starting smallbore silhouette

[mikek]

What is a good set up to get semi envolved in SB silhouette? I have a 10/22 I could build on but have also been looking at the Anschutz model 1451 Target to get started with. What are your opinions? Can't believe I am getting into .22 shooting but recently have been going out on my backyard range having a ball with it.  Thanks for any and all input, Kav

[dave imas]

Kav,
there is no such thing as getting 'semi involved' with rifle silhouette.  once you try it you will either get sucked in, never to return to the real world or hate it.  it is extremely difficult, challenging, and wonderful at the same time.  I'd shoot your 10/22 until you decide where you fall in the love/hate spectrum.  If finances are an issue, as they are for most of us, you might look at the CZ line of rifles.  Relatively inexpensive but quality and capable rifles.  bushnell, sightron, weaver, leupold are all scopes which find themselves on the firing line.  elevation and windage adjustment repeatability are what you are looking for in a scope.  whatever standard velocity ammunition your particular rifle decides to like.  most folks are hoping to get a consistent 1" to 1.5"  group at 100 meters in accuracy.  don't be fooled by ammunition that seems to shoot fine at 40 meters.  test your ammunition all the way out.  there are far too many ammunitions that will shoot fine at 40 meters and be absolutely horrible at 100 meters.  the whole ammunition things gets tricky and spendy.  others on this board can go in to much more detail about that when you are ready.
good luck.  dave imas

[greer]

Kav, I don't mean to badmouth your 10/22, but the plain jane version with the factory trigger and short light barrel will make it tough to hit those little animals.  If you see that, please don't get discouraged.  A longer heavier barrel and a crisp trigger make all the difference.  I consider my CZ Special to be the best $189 I ever spent.  Good luck and come back with any questions.  Sarah

[ppk1]

You'll be wasting your time and ammo with a 10/22 plus annoying the other people on the line with your jamming and caseing spitting.
Okay before all you guys say 'Troy Lawton won the nationals with one', that was not your fathers 10/22, enough said.
Any good 22 bolt action rifle will do fine if you are just starting out. It will except all types of ammo and not suffer the loading problems with low velocity ammo that you get in a stock 10/22.
The most important piece of equipment, if you want to at least hit something, will be your scope. It is a absolute requirement to have a turret type target scope so you can adjust the crosshairs for each distance. Without one you'll be just guessing and not having much fun. You can refine your choices after you decide what you can afford and how serious you want to get.
This is a tough game so be prepared to spend at little money. Hitting 7 or 8 animals in a match will get old pretty fast. Don't get discouraged but you'll have at the least have some good reliable ammo and equipment.
Shoot what you got but not the 10/22.

[nomad]

While I'm in agreement with the idea that the 10/22 isn't much gun, and it IS annoying when it throws cases down your neck, (I had one, did all the mods and QUICKLY dumped it) you ought to talk to TXCharlie  about them.
Ask for the story about when he (TX state HP sil champion that year) and Massey (a recent national champion then) went to OKC and got badly WHUPPED by a farmer with a box-stock 10/22 and a cheap, low-power scope. It's good for a pretty good chuckle. (According to Charlie, they weren't having a bad day, this guy was just GOOD!)
The saying goes that: "Tain't th arrer, hit's th Injun!"
Bring out your 10/22 and try it. THEN you'll follow the advice and either bail out or get what you decide you need.
At matches here in TX, I've yet to see a situation where a newbie wasn't just offered the use of serious gear by people on the line. (Yesterday, at our range, I never saw my heavy gun from the time I lent it to a new shooter and coached him on the settings until it was time to take it home afte the match.)

[mikek]

Thanks for the replies, I was surely not thinking the 10/22 stock but as a build up... but I did not think about chunkin brass at someone with it which would be extremely annoying and would stress me in fear of it. As for money, being nose deep wrapped up in point blank centerfire benchrest, I am aware of going with good equipment but didn't want to go full out for as mentioned I am nose deep in equipment already and custom painters are just shy of poverty on the income scale.

So I will keep the 10/22 for rabbits and squirrels. I have heard the CZ mentioned, any other decent starter guns?  Thank you again for any and all info, Kav

[htrjv]

mikek, All of the above has been good advice.  Regardless of which gun you decide to use, there is one thing that is a MUST, if you are going to go forward in this game.  Download some of the 1/5 scale targets available on the internet, then take your gun and several boxes of the various ammo that is available to the range.  You don't have to start off with any of the expensive stuff.  What needs to be done is to find what ammo your gun prefers, at each of the distances you will be shooting (40,60,77,and 100 yards or meters depending on the match range you will be shooting).  Set up at each range, and test each ammo for groups.  The tighter the better, and while you're at it record your scope's "zero" for that ammo and range, then move on to the next distance, and do the same thing.  After you have shot at all four distances you will have a pretty good idea what your gun will do.  The ideal will be to have your groups 1/4 to 1/2 the size of the target animal at each range.  With your confidence peaked by knowing what your gun will do, the rest is up to you.  We all have good days and bad days, but knowing it's not our equipment goes along way.  Then again, some of us use that excuse to buy more equipment for this game.  Good Luck, and WELCOME to our world of Silhouette Shooting.  Joe

[Silo65]

KAV

Glad to have a painter/artist of your reputation on the board.  Starting out I was in your position and used the 10/22 for a season to find out I was hooked.  Yes it spit ammo on a few shooters until I made a deflector.  Fortunately silhouette shooters are an understanding bunch.

Second year I bought a Ruger 77/22VBZ because I couldn't justify an Anschutz.  It has worked well after pillar bedding, new trigger, and stock.  If I did it again I'd buy the Anshcutz and save the headache.  Next gun will be an Anschutz.  However, a 77/22 can shoot well and is an alternative to the CZ with a wider availability of aftermarket parts.  Check out Connecticut Precision Chambering for accurizing the 77/22.

In any case keep weight in mind; 10.12 lbs standard; 8.5 lbs hunter.  Ideally you'll initially want a hunter weight gun to be able to shoot in both classes.

In answer to your original post: Anschutz - 1712D FWT; Weaver 24X with 1/2 moa dot, 1/4 moa turrets or Premier Reticle Leupold (someone else can fill in model or you can search the posts).  You'll be able to shoot in either hunter or standard or both.

Thanks again for the fine paint job.

Rich Cronin

[drover]

I am going against the general mood of the board and am going to suggest that you shoot your 10/22 initally.  You can get by with just putting a trigger kit in it so that it has a fairly decent and consistent trigger and of course build a deflector of some sort so that you don't bother the other shooters with your empties flying around.

Are you going to win with it, probably not. As a matter of fact you will find it difficult to shoot and be competitive.  However the reason I suggest you start with it is because you can spend a lot of money on the wrong equipment in this sport, by starting with your 10/22 you can attend matches and at most matches you will find that most competitors are more than willing to let you try out their rifle/scopes, etc.  This will give you a much better idea of what you are really looking for rather than purchasing a rifle on someone elses recommendation.  Another advantage to this is that it is very common to find rifles and scopes for sale at matches and often at very good prices.  Usually the seller is trying to peddle a rifle so they can move to another piece of equipment that will give them some perceived advantage.

[mikek]

KAV

Glad to have a painter/artist of your reputation on the board.  Starting out I was in your position and used the 10/22 for a season to find out I was hooked.  Yes it spit ammo on a few shooters until I made a deflector.  Fortunately silhouette shooters are an understanding bunch.

Second year I bought a Ruger 77/22VBZ because I couldn't justify an Anschutz.  It has worked well after pillar bedding, new trigger, and stock.  If I did it again I'd buy the Anshcutz and save the headache.  Next gun will be an Anschutz.  However, a 77/22 can shoot well and is an alternative to the CZ with a wider availability of aftermarket parts.  Check out Connecticut Precision Chambering for accurizing the 77/22.

In any case keep weight in mind; 10.12 lbs standard; 8.5 lbs hunter.  Ideally you'll initially want a hunter weight gun to be able to shoot in both classes.

In answer to your original post: Anschutz - 1712D FWT; Weaver 24X with 1/2 moa dot, 1/4 moa turrets or Premier Reticle Leupold (someone else can fill in model or you can search the posts).  You'll be able to shoot in either hunter or standard or both.

Thanks again for the fine paint job.

Rich Cronin

Thank you sir for the kind words and thanks for the advise. I hopefully won't get hooked for then it becomes an obsession and then I will have to finally go out and try HP silhouette which I built a gun for but with School, research/publishing, running a buisiness, trying to be a good husband, and part time work in a lab I run out of time every day and definitely can't afford to get too wrapped up in another shooting sport at this point in my life. Thanks for all the recommendations and as soon as I get something going will try to find a range close to Denton to attend a match. thanks again, Kav

[ajj]

What Drover said. He sums things up pretty well.

[nomad]

If 'Denton' is Denton, TX, pm me and we'll get you organized.
We shoot SB and Air Rifle every 2nd Saturday at Haltom City just east of Ft Worth.
Also cowboy lever 1st Sat and an anything .22LR goes 'Fun' match 3rd Saturday.
Then there's HP at Ft Wolters every 3rd Sunday for that already built and unblooded HP gun...

[mordecai]

I think half of beginner Silhouette shooters start with a 10/22 now.

I did and QUICKLY spent 4 Bills on a used Anschutz 64 and couldn't have been happier.  You'll easily spend 200-300 trying to get a 10/22 to shoot like an Anschutz but it never will.

Seriously - it's 80% trigger.  

Look at the CZ's as a cost effective alternative but for the money, a nice used Anschutz is money well spent.

[dwl]

Mike;

I'm only starting my second year shooting SB Silhouette.  My first gun was a CZ Silhouette.  Not a bad place to start, good value for the money.  The CZ drawbacks, the gun is too light and the trigger is needs work.  

I invested time and effort in the CZ trigger but then a friend gave me an NS522.  The weight was right up there but the trigger needed work.  However this trigger worked out better and I was able to reduce the sear engagement by .018 to about .010 reducing creep significantly.  It is my current Hunter gun.  I doubt your going to find one of these around though.

Other new shooters in our area quickly dropped their Ruger 10/22s, 77/22, Marlins, etc and have purchased Kimbers (new) and Remington 541s (used).  The triggers on the 541s can be developed into very nice triggers.  I have a 541s that was 'smithed for benchrest that is fantastic.

A couple of our new shooters cannot afford to move up from their Marlin 25s.  They're too young and have'nt got the money.  I rework the triggers for them to reduce force and creep.   It's not the best but they're young and they're having a great time.

One of our shooters purchased an Anschutz 64 Match for $400 or $500 that has a very nice trigger.  In it's original stock it quilifies for Standard rifle but not for Hunter.  He's planning on restocking it in a McMillan or a Nesika stock.  I've shot it and I think it's a great gun for the money.

I went and blew my money on a use Anshuctz 54 so that I KNOW that if there is a problem then it's me not the gun.  That helps me immensly by focusing my attention on my form.  The Anschutz 54s have top of the line triggers, barrels and actions.  There is a reason they domniate the fireing line.  They also dominate the wallet.

Scopes are the next item you've got to pay attention to.  Leupold, and Weaver T-24s seem to dominate but I know some AAA class shooters who think highly of the Sightron 6-14 SII model.  A good scope with target turrets and reliable adjustments is important.

Well, there's a bunch of information for you to consider.  Look at your wallet, look at what you want to do and make your pick.  Then go shoot and have a good time.  It's a great crowd of people.

DWL