Approval has been received and it is: Game on !!!

The 2016 Tennessee Smallbore Rifle Silhouette State Championships are coming on 20 August with the same format as the past 10 years. The old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” will apply.

Lisa is on the prowl again, fishing for door-prizes for this year. She already has 2 rifles some scopes and numerous other door-prizes for us to give away this year. Last year, every competitor left the tournaments with a door prize worth at least $75 or more. Not too bad for a tournament that only cost $45 to enter and provided 2 matches with awards and target setters, lunch, a souvenir t-shirt and the privilege of spending the day in such great company. Check out our Facebook page for ongoing details of the progress of the “goody-gathering”.
Get your entries in early since the range is limited to 60 competitors and time will be passing. A program/entry form is attached to this post.

For those interested, Dale is conducting a 2016 Tennessee State Cowboy Lever-Action Silhouette Championship tournaments the following Sunday, 21 August; Same place, same times, same Target setters.

Ya’ll come, Ya hear!
Gator

Never been to Tennessee for silhouette before but I plan on shooting this match. It is already marked on my calendar. Thanks for the update.

Gator,
You know me...I'll always leave town on my birthday weekend.

Innocent

Well, come on up..........

I will be coming down from PA. My wife and I are going to shoot the Cowboy but I am planning on shooting SB if you still have room. I have talked to Dale about the Cowboy.

We have room. Fill out an application from the program in the post above and come on down.

Lesa sent me a list of the door prizes yesterday and we are looking at over $10K, including a CZ a Savage in 17HMR a Henry American Beauty with a display set up, ammo, scopes and gobs of other goodies to be simply given away just for shoeing up.

Bring some of the other guys down with you.

C ya
Gator

It's nice to know that TN has a State Championship match. If we move to Oak Ridge, this will definitely be doable. I wish NM had a state match.

kd5zmg wrote:It's nice to know that TN has a State Championship match. If we move to Oak Ridge, this will definitely be doable. I wish NM had a state match.

I bet I know where you work. Or who you work for...


I procrastinated to much and haven't sent in my entry. I hope there is still a slot for me.

Ghostofwar wrote:

kd5zmg wrote:It's nice to know that TN has a State Championship match. If we move to Oak Ridge, this will definitely be doable. I wish NM had a state match.

I bet I know where you work. Or who you work for...


I procrastinated to much and haven't sent in my entry. I hope there is still a slot for me.

Oh, dang. Have we met? Did I give too much info away? PM me.

The really sad thing about New Mexico not having a state March is the fact we have the Whittington Center here. My point( not the one on the top of my head) is that we have facilities in which to hold a state championship but yet no one has stepped up to the plate to organize one.

DavidABQ wrote:The really sad thing about New Mexico not having a state March is the fact we have the Whittington Center here. My point( not the one on the top of my head) is that we have facilities in which to hold a state championship but yet no one has stepped up to the plate to organize one.

I'm a ski patroller during the winters.... find me an affordable little house or cabin in beautiful Red River, New Mexico, and I'm your man! Cimarron Canyon and Red River were two very unexpected pleasures we discovered during our "day off" in Raton..... wouldn't mind living there.....

Hey, I hate for my first post to sound a bit negative, but I have been interested in Silhouette for a while. I saw that the TN State SB Championships were Saturday, so my wife and I made the hour and a half trip up there to check it out and see what it is all about and meet some folks for start-out advice.

We pulled up to the gate, where two men were working and they stopped us to tell us someone from the match would have to come get us at the gate. Since we are just getting started, we didn't know anyone in the event, so went home.

When we do open shooting events at Blue & Gray RPC in Guntersville, the gate is open so interested parties can come see the matches first hand. We have them sign a waiver when they get to the registration tables.

I also am a Sports Car Club of America member. When we run races, either autocross at a local venue, or track events like at Barber Motorsports park, we assign a member to monitor the entry gate and have visitors and spectators sign a waiver and get an arm band.

We also had similar procedures for open matches at out Tri-County Gun Club in Portland, OR.

We do these things to make it easy for newcomers to see what our sports are about and to foster their participation in the future.

I hope I can finally get to meet some of you out there at the matches soon. Maybe someone can recommend an upcoming shoot in my area to come check out. We are in the Scottsboro, Alabama area, NE of Huntsville.

Chris McDonald

Chris,

I was at the Tenn State match. Yes there is a gate that only members can open. However, the day of the match and the day before (practice day) there was someone manning the gate to allow people to come and go as they like. I don't know what happened when you got there, but it sounds like an unfortunate coincidence that no one was there to let you in. I know there was at least one couple that did come out just to watch and see what shilouette was all about.

I will say that this is the first match that I have ever been to that didn't have the gate/range open for unrestricted access on the day of the match. From what I understand, it is their club policy to make sure everyone that comes to the range is a member or a supervised guest. Different clubs have different rules and this has nothing to do with the sport of silhouette. Some clubs are more restrictive because of past legal battles or because of damages caused by irresponsible people.

That being said, please don't be discouraged by this. The people at the Tenn State match put on a great match and they try very hard to get new shooters, especially juniors, to come out and participate. They even made sure all the boy scouts that helped with the match had a chance to shoot some rifles after the match.

Most clubs will bend over backwards to get you to shoot a match. Many have loaner rifles you can use and most people will be willing to answer any questions you might have. Hopefully someone here will be able to direct you to a club that shoots silhouette near you.

kd5zmg wrote:I wish NM had a state match.

You and me both.

How did the Tenn. State match go?

Hi Chris;

The policies at the Chattanooga Rifle Club are that the gate is NEVER left open and access is as a member’s guest. Long story but that is the rule. Ghost is correct about the reason for not leaving it open.

I was the match director and we had personnel at the gate at all the times stated in the program and Shooting Sports which had my number and name as well as Dale Clingan’s. The gate had been hit earlier and the men you saw were simply repairing the damage. We are doing the best we can to promote and make sure all have access to our sport but have to operate within the Club’s SOP’s. Sorry this did not work out for you but call me (706) 897-2306, to join us at 1100 am for the 18 September match and I will personally meet you at the gate . I will be glad to loan a rifle set up for this game and you may shoot for free. Same offer for your wife if she is interested. Note we had 15 Ladies shooting in the match.

BTW, we have a lady from Scottsboro that shot this match and has been shooting with us for the past 11 years.

All that being said, the match results of the Tennessee State Smallbore Rifle Silhouette Match are attached. Congratulations once again to Laura Goetsch for winning the State Championship in both Silhouette and Hunter Silhouette Rifle for 2016.

Ed "Gator" Jones