the left side, but looks identical. In this case, the "poppers" or the tall slender targets were "no shoots" and if you knocked them down while trying to hit the squares, you incur a 5 second penalty for each one.

I shoot action pistol as well, mostly IDPA, and it is the most fun you can have with your pants on.

I like the idea of the competitions and like to watch them, but in real life none of them would be carrying what they are shooting. They are extreemly modified. Including the loads they are using. I prefer to shoot what I carry, from the holster to the ammo, all the way down to the sights.

As for the photos.......I love them!

Strnge wrote in post #15693805
prefer to shoot what I carry, from the holster to the ammo, all the way down to the sights.

Same, that's why I primarily shoot IDPA. Although I shoot USPSA with the same rig.

Strnge wrote in post #15693805
I like the idea of the competitions and like to watch them, but in real life none of them would be carrying what they are shooting. They are extreemly modified. Including the loads they are using. I prefer to shoot what I carry, from the holster to the ammo, all the way down to the sights.

As for the photos.......I love them!

It depends. In USPSA, you can shoot production which is pretty much a stock gun. I shoot a bone stock Glock 35. For carry, I have a XDSC40, but I bought it before I got into competition and would now prefer a glock 23. For the first few months, I did shoot the XD in competition because that's all I had. Did pretty good with it too.

You'll notice the girl in the black shirt is shooting a stock gun. The last picture, the guy who beat everybody including all the open shooters, is shooting a limited gun which can't have optics or a compensator.

Anyway, it's all for fun.

Are there different classes in the compitition? Or all of them shooting against each other?

Yeah, there are different classes and divisions. Classes are the people side of things where the better you are, the higher you're ranked. From the top down it's Grand Master, Master, A, B, C, D.

On the hardware side of things there's Open, Limited, Limited 10, Production, Single Stack and Revolver. Open is the formula 1 of shooting. Almost any modification goes, which includes red dot optical sights, a compensator (which vents the gasses up, thus reducing recoil), and extra long magazines. Production is Nascar where everyone has to shoot an almost stock gun.

So who you compete against depends on your rank and what kind of gun you're shooting.

Now, there are two major action shooting organizations, USPSA and IDPA and the above only pertains to USPSA. IDPA is similar to USPSA, except they're more focused on providing scenarios that are more realistic to a self defense situation. So that means no Open guns, you must have your gun concealed, and your movements must be more tactical in nature. For example, I believe you must shoot from cover.

I'm not too up on IDPA, so perhaps jss5152 can fill us in.

I caught a ricochet in the stomach at a steel match in Durango about 20 years ago. Slapped my hand over the impact and was afraid to look, when I opened my hand I had 200grn of lead in my hand and a bruise. Don't stand directly behind them with your favorite lens. Fun sport though. shayne

You pretty much nailed it. USPSA is very "run, gun, have fun." IDPA is much more practical. Although I've found scenarios in IDPA where tactically, I wouldn't have done what the stage prescribed. It's those moments where you're reminded that it is still a game.

Round counts are much lower in IDPA, so two mags plus the one in the gun are all that are needed. USPSA you need at least 5.

I shoot with a Springfield XDSC in .40 S&W with hand loaded rounds.

Nice shots. My son and I shoot USPSA. I shoot Production (G 34, 17 & 22) and my son shoots Limited with a G 24 and a 35. Nice to see others who shoot in competition. We have a 3-Gun on Saturday; we still have snow on the ground. Thanks for posting your shots.

I like the last one the most .

Thanks all. I would have liked to post more, but I was trying to tell a story and instruct people on how the sport is played so I used up my allowed 8 shots pretty quickly.

At the end of the month I'm going to try to make it to the Superstition Mountain Mystery 3 Gun comp and take some pictures. I'm sure I'm not going to be alone, because this is a pretty big match and gets pretty good coverage.

wow, how many competed? I didn't hear of that event happening.

There were 160 competitors. It's not one of the larger, formal matches, but more of a semi-formal extension of Tuesday Night Steel. Lots of prizes though, including an AR15, several custom CZ's from Camerons Customs, and lots of other little door prizes.

I hear that the upcoming SMM3G match has over 400 competitors flying in from all over the country and probably the world.