Dumb me, I plugged in the HxW of the targets a while back and figured ~5-6 minutes. Tonight I realized if you draw a circle that fits inside the 4 shapes the max circular area it is more like 2-3 minutes.

I don't feel so bad struggling now as a beginner. I'm also going to make sure I'm shooting something my rifle really likes and I have my settings dialed in close to perfect.

Szumi

It's the most difficult shooting game out there. Master this and you're a guru

Oh come on now it is really easy. Just stand very still and pull the trigger when the sights are on the animal. I mean really how hard could it be

Actually you just discovered what makes this game so difficult and fun. The odd shape of the targets only gives you a small area to hit with some bonus area like heads, necks and legs. If you place a silhouette target centered on top of a paper ring score target you can see how what would have been 8 or even 9 ring hits on paper can be total misses in silhouette. There is no hole that scores zero under the 10 ring on paper either! That little hole between the pigs legs can allow 11 .22 bullets to pass through it at one time. So on paper you would still count your 8 or 9 points to the total in silhouette it's a 0.

As one of the guys in the club said. It isn't that they are hard to hit, they are just very easy to miss


Dee

We keep Smallbore swingers out all the time at home so that anyone in the family can dry-fire any time they have a chance at the actual match distances. We also keep various wind flags out all the time. It dawned on me a few years ago that to guarantee a hit in the body of the Ram (without a chance of missing) in every light and wind condition the shooter must be able to hold 1 and 1/2 MOA at 100 Meters. When I came to this realization, I almost quit the sport at that moment because it is so difficult. I am thankful that these targets have feet, horns, legs, beaks and tails or I would knock very few down.

I'm with OP. This was my first time doing any competitive shooting and I was amazed at how bad I was! I've been in the Army and hunted my whole life, but I'll be darned if those little suckers don't keep ducking and jumping my shots. Definitely makes you respect the master shooters all the more. Now if only this pesky job didn't keep getting in the way of my practice time...

atomicbrh wrote:We keep Smallbore swingers out all the time at home so that anyone in the family can dry-fire any time they have a chance at the actual match distances. We also keep various wind flags out all the time. It dawned on me a few years ago that to guarantee a hit in the body of the Ram (without a chance of missing) in every light and wind condition the shooter must be able to hold 1 and 1/2 MOA at 100 Meters. When I came to this realization, I almost quit the sport at that moment because it is so difficult. I am thankful that these targets have feet, horns, legs, beaks and tails or I would knock very few down.

I am so thankful at this point in my learning curve for the bits that hang out, catch a bullet and encourage me to keep trying.

You are right Dee. What could be simpler? HA!!!!!

If this was easy then everyone would be doing it!

Why Why Why is it sometimes you shoot 30 plus and then the next week crash
????

Westy wrote:Why Why Why is it sometimes you shoot 30 plus and then the next week crash
????

Maybe you should eat the same breakfast every time.

M

snaketail2 wrote:

Westy wrote:Why Why Why is it sometimes you shoot 30 plus and then the next week crash
????

Maybe you should eat the same breakfast every time.

M

You know this is how superstitions get started, right?

Larry likes to remind me the only airgun master score I have ever shot was using a springer. But my experiences are the same, one match cannot miss, the next I cannot hit the barn while I am inside it. The only thing I can attribute it to is doing something different, I assume hold.

I feel your pain.

Greg

Better still yet why is that you can shoot a good match. Then go to the next one feeling good and be laying them over while you warm up like you are shooting off a benchrest only to start the match and not be able to hit crap

I've tried the same diet, drinks etc and while it might be good to find something that doesn't really mess with you it isn't the placebo for shooting good that day unfortunately. I guess it is time to seek better shooting through modern chemistry and get some Beta-blockers

Dee

You know it was something Jason said to me at the begining of this year that I found to be the most helpfull.

If you strengthen your core, your hold is bound to be better.

I took those words to heart this year and with the additional challenge of discovering that I have type two diabetes have made a stern effort to work out regularly specificlly to improve core strength. I do yoga at least once a week as well as swimming several days a week and viola. Like clockwork I went from a AA smallbore shooter to AAA on both rifles (with a my first 2 master scores in the book as well) and from A to AA in high power with likewise a couple of AAA scores on paper.

It really only takes a few hours a week to do some stuff that's good for you and the shooting gets better as an aside. This is one super tough sport but it is so darn gratifying to have a great day at the range when you're in the zone that I can see myself doing this regulary for years to come.

It doesn't hurt that you guys are a pretty neat bunch to hang out with either! This last year I discovered that I love the Little Rock AR area and had some of the most fun traveling to the match down there in the spring and I always look forward to seeing Joy and May down in Tucson or PHX.

Just make sure you're having fun and realize you can get out of this sport what you put into it! With time and practice the points start to come naturally! If you need some coaching I'm sure there are some elder statesmen/women who would be more than glad to help you work on your form. Just ask and you might be surprised at how helpfull silhouette shooters are with each other!

Uh oh.. I've created a monster. It was bad enough to get beaten consistently by Eric and Dennis, and of course Laura anytime she came back up to WA, but now I'm going to be getting beaten by you, too. That's going to make it much harder to make fun of your "260 Pipsqueak" rifle when it's knocking down more highpower targets than my 260 Rem is.