Air rifle silhouette

Pumps, pre-charged, springers and everything else pneumatic.
kevinbear
AAA Poster
AAA Poster
Posts: 967
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:16 am
Location: Parker Colorado

Air rifle silhouette

Post by kevinbear »

With all that was going on in the last year including stay at home, ammunition shortages and for many of us less money in shooting budgets airguns seem like a great alternative to stay in the game. January of lat year I bought my first pcp gun a Diana Outlaw, somehow this set off a chain of events resulting in Dave Bonner buying a FX Dreamline and coercing me into buying one, his brother getting another and Dave getting yet another FX!
Both Dave and I have air rifle silhouette targets but probably inadequate for a match where people might show up with high velocity guns so we'll have to work on that.
So far the smallbore guys around here have not showed alot of interest in airgun but that may change with high prices and limited supplies of 22 ammunition, wondering if there's a different demographic of people in other states that shoot airgun silhouette than smallbore or are they the same people?
Here's my Dreamline classic laminated, really a wonderful gun to shoot, the trigger is a 2-stage nearly identical to a 1712.
Image
AAA Shooter politically incorrect and loving it
richard
A Poster
A Poster
Posts: 213
Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2007 10:22 am
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: Air rifle silhouette

Post by richard »

The answer is yes and no. I have been shooting and running airgun silhouette since around 1988 and some shooters cross over from firearms silo and some are pretty much airgun shooters. I think the majority are just airgun shooters. Airgun silo is great because you don't need the space. Airguns low power and limited range are an advantage. We even shoot air pistol silo indoors because the max. distance is only 18 yards, easy.
Despite the advantages of airguns, firearms guys just seem to have trouble warming up to them. Me? I shoot a lot of different stuff and frankly airguns are the most fun of all.
It's difficult to even get crossover shooters within airgun shooting. Some silo shooters also shoot field target but very few come over from 10 meter shooting and vice versa.
I don't understand why this is and I still keep trying to suck other shooters into airgunning. Once in awhile we actually hook somebody and they are amazed at how much fun it can be. Another issue with all shooting sports is that there may not be any local matches. There need to be matches for shooters to shoot. We run field target and silo but there are no local clubs running 10 meter.
Keep trying.

Rick Bassett
Richard
kevinbear
AAA Poster
AAA Poster
Posts: 967
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:16 am
Location: Parker Colorado

Re: Air rifle silhouette

Post by kevinbear »

Thanks for the response Richard, thinking about advertising a match on the airgun forums this spring. Probably let them shoot off the bench for one match then a standing match immediately afterward. From what I see on the internet there's lots of the "tactical" guys that use bi-pods and are pretty much addicted to them.
AAA Shooter politically incorrect and loving it
User avatar
acorneau
AAA Poster
AAA Poster
Posts: 880
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2015 12:12 pm
Location: Houston

Re: Air rifle silhouette

Post by acorneau »

We have 6 to 8 regulars for air rifle silhouette, all of them also shoot smallbore silhouette. Some also do lever-action and a few high-power.

There's about dozen folks over in Louisiana that also shoot air rifle, smallbore, and to a lesser extent lever-action and high-power.

I agree that air rifle is a lot of fun. Target rifle can be an exercise is extreme wind reading, Sporter gives some people fits because of hold sensitivity, but Open rifles are just the best!

\:D/
Allen Corneau
Canon82
B Poster
B Poster
Posts: 32
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2016 2:22 am

Re: Air rifle silhouette

Post by Canon82 »

Allen ,
What would you recommend for a open gun ?
Scott
User avatar
acorneau
AAA Poster
AAA Poster
Posts: 880
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2015 12:12 pm
Location: Houston

Re: Air rifle silhouette

Post by acorneau »

Canon82 wrote: Wed Feb 17, 2021 11:59 am What would you recommend for a open gun ?
That's a toughie since for Open rifle almost anything goes.

I'm using an Air Arms HFT 500 because it met most of my criteria for certain ergonomic, performance, and financial requirements. Some of my friends use Steyr LG-100's or 110's, FX's, Walthers, Marauders, etc.

Look for .177 rifles in the 800-950 FPS range that have the ergonomics that work for you and your body. You can look at what the Field Target guys use as a starting basis, just don't get thrown off by all the accessories they use such as hamsters (palm rests), massive scope risers and side-focus wheels, etc.
Allen Corneau
Canon82
B Poster
B Poster
Posts: 32
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2016 2:22 am

Re: Air rifle silhouette

Post by Canon82 »

Thanks Allen
kevinbear
AAA Poster
AAA Poster
Posts: 967
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:16 am
Location: Parker Colorado

Re: Air rifle silhouette

Post by kevinbear »

I'm shooting the 177 13.43gr jsb at 952fps, probably going to take a hardened target to stand up to that much energy but wind drift at 42yds, what wind? ha ha
AAA Shooter politically incorrect and loving it
User avatar
acorneau
AAA Poster
AAA Poster
Posts: 880
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2015 12:12 pm
Location: Houston

Re: Air rifle silhouette

Post by acorneau »

kevinbear wrote: Wed Feb 17, 2021 1:01 pm I'm shooting the 177 13.43gr jsb at 952fps, probably going to take a hardened target to stand up to that much energy but wind drift at 42yds, what wind? ha ha
That's 27 ft/lbs of energy! Definitely too much for most regular air rifle targets. [-x
Allen Corneau
kevinbear
AAA Poster
AAA Poster
Posts: 967
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:16 am
Location: Parker Colorado

Re: Air rifle silhouette

Post by kevinbear »

Yea, it's a powerful 177, here's my test target at 50yds, pellets go through 8 layers of cardboard, 1/2 osb and if I shoot more than a couple of shots in the same 1/2 they start to break through the 5/8 cedar siding.Makes for a very reliable pest control gun out to 60yds, groups are quarter size at that distance.
Image

Image
AAA Shooter politically incorrect and loving it
User avatar
dustinflint
Expert Master Poster
Expert Master Poster
Posts: 1519
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 12:13 pm
Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Re: Air rifle silhouette

Post by dustinflint »

kevinbear wrote: Wed Feb 17, 2021 1:01 pm I'm shooting the 177 13.43gr jsb at 952fps, probably going to take a hardened target to stand up to that much energy but wind drift at 42yds, what wind? ha ha
At our matches we limit the rifles to around 20 ft/lb and nothing larger than .22 caliber. As much as I hate new rules, with all the new air rifles out there now, we need a max energy rule.

Dustin
kevinbear
AAA Poster
AAA Poster
Posts: 967
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:16 am
Location: Parker Colorado

Re: Air rifle silhouette

Post by kevinbear »

For whatever reason air rifle shooters around here are not particularly sophisticated, very few pcp guns and I've never seen a Tx200....anywhere.
Almost everyone has a Gamo or other wallyworld pellet rifle however, that's the group I want to get out shooting, we'll worry about upscaling their guns later. I don't want to limit anyone's participation based on their gun's velocity or ft lbs, if it's a 177 or 22 they can shoot it, we'll get targets that can take the hits.
I'm a skeet match director at one of the local clubs, participation in 22 NRL is unbelievable, typically 50+ people are showing up to shoot it whereas silhouette can barely get enough for a match, people tell me the reason being is because of the nit-picking rules of silhouette, I tend to agree.
Placing energy limit rules on 177 and 22 caliber pellet guns for shooting competitions especially outdoors, think about how that would sound to someone new to airgun coming from the 22lr or centerfire hunting world.
AAA Shooter politically incorrect and loving it
User avatar
dustinflint
Expert Master Poster
Expert Master Poster
Posts: 1519
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 12:13 pm
Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Re: Air rifle silhouette

Post by dustinflint »

kevinbear wrote: Mon Feb 22, 2021 8:43 am For whatever reason air rifle shooters around here are not particularly sophisticated, very few pcp guns and I've never seen a Tx200....anywhere.
Almost everyone has a Gamo or other wallyworld pellet rifle however, that's the group I want to get out shooting, we'll worry about upscaling their guns later. I don't want to limit anyone's participation based on their gun's velocity or ft lbs, if it's a 177 or 22 they can shoot it, we'll get targets that can take the hits.
I'm a skeet match director at one of the local clubs, participation in 22 NRL is unbelievable, typically 50+ people are showing up to shoot it whereas silhouette can barely get enough for a match, people tell me the reason being is because of the nit-picking rules of silhouette, I tend to agree.
Placing energy limit rules on 177 and 22 caliber pellet guns for shooting competitions especially outdoors, think about how that would sound to someone new to airgun coming from the 22lr or centerfire hunting world.
I see your point. It's different down here. Everyone that regularly shoots - and most everyone that even tries - air rifle silhouette is somewhat knowledgeable about air rifles OR they've shot smallbore silhouette and understand there are rules. Also, we don't get a lot of crossover from the hunting world into silhouette here - most of our silhouette shooters are hunters but none of them are looking for another hunting sport. If folks in Louisiana want to go hunting, they go hunting.

I dont think I've ever seen someone try to shoot a silhouette match with a Gamo - we would not likely let anyone try that because that's almost surely going to be a bad experience. If a newbie shows up to one of our air rifle silhouette matches, we are going to let them shoot an awesome rifle with a great trigger and all the bells and whistles. Of course, we have lots of air rifles.

Dustin
User avatar
acorneau
AAA Poster
AAA Poster
Posts: 880
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2015 12:12 pm
Location: Houston

Re: Air rifle silhouette

Post by acorneau »

kevinbear wrote: Mon Feb 22, 2021 8:43 am... people tell me the reason being is because of the nit-picking rules of silhouette...
Yeah, that darned "you gotta stand up and shoot" rule is just the pits! Scares them away every time. :))
Allen Corneau
kevinbear
AAA Poster
AAA Poster
Posts: 967
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:16 am
Location: Parker Colorado

Re: Air rifle silhouette

Post by kevinbear »

Here's a few fun facts like them or not.
1. Silhouette participation has been steadily declining for at least 10 years.
2. The NRA is not supporting it like they once did, bad press for the NRA hasn't helped.
3. The NRA may drop competitive shooting all together, silhouette might be the first to go.
4. The demographic of shooters has changed a lot, there are lots young people shooting that have never owned guns of any kind, they don't hunt and aren't particularly interested in hunting.
5. Silhouette origins are in hunting not military style sniper type shooting.
6. Military style sniper shooting is all the rage currently, they shoot one stage offhand at relatively close range, that's not going away anytime soon.
7. Older shooters that have been in silhouette for 30+ years, now senior class shooters are dropping off due to health reasons faster than being replaced by the up and coming youth.

What does all this mean to longtime silhouette shooters like people on this forum and myself?
A. Very few new shooters are being recruited into the sport, most folks don't actively try to recruit.
B.It's a difficult game, ammunition is going to be expensive and hard to get going forward, games like NRL tactical are sucking up target ammunition like crazy, don't think sponsors and vendors won't start catering to them.
C. Gun and scope manufacturer's will drop their products geared towards silhouette without a certain level of participation making it even more difficult for new people to get into the game.
D. Covid certainly didn't help and with they way the election went panic buying ammunition is at an all time high.
E. No ammunition, no components but there's still plenty of pellets and pellet guns to be had except there's a bunch of guys who insist on holding potential new and young shooters to rules put in place by an organization who doesn't really care about the sport and is probably going to divest themselves from it.
If your not already you'll be standing next to a couple other guys at this summers matches talking about the good old days, gone are the days of 3-4 relays. Nationals will look like any other day at the range except there may not be as many people there.
My idea, no rules on pellet guns, you can use any 177 or 22 caliber guns, instead of having a different class of guns there's two matches, first one is off the bench and the distances to the targets are doubled, second match the targets are moved back in and it's shot offhand. People will be reluctant to shoot offhand at first but a good percentage of them will try it and some will do well finding it more satisfying than bench shooting. It may also keep a few of the silver hair shooters from quiting shooting completely because they're unable to shoot offhand anymore.
AAA Shooter politically incorrect and loving it
Post Reply