Michigan Rifle & Pistol Association

Rifle Silhouette Division

Rifle Silhouette History

 


Silhouette Home | Match Schedule | Match Results | Photo Gallery | Contacts | Maps | Articles | Rules | History | MRPA Home


Origin of the Sport

Introduced to the United States

Introduced to Michigan

Why 10 Pounds 2 Ounces


Links to other Silhouette History Pages

 Where Silhouette Shooting Started In The USA




Origin of the Sport

The sport of metallic silhouette shooting, or silhuettas metallicas, had its origin around 1914 when the rebel leader and strategist Pancho Villa and his men were raiding villages and ranches in the northern state of Chikupehua, Mexico.  The story goes that on one occasion, having put some distance between themselves and the pursuing Yankee cavalry, the banditos raided a well-stocked ranch in the north where they spend some fourteen days carousing. Eventually a dispute arose between two of Villa’s followers as to who was the better shot. Normally such an argument would have ended in a gunfight.  A squad leader, Juan Martinez, decided instead on a shootout using two live steers as targets. The unfortunate animals were tethered to trees at a suitable distant point and the contest began.  The contestants were permitted to shoot alternately until one of them succeeded in knocking down his steer and was judged the winner.

The idea caught on and soon chickens, sheep and goats were literally “roped in” to serve as targets. After the revolution, the Villistas returned to their farms and villas throughout Mexico, taking with them a new sport to be practiced at fiestas in the decades to come.  The practice of shooting at live animal targets continued and was refined with time, using rifles as well as handguns. All hits that drew blood were counted.  Shortly after the Second World War, metallic cut out silhouettes began to be substituted for live animals and this in the absence of a modern animal righteous movement, too.  Even so, the original sport of shooting live animals would continue in the outlying areas until the late 1950’s, usually in conjunction with a fiesta.

In 1948, the first match using silhuetas metallicas took place in Mexico City. The gunners still shot turkeys, but metal ones now. The original feathered edition had its neck wrung prior to the contest, after which it was placed on ice and presented to the winner after the match.  The man who really got metallic silhouette shooting started in Mexico was Don Gongalo Qguilar who was instrumental in staging the Silhuetas Metallicas Nacionales in Mexico City in 1952, four years after he had organized the first informal shoot. The targets were gallinas (chickens) at 200m, gualotes (turkeys) at 385m and borregos (sheep) at 500m. It was several years before the javelina (pig) target came into use.

By the early ‘60s the sport was well run and controlled, particularly in the north where Le Liga del Norte (the Northern League) had been formed.  Soon many Americans were regularly making the pilgrimage across the Rio Grande to participate in the metallic silhouette shooting competitions and before long the sport was introduced into the USA.  The first rifle shoots were held around 1967 in the Arizona border towns of Nogales, Bisbee and Douglas.  Riflemen brought the sport from Mexico to Arizona and 1972 were holding matches on a regular basis.  One year later, in 1973, the National Rifle Association (NRA) entered the scene and sponsored the first rifle silhouette championships held north of the border in November of that year.

Top


 

Introduced to the United States

Siluetas Metalicas, in which steel silhouettes shaped like game animals and birds are used as targets, was introduced into the southwestern United States from Mexico in the 1960's. The sport came into being in Mexico during the 1950's, evolving from the old "shootin' match" of pioneer times, a form of which survives today in the United States as the popular "turkey shoot." Originally fired only with the High Power Rifle in this country, the sport. evolved from its relatively simple beginning in Mexico to the use of pistols and smallbore rifles as well. Today, the Spanish-derived name, "Siluetas Metalicas" applies only to the High Power game, with the more familiar French-derived "Silhouette" used as a generic term which takes in all shooting using targets of metal and shaped like game animals.

Our Mexican neighbors worked out a set of regulations for conducting Siluetas Metalicas competition in order to achieve uniformity of conditions in their various range locations. The size of the silhouettes, types and sizes of stands, range distances, shooting equipment allowed, and match operation procedures were all spelled out before the first United States citizen fired in one of the matches.  The Mexicans also developed a smallbore rifle competition, where a Paloma, or dove, target was used at a distance of 150 meters. A .22 caliber pistol game used a similar paloma target at 100 meters.

When the Siluetas game was brought across the border into Arizona; the Mexican rules were adopted with very few changes. Probably the most significant change was to add horns to the sheep target to give it the appearance of a Rocky Mountain sheep rather than a domestic sheep.  One of the minor changes was to impose a lower weight limit on rifles not allow padded shooting jackets in order to make it more of a hunting type rifle game.  The few Rebel Highpower Shooters initiating this new game wanted to keep the High Power Match Rifles and padded shooting jackets on the across the course ranges.  Now fifty years later, this lower weight restriction is prohibiting many factory hunting rifles and scope combinations while the high power match rifle has gone to a lighter caliber unsuitable for silhouette.

In keeping with the original concept of a hunter's game, weight restrictions on allowable rifles rule out specialized target guns. Shooters compete with scoped rifles that are eminently suited for the hunting fields. In fact, the most popular guns among veteran competitors are bolt action rifles chambered for such popular rounds as the 30/06 and the 308.

Scoring is equally simple; if your round knocks the target completely off it's stand, it's a hit. Anything else is a miss! Shooting is done from the standing position (off hand) without the aid of slings, padded shooting jackets, palm rests, or even shooting gloves.

As the High Power rifle game increased in popularity, pistol and smallbore shooters became interested too, and pistol shooters began to hold matches and to develop their own rules. Pistol Silhouette shooters adopted the rifle rules, using the standard High Power Rifle targets, set at distances from 50 meters to 200 meters. These large, heavy targets required the use of the most powerful pistols available.  It was not long before pistols and cartridges appeared which were specifically designed for Silhouette shooting. Pistol Silhouette has become almost as popular and widespread as the High Power rifle game.

In the meantime, Smallbore Rifle Silhouette lagged behind.  Several clubs tried to work up targets and distances, but somehow none of them really caught on as had been expected. For example, there- was a real problem in determining what kind of smallbore rifle should be used. The Mexican version did not have the appeal of their high power game, and was never popular, probably because it used only one kind of target at a single distance. Gathering information from several sources, the NRA Silhouette Committee worked out a version which is basically a miniature version of the High Power game, fired at one-fifth scale targets and one-fifth the distances of High Power. This provides a very similar challenge to High Power.

NRA has two basic Silhouette programs which stem directly from the original High Power version of Siluetas Metalicas. These are:' (1) Pistol Silhouette, which consists of a Long Range version, fired from' 50 to 200 meters on the standard High Power targets; and Hunter's Pistol, which is fired from 25 meters to 100 meters on targets one-half the size of standard targets; and, (2) Rifle Silhouette, which is the original Siluetas Metalicas High Power rifle game; and the Smallbore Rifle Silhouette program, using rifles chambered for .22 caliber rim fire short, long or long rifle cartridges only, and fired at one-fifth scale targets at one-fifth scale distances from 40 meters to 100 meters.

By using scaled down versions of the silhouettes, matches are now being held for 22 rimfire rifles (smallbore class) and even air rifles. In the smallbore game, downsized chickens are placed at 40 meters, pigs at 60, turkeys at 77 and sheep at 100 meters. Air rifle shooters face those targets at 20 yards, 30 yards, 36 yards, and 45 yards, respectively.

There is even an additional class for blackpowder shooters that allows those addicted to the old "buffalo guns" to see what these old smokepoles can really do. They are shot on the same course as the high power rifles, but in deference to their age, shooters may fire them from any position, including the use of traditional crossed stick rifle rests.

Regardless of the rifle used, a standard course consists of 10 shots each at the chickens, pigs, turkeys and sheep. A full match may consist of 40, 80, or 120 rounds, requiring the course be fired several times.

Regardless of what kind of Silhouette competition is being fired, the attraction and spectator appeal of the sport is very evident at matches. Families and friends of shooters attend and applaud as the targets crash to the ground. Women seem to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere and the shooting as much as men do, and quite a number of women compete on their own account.

Top


 

Introduced to Michigan

When the Siluetas game was brought across the border into Arizona and gained popularity in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, vacationing rifleman from Michigan enjoyed the sport of Silhouette Shooting.  Mr. Bob Nulty was a traveling rifleman and retired businessman at this time and is accredited with being the first Michigan Shooters to complete in the silhouette game while vacationing in Arizona.  He informed Mr. Norm Goelzer, Lt. Col. US Army Reserve Marksman Training Unit, about the game and got him hooked on it.  Somehow Mr. John Brooks, owner of a scrape yard in Detroit got involved or pulled in by the two above to supply the steel and get things started.  Through the help of the Michigan Rifle and Pistol Association funding become available, silhouette division was formed, and first matches where held at Camp Grayling in 1978.  All the silhouette shooters in Michigan own their thanks to the above three man for getting this sport started in Michigan.

Today rifle, pistol, and black powder cartridge silhouette is being shot at many local clubs throughout the state.

Top


 

Why 10 Pounds 2 Ounces

The best I can figure the main reason the line was drawn at the 10 Lb – 2 oz was to keep the silhouette sport using hunting type rifles and not high power match rifles.  The few guys who started silhouette here in the states back in the 1970’s were considered renegade high power across the course shooters and they wanted to draw the line so that all of the heavy barreled Remington 40X and Winchester Model 70 Match Rifles would be to heavy.  However they still wanted the Remington 700 308Win varmint rifle with a 24 inch heavy barrel to be okay.  So the line was drawn at 10 lb – 2 oz which allowed the varmint rifles and not the high power match rifles.  The across the course rifles had to stay on their own ranges and not be part of silhouette.  At this time down south of the border and the originators of the silhouette sport had drawn their line in the sand at 12 lbs even.  This allow some flexibility and creativity in the rifles used at some of the live animal silhouette shoots.  So the America’s just had to be over creative.  The sport was expanded in the Untied States to be shot with just about anything for air rifles to long range pistols.  Then after a few years the NRA started a Hunting Class Rifle in order to preserve the hunting rifle intent of the sport.  So the Hunting Rifle Class was set at 9 lbs and required at least a 2 pound trigger.  Times have changed and now Remington 700 Varmint Rifles all come with 26 inch barrels and heavier laminated wood stocks or heavy plastic stocks.  This extra stock and barrel weight now makes the new scoped varmint rifles too heavy.  So some day there may be a heavy 12 pound hunter rifle class for the “Off the Shelve Varmint & Tactical Rifle & Scope combinations”.  Then the guy’s from south of the border can win the NRA National matches using their own rifles instead of borrowing a US rifle.  National Match Record score of 39 /40 was shot by Agustin Sanchez Jr., a junior shooter from Mexico, using a borrowed silhouette rifle.  Agustin missed one chicken.

 

 

Top


Silhouette Home | Match Schedule | Match Results | Photo Gallery | Contacts | Maps | Articles | Rules | History | MRPA Home


 

Send email to Webmaster with questions or comments about this web site.
Revised: 12/01/2004