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Steel Challenge Pendulum (SC-106): Layout, Dimensions and Strategy

Pendulum is the cleanest stage in Steel Challenge and the most honest one. Four plates in a straight line, all at the same distance, evenly spaced, and a stop plate close in on the center line. There is no clever route and nothing to figure out. It measures exactly one thing: how fast you move the gun between targets and stop it where you meant to.

The official layout

Two 10-inch plates, two 12-inch plates and one 12-inch stop plate. One 3′×3′ box. Five strings, best four counted.

15 ft30 ft45 ft3′ x 3′plate 54 ft12 ft left · top 6′plate 54 ft6 ft left · top 5′plate 54 ft6 ft right · top 5′plate 54 ft12 ft right · top 6′STOP 12" 30 ftcenter line · top 5′SC-106 · Pendulumshooting box at left · downrange →

Our own scale plan of SC-106 · Pendulum, drawn from the dimensions published in Appendix B of the SCSA Competition Rules, edition 2026-03. Four plates on one line at 54 feet, evenly spaced, and the stop plate well short of them.

Target Size Distance from the box Offset from center Height to top
Round plate 10 or 12 inches 54 ft 12 ft left 6 ft
Round plate 10 or 12 inches 54 ft 6 ft left 5 ft
Round plate 10 or 12 inches 54 ft 6 ft right 5 ft
Round plate 10 or 12 inches 54 ft 12 ft right 6 ft
12″ stop plate 12 inches 30 ft on the center line 5 ft

Pendulum is the one stage where the standard targets sit at two different heights: the outer pair is set to 6 feet to the top and the inner pair to 5 feet (rule 2.1). The rulebook diagram does not label which of the four positions carries the 10-inch plates and which carries the 12-inch, so we have not guessed.

What a 100% run looks like here

The stage peak is the aggregate of your 4 counted strings. Divide it by 4 and you get a par time you can set on a shot timer today.

Division Stage peak Per string
Rimfire Rifle Optics 9 s 2.25 s
Rimfire Pistol Optics 9.5 s 2.38 s
PCC Optics 9 s 2.25 s
Open 11.25 s 2.81 s
Carry Optics 12.75 s 3.19 s
Production 13 s 3.25 s
Single Stack 13.5 s 3.38 s
Iron Sight Revolver 14.25 s 3.56 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.

The one stage with two target heights

Rule 2.1 says every round target in Steel Challenge is 5 feet to the top — except on Pendulum, where two of the round targets are set to 6 feet. That is the only height exception in the whole rulebook, and it is why the stage does not feel as flat as it looks on paper. Your gun is not just swinging left to right, it is stepping up and down a foot at each end.

Range crews get a two-inch tolerance on target height, so expect small variation club to club.

What it actually measures

Everything is at 54 feet. There is no near target to be easy and no far target to be hard. Every plate is the same shot. That means your stage time is almost entirely transition time, and Pendulum is the best diagnostic on the calendar: if your Pendulum percentage is well below your other stages, your problem is not marksmanship, it is how you move the gun.

Six feet of lateral movement between adjacent plates at 54 feet is roughly a 6-degree swing. Do it four times and add a 30-foot drop back to center.

How to shoot it

  • One direction, all the way across. Outer to outer, then drop to the stop plate. Never reverse mid-array.
  • Start on the side that ends closest to the stop plate for you. Both sides are symmetrical, so the tiebreaker is which direction your body swings more smoothly. Most right-handed shooters swing right-to-left more consistently. Test both, keep the timer, and pick the one that is actually faster rather than the one that feels faster.
  • Let the eyes lead by a full target. The classic Pendulum error is the gun and the eye arriving together, which forces a settle at every plate. Snap the eyes to the next plate as the shot breaks on the current one.
  • Do not over-confirm the outer plates. The 6-foot height feels different and shooters slow down for it. It is the same plate at the same distance.

The common mistakes

  • Overswinging. Even spacing tempts you into one big rhythmic sweep, which overshoots each plate and costs a correction. Even spacing means the timing is even, not that the gun never stops.
  • Reversing direction for the stop plate. Finish on the outside, then come straight in. Two direction changes on this stage is one too many.
  • Practicing it at 25 yards on a range that will only give you 15. The transition angle is what you are training. If you cannot get 54 feet, scale the spacing so the angle matches, not the distance.

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.