The 2008 season began for the Team GLOCK Shooting Squad with victories at the Georgia Steel Challenge Championship. The 3rd Annual steel tournament took place January 3-5 at the Griffin Gun Club in Griffin, Georgia and drew more than 120 entries including GLOCK’s Dave Sevigny, Jessie Abbate and Randi Rogers.
At this event competitors were required to draw and hit five steel targets at ranges from 7-35 yards. Competitors receive five separate start commands in succession and keep the best four runs to attain a total time for the stage.
Courtesy of Glock
Each of the seven courses of fire present a slightly different challenge to the competitors. “Outer Limits” was the only course that was not available from the standard eight course Steel Challenge menu. Temperatures dipped into the teens on Friday morning which had an affect on everyone. Hand warmers and propane heaters could be found in every shooting bay. In the afternoon, temperatures finally broke into the 50’s.
Team GLOCK Captain Dave Sevigny, the 2007 National Steel Master, shot his GLOCK 34 on Thursday afternoon and won the overall match in Limited division with a 73.41 second total. On Friday morning Dave shot his Open (electronic sight) GLOCK 17 which should help a shooter produce faster times, but cold weather contributed to a higher Open division total score of 76.35 seconds.
Sevigny commented, “It’s very uncommon to see shooters here bundled up like this. The early a.m. temperatures made it tough to get going. You can dress warm, but you have to strip some layers when it’s your turn. Needless to say, we were trying to finish quick! By looking at these totals it’s obvious I’m not as good in very cold weather. Our goal was to keep more weekend slots open for others coming to the match so we shot Friday morning. I’m content with my Limited score and especially proud of Jessie and Randi’s strong performances here.”
Despite what he considered an overall “mediocre” Open division performance, Sevigny shot a personal best on the stage known as “Smoke and Hope” with a blistering 7.95 second, four-string total in Open division. Jessie Abbate, the 2007 High Lady Steel Challenge World Champion, won the High Lady title in Open division with an 85.63 second total and second place overall in Open division.
Jessie said, “I really enjoyed the friendly atmosphere with the entire Shooting Squad and GLOCK employees shooting together to begin the 2008 season. Plus, I’m very happy with finishing second overall in Open.”
Both Sevigny and Abbate used 9mm GLOCK 17 pistols, modified by S&J Customs to be competitive in the Open “race” division.
Randi Rogers, the 2007 High Lady Winchester World Challenge Champion won High Lady titles in both Production and Limited division with her GLOCK 34 with totals of 116.19 and 104.29 seconds respectively.
