Shot My First Competition Today

[DMW1116]

I did not do well, though it was pretty entertaining. It was a rimfire silhouette match with iron sights at 57 yards. The competition was pretty stiff. The best I saw was 27 of 30. I don't think anyone scored perfect. Each person shot 2 rounds of 15 shots each. It was rams, pigs, turkeys, and chickens on one row. The other row was a large tear drop, a rat, large diamond, square, smaller rectangle, and small tear drop.

I used an old Marlin 60 with aftermarket peep sights. It was nice to get a few sighting rounds first. I had to make a couple of adjustments from it's original 50 yard zero to hit dead center. It's a monthly competition as long as the local club stays open to the public (Covid). I plan to confirm zero and practice and try again next month. I might try another brand of ammo, but it depends on what's available. Last time I tried it, I was able to keep all but one shot on a 3" circle at that range. Thats not good enough to hit every target on the silhouette rack. The little chickens are considerably smaller than that and the small rectangle is narrower than that.

 

[glockgod]

But ain't it neat when they go "PING"!!

 

[glockgod]

Keep at it!

 

[hkp2000]

Pistol silhouette is one of my favorites.
Is this an NRA shoot? because your distance doesn't sound right.

Did you get a spotter?
When I shot the events, I have settings for my pistol at each of the distance. This way, I don't have to remember to hold over the targets.

 

[DMW1116]

No it was a local club shoot. It was interesting to see how far ahead the top was compared to the bottom. Overall results should be up soon. They had a 100 yard competition for scoped rifles too. I just don't have a scoped 22 set up for that.

 

[DMW1116]

I did get a spotter. We were paired and swapped spotting and shooting.

 

[55fairlane]

Small bore silhouette is a very fun game indeed

 

[DMW1116]

I hope to try again next weekend. I dialed in a little and practiced some and did much better. We’ll see how next weekend goes.

 

[Bronco72]

I competed for about 15 years. My one rule of advice is NEVER, but NEVER forget to have fun

 

[DMW1116]

For my next trick is like to try a service rifle match. I don’t know of any here. The club I went to used to have them but haven’t posted one open in a while.

 

[Trent]

Competitions can be intimidating the first time you go. After a while you figure out they're just an excuse to get together with friends.

 

[Pete D.]

Competition is the best practice.

 

[DMW1116]

I shot a little bullseye target today just to see how it was. It was a standard 25 yard NRA target at 25 yards (shocking I know). The guy next to me qualified for the Olympics in the late 60s and showed me how to count scores and the benefits of a 6 o’clock hold. He was also shooting single balls of 00 buck out of a muzzle loading pistol into a group about the size of a golf ball at 25 yards.

 

[hkp2000]

That's the best thing about shooting competitions; you'll get lots of excellent advice and make friends with some very good shooters. NRA bullseye is especially helpful in developing the finer points of pistol shooting. Are you using the small repair targets? Does your club not shoot 50 yds too?

 

[DMW1116]

Unfortunately the handgun range only goes to 25 yards. To do 50 I have to go to the rifle range and they require seated shooting. I’m using the repair circles with about a 5.5” diameter black 9 and 10 ring. 7 and 8 are the same color as the card stock. It was pure luck my sights were set for that range and a 6 o’clock hold. I pulled one shot low and right, otherwise they were on the black. I’d have to be a lot better to tell if I needed to move them up or down.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

I had my first steel challenge last Thursday. Did OK for the first of the year. Yesterday should have been our second, but it was raining, so it was inside shooting. Fun, but nowhere near as fun as steel.

 

[waktasz]

That's the best thing about shooting competitions; you'll get lots of excellent advice

Woah. Careful

 

[hkp2000]

I had my first steel challenge last Thursday. Did OK for the first of the year. Yesterday should have been our second, but it was raining, so it was inside shooting. Fun, but nowhere near as fun as steel.

That's probably the small repair target. It's been many years since I shot NRA bullseye pistol. My range was almost made for bullseye with turning targets and 25/50 yards. I shot pretty well with a 4x scoped .45ACP pistol (bullseye doesn't care about scoped vs iron sights; it was the 50 yd target that I needed the scope, but I used it on the 25 anyway); the my .22LR didn't use a scope. The scope makes the gun heavy; but the time limit was long enough for me to rest my arm enough. My club had 2 very good shooters and the advice that helped me the most was to always rest the arm as long as possible between shots.

So, you've done smallbore pistol silhouette and bullseye. They are good games that can really up your shooting skills.

 

[DMW1116]

The silhouettes were entertaining because they give instant feedback. The bullseye was all a surprise when I walked down to see how I dod

 

[Pete D.]

“I’m using the repair circles with about a 5.5” diameter black 9 and 10 ring. 7 and 8 are the same color as the card stock.”
That is the repair center (B-8) for the 25 yard Timed and Rapid stages. There is a 25 yard Precision (slow fire) target available (NRA B-16)

 

[DMW1116]

That one looks a lot more difficult. What is considered a good score on that one?

 

[Pete D.]

That one looks a lot more difficult. What is considered a good score on that one?

A good score can be subjective, depending on the skill of the shooter. For many shooters, simply keeping all ten shots in the black is good when shooting one hand unsupported. For a beginning shooter, keeping all ten shots in the black when using two hands is also a good thing.
The National record for 20 shots slow fire with a .22 on that target is 199/200.
The record for 20 shots slow fire with a .45 is also 199/200.

 

[DMW1116]

I shot the same competition at the beginning of October. Inrltroed my scoped Marlin 60 this time as well as my iron sighted one.

The iron sighted competition was abysmal. I think I hit 5 out of 30. I misread my sighting shots and moved them the wrong way.

The scoped side was much better. I didn’t have my rifle sighted for 100 yards so I used the drop reticle in my scope. It was close enough to get 32/50 including the little 3/4” circle at the end once out of 2 tries. I may try this every month or every other month.

 

[dave951]

I used to shoot IHMSA and yup, silhouettes are a hoot.

These days though, I shoot black powder competition with Civil War arms. Our organization even competes with artillery shooting live ammunition. Couple weeks back, we finished 2nd in the Rifled Howitzer class.