Just your average 16-year-old boy, Maximus Mason White grew up shooting BBs, .22s and, of course, he likes to hunt and fish. But this “average” 16-year-old became the youngest shooter to ever to capture the prestigious title of Steel Master at the 2024 Ruger World Speed Shooting Championship, held at the CMP Talladega Marksmanship Park in Talladega, Alabama, this summer.
The Steel Challenge Shooting Association has three special awards—Steel Master, Rifle Master and Rimfire Master. The oldest of these special awards, Steel Master, is awarded to the competitor with the lowest combined score from three handgun divisions. One must be Rimfire Pistol (optics or irons), the other two must be Centerfire Pistol or Revolver but only one may have an optic.
For his Steel Master win, Maximus finished Open with a time of 85.56 seconds while shooting a McLearn Custom chambered in 9 mm Luger. For Single Stack—also shooting a McLearn—his time was 90.07 seconds, and in Rimfire Pistol Optic he posted a time of 68.45 seconds, this time shooting a Volquartsen Black Mamba. His total time of 244.08 was 10.14 seconds faster than the second-place competitor.
As a kid in rural Maryland, Max shot a Crickett .22 purchased from Walmart. When his family moved to Georgia, he competed in archery and local USPSA-style .22 matches. Getting ready for hunting season, Maximus met gunsmith Pedro Ortiz for some tune-up on his hunting rifle. Ortiz suggested that he try Steel Challenge. At 10-years-old, Maximus and his new Glock G34 headed two-and-a-half hours away to Palmento Gun Club, across the state line in Ridgeville, South Carolina. That’s where he met Zack Jones and Jeff Jones. With archery soon a thing of the past, Max began focusing all of his effort into shooting Steel Challenge.
“Zack told me everything—I mean everything—I needed to know about Steel Challenge,” Maximus said. “He was my coach, my mentor and most of all, my friend.”
“He was fast from the first match I ever shot with him, shooting mostly rimfire pistol and rifle,” Zack said. “But he rapidly transitioned to the centerfire divisions and was crushing it!”
Jeff Jones was tutoring Maximus as well.
“I met Max in 2018 at the South Carolina State Championships. I think it was his second steel match ever,” he said. “As most new shooters do, he struggled at times and I gave him a few tips to help him. Now he’s a world champion in Single Stack and the 2024 Steel Master—just proves that hard work and dedication pays off.”
The way Max tells it, “Jeff told me exactly how to shoot each of the eight Steel Challenge stages. He even told me precisely where to stand in the shooting box. I practiced everything he said.”
Besides all the great help that Maximus was receiving from people like Zack and Jeff, he decided that he wanted to take a class.
“I followed JJ Racaza and watched him on Top Shot. In 2018, I got to take a couple of his classes,” Maximus said. “I was leveling up in divisions and placing better and better each time at matches.”
Soon, Maximus showed up on the radar of John Damarin of Pro-Shot Products. After contacting Spencer, Max’s dad, to inquire about how he could help, Damarin became a supporter and sponsor of Maximus.
Maximus and his family moved to Central Kentucky in 2020. He said he likes Kentucky “because the hunting is better.” Besides hunting on his family’s property, Maximus can trap, fish and practice a little steel shooting.
In 2023, young Maximus went looking “for the best centerfire pistols I could find for Open and Single Stack divisions. That’s how I met Matt McLearn. Matt won USPSA Nationals and World Shoot in 1993 [among other wins] and was one of the first to use the C-More dot. His guns were exactly what I needed.”
In the six or so years that he has been competing, Maximus has become a six-time Steel Challenge Grand Master. And besides winning the 2024 Steel Master title, he has also captured back-to-back World Speed Shooting Championships in Single Stack, as well as a multitude of State and National Championships.
“I just can’t say enough about all of the people who have helped me along the way—from gunsmiths to pro shooters, match directors who became mentors and best friends—and, of course, Brian Conley, who keeps me in style and my eyes safe,” Maximus said. “I’m only six years in and everything I’ve accomplished is thanks to them. Oh, and a little practicing.”
Finally, I asked Max’s dad, Spencer, about his role in helping him as a competitive shooter.
“I just get him where he needs to go,” he said. Looks to me like he has done a great job doing just that. Expect to hear about more great competition shooting performances from Maximus Mason White in the future.
Article from the September/October 2024 issue of USPSA’s magazine.
