Steel Shooting Techniques

Nothing tests the skills of a shooting enthusiast more than steel shooting. Your score is your time, which begins when you hear the start signal and draw your pistol from the holster. You are required to shoot the four primary steel plates first, and your time stops when you shoot the fifth "stop plate." This is the end of one string of fire, and your final score will consist of the best four out of five strings of fire minus three-second penalties for missed targets and false starts. There are certain shooting techniques that lead to successful steel shooting by lowering your time, increasing accuracy and decreasing penalties.

Things You'll Need

  • Competition pistol (no smaller than 9mm or .38)
  • Ammunition (minimum 750 feet per second)
  • Steel targets
  • Access to firing range
  • Shooting timer
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Instructions

    • 1

      Bend your knees slightly to help you lean forward for a more aggressive stance. This helps you move and swivel more from your hips than from your shoulders. This stance will help your point of aim and allow you to swivel towards different targets easily.

    • 2

      Face toward your hardest shot first, so when you hear the start signal and draw, you will be sighting in on the hardest target first. It is best to get the most difficult shot out of the way, so you can continue through the other targets as fast as possible and get a better time.

    • 3

      Aim for the center of the plates to minimize your margin of error. Quickly moving from target to target decreases your accuracy, so taking a desperate shot at the edge of a steel plate has a smaller chance of hitting it than a shot at the center of the plate.

    • 4

      Shoot one bullet for each plate as much as possible. If you miss a steel plate and then reverse your movement to take an extra shot or two at the missed plate, you will probably be wasting time. Sometimes, it is worth going back for a missed target, but only if you can do it faster than the three-second penalty for missing.

    • 5

      Focus on your sight picture, not your draw. Shooters often try to speed up their draw, but have a harder time acquiring a proper sight picture as a result. While looking at the first target and waiting for the start signal, imagine the image of your pistol's sights over the target. In other words, imagine the sight picture you want for a good shot. When you hear the start signal, just focus on that sight picture until you overlay the real sights of your gun over the target. The drawing of the pistol will take care of itself.