Rifle

This month chairman Mike Lombardi talks about Silhouette Shoooting and posts the last match results. Please contact Mike if you want to shoot in a match.

Introduction
A silhouette is a steel profile of an animal (chicken, pig, turkey, or ram) standing on a pedestal. The object of the game is to knock as many silhouettes as possible off their pedestals, shooting one round at each silhouette. It is a very simple competition, with very simple scoring: You get a 1 for knocking an animal off its stand, a 0 for anything else. Although silhouette is an easy game to learn, it is not an easy game to master. The animals are rather small and the distances are rather large; you must shoot offhand (standing); a moderate breeze can move a bullet or a pellet the width of an animal; your concentration becomes more difficult to hold as you knock down five in a row, six, .... These factors make silhouette an endless challenge.

Silhouette shooting originated in Mexico in the late 1940s. It is now shot all over the world with everything from air pistols to black powder rifles. Silhouette sizes and distances vary according to the kind of rifle or pistol, but everything else is the same. For example, high-power rifle silhouettes are life-size, but they are shot at much longer distances than the scaled-down small bore or air rifle silhouettes. Commands to load, fire, and cease fire are often given in Spanish, in part to honor the sport's heritage, and in part to distinguish the silhouette shooters' commands from those directed at other shooters sharing the range. (Non-Spanish speakers, don't worry; there are only three commands!)

A match consists of 40, 60, or 80 shots at the same number of animals. In a 60-shot match, you shoot 15 rounds at 15 chickens, 15 rounds at 15 pigs, and the same for turkeys and rams. For small bore at NTR&G, the animals are 40, 60, 77, and 100 meters distant; (At some clubs, yards may be meters and vice versa.) You shoot at the silhouettes in sets (banks) of five; you get 2-1/2 minutes per bank, which is usually plenty of time even for single-shot rifles.. Perfect scores are very rare. Shooters are classified into handicap groups based on past performance so they can compete with others of similar ability. But it's not just the score that counts. Shooters who never break 20 come to match after match because toppling a silhouette is a satisfying experience that you want to do again, and because silhouette shooters are a great bunch of people to shoot and talk and laugh with.

Scopes

This area is one in which you cannot skimp. You would be better off buying a cheaper rifle and a more expensive scope than the other way around. You must have a scope that has anywhere from 15 to 36 power, it must have target turrets that you can reset and above all it must be repeatable. On any given match you will adjust your scope anywhere from 4 to 15 times depending on how you practice. The best way to sight in your scope is too first zero it. By this I mean you need to either buy adjustable elevation rings (such as Burris zee rings) or use a shim. What you want to do is have the rifle zeroed at 40 meters and also have the scope’s elevation turret all the way down. By doing this you have the scopes full elevation travel to use and it also makes it easier to find your 40 meter zero, all you do is turn it all the way down. At our club we have targets at each distance so all you would do is start at 40 meters and fire until you have a tight group in the center. Once you do write down the number on the target dial or mark it. Next move to 60 meters and do the same thing, and so on until you reach 100 meters. At this point you should be able to choose any distance and be able to quickly adjust the scope to be dead on at that distance. I suggest writing the numbers clearly on a piece of paper and taping it to the stock. I cant tell you how many shooters have numbers written on multiple pieces of paper, backs of targets, on their hand’s, shoes, ammo box’s, on match day they scramble to remember which numbers are the right ones (Tom Kelly for instance). Also make sure your scope is set back at the range.

Equipment

One of the appeals of silhouette shooting is the gear: There isn't much of it, and you can choose how much money to spend on it. A good-quality off-the-shelf hunting rifle will get you into the game, enabling you to acquire the fundamental skills of offhand shooting; it will shoot good scores if you do your part. If, later, you want to compete at the top level of the game, you can buy a fine-quality rifle. Oh yea, no slings, gloves, special shoes, shooting jackets or any other accuracy helpers. This is off hand shooting at its simplest form.you are starting!!

Rifles

For small bore silhouette, you can use most any .22 rifle and standard velocity ammunition. (High velocity ammunition is prohibited because it can damage the targets.) In practice, most people shoot bolt-action rifles with scopes of 16-24 power. However, there is no reason you should not come out with your semi-automatic and 8-power scope, or even iron sights if you can holdover at four different ranges. You'll see how much fun the game is, what the people are like, and what rifles and scopes the veteran shooters are using. If you ask politely, you'll probably be able to shoot any rifle that's there.

To get a little more technical, there are two small bore rifle classes (for details, buy a copy of the NRA Rifle Silhouette Rules from the NRA):

• Hunter class: A hunting-style rifle, maximum weight 8-1/2 lbs. including scope and empty magazine, minimum trigger pull 2 lbs. Popular choices include (in order of increasing price) NS-522, CZ 452, Sako Finnfire, Anschutz 1710D, plus all sorts of Rugers, Savages, Remingtons, Winchesters, Kimbers, etc. It must have a tapered barrel!



• Silhouette class: Typically a purpose-built silhouette rifle, maximum weight 10 lbs. 2 oz. including scope and empty magazine. The most popular choices are Anschutz 54.18 MSR (metallic silhouette repeater) and custom rifles built on Anschutz or Remington actions.

Match day

You should arrive between 8 and 8:30am, Practice starts at 9:00. After you sign up you should get your gear together and bring it to the line. When practice starts check your zero’s!!!

Sometimes you move the turrets by accident or someone plays a joke on you by turning your knobs (Bob Bornt for example). Once practice is complete there is sometimes a meeting once all that is done the match director, me (Mike Lombardi) will call “shooter A to the line for your first bank of animals” . At this point you may bring your rifle to the line and adjust your scope. After everyone is set and no-one is touching a rifle or clip I will announce “ready” at this point you may load your rifle and come to the shooting position, Fifteen seconds later I will announce “fire” you will then have two and a half minutes to fire five rounds starting left to right. If you knock an animal off it’s a hit, anything else is a miss, simple as that.

That’s all there is too it, sounds simple don’t it. Well its not. Most shooters start off there first time hitting single digits but don’t get discouraged in time with some practice (Thursday nights) you will get better.

If anybody has questions or needs help please don’t be afraid to ask me.
Mike Lombardi

MATCH RESULTS

HUNTER RIFLE
NAME	CLASS	CHICKEN	PIG	TURKEY	RAM	TOTAL	PLACE
MARK MCCLENAHAN	B	2	5	0	2	9
FRED HILL	A	5	5	1	3	14	1ST A
DICK DORMAN	A	6	2	1	2	11
ANDY DORMAN	AA	2	4	4	4	14
JIM KENEDY	AA	7	6	4	6	23	MATCH CHAMP
JACK SZYMACHEK	AA	4	8	4	2	18	1ST AA
TOM KELLY	AA	3	7	3	2	15
SID NEWBOLD	UNC	5	3	5	4	17

STANDARD RIFLE
NAME	CLASS	CHICKEN	PIG	TURKEY	RAM	TOTAL	PLACE
GUY GAMELLO	B	5	4	4	0	13
ROGER LEGARE	A	1	6	2	4	10	IST A
DICK DORMAN	A	3	4	3	5	15
CHARLES GARAGOSIAN	AA	9	1	3	5	18
TOM KELLY	AA	2	6	5	5	18	2ND AA
JIM KENEDY	AA	6	5	4	2	17
JACK SZYMACHEK	AA	8	3	3	5	19	IST AA
NING LIU	FUN	6	1	6	3	16
MIKE LOMBARDI	AAA	6	9	6	7	28	MATCH CHMP
RICH BARKER	UNC	6	4	5	7	22