Handgun Competition--Your thoughts please

[beauxdog]

Another point for me anyway is, I can practice action pistol in several locations. My home range (PaloAlto) won't let me shoot steel targets on the range. So I can't even practice silhouette shooting at my home range. Just another problem for the silhouette shooter is finding a place to practice.

Beauxdog

 

[dtrice]

I agree that part of the issue was mentioned in the op. When there are no ranges to practice/compete that is obviously not going to help grow the sport. You can't decide if you like a sport if you never get to try it. Does SASS/CAS suffer the same problem? If there were no IDPA/USPSA clubs or matches in LA or MS, then that sport would have an issue with popularity. There is also the issue of economics, 40 rounds of 9mm vs 40 rounds of 44 mag is a big difference in ammo cost.

 

[highstandard40]

Once again, thanks for the replies. I see there have been over 200 views of this thread. It would be great if I could get more people to respond with their thoughts, even if they repeat what has already been said. I'm looking for as broad a sample as possible.

 

[general mills]

While I have always owned guns, I didn't start shooting for sport about 4-5 years ago. I was getting a CHL and thought IDPA was a good way to get more comfortable defensively using a handgun. That progressed into USPSA, which I did for a while, but I preferred IDPA and my time is very limited (especially now, I haven't had any time for IDPA in 2014!). I don't want to say I don't shoot for fun, because I have fun shooting, but if I didn't feel I had a need to be comfortable defensively with a handgun, I would shoot like I did before I had a CHL, once a year maybe. I only shoot a rifle once or twice a year, and it's the rifle I would go to in an emergency, and sometimes a .22. I guess what I am trying to say is if I hunted with a handgun, I would be very interested in silhouette shooting, but I don't, I use a handgun as a defensive tool.

 

[Gerberman]

Get the information out about the competitions and make it easy to find. I'd like to see more about it also.

 

[Barney88PDC]

And not all the rifles we use are what you would call "non-practical."

I use my "non-practical" rifle for Practically everything. Why because it is the one I shoot the most and I can deliver rounds on target practically every time .

I showed up at my buddies camp in Natchez 2 years ago. My rifle was on the table when a local showed up and he said "what is that!" I said my rifle. "What you gonna do with that thing?" Shoot them in the left eyeball!

 

[vsound]

I tried the 22LR matches in Gonzales many years ago. Quite frankly, I found it boring. The action matches are much more fun to me, especially 3-gun. Each stage is different so you have to come up with a strategy, attempt to execute that strategy as quickly as possible, and quickly correct things on the fly when the strategy goes awry. That's what makes the action matches challenging and entertaining. That doesn't exist in the silhouette matches. The silhouette matches are good for folks who want to better themselves at accuracy, but that's all they really have to offer. The action matches push people to improve accuracy, speed, time management, problem management, and strategy skills. Hopefully you don't take any offense to what's been said, but in my opinion you are going to have a tough time trying to draw folks out to the silhouette matches now that the action matches are readily available all around.

 

[highstandard40]

No offense taken, this is exactly the kind of response I was looking for.

 

[kz45]

What vsound said!

I started at the outlaw idpa matchs, which was great, then I found uspsa, more action, less rules( or subjective rules), then I found 3-gun, WOW!!!! This is it!
Shooting all three guns

 

[RStewart]

I use my "non-practical" rifle for Practically everything. Why because it is the one I shoot the most and I can deliver rounds on target practically every time .

I showed up at my buddies camp in Natchez 2 years ago. My rifle was on the table when a local showed up and he said "what is that!" I said my rifle. "What you gonna do with that thing?" Shoot them in the left eyeball!

Lol. I love it.
Too many folks think our rifles are only good for competitions.

 

[highstandard40]

Lol. I love it.
Too many folks think our rifles are only good for competitions.

The same has been said about my silhouette pistols. More than a few deer have been taken with them.

 

[FishingFool]

As far as equipment, virtually any 357 mag or 44 mag revolver can get you started and ammo expended at a match is only 40 rounds

You also have to keep in mind that a lot of handgun owners nowadays only have a ccw bottom feeder or if they even have a wheel gun it'll be just a snubby. The days of the revolver being what John Q Public owns is gone. Most non gun folks I've talked to have no interest in wheel guns. They just want a nightstand gun. That's a large # of people you not going to easily draw into the sport as opposed to something like uspsa or ipsc where they can dabble in a match with their polymer gun for only the cost of a holster and maybe one extra mag.

 

[scooterj]

I'm a USPSA guy. Sillouette is too laid back for me. I have the perfect gun but would rather NRA Action Pistol. There is no reloading on the clock and there are divisions that most any centerfire gun will fit into. The match sounds easy enough, but it ain't. Moving targets and steel plates at 25 yards will send you home with your tail between your legs. It sure humbled the heck out if me the first time I shot it.

 

[dustinflint]

I think the issue with silhouette is mostly just lack of exposure and the fact that it is the most difficult of the shooting games. You cant show up the first time and spray ammo all over the place and feel like you've done something. The only promotion the game gets (if any) is directed at other "competitive" shooters who already have a preferred game instead of to new folks that likely dont know the game exists.

We shoot rifle silhouette, which is not easy and it takes work to be any good at it. Generally when someone new comes out to try it, they think they can shoot and then find out quickly that they are not good when compared to a master-class silhoutte shooter and instead of that motivating them, they go find an easier shooting sport or they quit altogether. It takes a certain type of person to be interested in improving at something that is really difficult and we as a silhouette community just dont do a good job of exposing the game to new folks to find those people that will enjoy it.

Dustin

 

[Emperor]

I use my "non-practical" rifle for Practically everything. Why because it is the one I shoot the most and I can deliver rounds on target practically every time .

I showed up at my buddies camp in Natchez 2 years ago. My rifle was on the table when a local showed up and he said "what is that!" I said my rifle. "What you gonna do with that thing?" Shoot them in the left eyeball!

Lol. I love it.
Too many folks think our rifles are only good for competitions.

It really is interesting how a barrel, a receiver, and a trigger mechanism becomes so many different descriptions of a "rifle" just by the clothes it wears!

To think this guy below was just a store clerk at Best Buy and now is Superman by changing his uniform is crazy!

 

[highstandard40]

One of the major problems I've run into when trying to promote handgun silhouette over the years has been "shooter perception". Even among long time shooters. When I describe the game........the target sizes and distances..........the overwhelming response I get is..........."You're joking, right. It's not physically possible to hit a target that small at that distance with a handgun." But it is indeed possible. You just have to work at it and use adequate equipment. Which is another issue in today's market. A trip to virtually any well stocked gun shop today will reveal very few handguns suited to our game. They can of course be ordered. I realize that our game is no longer in vouge. Dustin made some good points. One difference is that for the rifle game, you can still go into almost any gun shop and buy a rifle that will get you into their game......maybe not the best but you can get a starter rig.

 

[Barney88PDC]

Please describe this rifle game as I do not know of it. Course of fire, distances, round count, where they host these matches. Thanks.

 

[Emperor]

Don't do it, HS!

 

[highstandard40]

Please describe this rifle game as I do not know of it. Course of fire, distances, round count, where they host these matches. Thanks.

I'm sure you are familiar with the game. High Power rifle silhouette.......steel targets cut in the shape of game animals...chicken, pig, turkey, and ram....somewhat life size. 10 of each animal at distances starting at 200 meters and on out to 500 meters for the ram. 40 shots total. Off hand hold only. No sling, rest or support of any kind. Weight limit on the rifle. All the info you can stand in the NRA rulebook http://compete.nra.org/documents/pdf/compete/RuleBooks/Sil-r/sil-r-book.pdf

There is also the smallbore (22lr) version with scaled down targets out to 100 meters and several other silhouette disciplines, all described in the rulebook. Dustin can fill you in on range locations and dates.

 

[dustinflint]

Dustin can fill you in on range locations and dates.

I put a rundown of our monthly local matches on this thread: http://www.bayoushooter.com/forums/showthread.php?124607-Silhouette-shooting-in-Louisiana/page2

Also, this is a good video to introduce shooters to smallbore silhouette: http://www.riflesilhouette.com/Intro_Video/Introduction.html

Dustin