Is silhouette dying?

[steveyacht]

Pete, I am making some target stands out of cheap Sawhorse brackets that Lowes and Home Depot carry for about $7.00 a pair. Making the legs 24" each out of 2x4's and the cross bars will be 6 feet and 4 feet. Eventually I will be adding either 1 or 2 inch angle iron to the front for low hits... when budget permits. For now, with just me and maybe a couple others shooting, the 2x4's are pretty cheap to replace when needed.

[pbansen]

Pete, I am making some target stands out of cheap Sawhorse brackets that Lowes and Home Depot carry for about $7.00 a pair. Making the legs 24" each out of 2x4's and the cross bars will be 6 feet and 4 feet. Eventually I will be adding either 1 or 2 inch angle iron to the front for low hits... when budget permits. For now, with just me and maybe a couple others shooting, the 2x4's are pretty cheap to replace when needed.

Yup, that sort of design occurred to me also. I'm thinking that the lower, steel supports would be more durable, solid and could make for a flatter stack in the car/truck and garage. They'd be more costly on the front end, but you'd only make 'em once. Fortunately, I have the ability to do steel fabrication (as well as wood) and a steel vendor that delivers a couple of times a week

[pbansen]

There are rules about spacing between targets horizontally (Section 4.3 Targets should be placed a minimum of one target width apart, but no more than 3 1/2", widths tails to head.)

From a target setter/resetter perspective they/I would not want to reach way down to pick up a fallen target then have to reach waaaaay up high to set it because it would take many up/down trips to reset rams because I can't hold all 10 in my hands at the same time.

So in general all around reasonable heights for the stands are somewhere between knee height (hard for us old folks to bend waaaay down and set a bunch of animals) and chest height. If you are looking for portability of stands, probably the lower the better for less overall mass to carry, lift and set up.

Probably not much help, nothing very specific, just general thoughts.

Not at all, good thoughts and I appreciate the insight!

[kevinbear]

We use valves from car engines set in railroad ties around here at our ranges. Go to a shop that rebuilds heads and they will usually give you a 5 gallon bucket of valves free. Ones from V-8's are about the right size.

[pbansen]

We use valves from car engines set in railroad ties around here at our ranges. Go to a shop that rebuilds heads and they will usually give you a 5 gallon bucket of valves free. Ones from V-8's are about the right size.

That's a very cool idea - thanks!

Pete

[bigmike6970]

Thanks teetertotter, i am having fun learning this new to me sport.

Mike

[chuckjordan2]

Time for me to chime in. This was my first year shooting SB (actually 1/2 year) and I shot at the same club Boats is the MD. I switched from shooting Airrifle Field Target (did that for 10 years) mainly because those matches were 2 hours away. I drove from Richmond VA to Damascus MD and got tired of the drive.

I also shoot International Pistol (25M & 50M) along with 10M air pistol. The Int'l pistol is at the same club as SB Silh. So I can do all this in the Richmond area. I'm happy and so is the wife.

So I luckily found SB Silh. It was a bit difficult to search and find it ('Net search, not driving). Now that I have the 'dance' down, I'll be back next year. Actually today I was looking at new equipment and made some modification to my stock so it fits me better.

Before when I shot Field Target (FT), there were shooters from other disciplines (SIlh?, CLA?, other firearm activities) starting in FT. Some of them may have been on here and they switched to another sport. Why? Who knows, maybe driving, family, or they just wanted a fresh new start. I know some of you shot FT before (or still are)

So I left (sorta) Field Target and moved over to SB Silh. Is it (Silh.) dying or are people just shuffling around? As long as their shooting, that's good enough for me.

[Innocent]

cj2, you bring up some very interesting points. Having shot 3 and 4P for a number of years and switching to smallbore silly was an easy trasnition. It was triggered by achieving a max level of position shooting class wise for my 'environmental circumstances' (money, jobs, time to practice, etc). Silhouette was more challenging and less equipment, and shot at similarly accessible ranges. Having shot SB silly to the master class, I have taken up HP as well, while there is a distance to HP ranges problems for me I still choose to travel to them where I can afford to, over a smallbore match.
As coordinator for the Sunshine Games shooting disciplines in the state of Florida for the last 12years I have seen a cycle of shooters move from various disciplines such as IDPA and IPSC, Trap and 5 Stand, etc. surprisingly there is some move back to conventional pistol from the more action oriented pistol disciplines.
Silhouette tends to be more receptive to physically challenged shooters such as those in wheelchairs then many of the other shooting disciplines.
I like you agree with the attitude that it doesn't matter as long as there are people out there smelling that burning powder.

Welcome to you and your wife to a crazy but enjoyable discipline.

Mary

[teetertotter]

I finally got 2 news events posted on our club website front page. The last one announcing a Monday Eve indoor .22 rifle/pistol off hand practice. Hopefully we can draw other club members interest in bringing out their .22's to shoot with us. This is my first attempt in trying to attract possible new Silhouette people during the off season. I need to come up with a poster for inside the clubhouse expressing improving off-hand skills with your .22LR. and come on Monday Eves......etc. Marketing tactics are in motion.

[kevinbear]

[quote="teetertotter"]I finally got 2 news events posted on our club website front page. The last one announcing a Monday Eve indoor .22 rifle/pistol off hand practice. Hopefully we can draw other club members interest in bringing out their .22's to shoot with us. This is my first attempt in trying to attract possible new Silhouette people during the off season. I need to come up with a poster for inside the clubhouse expressing improving off-hand skills with your .22LR. and come on Monday Eves......etc. Marketing tactics are in motion.[/quote]


I'll probably be coming out your way to visit the inlaws this summer, I might need to be rescued from death by boredom, got a rifle I can borrow?
Kb

[teetertotter]

Kev......... Just e-mail me or 608-921-6064. I am available any day of the week. My phone# and couple others are posted on our Beloit Rifle Club Silhouette web page. Dennis is available 24/7 too. Hope we can get together if you plan to be in our neighborhood this summer.

[kevinbear]

Thanks, my wife will be happy, I'll actually come with her to visit. I won't spring it on her that I'm going shooting until we get there!!!
Is the silhouette schedule on the gun club web page?

[quote="teetertotter"]Kev......... Just e-mail me or 608-921-6064. I am available any day of the week. My phone# and couple others are posted on our Beloit Rifle Club Silhouette web page. Dennis is available 24/7 too. Hope we can get together if you plan to be in our neighborhood this summer.[/quote]

[teetertotter]

Kevin, I e-mailed our club calendar link and Silhouette info page link that also lists our match dates and times. We hope to see you this summer!
Jon

[kevinbear]

Thanks, might even get one of my brother-inlaws to come, probably have better luck getting a niece or nephew.
Kb

[quote="teetertotter"]Kevin, I e-mailed our club calendar link and Silhouette info page link that also lists our match dates and times. We hope to see you this summer!
Jon[/quote]

[teetertotter]

Tonight we had our club meeting welcoming in 93 new members, which is done once a year. We had our Silhouette table all set-up with rifle and pistol animals, display of pins, pictures of our Silhouette range, and a handout with more information. It seemed like we were received pretty well. We will see how many will come to our Monday night winter indoor practice. It seemed like maybe 7 people were interested with 4 really wanting to talk. Hopefully, there will be 4 good possibles that will show up over the next couple of Mondays. Who knows too, when comes May for official outdoor competition, how many might try. If we could get just 2 or 4 to commit, that would be really nice. On the handout, I mentioned several links and to check our club website and the Silhouette discipline for more quick information. We gotta keep it going.