I recently found out that our local CC club which I joined several years ago to use its archery ranges has add a small bore silhouette match.  It turned out that one was this weekend at a time which did not conflict with my normal schedule; so I thought I'd take one of my 22 single shots and give it a whirl and also try to drum up some local interest in Single shots.
Just for your amusement I thought I'd share the experience

Well I went to it, and I shot in it,  but . . . . .I'se gots a lot t'learn. 

I mounted my 20x Redfield on the Swiss Federal offhand rifle, since its all done offhand.   I'd made a prong butplate for the Ruger#1 and added a palmrest  but they are not allowed and while I had Keiths figures for the Mitchell scope  and Dale McGee sent me some figures that he has used for shooting them at his local club I thought waving that 40x around might make me motion sick.
   Dale, I used your figures and clicked down from my assumed 100 yd zero for the chickens.  We only had a short time to shoot to warm up the guns and check out zeros.  ( the benches are bad at the club--really bad. Imagine shooting benches made of 1/2 plywood jello and you won't be far off. I'm going to have to build a few and donate them, or build my own heavy duty folding one to haul back and forth)   I had a difficult time getting the paralax adjusted on the redfield to give me a clear picture at 25 yds---more on scopes later.  Eventually I got a sorta fuzzy picture and decided to test fire, shooting off my elbows on a wobbley bench since practice time was fast running out.  Managed to put three shots in a paper chickens head@25 so I figured that was as good as I was gonna to get with out a whole lot more testing and setup time.  (it was about as good as the whole experience got too!!!

Naturally since I was one of the early ones there they put me #2 in the 1st relay.    Other than a bit of screwing around on the 50 yd targets at EG I've never done any offhand work. 
  (See I've got LOTS of excuses.)  
Anyway I managed to get 2 of the 10 chickens.  It amazed me since it seemed like I was waving that gun around like I was conducting an orchestra with it. Chickens 8--Wayne 2
 On to the Peeegs----Had to adjust the scope.  I later learned that other guys just use hold over and under based on the turkys---but they also use higher speed ammo.   Also had to mess with the paralax again.  Fortunately they were pretty elastic on the time limits.  I nailed the 1st two pigs.   then realized that I was shooting on the wrong bank of them.  They have two racks of five that have to be shot in order and I'd been shooting on the second one first.  So I called the range master over and he agreed to let me finish shooting that bank first, but I'd not be able to count those first two.   Totally spooked and under time pressure I missed everything on that bank, and went back to the first bank.  only got one of them.  Peeegs 9 Wayne 1.   only good pigs are smoked ham and bacon anyway.
Turkys ----eeech!  Had to do the paralax readjust and scope adjust again.  actually manged to shoot in the right sequence and even got one of the.   I hate the turkys anyway.  In my IMHSSA shooting days more than once I cleaned the rams and most of the pigs and missed everyone of the damn turkys---for a few years there I couldn't stand Thanksgiving.  Turkys 9--Wayne 1.
Rams.  now I always liked the Rams--prior to this.   Had to do the scope adjust and paralax change again. finally got a nice crisp picture but I must have miscounted on the clicks----missed everyone of the buggers.   Of course the berm is nicely sodded and green so I had no way to tell where they were going to compensate.  But then after 30 odd rounds plus a few "sighters" I was probably weaving around like a weed in a windstorm anyway.

anyway I finished up 4/40 but I had a BALL anyway.  using the single shots got a lot of attention.  Had a few guys come up and ask questions.  had some other SS stuff in the back of the van including the Ruger---it got a lot of attention and I passed out a few back issues of the J. Most of the serious guys were using CZ's a few anschutz, a couple old classic win and rem smallbore competition rifles etc and shooting in the mid to high 20s.  I think the club record is 31.  Using a single shot felt a bit like taking a knife to a gunfight, but since they are a bit more flexxible on time here locally its doable and I'll do it again for sure.   Any excuse to shoot a single shot etc etc. found out that we have another local club that shoots the 22 silhouettes every other thursday evening.  I can do that too if I'm home.

I clearly need to use a different scope with more field of view as a dedicated scope set up just for the silhouettes, all sighted in and marked with settings.  then its just a matter of practicing.   I enjoyed it a lot and it gave me something other than just archery to do at the local club anyway.

IF you do any 22rf single shot shooting, and IF you have a local club that offers the 22rf silhouettes and IF you've never tried it give it a whirl. Any of you that have experience at this who want to give advice or comments,it'd be appreciated. Even though I did poorly this first time I had a ball and it leaves lots of room to improve and it gives another excuse to play with my rifles.

DWStiles
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ONE OF THE MOST FUN SHOOTIN IS 22 SILLEYWET. the folks were more at ease and everybody got a can of beans or a pin. i have some targets here that we shoot for fun but  i have to be watched,cause i will twist some windage in a scope for you. lots of fun. regards,ben.

DWS,

I enjoy RF silhouette shooting a lot and my rifle of choice is a cobbled-together Stevens 414 with a shortened barrel and a 3/4" Weaver scope, which I set to hit dead on on the Pigs.  Then I can shoot at the feet of the Chickens, just over the shoulders of the Turkeys and about a Ram high.  The rifle likes Winchester Wildcat Dynapoints at ~$10.00 per carton (last I bought them.)

To me it's more like plinking or hunting than "real" target shooting so I concentrate on good holds and trigger control and ignore equipment issues.  The guys I shoot with have Anschutz offhand rifles and exotic scope sights which they constantly fiddle with and gripe about.  They shoot Eley Tenex or Lapua or Federal Match at about the cost per 50 as I pay for a carton, and they keep going on about light changes, having the wrong zero, barrel never settling down, etc.  For all this activity, they don't seem to do all that much better than me, if as well; scores of 21-24 frequently win, and when the wind is up, scores of 16 sometimes do it.

For the life of me, I can't see a light change or a click in windage or elevation doing that much on a silhouette target, if you're already well into the center of mass.  Obviously, it could change a ring or two on a standard paper target, but these metal animals aren't standard targets.  The equipment guys often seem to wind up the day exasperated with their equipment, threatening to sell it or chuck it into a Bessemer converter.  If I'm exasperated, it's for my failure to practice offhand as often as I should be doing; otherwise, it's been a fun and relaxing session and another chance to shoot Old Cattywompus again.

Phoenix - welcome home - I didn't think that you would be able to stay away for long - you are kinda like a prodical son to us here at the forum - here for awhile - gone for awhile. - u have a good day now -   the rimfire - cdpersons

.22 silhouette is way more fun than almost any match.  We have only one here per year.  It is a shame.  It would be a great way to recruit new shooters.   

Phoenix, if I catch you twisting my scope knobs I'll be eating one tough old refried bird for dinner that's for sure....   


Brent\

QuestionableMaynard8130 wrote on May 6^th, 2007 at 10:52pm:


And what the heck is that prohibition all about anyway?  Some STRANGE ideas there.  People for the Ethical Treatment of Iron (PETI) seems to have made some inroads in the shooting worls 

Brent

rimfire, 
I didn't realize I was being so dangerous by shooting steel silhouette.   

You be careful now.

Brent

Well, Frog, we are looking for you here
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And there won't even be any need to shoot steel.
Brent

DWS;
You are onto a GOOD thing. I, and a couple of friends, started a .22 silhouette match at our local club several years ago. We were all BPCR shooters and really wanted to shoot a minature version of that using .22 single shots and using the same course of fire as the BPCR's. However, we realized that if we restricted the shooters to single shots the only guys shooting would be us. That was not our desire. 

The rules have evolved and now "any safe .22" can be used. We have autos, match rifles, and several single shots on the line. We now have about 25-30 active shooters (we shoot indoors on paper in the winter). We shoot at 25,50,75, and 100 yards. We started off just shooting the chickens offhand and the rest off sticks. However, perfect scores got too numerous so we now shoot chickens and pigs offhand and the rest off sticks. A recent rule change (rules are reviewed every October - no rule changes at any other time) has the top shooters shooting everything offhand with a two target bonus. Scopes are now allowed and most use them. Iron sight users get a two target bonus.

Outdoors, perfect scores happen from time to time. Glenn Fewless was the first to shoot a perfect score with iron sights (no bonus necessary). He kind of showed us the way. I have shot several perfect scores but with a scope (my vision now makes iron sight use a memory on iron).

Most of us use the Simmons 44 mag scopes with target knobs - 1/8" clicks and an adjustable objective. We change the zero every bank AND the objective. It is really nice to have a properly focused scope on every target. Those scopes are really $300.00 scopes that could be had for $100 for several years. They are no longer offered. I don't know what Simmons has replaced them with. They have a wide adjustment range and are more repeatable than my Leupolds (hard to believe but a fact). We have a bunch of them in use and NO ONE is unhappy with them.

A single shot is absolutely no handicap for silhoutte. I can recommend the "modified" course that we use as the newbies get to shoot decent numbers (score) when they start and they are not intimidated by low scores. We have a VERY high return rate. Then adjust the course of fire (once a year) as it seems pertinent.

We charge a nominal fee to shoot (a dollar or so) and 80% of the money is returned to the shooter. One thing we learned from our muzzle loader friends is to spread the money out to many places. I worked out a spread sheet that pays so many places back depending on the turn out that particular night. Depending on number of shooters, a ninth place guy might get $.30 (that's thirty cents). You would be surprised how that keeps the guys coming back. You don't hear any body complaining because the top three guys keep winning all of the money. That sort of thing never bothered me (when I started out I just figured that I had to pay dues before I got to the winner's circle). Today, you have to "massage" new shooters so that they will come back. No use bitchting about it, it is fact, so we live with it and build our attendance.(:>)). We have two guys in wheelchairs that are competing and they are always "in the hunt". Good shots, both. I don't think either of them shot any competition in their life before they discovered us.

Our best shot just received a rebuilt Stevens 44 and will be shooting it in the future matches. See, it really does work. We have guys shooting single shots who are really not single shot guys. They just think that they are neat (they're right(:>)) and want to use them because of that. That is GOOD!

Just some thoughts on "spreading the word"...

Dale53