Metallic Silhouette - IHMSA

Guns.com Vault
Gather App
T

Toolguy

Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2010
Messages
7,592
Reaction score
17,934
City & State/Province
Kansas City area
Shot a Sil. match today with the 8-3/8 S&W 629 Classic DX. I shoot it prone, double action. I've been shooting this same gun since the mid to late 90s, probably 600 to 800 rounds a year with the same load, and it still shoots as good as when I started. That is somewhere around 18000 to 22000 or more rounds.

Today I shot 2 rounds (80 shots) and got 38 out of 40 both times, and 4 out of 10 shootoff chickens at 200 meters to win a tie in the Unlimited Any Sight (UAS) class. I have had a lot of practice, but the gun still amazes me every time I shoot it! That's one reason I love the S&W revos. They perform over and above what seems possible.

Our Sil. Club is slowly dwindling due to the shooters aging out and dying off. That part makes me sad because I'm losing long time shooting friends every year now. I'll keep going as long as possible though, because of the gun and the friends I have left.
 
I'm using a 2.5 to 7 Nikon crosshair IER (intermediate eye relief) scope. I can't see iron sights that well anymore. Scopes have been legal in IHMSA for many years now.

The best I have done is 40/40 in a total shooting time of 1 minute and 24 seconds. I start shooting when they say "fire" and my spotter/timer stops when I fire the last shot. He or she then records the time on that line of targets, and we add up the times for each bank of 5 at the end.

I usually shoot a bank of chickens and pigs in 10 to 12 seconds, and turkeys and rams in 15 to 20 seconds. This gives the other shooters with single shot rifle caliber guns a sporting chance. They still get the full 2 minutes for their 5 shots. They usually win with 40/40, but I'm having fun doing it my way.
 
Last edited:
Toolguy said:
I'm using a 2.5 to 7 Nikon crosshair IER (intermediate eye relief) scope. I can't see iron sights that well anymore. Scopes have been legal in IHMSA for many years now.

The best I have done is 40/40 in a total shooting time of 1 minute and 24 seconds. I start shooting when they say "fire" and my spotter/timer stops when I fire the last shot. He or she then records the time on that line of targets, and we add up the times for each bank of 5 at the end.

I usually shoot a bank of chickens and pigs in 10 to 12 seconds, and turkeys and rams in 15 to 20 seconds. This gives the other shooters with single shot rifle caliber guns a sporting chance. They still get the full 2 minutes for their 5 shots. They usually win with 40/40, but I'm having fun doing it my way.
Click to expand...
Creedmore position pistol.webp
Creedmore Position
I last shot one of those matches in the 80's. After the scoring matches, we'd have fun runs, and I got to shoot some Contenders and most interestingly, a bolt action pistol in full power.308 (7.62 NATO). I shot from a Creedmore position, and because the thing had a military style peep sight with a tiny aperture, I told the owner all I could see was the black of the sheep through the peep, but I didn't know where on the sheep I was. I was used to having to hit high with the 44 mag to topple those heavy targets. He told me not to worry about it, just pull the trigger when you see black. I did, and down went the ram. From then on, I knew how those guys were getting 40/40 relatively often.
I often shot next to one of those .308's, and I always waited for that shooter to fire before I settled in for my shot, because their muzzle blast lifted the whole front of the mat a foot off the ground in a huge fireball and cloud of dust accompanied by an awful CRACK. Having seen this, I was a bit apprehensive what the 308 recoil would be like, and to my surprise found it more pleasant to shoot than my model 29, because from the Creedmore position, the gun and my whole shooting arm rotated up maybe 70 degrees from my elbow rather than slam back through my hand, wrist and shoulder like my model 29 did.
 
I'm shooting 300 grain Hornady XTPs or 300 gr. cast lead when I can't get the XTP. These are loaded over 18 gr. of H4227 or IMR4227. In my gun the velocity is around 1050, barely subsonic. The recoil is very mild, more like a 44 Special. I will normally shoot 80 or 120 rounds of ammo in a day, and feel no ill effects of recoil either during or after. You may want to try that load if still shooting your M29. It's very accurate, as evidenced by my getting 4 in a row of 200M shootoff chickens.

The terminal performance is very good, due to the bullet weight. I have only rang a few rams in many years, usually from the wind holding them up from behind. That is a rare situation, though.

I shoot laying down facing forward, normal prone position, and use both hands to hold the gun.
 
I shot IHMSA back in the 80s-90s with a Production Contender in 7 TCU. That evolved into International class with a 7-IHMSA. My intent was to pistol-hunt in the Rockies. My competing days were all done with iron sights and was one of the best experiences I had shooting. My longest game shot was a paced-off 286 yard Wrong-horn antelope with the 7 mm.

Unfortunately, I had to try revolver class. I started with a .375 SuperMag, then moved to a .445 SM, each a Dan Wesson. The .375 was a sweetheart; I took a 6-point with it. But the .445 was just too loud, and difficult for me to control. I blame a lot of my hearing loss and arthritis of my right thumb on that misplaced machismo.

Now, in my 'mature' years, I've participated in PPC and most of the run-and-gun sports at my club, but nothing beats the click-bang-wait-bong and watching that ram slooowly fall off the stand.

Thanks for the memory, Toolguy!
 
Toolguy said:
I'm shooting 300 grain Hornady XTPs or 300 gr. cast lead when I can't get the XTP. These are loaded over 18 gr. of H4227 or IMR4227. In my gun the velocity is around 1050, barely subsonic. The recoil is very mild, more like a 44 Special. I will normally shoot 80 or 120 rounds of ammo in a day, and feel no ill effects of recoil either during or after. You may want to try that load if still shooting your M29. It's very accurate, as evidenced by my getting 4 in a row of 200M shootoff chickens.

The terminal performance is very good, due to the bullet weight. I have only rang a few rams in many years, usually from the wind holding them up from behind. That is a rare situation, though.

I shoot laying down facing forward, normal prone position, and use both hands to hold the gun.
Click to expand...
"I shoot laying down facing forward, normal prone position, and use both hands to hold the gun." Me too.
I never tried anything in 44 mag except 240 gr loads, and found my accuracy load (groups shrunk suddenly to 1.5" at 25 yds with it) was the max load of 2400, which caused me to have to take my 1970's Mod 29 to the gunsmith every year to be retimed and tuned. It beat up the gun and my hand. Even with that hot load, the holdover was so much at 200 yds that I carried a stack of feeler gauges to reset the height of the rear sight for the 200 yd rams, and another set to get back to the other three ranges which were pretty much point of aim = point of impact (held low on the chickens)
 
I was a "former" IHMSA competitor, back a few years. From the pictures you can see how far back that was. I tried that creedmore position, but with a 10" barrel on a 44Mag I did shred the pants leg on my jeans one day. It's all fun but alas a young mans game with eyes good enough. I wish more would get interested.

 
I tried IHMSA back in the early 1980s at a club in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, those matches are no longer shot there, and current members deny that IHMSA was even shot there.

Is there still an active organization known as IHMSA for these matches?
 
I've been trying to get some matches going here in Arizona just hunter silhouette but next year I'll be retired when I can devote more time hope to get some bench rest and creedmore style going I have a lot of loads to work on
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

6string
IHMSA Revolvers, anyone?
Replies
11
Views
2K
Phenix
P
N
Failure To Fire with TK Moon Clips?
Replies
13
Views
523
Toolguy
T
P
432UC Home from the mother ship
Replies
0
Views
96
PaJerry
P
TJm15.38
Grip Change on a 638-3
Replies
0
Views
98
TJm15.38
TJm15.38
I
Worst 43c ever!!
2
Replies
37
Views
1K
Equus
Equus

Latest posts

Back
Top