Steel Challenge Outer Limits (SC-104): Layout, Dimensions and Strategy

The only Steel Challenge stage with movement and the only one scored best three of four. Every official dimension, the box rules, current peak times and how to shoot it.
ERG Crew
Updated September 9, 2026

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Outer Limits is the outlier on every line of the peak-time table, and for good reason. It is the only stage with movement, the only stage with three boxes, the only stage scored best three of four, and the only stage where which box you shot from can turn a hit into a miss.

The official layout

Two 12-inch plates, two 18″×24″ rectangles and one 12-inch stop plate — five targets, like every other stage. Three 4′×4′ boxes, 6 feet apart. Four strings, best three counted.

15 ft30 ft45 ft60 ft75 ft90 ft105 ft4′ x 4′4′ x 4′4′ x 4′18" x 24" 105 ft6 ft left · top 5′6"18" x 24" 105 ft6 ft right · top 5′6"12" 60 ft12 ft left · top 5′12" 60 ft12 ft right · top 5′STOP 12" 54 ftcenter line · top 5′SC-104 · Outer Limitsshooting box at left · downrange →

Our own scale plan of SC-104 · Outer Limits, drawn from the dimensions published in Appendix B of the SCSA Competition Rules, edition 2026-03. Seen from above, the three boxes at the left. Note how far out the rectangles sit — 105 feet is the longest shot in the sport.

Target Size Distance from the box Offset from center Height to top
18″×24″ rectangle 18 x 24 inches 105 ft 6 ft left 5 ft 6 in
18″×24″ rectangle 18 x 24 inches 105 ft 6 ft right 5 ft 6 in
12″ plate 12 inches 60 ft 12 ft left 5 ft
12″ plate 12 inches 60 ft 12 ft right 5 ft
12″ stop plate 12 inches 54 ft on the center line 5 ft

What a 100% run looks like here

The stage peak is the aggregate of your 3 counted strings. Divide it by 3 and you get a par time you can set on a shot timer today.

Division Stage peak Per string
Rimfire Rifle Optics 10.75 s 3.58 s
Rimfire Pistol Optics 11.5 s 3.83 s
PCC Optics 11.25 s 3.75 s
Open 12.5 s 4.17 s
Carry Optics 13.75 s 4.58 s
Production 14 s 4.67 s
Single Stack 14.75 s 4.92 s
Iron Sight Revolver 15.75 s 5.25 s

Peak times verified against SCSA’s live classification system on September 8, 2026. The full 16-division table is on our peak times page.

Five targets, not seven

This one is worth saying plainly because the highest-ranking third-party stage diagram on the internet draws Outer Limits with seven targets. It has five. Every Steel Challenge stage has five: four standard targets and a stop plate. If a diagram shows you anything else, it is wrong.

The rules that are unique to this stage

  • Four strings, best three counted. Every other stage is five and four. That means your throw-away here is one of four, so a single blown run hurts proportionally more.
  • Designated targets from designated boxes. The written stage briefing tells you which targets must be engaged from which box. Hitting a target from the wrong box scores it as a miss, plus a 3-second procedural for each occurrence (10.1.3, 10.1.3.2).
  • You can fix it. If you leave a box, realize you shot out of sequence or missed, and go back to that box and shoot it correctly before hitting the stop plate, there is no penalty (10.1.3.1). Once the stop plate falls, the clock stops and every penalty stands.
  • Improper movement is 4 seconds per string (10.1.4.1) — the only 4-second penalty in the rulebook, and it exists because of this stage.
  • The boxes are 4′×4′, not the 3′×3′ used everywhere else, and only two of the three get used in a given string.

What makes it hard

The rectangles are at 105 feet — 35 yards. That is the longest shot in Steel Challenge by a wide margin, and it is why every division’s largest peak time is this stage. An 18-by-24-inch rectangle at 35 yards with a red dot and a rimfire pistol is a real shot, and it is being taken immediately after moving between boxes with the gun up.

The 12-inch plates at 60 feet are 12 feet off the center line each way — wide, and small. Then the stop plate is closer than either of them at 54 feet, on the center line.

How to shoot it

  • Read the written stage briefing. Not the club’s habit, not what the guy before you did. The briefing is what the RO scores you against.
  • Move with the gun up and your finger off the trigger. The clock does not stop while you move, and re-acquiring from a dropped muzzle costs more than moving slightly slower with the gun ready.
  • Get set before the 105-foot target. A settled stance for a quarter of a second beats a hopeful shot from a moving body every single time. Missing at 35 yards costs three seconds, or the whole string if you never find it.
  • Enter the box, do not skid into it. A foot fault is 3 seconds per shot fired while faulting, and a 4-foot box gives you room to plant if you plan the last step.
  • Know your bail-out. If you realize mid-run that you took a target from the wrong box, going back is free. Hitting the stop plate is not.

The common mistakes

  • Shooting the far rectangles on the move. Thirty-five yards does not forgive it.
  • Hitting the stop plate to end a run you know went wrong. Once it falls, the penalties are locked in. Fix it first.
  • Practicing it like the other seven stages. It is scored differently, has a movement penalty the others do not, and has the longest target in the sport. It deserves its own range session.

The other seven stages

Same five targets, eight different problems. The full set, plus the data behind them:

Sources

SCSA Competition Rules, edition 2026-03, effective March 1, 2026 — Appendix B (stage diagrams), rule 2.1 (target height) and the chapters cited inline. Peak times from SCSA’s live classification system, retrieved September 8, 2026. The diagram above is our own drawing made from the published dimensions. If a measurement here does not match the stage as your club sets it, the rulebook and your match director are the authority — and we would like to know about it.

Updated as of the date above

The date under the headline is the last time we checked this page against its sources — not the day it was first written. Rulebooks get amended, regulations change and season dates move, so we review these guides on a regular cycle and re-stamp the date whenever we revise one. If you find something here that has changed before we caught it, email [email protected] or tell us at the counter; we will verify it against the source and correct it.

From the shop in Steamboat

We write these because people ask us at the counter. Everything in them we either sell, service, or shoot ourselves — and if you'd rather talk it through than read about it, come in.

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ERG Crew

The counter staff and gunsmiths at Elk River Guns in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. We write the guides we'd give you in person: Colorado season dates and regulations, platform and gear explainers, and straight answers about what the law actually says. We cite our sources and we don't give legal advice.
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