Competitor #149 or otherwise known as Max Michel, member of Team Hornady® set a new world record score of 75.68 to win the Open Division for the third time at the S&W US National Steel Championships. Held at the Titusville Rifle and Pistol Club in Titusville, Florida this past weekend, two hundred eighty competitors from twenty-two states and Canada stared downrange at the brightly painted white targets with determination as eighty-five degree weather and clear skies made for comfortable shooting - Florida style.
The match is eight stages with each stage consisting of five steel targets electronically timed to 1/100th of a second. Each competitor shoots seven of the stages five times with their slowest run time eliminated. Then, each competitor shoots the final stage four times and three of the best run times are counted. The remaining best times are added together to calculate their final scores.
Max Michel, a native of Covington, Louisiana said, "Breaking my own record of 78.02 last year is due to my strength going into this particular match which is my draw speed and overall knowledge of the eight courses of fire. For this three day event I used Hornady 115 grain Round Nose bullets; due to the lower power factor of steel shooting and consistent accuracy. Hornady bullets perform flawlessly for me every time."
Mike Calloway, Match Director added, "What's unique about this match, now in its fifth year, is the friendliness and camaraderie that exists amongst the shooters and spectators. This year we had ten teams consisting of mother and daughter or father and son and that speaks volumes that the shooting sports is expanding to become more family oriented."