The targets are placed on steel stands in banks of five and set at a variety of known distances, with the competitors having a certain amount of time to knock as many down as they can. The various competitions are shot from a range of distances and positions, depending on the firearm calibre and category, but all competitions aim to improve hunting marksmanship skills under Range conditions.
The sport originated in Mexico in the early 1950’s, arrived in Australia in the late 1970’s and is now a sanctioned and popular discipline of the SSAA. Each year, there are State and National Championships, as well as Postal competitions. International matches are a common event, with SSAA teams regularly competing in NRA Metallic Silhouette Championships.
Rimfire Silhouette Rifle events are otherwise identical, except the rifles used may only be chambered for .22LR cartridges.
Rimfire Hunting Rifle matches are identical to Centrefire Hunting Rifle, except that the rifle is to be chambered for the .22LR cartridges and have a maximum weight of 3.86kg including the sights.
Air Rifle permits the use of any air rifle of any calibre, with a maximum weight of 7kg including sights, except for sighting devices programmed to activate the firing mechanism. Any functional trigger of any release weight is permitted. Hooked butt plates are not permitted.
ScoringMatches consist of 10 shots taken at each of the four types of targets, resulting in 40 shots overall. All Rifle Metallic Silhouette matches are shot from the standing offhand position, with no support during competition – not even a sling.
For all matches, in all classes except LAS, the time limit for firing the five shots is two and a half minutes. LAS uses a time limit of 2 minutes per 5 shots. The sequence is repeated until the required number of shots is fired at the required number of targets. To score a hit, these armour-plated animals must be knocked off their stands in the correct order and within the time limit. Each shooter normally has a spotter/scorer recording the shots and making sure the shooter abides by the Rules.
In the rimfire matches, the targets and the ranges at which they are shot are scaled down to one-fifth the size of the centrefire match, with the chickens placed at 40m, pigs at 60m, turkeys at 77m and rams at 100m. In the Air Rifle matches, the targets and the ranges at which they are shot are scaled down to one-tenth the size of the centrefire match, with the chickens placed at 20 yards (note yards and not metres this time), pigs at 30 yards, turkeys at 36 yards and rams at 45 yards.
LAS chickens are set at 40m, pigs at 50m, turkeys at 75m and rams at 100m.