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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Silhouette preparation...

I've decided that I'm going to shoot smallbore (rimfire) silhouette.  I need a rifle and I've got a couple.  I'll get one set up right away and I have a plan.  I'm wondering if my planning and preparation will result in performance.

What is silhouette shooting?  At our club it is a game in which one shoots at silhouettes of chickens at 40 yards, pigs at 60 yards, turkeys at 77 yards and rams at 100 yards.  2½ minutes is allowed for each "bank" of 5 targets.  One shoots at 2 "banks" of each silhouette i.e. at each distance.  The silhouettes are steel and are set so that they will fall over when properly struck by a bullet.  This gives immediate (or almost so) and positive feedback to the shooter and observer.  The target must fall from the stand to count as a hit.  Slings, shooting gloves and jackets aren't allowed.  All shooting for rifles is off-hand/standing.  In all, this is pretty close to a practical test of rifle shooting. 

I'm going to start shooting by using my TC Contender with "match" barrel for the .22 LR.  I currently have a 4X telescopic sight mounted.  I intend to use Mike & Dad's 10" Ruger MK II for the open sight pistol matches.  I have a couple of brands of quality .22 LR ammo in quantity that will allow testing, practice and competition for a while.  I have an ammo box to organize my ammo so that I can keep track of the 5-round strings used on the targets.  I have found full-size targets on the internet for testing and practice.  There will probably be some ramp up time but the next match is on August 7th so I need to get going.

My plan is to shoot the ammo intended for use to accurately chart its trajectory from my rifle.  I'll then determine the correct sight setting to cover all ranges and zero there.  I'll do the same for the pistol.  That will take more doing I think but maybe not much more.

A rough zero at 25 yards and testing at 50 and 75 yards show that I should be able to use this ammo with a single sight setting on all the targets.  

I'm going to shoot open sight pistol as well and have a Ruger MK II 10" for that. This gun was Dad's and Mike's before that and so it will be good to sort of take them shooting with me.

Links:
- correct scale practice targets
- correct scale target patterns
- NRA silhouette rifle rules
- SteelChickens.com

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