Steel Challenge Peak Times: Every Division, Every Stage

What a peak time actually is

A peak time is not a record and it is not a goal. It is a fixed benchmark per division, per stage.

Per the SCSA rulebook, peak stage times are an average of the 2014 and 2015 World Speed Shooting Championship stage winning times for each division, and SCSA may adjust them annually. That is why a Grand Master card in Carry Optics and a Grand Master card in Rimfire Rifle Optics represent very different raw clock speeds: each division is measured against its own benchmark.

Source: SCSA Competition Rules, edition 2026-03, Appendix A3 and Appendix A4. Table values retrieved from SCSA’s live classification system.

The table — 16 divisions, 8 stages

Every number below is a stage aggregate: the total of your best four strings out of five, except Outer Limits (SC-104), which is the best three out of four. Divisions are sorted fastest to slowest by total.

Codes are the sub-division abbreviations printed in the rulebook appendices (D3, D6, D8, D9, D11). The rulebook does not assign a printed code to Open, Limited, Limited Optics, Production, Single Stack or Carry Optics, so we have left those blank rather than invent one. Peak times are the values SCSA’s classification engine was applying as of September 8, 2026, and can be revised annually.

How the math actually works

The classification percentage is not “your time over the peak time.” It is the other way around, and it is summed across stages, not averaged per stage.

The rules around it

• Four stages minimum. You need scores on at least four of the eight official stages in a division before you get a classification in it. From there the calculation uses anywhere from four to eight stages as you add them.
• Best time counts. Shoot a stage ten times and only your best aggregate for that stage is used.
• A stage time is the aggregate. Best four of five strings, or best three of four on Outer Limits — not a single run.
• Defaulted stages do not count. A stage scored at the 30-second-per-string default is treated as a DNF and is left out of the calculation entirely. That rule and the rest of the scoring and penalty math are worth knowing before a match, not after.
• Wednesdays. Classifications recalculate early Wednesday morning, weekly. Your match does not move your card until the club has paid the activity fee for it.
• Three-year window. The current and two previous calendar years are what feed the live percentage.
• Your class does not fall. Your percentage can drop. Once you have earned A, or B, or M, that card does not go backward.

Worked example: what B class costs you in Carry Optics

Say you shoot all eight stages in Carry Optics. The peak total is 92.5 seconds. To hit each class, your eight-stage total has to come in at or under peak ÷ the class threshold:

That reframes the whole thing. C class in Carry Optics is a 231-second eight-stage match — that is roughly 29 seconds a stage, or about seven seconds a string. A competent shooter who has never worn a timer is usually already there. B is 154 seconds, under five seconds a string. That is the first number that requires actual work.

The number that changes how you practice: peak per string

Stage peak times are aggregates, which makes them hard to use at the range. Divide by four (or three, on Outer Limits) and you get a par time you can actually set on a timer.

The benchmark is not a mystery. It is a par time you can set on a shot timer this afternoon.

Two examples, both at 100% — Grand Master pace and then some:

Set that as a par time, start from the real start position, and you learn very quickly which part of the run is costing you — the draw or point-in, the transitions, or the stop plate. For most shooters below A class it is the transitions, and it is not close. Pendulum is the stage that proves it: every plate is at the same distance, so the only variable left is how you move the gun.

What the table tells you before you pick a division

• Rimfire Rifle Optics and PCC Optics are the fastest benchmarks in the sport — 67.75 and 69.5 seconds for eight stages. They are also the friendliest places to start, because the guns are easy to shoot well and the start position is a low-ready point-in rather than a draw.
• Iron Sight Revolver carries the slowest benchmark at 104 seconds, and Single Stack is next at 98. That is not a knock on those divisions; it is the system correctly recognizing that five plates and a reload-free run are harder with those guns.
• Optics buy you between five and ten seconds across eight stages in every platform that splits — 67.75 vs. 73 in rimfire rifle, 69.5 vs. 78.25 in PCC, 70.25 vs. 80 in rimfire pistol, 77.75 vs. 88 in rimfire revolver. The benchmark expects a dot to be faster, so running irons does not hand you an easier card.
• Outer Limits is the outlier on every line. It is the only stage scored best-three-of-four, and its peak is the largest number in every division. It is also the only stage with movement between boxes.

Which division a gun actually lands in is a rulebook question, and the answer moved this year. The 2026 divisions page has all sixteen with the equipment rules that decide it.

How current this table is

Verified September 8, 2026 against SCSA’s live classification system, which had last recalculated on September 2, 2026. The update date at the top of this page is the real one — when we revise the table, we re-stamp it.

SCSA can adjust peak times annually and recalculates classifications every Wednesday, so treat any peak-time table anywhere — including this one — as a snapshot with a date on it. We review this page against SCSA’s live system on a regular cycle and update it when a number moves.

If you spot a value here that no longer matches your own classification record, tell us. Email [email protected] or mention it at the counter — we will check it against the source and correct it on the next review, and re-stamp the date when we do.