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A History of Metallic Silhouette Competition in the United States:
Metallic Silhouette originated in Mexico during the late 1940’s and today, has spread across the globe. From it’s humble beginnings of informal shooting at fiestas, the introduction of metallic animals gave the games some standardization and made competition easier to control. From a 1978 interview with Manual Zuber, a long time shooter from Mexico, the first informal siluetas metalicas competition arranged by Don Gonzalo Aguilar, took place in Mexico city in 1948. The introduction of metallic silhouettes spread quickly with the first national silhouette shooting championships held in Mexico City in 1952. At the time, the game was mainly for high power rifle and consisted of thirty shots, ten each at gallina (chicken) at 200m, guajalote (turkey) at 385m, and borrego (sheep) at 500m. Some events were also held with ¾ size chickens at 150m for .22 rifles and metallic doves at various distances up to 100m for .22 pistols. By 1960, the Mexicans had the metalic game well organized in northern Mexico and formed La Liga del Norte
(The Northern League). Visits were frequent across the border by shooters from the United States and in 1967, informal competition was started in Nogales and Brisbee-Dpouglas, Arizona and the Javelina (pig) at 300m was added. In that same year, Roy Dunlap, who has been referred to a the father of rifle silhouette shooting in the United States, led the effort to build the first formal silhouette range at the Tuscon Rifle Club. The first formal silhouette competition north of the border was held at Tuscon on April 12, 1969. Mexican shooters were invited to attend and in 1970 Tuscon joined the Northern League of the now, La Liga international del Norte. The standard fare for matches became 50 shots, 30 with high power rifle, 10 at 150m doves with .22 pistol, and 10 at three quarter chickens with .22 rifle. In 1972, the rules of La Liga international del Norte were translated into English and used at the Arizona clubs. They were very brief compared with the rules of today. Soon matches were also being held in New Mexico and Texas. The National Rifle Association entered the scene in 1973 by sanctioning the first high power rifle metallic silhouette
championships held from 31 August to 3 September with the NRA High Power Committee having jurisdiction. With the nationwide exposure of the NRA, silhouette shooting was brought to the attention of shooters all across the country. The 1974 NRA
championships were also held in Tuscon but a rule change to the weight limit was made. The 4 kilo limit on high power rifle from below the border was expanded to 4.5 kilos to allow for rifle scopes. Unfortunately, the additional weight allowance enabled the use of heavy barrels to emerge from the original concept of a hunting rifle competition. Since 1973, the NRA had done little to organize silhouette competition and in 1976, the clubs of Arizona formed their own league, the United States Silueta Association. Through the efforts of Bill Baumbeck of Yuma, Rene Menard of Nogales, and Walt Rickell of Burbank, a four class system was established with cutoff points for each. Most of the clubs adopted the USSA’s classification/membership cards. At the 1977 NRA nationals, the NRA silhouette committee tentatively agreed to adopt the USSA’s system when they met in Phoenix and soon adopted the system
almost intact. As the NRA became more focused in their promotion of metallic silhouette, the USSA silently went into mothballs. The new NRA president in 1977, Admiral Mustin, issued a letter to the NRA silhouette committee to take the following action. "The purpose of the committee is to study, develop, monitor and provide policy direction for all forms and phases of silhouette shooting similar to the NRA sponsored high power rifle competition" They were directed to include, small bore pistol, black powder, air gun, spring gun, archery and others that may appear desirable. With total NRA backing, silhouette competition within the United States was well on it’s way to becoming the most popular shooting sport around. Experimentation with shooting equipment abounded with the silhouette committee continually trying to keep competition on an even keel. In 1984, the hunting rifle was reintroduced as a separate class and later, the more exotic rifles, chin guns ,etc., were banned.
Rifle Metallic Silhouette Today:
Rifle competition is composed of the following disciplines: High power rifle, high power hunting rifle, small bore rifle, small bore hunting rifle, outdoor open air rifle, indoor open air rifle, outdoor target air rifle, indoor target air rifle, outdoor sporter air rifle, indoor sporter air rifle, black powder cartridge rifle, high power semi automatic military rifle, and cowboy lever action rifle. NRA approved matches are held all across the nation including Alaska and Hawaii along with many registered state and regional championships. National rifle championships are held each year in high power, small bore and black powder cartridge.
The United States Metallic Silhouette Association was formed in 1998, with the approval of the NRA, to be the metallic silhouette representative for competition on the international level. The USMSA was accepted within the IMSSU at the 1998 World Championships held in Finland. For informationi
about the world championships and international competition, contact the USMSA at
the above address.
Last Modified:01 August, 2005 02:53 PM