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Most of the topics on these forums revolve around action shooting like IDPA or IPSC but are there any silhouette shooters around?

I did some silhouette shooting a few years back. Smallbore hunter rifle and pistol only. Great fun, but the budgets (monetary and time) didn't allow for it and I have never picked it back up. Maybe someday...

It is a very humbling sport and deserves a short story.

I had a few matches under my belt and was becoming comfortable with the game. I was one match from getting my "A" classification in Smallbore Hunter Rifle, I practiced daily for 2 weeks getting ready for the big match. Come match morning, full of confidence, I was paired with a young lady (16 years old) who was a very good shot. We chatted a bit and fired our warm up shots. Knocked them all down without any misses, I am ready to go. The match begins, I shoulder my rifle and am getting my sights on the Turkey when I hear "crack, plink", bolt cycle, "crack, plink" bolt cycle. I had not got my first shot off. Needless to say, I got all shaken up and proceed to hit 1 Turkey... The rest of the match didn't go much better. I think I scored 6 of 40...


I was a member of the Central Texas Silueta Association, great group of folks.

kd5zex wrote:I was a member of the Central Texas Silueta Association, great group of folks.

I used to be a member, too. Shot IHMSA large-bore pistol. Like you, I had to take a hiatus from it for budgetary reasons. But I still have my Contender and Dan Wesson 357 SuperMag. I sure had a lot of fun knocking down steel.

The Dan Wesson won 2nd place in Revolver A for the 13th Annual Texas IHMSA State Championship. I also lent it to another revolver shooter at that match. He ended up in a shootoff, but didn't have any rounds left for his revolver. Well, he used my revolver to win the Champion trophy for his revolver class. That convinced me to keep the revolver, to this very day.

Back in the 70's shot a lot of IHMSA, when you hit your first ram at 200 meters, what a thrill. Even if you only hit a few before that at the closer targets, the rams is what get you hooked. A lot to learn in shooting long range with a handgun but plenty of good people to help you. I noticed a steel ram by the range officers bench at ASC, was wondering if they would have some matches (looked kind of old, had been there a while).

ASC doesn't have IHMSA matches but PSC in Friendswood has both NRA and IHMSA matches on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays. The IHMSA match on the 3rd Saturday is generally the more popular with higher attendance but they're both fun. Blow the dust off the ol' Contender and come on out!

I'm casually into smallbore silhouette. Got a CZ 452 Varmit earlier this year for just that purpose.

At the Hobbs Gun Club, in Hobbs, NM, we shoot .22 silhouette the first Saturday of every month and the next day (Sunday).
On Saturday, I'm not sure if it's officially IHMSA or what, but we shoot 3/8 size in the morning, break for lunch, and come back and shoot 1/2 size.
Sunday we shoot the official NRA 1/5 size.
I've also gone to Carlsbad, NM for a couple matches over there.

I'm AA in both the 1/2 and the 3/8. But I usually skip the Saturday morning competition because it's at the same time as our monthly USPSA pistol match on the other side of the range.
With the NRA targets, I'm B in Hunter class and A in standard class. (The one time I shot Hunter class, we had about a 30mph crosswind.)

I bought my CZ expecting to use it as both Hunter and Standard. But the guy I bought it from had installed the Brooks trigger kit bringing it down to about 8 or 9 ounces. Has to be a minimum of 2 pounds for Hunter. He said he still has all the springs that came with the kit and he'll bring them to me. (That would allow me to get it back up to the 2 pounds I need.) But that was several months ago and I haven't seen them. I keep saying, "If you don't have them, or can't find them, or whatever, tell me. I'll order another kit." And he keeps saying, "No, no. I'll bring them to you." Yeah.

Metallic Silhouette can be a humbling game. I shot NRA & IHMSA for many years and hope to return. I still have my TCs, revolvers and xp. Gordon Rysavy, known as "Mr. Standing" in silhouette circles, is a former PSC President and is the International Record Holder in Big Bore Standing - his 38 out of 40 has only been tied once in the past 20 years. This January marks the 20 year anniversary of that feat. He used a stock Contender in 7 TCU.

bestshotrange wrote:Metallic Silhouette can be a humbling game. I shot NRA & IHMSA for many years and hope to return. I still have my TCs, revolvers and xp. Gordon Rysavy, known as "Mr. Standing" in silhouette circles, is a former PSC President and is the International Record Holder in Big Bore Standing - his 38 out of 40 has only been tied once in the past 20 years. This January marks the 20 year anniversary of that feat. He used a stock Contender in 7 TCU.

I am humbled at every match! I know Gordon, he is a true hero in the silhouette ranks! We still shoot NRA the first Saturday and IHMSA the third Saturday every month at PSC . Dust off the guns and come join us!