Petros “Pete” Milionis won both the Production and Limited divisions at the inaugural Drazy Metal Works Steel 500, an all-steel match held at PASA Park near Barry, Illinois on May 30-31. Milionis, a full-time Chicago SWAT officer, shot his Glock 34 for both divisions, only changing magazines with different capacity between the two, and also winning the High Law Enforcement category in each division. Jeff Matsche, a long-time USPSA shooter who lives near St. Louis, won Open division using an STI wide-body frame and C-More red dot sight. Matt Cheely, a professional gunsmith and top shooter from Michigan, won Single Stack using a Springfield Armory 1911. Dean Gomez took top revolver honors. The match consisted of 12 Steel Challenge stages Saturday, and 12 medium or long USPSA field courses on Sunday. This was a first-of-its-kind match shot all on steel, combining both Steel Challenge and IPSC/USPSA stages in the same event. To complete the match, 107 of 115 registered competitors each fired at least 512 scored rounds over the 24 courses of fire. Some competitors shot only the Steel Challenge stages on Saturday before needing to travel home. In Steel Challenge shooting, competitors keep their best four of five runs on all courses of fire except “Outer Limits,” where the best three of four are used. In USPSA shooting, competitors have five minutes to look over the course of fire before attempting it one time for score.

The PASA Park range is home to The Masters International Shooting Championship in August, and past home to numerous USPSA Nationals, including the Single Stack Classic held in April. Although the United States Practical Shooting Association and the Steel Challenge Shooting Association (SCSA) came under common management about two years ago, the two associations have never had a combined match until now. As a result of the Drazy Steel 500, a number of new people were introduced to steel challenge shooting. Most loved the instant feedback provided by metal targets and the ability to immediately compare standings. Tom Drazy and Ray Hirst, both USPSA Range Masters and frequent match officials at the Nationals every year, put on the match with help from several others. Drazy and Hirst used this year’s match as a test bed and hope to have SCSA sanctioning as a regional championship for next year. The date for next year’s match will be announced near the end of this year. Milionis will be attending the World Steel Shooting Championship in Piru, California this August, where he hopes to do as well as last weekend. Cheely and Matsche will be shooting various Area and State Championship USPSA matches over the rest of the summer, including Area 5 and Indiana, both in June, before the USPSA Nationals in September in Las Vegas.

Contact:
Tom Drazy
tom@drazymetalworks.com
Work: (715) 822-3465

Ray Hirst
Ray.Hirst@gardnerdenver.com

Related Posts