The 2025 World Speed Shooting Championship (WSSC) was held from May 18 to June 1, 2025, at the CMP Talladega Marksmanship Park in Talladega, Alabama. This marks the eighth year the competition has been held in Talladega, with two more years under contract. Next year’s WSSC will be at the same time of year, May 27 to May 31, 2026.
The 2025 World Speed Shooting Championship had 247 competitors shooting 665 guns in the match for score, which makes it the third-largest Steel Challenge match held at the CMP Talladega range. There were 148 entries in Centerfire Pistol, 140 in Pistol-Caliber Carbine, plus 133 Rimfire pistols and 208 Rimfire rifles.
The “Iron Woman” award, if there was one, would go to Olivia Albertson, who competed in 10 of the 14 divisions offered; 55 people shot one division, 96 shot two, 30 shot three and 33 shot four, leaving another 33 who shot five or more.
With all that out of the way, now let’s talk about the biggest story of the match—50 seconds has been broken. That’s right, the 50-second barrier has been broken, and it was done by Jesse Misco shooting Rimfire Rifle Optics. Many have been speculating over the past couple of years if this feat could be accomplished, and this year it was.
JESSE MISCO RIMFIRE RIFLE OPTICS SCORE BREAKDOWN
For those of you thinking about calculating the match score, if he shot his best strings on every string for every stage, that is a 46.43. Wow! This was also the largest difference between first and second place, with a whopping 4.92 seconds (next closest was 3.08 in 2024). Congratulations to Jesse for setting the new world record and breaking the 50-second barrier.
There were a number of other records set, both at the division and the stage level. This year, I’m breaking it down by division in the order in which awards were presented at the banquet. (Note: If no category or class winners are listed, it means minimums for those awards were not met, as in Iron Sights Revolver).
Iron Sights Revolver was won by a new competitor to the WSSC, Thomas Howard, who shot a 109.03. There were two records set, both by Michael Poggie. On The Pendulum, he shot a 12.01 and on Speed Option he shot a 12.04. There was also a Lady stage record set by Beth Willoughby with a 13.34 on Roundabout.
PRODUCTION
Production was won by Nils Jonasson with a 90.39.
All of the records through 2024 remained unbroken.
SINGLE STACK
The Single Stack title was won by Gorka Ibanez, his fifth title in this division. Jalise Williams set a Lady world record on Speed Option with a 12.47.
All of the remaining records through 2024 held.
OPTICAL SIGHT REVOLVER
Michael Poggie won his 10th division title with a score of 90.35.
Beth Willoughby set a Lady stage record on Speed Option with a 14.24.
All of the remaining records through 2024 remained unbroken.
LIMITED
Coming off a two-year hiatus from the WSSC, BJ Norris won the Limited division with an 88.69; though none of the records through 2024 were broken in this division.
PISTOL-CALIBER CARBINE IRON
Defending his win from last year, Jesse Misco won the division with a 55.14; Lance Bratcher, Jr., came in second with a 58.44. Category winners were Lady, Randall Miller and, for Senior it was Tony Wilhelm in first and Chris Benden the runner-up.
The records from 2024 remained unbroken.
RIMFIRE PISTOL IRON
Recapturing his title, Adam Renno shot a world record 65.87 to win this division. Tanner Gibson was second with a 66.01 and Lance Bratcher, Jr., was in third place with a 69.36.
Category winners were: Lady, Jenna Larson and Junior, Tanner Gibson. There were some world records set in this division as well, Jesse Grant with 7.60 on Five to Go, Lance Bratcher, Jr., on Smoke and Hope with 5.36 and Adam Renno with an 8.30 on Speed Option. Jenna Larsen also set two Lady’s records: Accelerator with a 7.88 and Roundabout with 6.88.
OPEN
While the count for total guns was down, there were still enough to award the top three winners. KC Eusebio won his eighth title in a row with an 80.14, while Maximus White was second at 82.78 and Muneki Samejima was third with an 84.63.
In the categories, DJ Rotigel took the top honor in Senior and Jesse Grant won the A class.
None of the records through 2024 were broken in this division.
LIMITED OPTICS
This was the first year in the WSSC for this provisional division. Turnout was excellent with 36 entries, making it the second-largest centerfire pistol behind Carry Optics. Having this many entries, the top three winners were recognized: Maximus White took top honors with an 84.17, Daniel Mathias was second with a 96.10 and Dienez Wollet third with a 96.77.
In the categories, David Knight won Senior and Sam Neal won Law Enforcement. Since this was a new division this year, there were a number of records being set. Maximus White had the division world record at 84.17 and Olivia Robertson set a Lady category world record at 131.10. For the stage records, Maximus White set six records: Five to Go at 9.69, Showdown 8.61, Smoke and Hope 9.06, Accelerator 11.08, The Pendulum 11.93 and Speed Option at 10.14. Daniel Mathias set the record for Outer Limits with a 13.94 and David Knight set the record for Roundabout with a 9.54.
In the Lady category, Ashley Krenek set six, with Five to Go at 16.5, Showdown at 13.97, Smoke and Hope at 13.39, Outer Limits at 23.41, Accelerator at 16.76 and Speed Option at 16.50. Olivia Albertson set two, with The Pendulum at 17.51 and Roundabout at 12.52.
CARRY OPTICS
Carry Optics lead the the centerfire pistol division with 49 competitors, equaling the record set last year. Will this division break 50 next year?
BJ Norris won the division with an 80.35, Sale Luna was second with an 86.00 and Neal Norman was third with a 90.08. In the classes, Matthew Kennedy won B and Jesse Grant won Master class.
In the categories, Jesse Grant won Junior and Jeff Jones won Senior. Ron Wood won Distinguished Senior, Jalise Williams won the Lady title and BJ Norris won Law Enforcement.
None of the records through 2024 were broken.
RIMFIRE RIFLE IRON
This division saw an uptick in entries, coming in at 60, just one competitor behind the record of 61 back in 2022. The division was won by Lance Bratcher, Jr., with a score of 50.02. Jesse Grant was second with a 54.36 and Jesse Misco was third with a 58.91.
In the classes, Morgan Smith won A class and Ryna Philips won Master class.
In the categories, Jesse Grant won Junior and Tanner Gibson won second. Tony Wilhelm won Senior, with Doug Kemmerer in second and Ron Sadd in third. Super Senior ws won by Kurt Grimes, and Jenna Larsen won the Lady category, with BaylorRose Nathan taking second. Records were broken here, with Jesse Misco breaking two, Showdown at 5.13 and The Pendulum at 6.96. Jesse Grant set one on Speed Option at 6.78 and Tanner Gibson set Roundabout at 5.17.
RIMFIRE PISTOL OPTICS
The third target division, at 103 guns, was the fourth-largest number of competitors registered. In this division. Lance Bratcher, Jr., won the division with a 58.472, Adam Renno was second with a 59.72 and Jesse Misco was third with a 60.75.
In the classes, Ashley Krenek won B, with Travis Taves taking second. In A class, Layton Taves won, with Matt Meeks in second; while in Master class, Davin Kelly took home the win.
In the categories, Jesse Grant won Junior, with Tanner Gibson In second and Lady Junior was won by Ella Tryon. Senior was won by Jeff Jones, with Dan Carpenter in second and David Riley in third. Kurt Grimes won Super Senior, and in Distinguished Senior, Barbara Watts won, with Mark Zachary in second. The Lady category was won by Jenna Larsen, with Raegan Hearn in second and Ella Tryon in third. Jesse Grant set a record on Speed Option at 6.45, while Jenna Larsen set a Ladies record on Showdown at 5.89. In addition, Raegan Hearn set a Lady record in Speed Option at 8.54.
PISTOL-CALIBER CARBINE OPTICS
The second-largest division at 114 guns, this was tied for fourth-largest number of competitors ever in the division. The winner was Jesse Misco with a 52.61, second was Jesse Grant with a 56.64, and third was Lance Bratcher, Jr., with a 57.18. In the classes, Carter Wollet won B class and Ryan Phillips was first in A class, with Paul Rafael taking second.
In the categories, it was Jesse Grant winning first Junior, with Tanner Gibson winning second. Lady Junior was won by Olivia Albertson. Senior was won by Tony Wilhelm, second was Jeff Jones and third was Tim Bowden. Super Senior was won by Bob Halsell, with Randall Miller in second and Kurt Grimes in third. Distinguished Senior was won by Karl Sutterlin, with Elliot Aysen winning second and Mark Zachary taking third. In the Lady category, Jenna Larsen won, and set a stage record on Speed Option at 8.23. Randall Miller was second and Raegan Hearn was third.
RIMFIRE RIFLE OPTICS
I saved the biggest for last; this division had 148 competitors, making it the fourth-largest and only one competitor behind third. The division was won by Jesse Misco with a record-setting 49.60. Second was Jesse Grant at 54.52 and third was Lance Bratcher, Jr., with a 57.20.
In the classes, Travis Taves won B, with Michael Ayotte in second. A class was won by Keith Costa, with Brian Porter in second and Morgan Smith in third. Master class was won by Layton Taves, with Bill Carrol in second and Casey Buckley in third.
In the categories, Junior was won by Jesse Grant, while second went to Tanner Gibson and third to Dominick Neal. Lady Junior was won by BaylorRose Mason, Senior was won by Tony Wilhelm, with Randy Irmer in second and Tom Corbett in third. Lady Senior was won by Maria Grimes; in Super Senior, Kurt Grimes won, with Randall Miller taking second and Bob Halsell getting third. In Distinguished Senior, Elliiot Aysen won, with Mark Zachary in second and Ron Wood in third.
In the Lady category, Jenna Larsen won, with Raegan Hearn the runner-up and BaylorRose Mason in third place. Jesse Misco set three new records: Showdown at 4.79, Outer Limits at 8.36 and Pendulum at 5.99. Jesse Grant set a record on Speed Option at 6.44, and Jenna Larsen set two Lady records, 5.93 on Smoke and Hope and 7.32 on Speed Option.
SPECIAL AWARDS
The three special awards were presented to:
- BJ Norris – Steel Master
- Jesse Misco – Rifle Master
- Lance Bratcher, Jr. – Rimfire Master
VENDORS
The vendor area had several great companies that support the shooting sports.
Hunters HD Gold was there with the “magical mystery tour van” (although not every day, something about a flux capacitor not working—ask Brian when you see him next).
Precision Defense was displaying both their rimfire pistol and their new rimfire rifle. Congratulations to Jim Pagano for winning the rifle in their giveaway.
Next up was Creekside Customs with Steve and Theresa Foster. Need a trigger, grips, compensator, racker, base pads, Crazy Ivan (both OG and comp), engraving or Cerakoting? I’m sure I missed something, so check with Steve. I’m sure he can help.
Rounding the circle, we had the Make Ready Shooters’ tables and a new business venture managed by their boys, EBC Knives and Sharpening. I had two of my knives sharpened, and they did a great job. Next to them was Grizzly Ears, with Thor (that’s his dog). Zero Sports, the official jersey for USPSA and Steel Challenge was there with shirts and other items available. Zero also brought a t-shirt press with large and small logos of this year’s event. Rounding out the vendor area was Bobbie’s Southern BBQ, keeping all of the staff and shooters well fed during the entire weekend and the awards ceremony.
If you are a Steel Challenge competitor, I highly recommend that you attend next year’s World Speed Shooting Championship. There were 94 new people at this year’s match and 17 won awards. Next year, this could be you.
Finally, a big shout-out to the USPSA information technology staff and PractiScore developers for doing everything necessary to add class and percentage data to PractiScore 2. The World Speed Shooting Championship was probably the first, and so far the largest, match to use PractiScore 2; this new feature enabled it to perform flawlessly. (Note: An updated version of the software, PractiScore 2 unifies scoring across all major platforms.)
Article from the July/August 2025 issue of USPSA’s magazine.
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