Hello Everyone.
I am just starting to get into this smallbore silhouette game, and am trying to get my 17 year old son in it with me. I have been checking out a lot of the posts here on steelchickens, and most have answered my questions. my son and i shoot informal bullseye matches on our backyard range. i am ashamed to say that he can usually outshoot the old man, but that is life. We both shoot 1022's that I have customized over the years. being a mechanical engineer and a gunsmith i like to tinker. The one question I have is how can I talk the kid into trying silhouette with me? He is afraid to make a fool out of himself at a match by not hitting all the animals. See the kid is a perfectionist when it come to shooting, has better disipline than I do. I told him no one ever hits all the animals all the time, otherwise there would be no fun or challenge in the game. Any advice this great bunch of people could give me would be greatly appreciated.

I HAVE FOUND THAT OF ALL THE PEOPLE I HAVE HAD TRY SILO,THE #1 REASON THEY DONT COME BACK IS CAUSE OF LOW SCORE HUMILITY.I TELL EVERYONE THAT IT IS ABOUT THE OPPERTUNITY TO IMPROVE OVER THE LONG HAUL THAT MAKES IT EVEN WORTH DOING, THAT THE SELF SEEDING CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM MAKES IT SO YOU CAN COMPETE AT THE APPROITE LEVEL THROUGHOUT YOUR ENTIRE CAREER.WHY AM I YELLING?
i am not i just forgot to take off caplock. unfortunately ego keeps alot of people from enjoying the friendliest and hardest to master game of silo . for some it just keeps our score from getting better
the sport has built in motivational tools like 5 in a row pins etc.jsut get him to go a couple of times and hope fully the game itself will hook him.


welcome to you both

handsome dave

I saw the BEST shirt on Silhouette last week...

"Silhouette - If it was easy they would call it golf"

Still LMAO on it and wish I could get one

The great thing about this sport is no one cares about your score. You basically shoot to better yourself and not worry about someone else's scores. While trouble some to some everyone really is more worried about how they are doing individually then your score. I have a friend who thought everyone would be watching him shoot poorly at a big match, he quickly found out no one was watching his scores other then himself.

Tell him to come out shoot and try to improve his individual score each time he shoots and he'll be fine.

Welcome aboard!!!.

Another suggestion is to mention that Col Lones Wigger calls smallbore silhouette the most challenging shooting sport. It includes all of the challenges of shooting smallbore and learning to read the environmental conditions as well.

The classes help keep you in a similar playing field (usually) and there is always the challenge of beating your previous best score.
My 17 year old loves the game, but more than that he really enjoys the companions that he has met over the years of shooting, and of course the teasting that he gets and recieves from his buddies.

Get him to one match and meet the people, we are all friendly.
Welcome to the family.

Mary

We all fall short of what of expectations are but when we meet or exceed them, oh that has to be one of the best feelings in the world. I have competed in shooting sports for over 30 years and I will tell you this has to be the most difficult and rewarding thing I have ever done. I have never witnessed anyone poking fun or making light of how someone has performed after a match. It is quite the contrary; most will offer condolence or a few kind words to get you back in the game. I believe this is because we all know how easy it is for the shoe to be on the other foot. We are all competitors and we love to compete but at the same time we are a close nit bunch and have genuine concern for our friends. In this day and age you see very little of that. Welcome to the community, sit a spell and enjoy the luxury of learning from all our mistakes. You will meet some of the finest people to walk the face of this earth.

From the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

I've competed in shooting events with everything from pistols to shotguns to rifles. I learned a lot about bullet flight in benchrest, but none of the events have ever made me a better shooter like silhouette has. That's a point that can't be emphasized too much. Your son probably has a different expectation level coming from different shooting events, where it's often possible to hit every target, especially if you could take all the time you needed to shoot. Silhouette shooting is hard. Make no mistake about it. Every single person on the line, all the way up to the best of the best Master shooters, know how hard it is. There should be no embarassment from missing targets. It's expected, especially when starting out. That first five-in-a-row is a hell of a rush, though.. and the first 10-in-a-row and filling out that NRA Grand Slam form can make you walk on air for the rest of the day.

Thank you all for the warm welcome. And the good advice. Il et my son read your replies and asked him to try 1 match to see if he would enjoy it.

He has agreed to give it a try, and while him and I were talking my daughter asked if she could go also. Of course I said yes, so her and her boyfriend will be join ng us. Looks like a full crew going to shoot some steel this coming weekend.

We will be shooting our 1st classification match this Sunday. I just wish there were more places in the state of Michigan to shoot silhouette at. We only have 4 ranges that shoot this disipline.

I will keep you updated on how things go Sunday.

the part about the 10 in arow thing is true, when i got my 10 chicken in hunter i hugged ernie mellor- quite a shock at first i am sure- when he realized why a 270#man was hugging him he was most gracious. i love silhouette and i love all of you, the people are a huge part of the sport.i like jason have shot and competed with just about everything, my 3d archery gear is slowly turning to dust.
for you and your son have fun- the scores will come

dave

silhouette 13,

Ernie can handle a 270# hugging him, he has dealt with the losses and near misses, hits etc. and the even 5 and 10 and a rows.

Innocent Mary

silhouette13 wrote:my 3d archery gear is slowly turning to dust.

Hah! Same here. I sold most of my 3D archery gear, and I don't even use the decked-out Matthews Legacy that I could use for hunting (my justification for keeping it) but is still set up for 3D. If I'm shooting something, I'd rather be shooting my Anschutz.

Gunslinger;

Congratulations on starting silhouette with your son AND daughter. I remember a couple of years ago when, Casey, the guy that got me started kept telling me I ought to go to a match. We were shooting indoor silhouette on paper at the time and I kept telling him I didn't want to embarass myself. He told me over and over again that my scores didn't matter, it was all about learning to compete.

He was right. What he didn't tell me, though, was that everyone was very nice. No head games like the trap shooters. Lots of really nice folks who are happy to see new shooters and willing to help. In 2005 Casey convinced me to go to the Nationals in Phoenix. I wasn't a great shooter but I got a 5th place AA award and got to talk with national level Master class shooters who treated me just as nice as anyone else. Better still, I made friends and saw perfect strangers help each other.

I have never met a better group of people, competing to do their best and willing to help each other, and laugh at each other too! Go, shoot, and have a great time.

dwl

I scored a 6/40 my first match this June and the next round I shot a 11/40 and I was happy with those scores. After reading everyones post here I knew sort of what to expect the first time out and was happy with my scores. Next match is this Saturday and I hope to improve upon those scores. These were shoot with a loaner rifle from Ed "Gator" Jones and every miss was all my fault. Thanks Gator! Everyone at the match was very helpful and glad to have a new shooter at the range. Sadly a lot of the shooting sports are having less competitors every year and the young people need to be encouraged to participate. There are even college scholarships for the shooting sports that go unfilled every year because of lack of high school shooters( escpecially women).

This sport is a excellent oppurtunity for a young man/lady to learn discipline and patience and a chance for some good bonding between child/parent.

and wait until that first 15 in a row also, your heart will be jumoing out of your chest, im glad i started shooting silos at 15, 2 and a half years ago... ill never put my rifles down now, and every chance i get i practice silos, hey took me only 2 years to get into AAA in SB and HP, and just still one more master score in SB before im in with the greats....

I can beat myself silly when I can't shoot. I don't make time to practice and it shows. There are days that the drive home is filled with me thinking to myself "why do I keep doing this?" and then I remember how good it feels when I am in the goove.
A 10 in a row pin is something that will lift your spirits for longer than the day. Filling out a grand slam card is NEATO!!!!
The funny thing about my only (so far) ten in a row pin typifies how silhouette is..............I got it at a 60 shot match. The first bank of chickens I did not hit a single one. My kindly spotter just reminded me that there are still ten out there, and damned if I didn't settle down and get every one!
My last highpower match was typical sillywet for me too. I started on rams, and shot two of each animal going into turkeys. I was bummed to say the least. A little focus and breathing, and I got 6/10 turkeys. Go figure!

I've heard more than one shooter that carries a "distinguished" title say that rifle sillywet is the toughest game going.

Just don't get discouraged. Keep trying. You may be a natural, or just an average shooter, but you WILL meet the best folks in shooting sports.

Try walking up to a High Master at the next High Power (National Match NRA style) match and say, "hey I'm thinking of trying this, may I try your rifle?"