MAKING A RUSH TO JUDGMENT.

Byline: Brett Pauly

Do you ever get the smell of gunpowder off you?

``Hopefully not,'' Mission Hills' Mike Dalton stated like the true speed shooter he is.

In the competitive niche of quick-draw action, the outcome of accuracy vs. the clock is determined in the blink of an eye.

``Shooter read. Standby,'' a tournament official bellows as a contestant aims at the next round of the Steel Challenge Pistol Tournament - the World Speed Shooting Championships, staged Friday through Sunday in Holser Canyon outside Piru.

Then keep eyes peeled and ears tuned to the targets; those two phrases take longer to utter than it takes the world's fastest shooters to squeeze off five rounds after drawing a handgun from a holster.

After the timer chimes, it's soon over as five bullets clang five metal targets. Blam, ping, blam, ping. Blam, ping, blam, ping, blam, ping - all in as little as 1.87 seconds - last year's fastest time on the easiest of seven stages in the Steel Challenge's course of fire. The worst time of five rounds at each stage is thrown out and the shooter with the lowest combined time is declared the $3,000 winner. Not a bad payoff for a couple of minutes worth of work.

``If you want to see people shoot at incredible speed with incredible accuracy, stuff that should be in like Ripley's `Believe It or Not,' this is the tournament to see. I'm amazed at what the top shooters can do,'' said Ross ``Dr. Dot'' Deane of Valencia, who placed in the top 30 of the more than 200 entrants during the 1998 Steel Challenge.

Deane's moniker came from modifying red-dot optics on pistol scopes; his handgun of choice is a $2,500 highly-customized 9 mm with the serial number ``Sex Machine.'' The Steel Challenge is his favorite contest.

``First of all, it's right in my own backyard,'' said the television sound-boom operator who works three days a week on the sitcom ``Sports Night.'' ``Second, this is my nemesis; it's always been very challenging.''

He also enjoys the Steel Challenge because it is spectator friendly, as it was so designed by co-organizers Dalton and Mike Fichman of Valencia.

Most speed-shooting tourneys use paper targets that make it difficult for fans to determine scores, and slower-paced as judges meticulously add up points. The Steel Challenge offers immediate results - the ping and wobble of the metal target, paint chipped off by the bullet and a digital electronic clock that gauges times of rounds to the nearest hundredth of a second.

``It is both audible and visible to all the spectators. Everyone is aware when the shooter hits the targets or not,'' said Fichman, vice president of a security company. ``It promotes the excitement that we want.''

It's shooter against the clock; nothing else matters. The worst time at each stage is thrown out to encourage a quicker pace.

``The adrenaline is pumping. The time is their score, so they know they have to push it right to the max,'' Fichman said. ``How fast can you go until you fall off the level of control and start missing and losing time?''

It's definitely addictive. I shot 10 rounds from Dalton's .45-caliber semi-automatic on the course's most basic station and steadily reduced the time it took to nail five targets at distances of 7 to 12 yards. Shooters must first hit four 18-inch-by-24-inch rectangles and then an 8-inch circle that stops the clock.

The stage is called Smoke 'n' Hope: ``You smoke the first four targets and you hope you hit the stop plate,'' said Dalton, a San Fernando Police officer.

I had only handled a pistol two previous times, but in the first five rounds I hit 25 plates in 25 shots, whittling my time from 5.35 seconds per round to 3.54 seconds. I shot much worse the second round but did manage a best time of 3.44 seconds. That's 3.44 seconds to hit five targets, mind you.

It will take a time of 2.5 to 2.8 seconds, Fichman said, to secure top honors in Smoke 'n' Hope in the stock-pistol division - using guns with open sights, not scopes - during the Steel Challenge. My marksmanship was right there, prompting Dalton to state, ``Get this man a tournament application.''

The smiles on Dalton, Fichman and some of the tourney volunteers on hand Tuesday were almost as wide as mine when I turned to track my score. But they better watch out; I might just quit my day job and head out on the speed-shooting circuit.

Dalton advises greenhorns to ``reach for the target, as if you were trying to touch it with the muzzle if you could. Mentally, that's what you want to do.''

And once you hit that initial plate, it can propel you through the next four, faster and faster as confidence builds. Like a skier who nails the turn around the first mogul, it sets you up for the rest of the line of bumps.

``You can equate it to any motor skill,'' Dalton said. ``The smoother you are, the better you are. You're watching ahead.''

Of course, safety comes first in these events - ear and eye protection, chambers empty and triggers on safety when not on the firing line. After that, it's pure excitement.

``All the competitors love to shoot,'' said Jennifer Loar, 14, of Thousand Oaks, entered in the junior category. ``I really think it's a fun thing to do.''

IF YOU'RE GOING . . .

What: World Speed Shooting Championships.

Where: Holser Canyon, northeast of Piru.

When: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Saturday; 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sunday. Admission and parking free.

What to bring: Protective eyewear. Earplugs provided, as well as shaded seating, food concessions and arms and ammo displays.

Directions: Take the Golden State Freeway (5) north to Highway 126 west. Turn right at Main Street in Piru. Travel 3.6 miles to Holser Canyon Road, flagged by tournament signs, and turn right. Drive 2.7 miles over dirt and beat-up blacktop to the shooting range behind the event's blue-and-white tent.

Information: [phone].

- Daily News

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, box

PHOTO (1) Kansas shooter Jaime Craig shot his way to a seventh-place overall finish during the 1998 World Speed Shooting Championships in Piru.

(2) At 16, Woodcrest's Natalie Wheatley placed second at last year's Steel Challenge tournament in the women's single-action category.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer

Box: If You're Going (see text)