Does silhouette need an overhaul?

[hugh]

1. buy resettables.
2. help instead of complaining.
3. help someone new learn the game instead of shooting one of the matches.

that's fixed, what's next?

[GregG]

Hugh, Jerry, Bob,

Pretty simple again classify everyone as complainers and non-helpers. I have run as many matches as most on this board, and have helped out more than most. I am still on the board of the TSRA as a silhouette director.. It is NOT my job to run ever match I attend.

There are good matches and there are bad matches. Good matches grow bad matches do not. This is a hobby and I can attend or not attend any match I want too.

I do not appreciate be generalized.

Greg

[chuckjordan2]

I assist my MD, and call the line on some relays (else he has to call and shoot at the same time and that's no fun). See, we have 4 relays on match day. Depending on who's shooting, I'll speed-up or slow down the pace (I know 1 person likes it fast). It's called 'reading the shooters'.

Most of our shooters attend the first 2 relays and then leave, the match is really empty by the 3rd and 4th relay (I told you that the MD has a full day's effort for a match!). Seriously Kevin, on the third and fourth relay we often shoot two banks of animals (5+5, then next animal 5+5) before a reset and the relay is over quickly. If you were close to VA I'd say come down for the 3rd and 4th relay, I bet it would fit your style. And this is one example on a small change where it fits someone's style.

I need to also state that my club also has others here (on SC) and they call the line too.

[Another Dang 9]

kevin6q. If you shot in NH and felt it was slow that may have to do with the fact that NH has been isolated by its location. The next closest clubs that have matches is one in long Island NY then Pennsylvania. So they tend to run them at a bit more leisurely pace. As a Vermonter you should understand that. ( I was a bit "culture shocked" when I shot at the nationals.) But as a "flat lander" myself I liked it at first because it helped me to get started in the game. I can tell you this thou. That's been changing. They have adopted the standard form of relay matches which does help encourage a quicker pace. You may want to try it again.

As an addition to Mary's comment. We are all friends who travel great distances to try and beat the pants off of our good friends, then have some time catching up so we can do it again next time we get together. Its part of the game.
If the legend is true the break between the first five animals and the second was to drink a shot of tequila! Name me another sport that did that!!

[DavidABQ]

We need to create Speed Silhouette! Have a score be a combination of number of animals knocked down and elapsed time! Maybe we can lure some of the three gun folks over?

They can shoot their .22 based AR 15's!

[African Villager]

Do these type of targets have a potential role in Silhouette shooting ?

[GregG]

While great fun, this target is NOT allowed at any of ranged here in Houston that I am ware of. They are a ricochet waiting to happen. Especially at distance when the ground is hard the bullet can easily "bound" right over an impact berm. Most ranges are in kind of urban areas today so for any range I am aware of in Houston NO.

[tulsatime]

As this is an old topic and A LOT of things thrown around I'm just going to try and explain what might things in my part of the world...that being Oklahoma.

I am in the 40-50 age range and I found the sport by doing a search online for possible "fun" shooting events to try. Luckily in 2005 I ran across the Tulsa Red Castle gun club website. I noticed bench rest military, pistol, shotgun, and low and behold silhouette. This was cool I thought. I have a 22 rifle and some shells. I show up and was received well by the loyal silhouette shooters. We had up to 20+ shooters at times. Then as the years went on people passed away, found a new sport...cowboy action being the hot one, or found the sport so tough they pack it in and sold their competition gun for a field small bore. So we dwindled down to 8-12 shooters each month. Now for us to hit 15 plus we have to have Terry, Glen, Cathy and James and a few more drive in from 2 hours away or from other states.

I went to the Mid South in Benton and met very nice people from all over willing to offer some good advice like Mary, Cathy, James, Alston, and Chicken George to name a few. This helped me develop, but my friends left the sport due to time and cost. It's not easy with a full family schedule and even harder if you are a single parent.

As time went on sports like football tend to take over for those with kids in the 6-18 year old range. We lost some to this...including me for a few years coaching my kids team. All of their games were on Saturday at the time of the shoot. I have been bringing my kids since they were 6, but now at 14 only one of them still has a passion for it. Bottom line it's a dang hard sport if you don't practice like crazy. It might be the toughest of all the shooting sports and when you don't progress easily people tend to move to something easier. Then add the hour or three drive to and from the range where you can shoot a real firearm and it tends to wear on people. We used to have 3 places in Oklahoma for regular shoots and now it's just one major place in Tulsa.

So to get to the point....if we want to see attraction to the silhouette sport we need more local, in town, 10 minute drive to the match type events. (I know there are 4H clubs, cub scouts, and boy scouts, but those are dying off too unless you are in a rural town) Thus, more air rifle silhouette would be a good start. More kids are in town, more single mom's would like to see sons find a mentor to teach manly things. Maybe a Bass Pro or other sporting goods store have one day a month where they could set up a air rifle silhouette range and introduce the sport and sell the air rifles and offer shooting days during the week. And let people know about the smallbore and high power matches in the state or near by states. This could spur some new interest.

We have some air rifle events in the Tulsa area, but they are at....yes...the gun ranges that take 45 minutes to drive to and the average age....yes you guessed it. ..is about 60 and all men. Nothing wrong with that, they are great guys, have great advice, will lend you their rifle to shoot, but we have very little in the way of youth and women joining. That is where a air rifle shooting range in a store could be a big hit. It's like having a chance to hit a golf club in the store on a real range before re you buy it. It just makes a difference. I don't own a store, but maybe someone has a friend who does who might like this idea.

What would it take to have the state wildlife game division put on a shoot to not only introduce the silhouette sport to dad's, mom's, and kids who like to hunt, but this sport teaches how to shoot small and miss small at silhouette animals which is like hunting? It all comes down to having more accessible places to shoot, marketing by locals and nationals who could benefit from the sales, and spin the educational part of it also. I wish I would win the lotto and I would build such a place in my home town and create shooting clubs for kids, teach women how to shoot and learn a new sport, and make a range 100,000 people had access to in 10-15 minutes to learn a new shooting sport. Or if anyone on here wants to kick over a few hundred grand I would take it and open the range and shop ;)

Again this is just what I see down here. It may vary in other areas. I love the sport and do not want to see it die.

[RBriscoe]

Please excuse me for entering the discussion late, but this subject pops up every few years. The end result, so far anyway, has been that people really are not interested in leaving the NRA or creating another organization whether it replaces the NRA as a sanctioning body or not.

I would simply ask what benefits people believe there are to being NRA affiliated. Is it important to have the letters "NRA" in front of whatever? The hosting of the Nationals is the primary function of the staff as far as I can see. As has been mentioned, the restrictions imposed on the site selection have consequences as well. Which is more important?

As for the rest of the year, there really is nothing of importance the staff does. Mostly they are just doing busy work that has no useful function to the NRA, the sport or you.

The shooting sports in general, and silhouette in particular, have been viewed by the senior staff as a nuisance. If they went away, well life would be simpler for them.

With all due respect to the individuals (whoever they may be as I quit paying attention some time ago) who are or have been members of the silhouette committee, they do not represent the shooters or the sport. Just which one is "your" representative? They consider letters & etc is what you are told, but just how do you even know what is under consideration? Hint. You don't. If the legislatures were run this way the populace would throw the lot of them out on their ear. Quite frankly, the best we can hope to get the committee to do is nothing. That is to say that the less screwing around with the rules the better. The recent period of comparative rules stability has reduced the problems because people were simply sick and tired of their equipment being outlawed. One more round of outlawing equipment and I expect to see more people exiting the sport.

I realize this is a rather dismal view, but that is the way it has been for as long as I have been around the sport. I wish it were not so.

[teetertotter]

Me, I like SB Silhouette the way it is. We as club members, have to figure out how to get young families with children playing soccer, football, baseball, basketball, softball or don't have the time of day with them or just don't care. Hunting is pretty popular in Wisconsin amongst our club members along being gun hobbyist's, for example. I write in our quarterly club news letter, "You hunters need some good off hand target practice to keep in tune shooting game! BLa Bla. Our next news letter, our Silhouette article will have a picture of a 11 year old girl from 2 years ago in our State Championship. Bla Bla. She's now to involved with sports and her dad can't come anymore too. They were with us for one season, with father with a new bull barrel rifle and daughter with our club cub scoped rifle. Both parents working these days.....etc., or kids with single parent raised by their mom's. Hunting is huge with our club members and apparently do not want to get involved with competitive shooting. Trap is the largest competitive sport at our club followed by Pistol. Let me know if anyone has some ideas to add to our 7 competitors with 3 outsiders that join us weekly during the summer season.