Grant Kunkel Sweeps Area 5 Steel Challenge Championship

Team Federal’s Grant Kunkel had a stellar performance at the 2021 Area 5 Steel Challenge Championship that netted him six first place trophies, plus the Rifle Master and Rimfire Master titles.

The match, held at the Riley Conservation Club in Terre Haute, Ind., on June 11–13, had 364 shooters competing across six divisions.

Kunkel’s wins in the Area 5 Steel Challenge Championship include first place in Rimfire Rifle Optic (RFRO), Rimfire Rifle Iron (RFRI), Rimfire Pistol Optic (RFPO), Rimfire Pistol Iron (RFPI), Open and Pistol Caliber Carbine Optic (PCCO) divisions.

According to the main match results posted to the Practiscore website, Kunkel's best stage in Open division was Smoke and Hope with a time of 8.01 seconds. His total Open division time was 74.75 seconds, about six seconds ahead of runner-up Ryan Wagner.

As for the Rifle Master award, it's given to the competitor with the fastest Rimfire Rifle and PCC combined time, while the Rimfire Master award is for the fastest combined time in RFPO, RFPI, RFRO and RFRI combined. As mentioned, Kunkel won both awards.

Kunkel gave high praise to his Federal Syntech ammo for Open division, while for the rimfire portions of the match he was shooting CCI Mini-Mag.

“For the handgun Open division, I was shooting Syntech Action Pistol, because it’s extremely soft recoil, accuracy and absolute reliability allow me to concentrate fully while making quick shots and staying on target. I relied on CCI Mini-Mag ammo for the rimfire events.”

Learn more about Steel Challenge. Visit federalpremium.com and cci-ammunition.com for more information about Federal and CCI.