Jason wrote:

SqHunter wrote:I can see shooting offhand to 1) foul the bore 2) settle nerves and position. I just think immediately prior to a match is not the time to make major changes in equipement or zero.

Regardless, neither is allowed on match day at my home range. Range is cold on match day except for scheduled events. The only type of match where this is different is in rimfire benchrest, where unlimited siters are allowed but only during the competitors alloted time.

You really don't have any sight-in or practice period at all before silhouette matches? Even with my 1712 pillar bedded into a Pharr stock, I occasionally have up to 4 clicks (1moa) or so change with no ammo change or touching of the gun at all between matches due to weather/elevation/light changes. These targets we shoot at are small and that's a pretty big change. How many master scores are shot at those matches? Seems like that would hurt scores a lot, especially on turkeys and rams.

Absolutely no firing before your alloted time at the line. No sighting, practice, fiddling, etc. Think of it like hunting, you should be prepared before the game walks in front of you.

We have NRA sanctioned benchrest and CMP sporter, but the silhouette is not sanctioned. So shooter classes are not goverened. I am not sure how many Master's level shooters there are. We have some nationally ranked shooters in various disciplines, so some of the guys are very good.

My zero for 3P or benchrest changes to a degree everytime I am at the line due to slight environmental alterations. However, I understood Silhouette to be a "practical" game, where you are supposed to learn to compensate. I shot a match two weeks ago where I noticed I was hitting low on each shot, turned out I was using the wrong ammo, and had to hold at the top of the back on the boars to knock them down. I thought that was part of it.

-Rex

It has never been part of it any silhouette matches that I've shot. If I went to a range where that was the case, I'd probably do my best to manage that first day and not go back after that.

Jason wrote:It has never been part of it any silhouette matches that I've shot. If I went to a range where that was the case, I'd probably do my best to manage that first day and not go back after that.

Absolutely. There are way too many variables day to day for a range to not allow practice prior to a silhouette match. Especially this time of year. Hell, from one weekend to the next here in Colorado my Anschutz was hitting 2 minutes high due to different temperatures. In a game of score you don't want your first 5 scoring shots to be sighters.

Does it mess with your psyche or confidence if you come to take those first few sighters and are off?

Confidence seems to play a part in offhand shooting.

Other than the one occasion mentioned I have not had issue with wandering zero, but I do have bad first shot fliers from the skinny barrel on my SA 54 Sporter. They are not predictable, which is doubley bad. I wish we were allowed to foul the bore.

I've never been to a match that style either and don't think I care to if thats the plan. Part of the fun of the match is in shooting to get loose and dueling others on a bank or three You have to check your settings at least by getting in some prematch rounds.

The game is based on hunting but I never hunt anything as small as these targets nor am I going to take 80 shots hunting

Hey Dee, You up to a little dueling this Saturday? I am.

I hunt tree squirrels, head shots only and prefer to thread the eye ring. So my targets are smaller, only 50 yds is a long shot for that kind of precision from basically kneeling positions using a light rifle.

100 yd offhand is something I have not done since a teenager when I still hunted White-tails on my grandparents farm.

This game kind of combines both.

SqHunter wrote:Does it mess with your psyche or confidence if you come to take those first few sighters and are off?

Confidence seems to play a part in offhand shooting.

Other than the one occasion mentioned I have not had issue with wandering zero, but I do have bad first shot fliers from the skinny barrel on my SA 54 Sporter. They are not predictable, which is doubley bad. I wish we were allowed to foul the bore.

It doesn't really mess with my confidence if my first few shots are off. I just correct my scope setting and continue on. Also, as you mention it is very common for the first few shots from a clean barrel to have a different point of impact than shots after the barrel is fouled. Yet more reasons to avoid matches where no sight-in/practice period happens before the match starts.

I don't think this game is really based on "hunting". Unless you guys typically hunt animals that are staked to the ground in one spot.

The game absolutely has hunting attributes though, as would any off-hand shooting game.

Isn't it based off a sport that a bunch of drunk Mexicans came up with to prove who was a better shot?

Heres my 2 cents on this post. I started HP silhouette last year. There is no place in N.E. that shoots HP so I have to drive 9 hours to the closest place to shoot it. All my guns have a 100 yd zero. I went to the match got maybe 10-20 practice shots off before the match. Shot 2 relays with zeros on the fly. if my sight was off I cranked the turret , closed my eyes and jerked the trigger just like I always do and some how the pill found the target anyway. Thanks to a good spotter, who I never meet before, I had a blast. I think I even wet my pants. Anyone who knows me will tell you I'm a total pain in the ass but despite that everyone was nice. If you can have a bad day shooting take up golf. I now return you to your regularly scheduled BS.

Gator, how right...most directors do what they can to encourage new shooters. Sorry to hear of your experience, but I can vouch for matches run by Ed (Gator) and Carol Rosenqvist (pink22) any time. Check out one of their matches, I have also enjoyed shooting in western NC. Alabama has had it's ups and downs. Great matches in Brunswick (although a bit further than you want to drive for a day match, probably). Yes, the Sunshine Games will be great in May, Hollywood is a bit further than I like to drive for a day match on a regular basis, but I'll be there the day after shooting a round or two of ILSA in Samsula FL.

Mary

I read an article a while back about the history of metallic silhouette shooting. It seems that our game has more in common with the "meat shoots" where the winner takes home meat as a prize than it does with true hunting.

If memory serves me (it probably doesn't), metallic silhouette shooting was derived from the practice of staking a live animal (chicken, javelina, turkey, or ram) at the common high-power distances and then shooting at it. If you kill the animal, then you get to eat it. The sport then progressed to steel cut-outs instead of live animals.

For a range to be totally "cold" before the first shot of competition seems entirely out of the ordinary. I think all of us here would like to see the silhouette shooting sports grow in participation. A little practice before the match, having the chance to check zero's, or even make a change if necessary (i.e. someone had to replace a scope the previous day or had their rifle completely apart) is good for the sport and certainly helps the confidence of the shooter in his/her equipment.

SteveM.

I was at the match, last Saturday, this fellow described. I was standing less than 8 feet from him and the match director when the exchange occured. He arrived at 8:30, saying that he had gotten lost a couple of times, just as we were finishing a little practice and getting ready for our safety meeting. He fiddled around for a few minutes, I'll say ten, give or take a couple,getting his truck cap open and his guns out. He did not come up to the match director until after he had brought his two rifles to the line and put them in a rack. One of his rifles had a tuner on it and I wondered how he was going to handle it in the standard rifle match. I couldn't hold it up that long. I digress. That's when he told Nick, the match director, that he needed to sight in his rifles and wanted to know where the sight in benches were, as well as the "swingers" (swinging targets). He was told we didn't have any on that range but they were on the big bore range. Nick told him we had a few sillhouettes left and he was welcome to shoot them but we were about to start the safety meeting in a few minutes. Nick also told him that he couldn't, in fairness to everyone else, wait for him to zero his rifles when they didn't have the same chance. That's when the hissy fit struck and the fellow said, "I guess I'll just go back to Georgia because I'm not going to shoot without zeroing my rifles". He was not told he couldn't shoot, just that he couldn't hold up the match. He was not told he couldn't zero his rifles, just not on that range. He could have gone to the big bore range, done his trick, and shot the second match. But NOOOO, he wasn't going to have any of that. If there was an example of "Southern Holpitality" missing in Pinson last Saturday be assured there was a prime example of "Southern" rudeness, ingraciousness, and cutting off one's nose to spite ones face.

chemteach, I was wanting to attend this match at some point, maybe even bring family and friends along. Its the closest to me in Muscle Shoals. In your estimation, it is a fun, positive experience? I have had PM corespondance with Nick that seemed positive so I feel better about it than originally after the OPs post. Would appreciate your thoughts. .

FWIW: I work with the public. I consider myself a positive, easy going guy that goes out of his way to be nice and help people. BUT...there are some people, some situations where you just can't make folks happy. YMMV.

By all means come on down. We shoot each month on the second Saturday. The range opens at 8:00, we put out targets and have a little time for warm up shots. The safety meeting follows and the match gets under way at 9:00. I feel safe in saying that you will have a good time, I know you will be well treated. We would love to have you shoot with us. I have known some of the people that shoot this match for 40 years and you cannot find more congenial people, more helpful people, or people more appreciative of your shooting with us than here at MCGC.