ihmsa forums

Hi, I am from CT and want to get back into matches after 20 plus years out of it to raise a family. I cannot seem to get any info on matches in Connecticut or the northeast. Anyone know where the closes matches to Connecticut are? thanks

Welcome back Don. I took a quick look at the schedule and it looks like Morrisville, PA may be the closest venue for you. I don't know where you are in Conn. but it could be a 100-200 mile drive for you. There is a full compliment of silhouette there at the Falls Township range. They shoot on the first Sunday of the month. Contact Allan Olsen 908-756-4317 a_olsen@verizon.net

thanks so much for your response! That is helpful. We have a vacation place in central ny so that gets us closer
Another question is the best place to find used pistols. We need to start over, so I am not looking to get into reloading my own ammo- at least not to start. so I need a caliber that I can buy off the shelf.
also- are contenders and xp-100 still the best bets?
thanks
Don
PS I live in Wallingford, CT

About the only decent centerfire Silhouette round that is factory loaded at prices that are close to reasonable is the .300 ACC Blackout. However, I have seen one box of Hornady .300 Whisper. Of course, it is not impossible to find top quality rimfire rounds, finding practice rounds are very difficult.

That really leaves the process to reloading or rebarreling an XP. The only other possibility is purchasing one of the new AR pistols in 300 Blackout. Our son has built one and I had hoped to shoot it but he still had a few bugs to work out. That said, they are in production but not cheap. With a brass catcher, it shoots Creedmoor just fine. (I tried it and it worked) If you could find sufficient quantities of the Hornady Whisper rounds, it would be fairly easy to find a Contender barrel in .300 Whisper

Maybe others will chime in but without reloading, it is an expensive sell. Got a friend who is reloading and would let you share his equipment?

Depends what events you want to shoot. Field pistol might be an easy place to start. Find a Contender on gunbroker, or ebay always has a lot of barrels. Now with Practical Hunter, you could shoot a freestyle event and a standing event with the same gun. Maybe a .357 Mag might be a good place to start as far as ammo is concerned. Or .22 is always a good option, if you can get the ammo.

thanks guys for the feedback- wow the sport has come a long way! I have never even heard of those rounds!
a local range has a contender with a 35 rem barrel. probably not the hottest round, but I should be able to buy ammo and it could do to start. I really didn't want to do .22 at this point. I will probably go to a match when they start up in march and see what they are shooting and go from there.
thanks for the input so far- its been very helpful!

By the way- I want to shoot production class and I think I prefer a single shot over revolver
is a 357 out of a TC able to know out a ram at 200 yds shooting factory ammo? or would I be better off with a 30-30 or 35 rem?
thanks guys

Welcome back Don!!! I started back in 1980 with a 10" 30-30 and have always kept a 10" and 14" barrel over the years even though I have shot many different cartridges in Production and Unlimited. The old 30-30 will get you started using factory ammo but eventually you will want to handload again to save money and work out that "perfect" load. I would suggest the 130 grain bullets for chickens through turkeys and then the 150 grain slugs for rams if you run into some sticky rams. I much prefer shooting the rimmed cartridges in a TC since they will just drop out when you open the gun. Fun cartridge to shoot in the TC but the heavier loads will definitely get your attention. Rams are now set better than in the early days so you don't need the heavy bullet loads like the old days. Some still use heavy bullets but in the newer smaller cases where you don't get a whole lot of recoil. Many things have changed in silhouettes over the last 20 years as you are just finding out. Still lots of fun so glad you can come back and enjoy our game.

Russell Plakke out of Colorado has done an excellent job with his 30-30. I don't remember if his 80X80 at int's was his 30-30, but he's gotten a few 40X40's with it. I would think that, or a .41 or .44 would be adequate with factory loads. But I haven't the experience of a tonedaddy or 19turkeys or Phil Braud, so listen to them.

thanks guys- that is all very helpful. I do hope to get into reloading at some point. also for deer hunting as the 308 and 243 ammo is getting expensive as well!
hope to see some of you at the matches in the future
Don