Have you got a target score? Something that can keep you coming up to the line to achieve? Mine is 30 smallbore, and 20 highpower. I've shot both in the past, the distant past, but I'm older now.... And while I don't think I'm quite ready to "nod off and wake up talking to St Peter," those scores are significantly harder to achieve now, much harder. But I think they're possible, and I've been tantalizingly close lately -- 27 and 18. I'll keep striving. The beauty of having scores as targets is that you don't have to worry about the guy beside you. Who gives a damn what he shoots? His wife may not love him, anyway, and maybe his kids are jerks! Concern yourself only about your own shot, your own personal best, your own potential. Very few of us are going to be champions....but we can all act like one! 30/20! 30/20! 30/20! My very own Mt. Everest Of Silhouette Rifle!

I've been shooting silhouette for a year and a half, so I've still got plenty of goals for myself...

In Smallbore: I'm "AA" in both Standard and Hunter with my best match scores being a couple of 26's. One was during a Hunter match so I have my toe in AAA waters for Hunter. Trying my best to get another Hunter AAA score and eventually my first Standard AAA score (a 28, I think). Hoping to be AAA in both rifles in time for my two-year mark (February).

In Air rifle: I've shot a few matches with borrowed rifles and just agreed to buy my own (TX200). Our club is hosting the Texas state air rifle championships next month so I hope to get myself up to speed in time to compete and do decently.

Good man, Allen!

My goal is to break into double digits.

It has been very hard to do!

My goal is to survive tomorrow's 8/6/16 monthly match at Winnsboro without passing out or experiencing a heat stroke. Heat index may be over 110 degrees with over 80% humidity. Bruce holds the two smallbore matches and then the three air rifle matches. I do not plan on shooting all five matches in that heat. I will be doing good if I shoot 3 out of the 5.

OK, I did not make that goal. Did not have a heat stroke but none of us could shoot air rifle. Just too hot. Smallbore was enough for everybody. Air temperature was 98 degrees at times but with probably 80% or more humidity it felt hotter. In the Southeast you cannot see targets at a distance with detail because of all the water vapor hanging in the air. I did not realize what I was seeing here at home until I shot some matches out west where the air is dry.

OnaginOffagin wrote:Have you got a target score?

Yes, but I don't think it's helpful. I think it's better to just concentrate on the next shot and aim for 100% of the next shot.

Unfortunately, I'm not disciplined enough to follow that advice, and at each match, I know that I'm thinking about ending up with a score that's better than my 5 day moving average. I figure that if I consistently shoot my average and occasionally over, then I'll continue to improve.

That score one target more than your lifetime high score is always on your mind but you have to put that thought somewhere else when you are actually shooting the match. One of the great things about silhouette is that a person learns a lot about themselves and how determined they are to put concentration where it needs to be.

When you set a goal, make sure you have another harder one to replace it with as soon as you make the first one. If you don't, when you make the goal you will go into stop mode and go on to the next level.

My 'old fart' goal is to shoot back into my class again. Those 28s are hard to come by now days but that is my goal.

Shooting a master score is out of the question. That is a bad attitude.

I shot informal hunter silhouette for years. This year I bought a couple Anschutz for sporter Rifle and Silhouette. My first "Real" smallbore match it was pouring rain. We shot under a covered firing point and had to reset our own targets. I drove 1.5 hours to the match and decided I was going to shoot all I could. Both guns got wet. I ended up with a 10 for Irons and 11 for scope. I did not have my settings exact, but sure had a ball. Next time I more than DOUBLED my scope score and shot a 15 with Irons. They only shoot once a month, so now I am waiting for next year.

I am learning each shot is the only one I should be thinking about. NOT the last miss or how I am going to do on the next shot or set. The last shot is just as important as the first even if its a bad day.

So all I want is to improve.

If I go back and shoot hunter silhouette, I should do much better.

I am hooked!
David

Jerry G wrote:When you set a goal, make sure you have another harder one to replace it with as soon as you make the first one. If you don't, when you make the goal you will go into stop mode and go on to the next level.

Jerry,

I guess my next level after reaching double digit scores it to break into the teens?

My target score is 40.

Your target score should be 1, the one that you're currently picking a spot on while shooting it. If there's anything else in your head, you're lowering your chance of hitting that spot. Nothing else should exist in your mind than that.

"Your target score should be 1, the one that you're currently picking a spot on while shooting it. If there's anything else in your head, you're lowering your chance of hitting that spot. Nothing else should exist in your mind than that."

That is true but so, so hard. Long ago when I was holding well, one time at Marshall, Mo, I went into turkeys with a 30 and visions of a 40. My old nemesis began to affect my hold and I got 3 of the next 5 but that's still a good score. Coming back up to the line for the last 5, the hair was actually standing up with my arms tingling and I was wild. I got 1 turkey. After about 30 minutes when the scores were being tabulated, the match director said, "Shoot'em down and we'll pick'em up." There were 13 turkeys still standing, most of them mine, so I picked up some practice ammo and hit 13 in a row. The Adrenalin was gone. It had been that way for me ever since I was shooting in college and I was struggling for number 5 on the team as a result.

Confidence was the problem and if I began to worry I was going to miss, it just got worse. At the IMSSU smallbore match in Brisbane, I watched a young French kid hit 40 in smallbore. He was an Olympic air rifle shooter and I remember thinking that he looked like a robot. When he hit his last animal, no smile, no celebrating, no nothing. He just put the rifle in the rack, picked up his stuff and walked away.

It was like a "catch 22" for me. If I had not cared about how many I hit, on a good calm day, I may have hit 40 but if I didn't care about how many animals I hit, I wouldn't have been shooting silhouette. I would have been spending my day doing something else more fun.

So back to the post about setting goals. Is that good or bad? Looking back over the years, for me, I don't think it was good. That is why I was impressed by the last post of "one animal at a time" and most of all, it's just a game so have fun.

I guess my target score or goal is to shoot 1 animal better than my highest score in each class.