ihmsa forums

Here's a potential gold mine for IHMSA

Step 1. Have a technical writer re-write the IHMSA rule book with the intended audience being shooters who have never been exposed to a silhouette match using clear and concise everyday language, with an appendix to define all the technical terms/acronyms, or an introduction explaining the same.

Step 2. Take the current rule book and the rewritten rule book, and sell them to colleges, universities, corporations, etc. as a teaching aid for aspiring technical writers.

The current rule book is a good example of technical writing that is aimed at an audience that is at the same knowledge level as the writer(s) of the rule book. A potential new shooter would never be able to understand the current rule book.

The income derived form the above mentioned sale would probably equal exceed the amount that was stolen from IHMSA.

Or just invite the potential newbie to attend a match....

I can't imagine trying to explain the rules of basketball to a soccer player who has never seen a basketball game.

I have been shooting 8 different disciplines of NRA rifle silhouette for the past 9 years and am pretty well versed in the rules and classes. Having recently become interested in pistol silhouette I had to make a spread sheet to wrap my head around the different classes, abbreviations and pistol specification of IHMSA. It is a bit of a challenge for a newcomer.

Looking at NRA, what happened to the NRA silhouette match? Gone to the way side. Ours is still going, but like it was said, pushing cell phone buttons I guess is more fun then shooting steel. Cell phones are the root of all evil.

For me, it's the reverse, 36 years of IHMSA, 3 years of NRA rifle silo. MD's & older shooters call the classes light & heavy, sporter & match, standard & target, while the classification book says Hunter & Smallbore. Or Hunter & Highpower. Other descriptions for Lever gun, Cowboy, smallbore lever, 22 half scale, or whatever they call them all.

Hunter rifle is simply sporter style, but if the stock has a vertical grip it moves into target class. Limits on scope height, gun must fit into a certain dimensioned box. Hunter class must have 2 lb trigger pull, so my standard 541 or CZ with a tuned trigger must now shoot against $2000 Anschutz target guns.

But I can put a 36x scope on my Hunter rifle because we all know that squirrel & deer hunters use a 36x to shoot offhand. Sheesh!!

Sorry if it sounds like a rant, but NRA rifle silo rules are just as bad. Just the nature of the game, trying to keep a level playing field for the various styles of guns, positions, sometimes the original intent of the rules combined with decades of evolution for each sport.