News

PISTOL MATCH DESCRIPTIONS

News

PISTOL MATCH DESCRIPTIONS

Published January 2, 2023

Hostage Pin Match

Hostage Pin is essentially a duel between two competitors.  Each stands behind a barrel facing an array of five bowling pins.  Four pins are white.  The center pin is black.  The objective is to clear all your white pins and then you opponent’s black pin.  The first black pin to fall loses the match.

There are separate 22 rimfire and centerfire Divisions.  Start position is gun loaded and laying on the barrel.  Hands and wrists completely above shoulders in the surrender position.  Draw from holster is optional in centerfire.  You are allowed 2 magazines loaded with 5 rounds each, but you can bring as much loose ammo as you want.  At the start signal (a beep), engage the targets in front of you. If you empty both mags you can reload from your loose ammo pile.

There are a minimum of two practice rounds before eliminations start.  In the elimination round, losers retire, and winners shoot against each other.

2 X 4 Match

2 x 4 Matches are often held after Hostage Pin Matches.  Two 5’ 2x4s are placed vertically in front of the shooting tables.  The top 6” of each 2 x 4 is painted black.  Shooters are divided into evenly matched teams of 4 or more.  Guns are placed on the shooting tables, unloaded with slides locked back.  Shooters stand behind the rear start line.  At the start signal (beep) the first shooter races forward, loads their gun and fires up to 10 rounds at the 2 x 4.  The gun is them unloaded, slide locked back and placed on the table.  The shooter then races back to the start line and tags the next shooter.  This continues until ALL the black is shot off the 2 x 4.  First team to remove all the black wins.  This is hilarious to watch.  (Hint) 45s are much more effective than 9mm.

Steel Matches

There are two kinds of steel matches.  The first is Steel Challenge.  Generally, the match consists of two stages with arrays of different sized steel targets placed at different distances.  You will need 4 magazines loaded with 10 rounds each for each stage.  If you don’t have four mags, you can have a buddy reload mags for you while you shoot the next string.

Some stages are free fire, meaning you may engage the targets in any order.  Some stages have a stop plate placed on top of a red stick.  Hitting the stop plate ends the string, even if you have not hit all the other targets.  Other stages have a proscribed shooting order.  Shooting plates out of order incurs a Procedural Penalty of three seconds per infraction.  Procedures are explained at the Match Briefing given before the match starts, and again before the start of each stage.

All misses incur a 3 second penalty.  Missing a stop plate incurs a 30 second penalty.  You engage the targets 4 times.  Your time is recorded after each string.  Your worst string is dropped, and your time is the total of your 3 best strings.

There are 22 rimfire and centerfire divisions.  Start position is the same as for Hostage Pin, or optional draw from holster for centerfire only.

The second type of steel match is Action Steel.  The rules are the same as for Action Matches (see below).

Action Matches

Action Matches usually consist of 2 or 3 stages with arrays of targets placed in different locations.  Targets may be paper or steel.  Brown paper targets should be engaged with 2 shots each.  White paper targets are no-shoots.  You are docked 10 points for every no-shoot you hit.  You are docked 10 points for every miss and every penalty assessed.

For 2023 Action Matches will have centerfire and rimfire divisions with a max of 10 rounds in each mag.  In centerfire, steel must fall to score.  In 22, it must only be rung.  On stages with disappearing targets, etc., 22 shooters will be at a disadvantage.  Handgun start position will be explained in the stage briefing.  If you have a holster and mag pouches you may carry your mags in the pouches.  If not, you may pre-position your mags on the barrels in front of each target array.

There are rules and restrictions for Action Matches.  We follow USPSA rules, with one exception.  The club does not permit running with a loaded gun.  That means the magwell and chamber must be empty, and the slide locked back BEFORE moving to the next array.  Procedures for doing that are explained in detail at the Match Briefing.  Generally, you engage the targets from within the shooting box or fault lines.  Engaging targets outside of the shooting area is penalized.

See the Match Schedule for allowable ammo.