When: 7:00 PM on the 2nd Tuesday of every month
Where: Meeting Hall
Contact: Jim McKim
Email: jamesemckim@gmail.com
Phone: 760-390-9426
Cost: Members - $2 / Non-Members - $3

Air Pistol Silhouette is a subset of NRA Silhouette Pistol, a sport that entails shooting at metallic silhouettes of four different animals at four different distances. It is a simple yet challenging sport that provides immediate visual and audible feedback when a target is hit, a la “plinking”, in a competitive setting with targets that sometimes seem impossibly small. It is also a good opportunity to test or practice your handgunning skills at a bargain price of $0.01-$0.03 per round for ammunition. The EF&GA match follows the NRA rules but is not an NRA-sanctioned match.

Equipment
Any air pistol firing pellets not to exceed .22 caliber may be used. There are two categories: Air Pistol, and Air Pistol Open Sight. For Air Pistol, optical, electronic, target and Olympic style sights are permitted. For Air Pistol Open Sight, only open or hunting-style peep sights, including an adjustable aperture, are allowed.

The pistol can be powered by a pre-charged pneumatic reservoir, compressed CO2, or a manually-charged reservoir or spring. These are commonly referred to as PCP, CO2, single or multi-stroke pneumatic, or spring piston, respectively. Popular pistols are the Baikal IZH-46M, the Crosman 1701P, 2300S and 2300T, and the Daisy Avanti 747 (out of production).

The shoot chair usually has an extra pistol available to loan for a match. People borrowing this pistol may use either their own .177 caliber pellets or reimburse the shoot chair at a cost of $1/match.

Eye protection is required. Shooters are encouraged to wear hearing protection to mitigate the impact of pellets hitting the traps. A hat is recommended to shield your eyes from the overhead lights. Gloves may be worn on either or both hands.

Targets
Targets are one-tenth the size of standard High Power Rifle Silhouette targets and are made of ⅛” thick steel. Four different target shapes are used, increasing in size and shot at increasing distances:

• Chickens - approximately 1” tall by 1” wide at 10 yds
• Pigs - approximately 1.5” tall by 2” wide at 12.5 yds
• Turkeys - approximately 2” tall by 1.5” wide at 15 yds
• Rams - approximately 2” tall by 3” wide at 18 yds

There are ten targets of each animal, for forty total.

Shooting Position
All shots are made from the standing position with the pistol held in one or both of the shooter’s hand(s) with the arm or arms not braced or supported by other parts of the body. Neither the “trigger” hand (or arm) nor any part of the pistol may make contact with the opposite arm at any point at or above the pivot point of the wrist.

Course of Fire and Time Limits
After a set up and sight-in period the targets will be set up for the match. Shooters will be grouped into relays, with a maximum of four per relay - one per target type at a time. Shooters in each relay will shoot ten of one target in two banks of five before moving on to the next target. No sighting shots are allowed during the match.

The commands and time limits for each bank are as follows:

• Ready - 30 second period in which shooters may load and aim
• Fire - 2-½ minute period for five shots, one per each target in the bank
• Cease Fire - shooters cease firing and make their weapons safe

Target are reset between each bank. After both banks of a given animal are shot, shooters progress to the next farther animal or back to chickens if they were last on rams.

Scoring
Targets must be knocked over to count as a hit. Targets that are turned but not knocked over are misses. Hits on the wrong target are counted as misses as are any shots fired after the Cease Fire command is given. One point is recorded for each hit. A perfect score is 40. In the case of a tie between shooters in the same category, a shoot-off will be held to determine the winner.

Additional References
NRA Silhouette Pistol Rule Book https://competitions.nra.org/competition-resources/rule-books/