We had an informal 22 rf silhouette (some Frenchman must have come up with that spelling, I had to look it up!) shoot today.  I was using my new CPA and MVA B5 scope.  I missed the first ram at 200 yds then cleaned up on rest of the rams, the pigs, and the turkeys.  Then came the chickens.  I hit one out of the five.  Has any one else developed as strong a dislike as I have for those damn yardbirds?

JS

Chickens are what separate the men from the boys in silhouette shooting in both .22BPCR & BPCR. Here is a regulation .22BPCR chicken, which is shot off-hand at 50m. Brian Chilson, one of two folks in all the years of BPCR competition who has shot a "clean" 40/40, holds the record for the most chickens at 11 (he has also hit 10, which was his previous record) and numerous other BPCR records and national championships and is arguably the best 'chicken shooter' of all time. Brian earns it as he is practicing and dry-firing at chickens all the time (Brian once told me he shoots ~22,000rds a season - about half .22LR & half BP). Practice makes perfect. Want to beat Brian? Better practice like he does

As Dave mentions and Brian also states, we tend to drop the muzzle when we pull the trigger in off-hand (in our off-hand match yesterday I must have hit the rail 5 times in 40 shots). BrianC centers up on the back edge of the chicken. Seems to work for him.

     I have experimented with an upside-down post at BPCS, and find that it is seriously counter-intuitive.    After 60 years of holding the post UNDER the target, it is hard to get the hand-eye coordination to work to put the post on TOP of the target.   It is easy to think it might be better than under, because of interference of the sight picture by the rail, but it is going to take a lot of work to get comfortable with the unfamiliar sight picture.

CHRIS
RGChristensen

Dave - check me on this (Dave is on the .22BPCR board), but I think the record for .22BPCR chickens is 9. Standing there looking through aperture sights at 50m those suckers are pretty small (that's why I shoot a scope ).

It is easier when you are young    I shot small bore silhouettes exclusively with an aperture back in the day.

have had some luck using a horizontal split post for offhand targets that aren't round, also lee shaver use to make  'animal specific'? frt sight inserts for silhoullete shooting,  good luck

I have shot next to Brian at Nationals and everyone here is right, he is a stand up Guy and always willing to help me when I asked questions. Much can be learned from watching him. 
He also is the first to congratulate you when you have taken his thunder.

It is no secret, "good" practice and lots of it are the 'secret', but that's no secret.   
Since my retirement I have spent more time on the 100yd 22 chicken  range (I'm lucky, it's in my back 'forty') and I have improved my shooting to the point I win a few matches now and again.  I do not shoot as many rounds as Brian, but I probably shoot between 2k, 3k rounds of 22  a year at chickens and 500+ rounds of BPCR.  It has made a difference.
I would say I average 1500+ rounds of BPCR a year and another 5k rounds of 22.  Besides being fun,,,,it makes ya better.

They say silhouette matches are won at the chicken line and lost at the turkey line.  True statement I believe, so get good at both of these and you will see the results.

The silhouette game is not an easy one.  You must be more then proficient at 2 types of shooting, (prone and offhand) and both require good techniques and lots of practice.   
Having a good spotter is paramount and having a gun/load that will shoot 1moa helps.   

So, Shoot straight and get out and practice!
Cary   

ALPHAWOLF45 wrote on Dec 21^st, 2015 at 5:59pm:

   
ALPHAWOLF45 wrote on Dec 21^st, 2015 at 5:59pm:

Well.... considering how many local, state, regional & national match wins & records BrianC owns and how many you have, I'll stick with what BrianC says.

Now that I've given it more thought (answered too quickly) I'll ask Brian and see what he thinks about the hammer fall effect. He did change from an 1874 to a High Wall around the turn-of-the-century and I know he did so based partially on lock-time, but don't recall his mentioning the effect of hammer fall. Be interesting to get his take. Makes me wonder how many of the consistently good chicken shooters shoot an 1874?