Every August, a major match takes place in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Steamboat Challenge is an action pistol match where you will test your speed and accuracy against some of the best in the country.
Steamboat attracts shooters from the Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU), the US Border Patrol (USBP), and plenty of individuals who want to test their skills.
What is action pistol?
Action pistol is a competition supported by both the National Rifle Association and the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP). This sport will test your accuracy under strict time limits from 10 to 50 yards, depending on the course of fire. All of the courses of fire require the competitor to draw from the holster and place extremely accurate shots. There are no make-up shots; precision is of utmost importance.
Many are familiar with the Bianchi Cup action pistol match. Just like Bianchi, Steamboat Challenge has those four classic courses of fire.
The Practical
Competitors engage 2 AP-1 targets from the 10, 15, 25, and 50 yard lines under par time. At each yard line, the competitor fires one round per target, two rounds per target, and on the final string, they fire three rounds per target. You are given just enough time to place the shots. There is no time to dilly-dally around in any of the courses of fire.
Falling Plates
It has been stated by competitors that this is the hardest event in all of action shooting. The plate rack is composed of six 8-inch round plates. Competitors engage the plates from 10, 15, 20, and 25 yards with a time limit that tends to make shooters rush their shots ever so slightly.
Each yard line is fired twice, and there are no make-up shots or round dumping to get it done. Just one shot per plate. A hit is worth 10 points, as well as an X count, and a miss is worth zero. It’s quite easy to see how just a few misses could put you out of the match quickly.
The Barricade
The barricade is fired on the same paper AP-1 targets as the practical. Competitors have a barricade that can be used for support as they engage targets from 10 to 35 yards. They will fire six rounds from each side of the barricade at a much faster pace than the other courses of fire. X-ring hits are important here as they often separate the stage winners.
The Mover
The mover is an AP-1 target that moves laterally to the firing line at 10 feet per second. This target requires the shooter to hold a lead to compensate for target movement. As if making hits in the 10-ring of the AP-1 were not hard enough, now the target is moving at a good clip!
The second day of the Steamboat Challenge mixes it up a bit. They use a spinning wheel to randomly select two additional courses of fire. This adds to the challenge as no one knows what to practice for ahead of time.
Each day of shooting totals 192 rounds. Every competitor is attempting to get all 192 rounds within the 4-inch X ring. This leaves them a little bit of fudge factor to still hit the 8-inch ten-ring. With a max possible points of 1920 and 192 X, there is a lot of precision to strive for.
Focus and accuracy
The amount of focus required to achieve this level of accuracy and consistency is like no other form of pistol shooting I have participated in. I know that when I step up to the line and lock my eyes on the first target, the world appears to stand still.
At this moment, I am listening for the buzzer, mentally preparing to take an absolutely perfect sight picture, and preparing to take a perfect grip on the handgun.
As I present the gun, I bring it to eye level while keeping my focus on the target. The moment the front sight—or the dot in the optic—comes into focus, I press the trigger as it aligns with the X-ring. With each shot, as the gun recoils back into my hand, I immediately prepare the trigger for the next shot. All of this happens in mere seconds. Shooters who consistently and precisely execute these steps will find themselves in the winner’s circle.
Final Event: Revolver Only
Steamboat likes to spice up the match one more time before the weekend is over. They have a revolver-only side match as the final event. As soon as competitors finish the primary event, they jump right back in the match with their favorite wheelgun. This is a heck of a lot of shooting for one weekend, pushing the marksman’s stamina on the range.
The firearms
I know that one burning question that all of the readers have: what guns are the competitors using? Well, a little bit of everything. Action pistol is unique from other types of pistol competitions. With courses of fire maxing out at six rounds per string, revolvers and semi-autos compete on a level playing field.
The sport has multiple divisions, from your basic rimfire or centerfire all the way through custom firearms. Polymer striker-fired handguns make up the majority of the production and production optics divisions. Metallic sight and open division will have both revolvers and 1911-pattern firearms. Rimfire open division has a good mix of brands and styles of pistols, but I was shooting the only rimfire revolver.
my Gear
I shot a revolver for both rimfire open and metallic sight divisions. I ran my Spohr Club loaded with 38 specials. Safariland speedloaders handled my reloads, just like the majority of the revolver shooters.
My rimfire was a Spohr 286 Competition 22LR 8-shot revolver with Ultradot Prime XT reflex sight. We do not have speedloaders for this model yet. Between strings, I had to stuff the gun full as quickly as possible.
For my holster, I used a long-time favorite of mine, a CR Speed race gun holster. All supported by a Shooters Connection gunbelt. I also utilized a Safariland speedloader pouch.
The challenge
Watching these highly skilled shooters and participating myself, I know the gear is not what’s holding anyone back. An 8-inch ten-ring may seem large; just wait until you feel the pressure of the time limits. These are some of the hardest “easy” targets you will ever engage.
As you look through the scores, you will see production optics pistols scoring almost as high as open guns. You will also notice metallic sight and production pistol scores are not that far apart. Today’s modern firearms, paired with a good marksman, are amazingly accurate.
Steamboat challenge results
We had a highly skilled group of shooters that recorded some high scores. The standings from Saturday’s CMP match are as follows:
Open Pistol
- Martinez, Benito 1920 180x
- Johnson, Walter 1918 182x
- Gordon, Nigel 1910 159x
Metallic Sight Pistol
- Franks, Ryan 1912 143x
- Krozek, Phil 1875 126x
- Fredrickson, Nathan 1837 105x
Production Optics Pistol
- Heinauer, Anthony 1913 165x
- Bucher, Luke 1897 130x
- Mattheyer, Dustin 1886 139x
Production Pistol
- David, Jeremy 1895 131x
- Buckman, Walker 1880 118x
- Ragsdale, Jack 1682 71x
Open Rimfire Pistol
- Stoehr, Jon 1861 127x
- Rhodes, Chris 1831 116x
- Knoll, Steve 1829 109x
The standings from Sunday’s NRA Match Results:
Open Pistol
- Johnson, Walter 1920 178x
- Martinez, Benito 1916 171x
- Gordon, Nigel 1908 155x
Metallic Sight Pistol
- Fredrickson, Nathan 1880 116x
- Franks, Ryan 1870 131x
- Krozek, Phil 1849 120x
Production Optics Pistol
- Heinauer, Anthony 1914 159x
- Mattheyer, Dustin 1891 147x
- Huff, Steve 1861 126x
Production Pistol
- David, Jeremy 1883 113x
- Buckman, Walker 1859 125x
- White, Scott 1772 94x
Open Rimfire
- Stoehr, Jon 1876 139x
- Ragulsky, Alex 1864 124x
- O’Boyle, Brian 1804 120x
Just like all competition shooting, action pistol is a valuable tool for you to use to build upon your shooting skills. With a mix of speed and precision, everyone has something to gain from these matches. More likely than not, you have the equipment you need to start shooting action pistol in your safe right now. Dust off that handgun and give it a go!
I would like to thank Ayvah Steege of Steege Photography for contributing several photos to this article.
