OK guys,

The following question is for you astute high power or BPCR silhouette shooters.  As everyone knows silhouette matches at shot at chickens at 200m, pigs at 300m, turkeys at 385m and rams at 500m.  So why aren’t turkeys set at 400 meters?  No doubt this has been asked and answered before but I can’t find anything on the subject.  No guessing now.  I need the indisputable facts so I can be  and answer intelligently if anyone asks me. 

Wayne

TxMac

For the history you want to read The Gun Digest Book of Metallic Silhouette Shooting, by Elgin Gates.   

Lots of detail on the sport in Mexico and how it was brought to the US.  On the Turkey setting short and incomplete answer is the targets and settings have changed as the sport migrated.   Mexico it was 3 targets Chickens at 200 Turkeys at 385 and Goats at 500

Roy Dunlop brought the sport home added Pigs between the Chickens and Turkeys and made the Goat a Ram by adding horns. You could say Dunlop was the father of the US game. He built the first US range for the Tucson rifle club in 1967. If I was to guess there was a berm or natural feature at 385 for the turkeys.  There is another story that Turkeys were at 300 and had to be moved back to accommodate the Pigs. All this from Gates book which we studied extensively when starting Silhouette at our club.

I don't recall exactly when we started shooting silhouette at our club in Virginia. I think it was early 80's and at the time Pennsylvania clubs were already very active. We went to Yards instead of meters as the range terrain favored it.  Shooting over the years at many clubs my sight settings show most are not consistent distance wise. Our first targets were not exact either, we had a shortage of plate and laid out to suit the material. That's the reason for my guess on the Tucson ranges lay out.

Whatever the reason it was a fortunate setting made the Turkeys hard to hit easy to knock over. Rams hard to knock over easier to hit.

Dunlop by the way wrote not only a excellent gunsmith book but one of the better Soldiers stories of WW II "Ordnance went up front" Very good book for gun enthusiast

More than they are going to want to know and guaranteed to end all questions.

Boats

Doubt if there is any single reason but , If you tell the story right it's possible to make a new Silhouette shooter believe any of the answers.

Boats