Recommended Books on BPCR Silhouette Shooting

Gentlemen:

I was invited to shoot a 22lr silhouette match over the weekend and really enjoyed it. This was my first foray into such competitive shooting (excluding CAS). My buddies told me that they also shoot silhouette with big bore BPCR. I am thinking about getting into this sport and would like your recommendations on some good books on the subject. I have shot much 45-70 BPCR out of my Sharps and have even won the CAS club long range buffalo rifle competition, but know I have much to learn if I am going to break into silhouette shooting competition. Fortunately, even at age 64, my far-sight vision is still very good and I can still use a peep sight well. So, tips on precise cartridge loading, boolits, PP boolits, etc. are most appreciated. What would you suggest?

You did not say what distance you will be shooting silhouettes at ??? I shoot a 45/70 for long range; my load out of my rifle is very accurate out to 1000yds; will hold the X ring at 1000yds, if I do my part; Target is shot for points, need very accurate loads, silhouettes are shot for hits; A lee 3R .459 - 500 gr sized to .460 out of pure lead, over 41 grs of blackhorn 209 at about 1200 FPS using a mag primer, with an over powder card wad with a plastic cut wad under the bullet, with a cork cut wad or more cut card wads to eliminate air space with a very slight compression, cases are indexed and not resized or bullet crimped; length of cartage is set to chamber with bullet just being pressed into the rifling, I use my own lube that I make; This is shot out of a rolling block; with a 30" barrel. Get the most accuracy out of your rig possible; you will need that for the smallest targets... Good shooting

Go to the Shiloh forum and start reading there. Lots of great info. You will need a load that can shoot 10 shots that’s less than 1.5 moa . Lots of 45-70 shooters are using the 535 money bullet with around 64 grains of Swiss 1.5fg. Wiping is the preferred method for fouling control. Scope is always an option.

The sillhouette rules are on the NRA competitions web page. That would be a good place to start by reading up on those, mostly to get you prepared for the equipment needed, and allowable ammunition.
From there you'll need to work up good bp loads and get some sight settings from 200 meters for the chickens shot offhand, 300 for the pigs shot from x sticks, 385 meters for the turkeys, and 500 meters for the rams.
It might take you a few matches to catch on to the rhythm of things, but don't worry about it much there's likely to be plenty of folks to help you get in the groove.

Mike Venturino’s Shooting Buffalo Rifles Of The Old West and Venturino’s and Steve Garbe’s SPG Reloading Primer are standard general references that anyone getting into this craziness ought to have.

The nitty-gritty on specific rifles and calibers can be found, with searching, on the Shiloh forum, as mentioned, and on the Black Powder Cartridge and Black Powder Paper-Patching forums on this site.

In the end, though, you’re going to have to do some loading and testing with your own rifle to see what it specifically likes.

I don't think there are any books specifically on BPCR silhouette. The fastest way to learn silhouette shooting is just to go and give it a try. You'll learn a lot the first couple of times. It sounds like you already have the rifle and a pretty good load for it.

As far as sight settings go, if you have a 200m number, add 15 minutes to get on the pigs, 15 more for the turkeys and then 20 more to the rams. Those numbers aren't exact of course, but they'll get you close enough for your spotter to tune up the elevations.

Practice shooting with the same time limits as a match has and you will have a good start. Get proper silhouette spotting boards and get used to communicating with your spotter about windage in minutes. Way too many people try and use inches or things like 2/3'rds of a pig when spotting. That will plain mess you up.

Chris.

Paul Matthews wrote a whole series of books about BPCR shooting, as well as some other books. He's an entertaining storyteller, too.

https://www.wolfeoutdoorsports.com/t...-all-13-books/

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Originally Posted by Woodtroll

Paul Matthews wrote a whole series of books about BPCR shooting, as well as some other books. He's an entertaining storyteller, too.

https://www.wolfeoutdoorsports.com/t...-all-13-books/

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I had forgotten about those, even though they are in my basement :-). They are interesting to read, but I don't think there is a huge amount of useful information in them. I learned far more in my first couple of matches than I ever did reading those books.

Chris.

Loading the paper patched bullet A beginners guide and The one on shutzen rifles by Wright arent truly silhouette books but they are very good on black powder loading and working up loads.

might be some useful info here for those less experienced:

https://www.ssbpcrc.co.uk/index.php/chuck-s-guide

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+1 for the Paul Mathews books.