Hello All,

I've been thinking about ways to help promote the sport of silhouette shooting. After spending some time thinking about what other niche sports have done with a modicum of success for growing the activity the decision was made to start up an on line contest/match. The hope is we all shoot more for both practice and ultimately, in actual matches. This silo contest is based upon the wildly successful OLC for sailplane flying. The OLC has been so popular that instrument manufacturers are programming flight computers to help the pilot optimize OLC scores.

There is no name for the contest or site just yet and I've started compiling the content. The only thing to win is bragging rights on the web and improvement in your skills.

The scoring will be based on a points system and shooters will receive a handicap based on their classification. The handicap bias rewards novice shooters.

I'm hoping the anonymity of the internet allows people to participate who might be a bit timid at a match. The handicap bias is intended to level the field and give everyone a chance at the "win" during the season.

The site will contain PDFs of targets for 1/5 and 1/2 scale classes. I can also make up a set for airgun. There will be full sized to be set at the proper distances and another set scaled for use at 50 meters in case a shooter has space limits. If there is a need for other sizes/scales I can post these too.

Scoring is on the honor system. You think the paper hole would have knocked the animal off the rail then count it as a hit.

Scoring for the sailplane OLC is based on KM flown. My idea of an on-line silo match is points per animal accumulated. C worth 2, P worth 1, T worth 4, R worth 3. An actual match nets all shooters a 2X multiplier for the hit score.

As for the shooter handicap B shooters get a 2.5 multiplier, A-2.0, AA-1.5, AAA-1, M-0.75.

On paper, if you want to shoot all turkeys, fine. No limit just turn the points in. The idea is to encourage people to go out and shoot. The rules and handicaps I listed are based on applying them to a few matches to see how the point totals work out. I'd like any shooter to be able to win the thing.

The scores will be posted each Wednesday showing weekly points and total points. Use whatever rifle/pistol you want, NRA legal or not. More details to follow as I get closer to launching the site.

Sounds interesting let us know when its up and going.

I'm in for airgun, can I just use my swingers?

I think I could go for something like this. I'll be watching for updates.

Will they, or can they, be scaled for indoor use (50' SB or 33' for air gun). Up here in the North country our outdoor programs are winding down for the year and we move indoors for paper punching.

http://www.curragh.com/cgi-bin/silhouette.cgi

The above link is a neat automated game that I used to play with other silhouette shooters when I lived in Texas. It was programmed by Sam Corlett who used to be an active silhouette shooter in the DFW area. I believe he has taken up a new hobby of flying remote controlled hellicopters but he is still a good friend! He obviously knows how to write code as this was a 'way cool' automated web based application that is still clicking along. I (you should too) changed the week to view week 100, when you can see a whole bunch of folks played the game and we were celebrating 100 weeks of shooting. See all the silhouette shooters who signed on that week! I know folks would stay up until midnight to see who won the prior week's event! Ok, maybe that was just me. I can put you in contact with Sam. I've not talked to him for a while. It was all air, 10m. This obviously excludes those w/o airguns. Maybe your idea can take it further. The key for me was getting in 40 indoor practice shots every week regardless of temp. It helped my outdoor game but it sucked me into the world of air. Not a bad thing, but different.

Today I have migrated my air practice to 10m air rifle and attempt to shoot 590/600 like true precision shooters. Ya, right! It seemed to have more support with a on line league like Sam's and a postal league like Don Williams'. So many different things to do! I could put in links but I have already said too much! Last winter I started a NH vs CT event which was a huge success. Read, anything is good. I can type but can't write code!

As to the handicap issue...not really a big issue for me. I compete against myself first and only. I know I don't shoot as well as the top shooters who consistantly shoot 37 or better. Conversely, a shooter with 2 years under their belt is unlikely to chase down a AAA shooter. It is not about winning. It is about enjoying a sport with fellow shooters. 240 shooters did not show up at Winnsboro to win the match...win their class...or win anything. They went to have some fun and if they happened to put a good pair of numbers on the board, cool. So, to normalize, I am fine with it. Any training tool is good stuff.

In short, anything to get folks enjoying the fun of shooting is great. I think Sam had an excellent concept. Just that like everything, people like diversity. Change, intrigue, suspense. When it becomes rutine w/o social interaction, well, it dies. Folks would talk up the weekly match on straightshooters.com and toss around some dirt. Innocent fun. But it faded. Not exactly sure why. You could do the same here, have a "Sam type" program and BS about it on this website. The potential is endless, like the club I belong to, which is where my effort is these days.

Go for it Kevin! Just keep in mind the KISS principal. I suspect you could enlist support from the "code mavens" of the PNW to help take Sam's cgi code to the next level. Not sure you can merry air, smallbore and others but I'll be a student. I'll take all the help I can get to grow the sport! We are all on the same team and no one person has the "right" answer when it comes to growing shooting sports in America!

Go shoot some ten in a rows!

Thanks for the replies.

The targets you shoot at will be irrelevant as far as score is concerned. I suggested paper since most don't have metal and it takes a bit of effort to find, reset and paint targets. I can scale targets to whatever size is needed. It'd be great to establish some sort of standards just so I'm not scaling targets as a full time job but to get this up I am willing.

Jud, The airgun contest is pretty cool to see. Yes, if you can get me Sam's contact info it'd be great. That site is along the lines of what I was hoping to do.