Hi there, I just registered for the first time this week.

I'm sorry for being so lazy, but I wanted to ask if anyone could point me to any particularly important posts that I should read first, so I can get up to speed here?

Thanks, Michael

Read first for what? Equipment, technique, funny stuff? For technique, try "Do you practice..." just a thread or two down. For equipment, use the search feature or just ask the question. For funny stuff, access "All posts by genphidaux."

ajj wrote: For funny stuff, access "All posts by genphidaux."

So very true......

your like the brother,
I would have helped my mother,
smoother at birth.

Now thats funny LMAO

Hi Michael,

I'm just starting out too. Well, maybe not yet starting out (since I've not shot my first match yet). Depending on where you are in the game... if you are like me, who is brand new to .22LR rifle shooting, then here's what I did/read:

1. silhouette rules on the equipment specifications/limitations.
2. Read manufacturer's literatures on the planned rifle and handle a few.
3. Search and post on RFC (that's rimfire central) to discuss about your proposed equipment. Buy the equipment and ammo.
4. Read target rifle shooting techniques on RFC (I also read ar15.com).

That's where I am now. Fired my first .22LR out of my new rifle a few days ago, zero'ed my scope, and realized that smallbore silhouette isn't as easy as I first thought.

On the first two, I think you're probably right. On the next two, I don't think you are. I've seen a lot of info posted on RFC about silhouette shooting and target shooting in general that's just plain wrong. It's much better to go to a specialized site like this one for info on a particular match than to a generalized site like RFC. On the specialized websites, you have people that came to the site specifically to talk about that one topic and are, as a general rule, much more knowledgable about the topic than most shooters. You have way too many "ricochets" from shooters in general who think they know way more about a certain type of shooting than they do that just happen to wander info a particular forum on a big site like RFC, just because they've been shooting for many years.

I started in benchrest shooting and had a lot of trouble using info from RFC before I found the benchrest central site. It could have been the same way with silhoutte shooting if I hadn't had the bad experience from benchrest to warn me. I read a lot on RFC and post there a fair amount, but for answers to silhouette shooting pretty much anything posted there needs to be taken with a grain of salt, especially how well some people there say their rifles shoot. Some of those folks claim their $100 Wal-Mart autoloaders shoot better off a rolled up jacket on the hood of a truck than $3000+ benchrest guns on $2000 worth of benchrest equipment and wind flags.

Just read the content here, and use any extra reading time you might have devoted to the books mentioned. Spend the rest of the time devoted to silhoutte practicing, whether just practicing hold, dry firing, or with live fire at the range. Try to keep questionable material out of your head so that it won't confuse anything. Though the sport of silhouette shooting seems to be very simple, the stances, breathing, hold and trigger control are all fairly complex. They're hard enough to learn to the point of them being controlled subconsciously as it is without introducing a lot of not-so-reliable information. Once you have a good basis of information, it will be easier for you to separate truth from fiction when it comes to info from others about silhouette shooting.

New silouette shooter that I am, the best stuff I've read is what the NRA sent me when I emailed the link on their silhouatte page (Rulebook, etc.....)

Here's a great site (IMHO) that a member of our club made a couple of years ago:
http://members.cox.net/riflesilhouette/
It helped me hit the ground running.

I'm an RFC member, so boy was I surprised the line at my first match wasn't all 10/22's with Mueller scopes !
Kidding aside, RFC is a good source, but look at how many members there are on that forum. Quite a lot. Here you see posters that are dedicated silhouette shooters.........

Remember-the search button is your friend!