The Steel Challenge is a speed shooting competition governed by the Steel Challenge Shooting Association (SCSA) that consists of eight standardized stages with steel targets in three sizes; small circular, large circular and rectangular targets. Competitors are scored solely by the time it takes them to complete each stage, and the match winner is the competitor with the lowest overall time. Steel Challenge has many similarities with IPSC, but has a more TV- and spectator friendly format because of simpler rules and the stages being the same from year to year. Because of this, Steel Challenge has become a place where speed records are set and broken. The annual World Championship called the World Speed Shooting Championships (WSSC) was held in Frostproof, Florida (2012 and 2013), St. George, Utah (2014), San Luis Obispo, California (2015 - 2017), Talladega, Alabama (2018 - 2023) and draws shooters from around the world. Up until 2011 the World Championship used to be held in Piru, California each year. History The competition was founded in 1981 by Mike Dalton and Mike Fichman. The Steel Challenge World Speed Shooting Championships have grown to one of the largest professional pistol competitions in America. In 2007, more than 220 competitors from the United States and around the world competed for a portion of the $390,000 in cash and prizes - the largest purse in competitive pistol shooting. Seventy shooters competed in the first Steel Challenge in 1981. John Shaw claimed the first ‘World’s Fastest Shooter’ title along with his share of the $20,000 in cash and prizes. In the winter of 2007, Dalton and Fichman sold the Steel Challenge to the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) which is the US sanctioning body of IPSC. Since 2007, USPSA has been organizing US National Steel Championship every year in US. Stages There are 8 stages with 5 steel targets on each. Shooters get five runs on each stage. Each competitor shoots each stage five times, with their slowest run dropped, excluding the stage Outer Limits where only four runs are shot and the top three counted. The counting times are totaled for their stage score, and the eight stage scores are added together to establish the competitor's match score. For each run, one hit per target is required, with an unlimited number of rounds. The last target to be shot is known as the "stop plate", which stops the