Metalic silhouette match

[gasboffer]

I'm going to try shooting in the IHMSA Internationals this July in Ft. Stockton, TX. They have one match called "Bordello" match. Targets..chickens.. 25 m, Pigs.. 50 m,... Turkeys..75m,..Rams..100m. The targets are half size of the standard full size metallic silhouettes. Standing, two-handed, no rest.
Guns limited to 5" bbl, no sight adjustment, pretty much what you might be carrying in a bordello. (If you frequent that type of establishment.)
I'll be shooting a Springfield XDM, 4.5 Inch bbl, .45ACP.
I have molds for about ten different .45 boolits, from 185 gr. SWC, 200SWC, 230 RN, etc. Lee, Seaco, Lyman, RCBS,etc.
Anybody have suggestions? (loads, bullet type, weight, etc?)
I'm 81 years old and would dearly like to beat some of them young whipper-snappers!
Clyde

[fecmech]

I would shoot the 230 gr bullet in the 800-900 fps range and learn my sight pictures for the various ranges. Really whatever is most accurate is what you should shoot. The 185 and 200 gr bullets will reliably knock down everything but the rams and the 200's would probably get most of them. The best thing you can do if you want to beat those young whippersnappers is practice ,practice, practice! Remember, the 3 most important things are sight alignment , sight alignment, and sight alignment plus one other minor thing. Breaking the trigger without disturbing the previously mentioned sight alignment Good luck and enjoy the match.

[w30wcf]

Clyde,
Sounds pretty neat! Any of those bullets will easily take down a 1/2 sized steel ram. I would suggest accuracy testing at 100 yards to see which one shoots the best. The ram target is about 6" body width and is 16" long.

Good luck!
w30wcf

[44man]

Hard to tell with the ACP. Does it have enough to knock over steel?

[Norbrat]

Hard to tell with the ACP. Does it have enough to knock over steel?

This is the std "Field Pistol" match shot with short barelled guns. .22 magnum will knock over the 100 yd rams; 45 ACP in any weight boolit will easily flatten them.

[Kraschenbirn]

Hard to tell with the ACP. Does it have enough to knock over steel?

As a 'fun match', our club used to shoot that same course of fire using the a slightly modified NRA 'Hunter Pistol' format: max. 7 1/2" barrel length, straight-wall CF cartridges, and iron sights only. I shot either a .45 ACP Gold Cup with 'softball' 200 gr SWCs or a 6" S&W .357 with 158 gr SWCs loaded to around 1200 fps. Never had a problem dropping rams with either load.

My advice for practice would be to really concentrate on the chickens and pigs; winning scores for our matches were usually in the mid-to-upper 20s so nailing 80%+ on those first two stages would almost always place a shooter in contention for that day's braggin' rights.

Bill

[runfiverun]

the 357 will tip over a half sized ram at 100 yds with a 158 at 1400 fps.
best I have done is 9.

[Mal Paso]

I'm shooting 44 Specials for Silhouette as the Match Director won't let us shoot Magnums at "His Silhouettes". The 260g MP 432640, a RNHP, at just over 900 fps has been my most accurate but I'm aiming 6" over the Rams at 100 meters. 200-210g with a little more speed would give me a flatter trajectory keeping the energy about the same.

Guess I'm looking for another Mold.

[GrizzLeeBear]

I'm shooting 44 Specials for Silhouette as the Match Director won't let us shoot Magnums at "His Silhouettes". The 260g MP 432640, a RNHP, at just over 900 fps has been my most accurate but I'm aiming 6" over the Rams at 100 meters. 200-210g with a little more speed would give me a flatter trajectory keeping the energy about the same.

When I was a IHMSA match director we had the same rule at our club. Even full power .357 mags are hard on the 25m chickens, but the .44 mags really beat the stuffin out of them and were hard on the 50m pigs as well. We got tired of having to weld the feet back on several field pistol chickens every match. You could use .44 mags, but they had to be loaded to .44 special levels. Most IHMSA club have a "target damage" rule. If your loads damage targets, they can no longer be used.

Regarding the 45 acp, as Norbrat said, any standard level 45 acp load will have plenty of oomph to know down all of the field pistol targets. Accuracy should be you top priority in figuring out which load to use.

[fecmech]

the 357 will tip over a half sized ram at 100 yds with a 158 at 1400 fps.
best I have done is 9.

I use a 38 spl 158@ 900 fps and once in a great while loose a ram in Field pistol. Not often enough to change anything.

[fourarmed]

Find a load that shoots a little high at 25 yards. (I am assuming a fixed sight gun.) That way you can hold on the chicken's foot, and then belly-line or center body on the pig. You won't have to hold over the turkey much if any. The ram is always a problem for fixed sights. Practice holding up a little front sight for the ram.

[dougader]

Heck, a solid hit with a 168 grain Keith style SWC at 1000 fps will knock over the full size ram at 200 meters. I fired these from a 4" S&W 686.

That 45 should easily knock over the 1/2 size ram at 100 meters.

I wonder what the relatively flat shooting 327 Federal would do to these 1/2 size targets. I'm guessing a 32 HRM load would do the job, say a 100 grain swc at 1000 fps.

[44man]

Sounds like fun. I do not know the weight of the half size, we did not have them when I shot IHMSA, 200m rams are 50#.
I shot Quantico long ago and a Marine shot his .45 off hand, never seen the gun shot like he shot it. I watched him practice and then shoot for score. He hit almost every target but had a low score just from chickens. Steel just would not fall.
It was something to see him hit 200 meter rams with a 1911. We were all proud of him. He was so good I thought they should have made an exception for him and count hits.

[cajun shooter]

I shot in the IHMSA when the sport first started and my membership number was 725. I started with a S&W model 57 and had a huge laugh at a match in New Orleans. I had a very good friend who won the first Louisiana State Championship shooting a Ruger in 44mag as my spotter. On my first bank of rams he said, David look at your sights. I became a little upset with this type of coaching and answered, What in the he.. do you think I'm looking at. He then stated, no I mean LOOK AT THEM!!
I lowered my revolver and raised my head to see that my height adjustment had taken the elevation screw out of the threads and my rear sight was about one inch above the frame. I was most likely shooting several yards above the RAMS AND THE BERM. HA!!HA!!
44Man I would think that any bullet that fed well in your pistol and had at least 200 grains of weight would handle all the targets very easy.
When I was shooting you were allowed to use different loadings for the different ranges and that is what I would do with this match. Why shoot a heavy load at 50 meters when it is not needed.

[BABore]

Sounds like fun. I do not know the weight of the half size, we did not have them when I shot IHMSA, 200m rams are 50#.

Try half of 50# for starters.

[fourarmed]

They weigh around 10 pounds. Half the linear dimensions means a quarter the area, and they are thinner, too. About any reasonable center-fire will knock them down. The big problem with a "bordello" gun is hitting them. You do most of your scoring on the chickens and pigs, so you want to be zeroed for them.

[snaketail]

I think you'll be fine with any boolit weight - anything you can hit with.
One suggestion: I've been to Ft. Stockton and highly recommend you stay in Alpine - its a 30 minute drive and the hotels are significantly better in Alpine. (Sleeping on the ground would be better than the hotels in Ft. Stockton!)

Michael

[fcvan]

Back in the 1980s, I read some articles on Elmer shooting at 200, 300, 500 yards and such and it sounded like fun. I have a S&W M57 with an 8 3/8" barrel and so that was an obvious choice. And then I started shooting everything at long ranges. Trying to shoot a J frame at 500 yards was a lesson in artillery lobbing, not shooting

Soda cans at 100 yards was the order of the day, and I really enjoyed doing that with my 1911 45 ACP. Over the weekend, I tried to nail a 4" rock at 200 yards with a Glock 23. It took 4 rounds to gauge the trajectory and make the hit. I really need to do more distance shooting and possibly some silhouette shooting.