I shot at the Benchrest Rifle Club of St. Louis in Wright City Missouri and I did much better than I ever expected. I hit 19 out of 40 in the first round and 15 out of 40 in the second round. It was a lot of fun and a nice group of guys to shoot with.

Some random thoughts about my first competition.

Nerves make a difference. I got lucky and hit 4 pigs in a row and then choked on the fifth. It seemed to move a lot more than the first 4.

I was very carefull to make sure I changed my scope settings for each animal. Next time I am going to be very carefull to make sure they are correct. When I moved from rams to chickens I adjusted the sights up instead of down. I did not have high expectations for my shooting but when I hit five chickens in the first round and none in the second I wondered what happened. Oh well, knowing me I am afraid that won't be the last time I mess up the settings but hopefully it will remind me to double check the settings before I shoot.

A spotter does help. Dusty ( A guy I met at the shoot last month when I was a spectator) did some informal spotting for me. He told me I was shooting in front of the rams, so I aimed at the butt and hit a few of them.

This site gave me a lot of good information to get started shooting silhouettes. Based on information from here and rimfire central I did decide to buy a decent scope. I have the Sightron 6 x 24 Silhouette scope and I really like it.

My best source of help though was from Shane at Josephville Guns. He set up my gun and scope and has been very patient answering all of my questions.
There seems to be a lot of nice people shooting silhouettes.

I'm looking forward to the next shoot, but the next one at the Bench Rest club is in August. Anybody know of any other shoots near St. Louis?

Sounds like you did well. I have found Steelchickens to be the best source for information about the ins' and outs' of silo shooting. I was interested to read your experience as I have not yet attended a formal shoot but shoot a lot at home. I hope to go this spring and meet some great people and maybe even get to Winnsboro eventually. So, thanks for sharing and good luck!

Rob

Speedyrob...this May 31 through June 4th is the last dance at the famous Winnsboro.

Mary

Is it moving or are the Southern Nationals going away all together?

Last Southern Nationals is this year

Joemo

I see that Green Valley Rifle Club is supposed to have matches. They are in Columbia, MO.
you can look them up at a www.gvshoot.com. They have a calendar of events on the site.

Speedyrob,

Thanks for the information. I checked the site and they don't have the new silhouette schedule posted yet. Columbia is about two hours away,so it is something I would consider.