Lever Action Metallic Silhouette

2026 NORTHWEST REGIONAL LEVER ACTION SILHOUETTE ENTRY

2026 MISSOULA MONTHLY MATCH SCHEDULE

This article is going to give a brief explanation of how the game of metallic silhouette is played so that the novice shooter and or any shooter that’s interested in trying this fun sport will have a basic understanding of the sport.

History of Lever Action Metallic Silhouette

It all started out in old Mexico in the early 20^th century by tying live animals at distances and trying to shoot them off hand. Thankfully by around 1947 they had switched to metal targets and spared the live animals.  About 1967 the first silhouette range was built in Nogales Arizona and it exploded into the US shooting world. 1968 the first formal match was held at the Tucs
n Rifle Club and by the mid 80s it was the fastest growing gun sport in the US.  The game started out using high power scoped rifles but has morphed into many off-shoots using different gun types and distances. However, the general rules of the game remain the same through all types. For space I won’t list them all but they can be found by a quick internet search.

The Reason We Do It

If you like to shoot rifles and like instant gratification from a well-placed shot, you’ll love this sport. There’s nothing quite like breaking the trigger and hearing the distinct clang of a target being hit and seeing it fall down.  In modern terms, it’s an endorphin high every time you hear the clang of a hit target.

There are hundreds of articles and videos out there that will explain all the small details of the game that will help your shooting and understanding of this sport. I have included a link below to the NRA rule book which will go through every detail of the game and equipment.

Don’t think you need to memorize the rule book. Just come out and give it a try. There are always lots of shooters that are more than happy to take you under their wing and show you the ropes. It really is quite easy to understand once you start shooting. You will pick it up in a single match but be assured you will spend the rest of your life enjoying and trying to improve your score.

PDF:  NRA Silhouette rule book

Equipment

Here at HCSA we offer 4 different versions of the sport.  I will list all 4, however in this section I will only talk about two of them, and you can refer to the other discipline pages for explanations of the other versions we offer.

1. Scoped Rifle: (high power and small bore) See Scoped Rifle Silhouette page
2. Lever Action Rifle: (big bore, pistol cartridge and small bore) Explained on these pages>
3. Black Powder Cartridge: (open sights, scoped sights) See Black Powder Cartridge Silhouette
4. Indoor Smallbore Postal Silhouette: (50’ reduced size paper targets) Explained on these pages

Types of Rifles

There are three classes of rifles used in Lever Action Silhouette. You can shoot one or all of them. They are viewed as individual guns and scored as such.

1. Big Bore Lever
2. Pistol Cartridge Lever
3. Small Bore Lever

Big Bore Lever Action Silhouette Rifle

Any centerfire lever action rifle that is 25 cal. or bigger using a rimmed case cartridge with a tubular magazine. Open sights of various kinds. Flat nose bullets. No scopes or lenses allowed.

Popular calibers are: 30-30 Win., 38-55, 44 mag, 32 Rem.,35 Rem.

See NRA rule book, linked above, for details and exceptions for certain calibers

Pistol Cartridge Lever Action Silhouette Rifle

Small Bore Lever Action Silhouette Rifle

Any lever action rifle with a tubular magazine that uses 22 LR ammo. Open sights of various kinds.  No scopes or lenses allowed.   22 LR standard velocity ammo only, no high velocity ammo.

See NRA rule book for details and exceptions for certain calibers

The Indoor Smallbore Postal

The match can be shot with your Small Bore Lever Action Rifle.

22 LR Rimfire standard velocity ammo only. No high velocity ammo.

Now that you have a basic understanding of the types of rifles I will go into a bit more depth about each along with target sizes and distances etc.

Big Bore Lever Action

This is probably the most difficult of all the versions of metallic silhouette. It’s shot completely offhand with no supporting equipment such as slings, shooting vests and pants used in many of the other sports. No special stocks that help to support the shooter are allowed either.    (See NRA rule book)   The distances are out to 200 meters with wind effect and recoil always making hitting the animals a big challenge.

The nice thing about Big Bore Lever Action Silhouette is you can come to a match and compete with your basic lever action hunting rifle. No special high end costly rifles are necessary to compete. Grand dads old trustee 30-30 will work great for this sport.

Course of Fire and Distance

A Big Bore Lever Action Silhouette match usually consists of 40 shots being fired.

• 10 shots: Chickens placed at 50 meters
• 10 shots: Pigs placed at 100 meters
• 10 shots: Turkeys placed at 150 meters
• 10 shots: Rams placed at 200 meters

Target Size

All targets used are called a full scale target, meaning they are similar to a live animal size. They are made of AR plate steel to survive the impact of heavy bullets.

Pistol Cartridge Lever Action

is just like the wording, where it uses a cartridge that was designed to be shot in a pistol as well as a rifle. It is shot at a closer distance since the cartridges are much less powerful and at smaller targets. It’s shot completely offhand with no supporting equipment such as slings, shooting vests and pants used in many of the other sports. No special stocks that help to support the shooter are allowed either. (See NRA rule book)   The distances are out to 100 meters with wind effect and recoil not nearly as much of a factor as with Big Bore.

The nice thing about Pistol Cartridge Lever Action Silhouette is you can come to a match and compete with your basic hunting rifle. No special high end costly rifles are necessary to compete. Grand dads old 32-20 is a great rifle for this sport or that new 22 mag you have in the safe just begs to be shot here.

Course of fire and distance

A Pistol Cartridge Lever Action Silhouette match usually consists of 40 shots being fired.

• 10 shots: Chickens placed at 40 meters
• 10 shots: Pigs placed at 50 meters
• 10 shots: Turkeys placed at 75 meters
• 10 shots: Rams placed at 100 meters

Target Size

All targets used are called a one half scale target, meaning they are ½ scale of the full scale targets used in Big Bore and are ½ the distance of the Big Bore targets . They are made of AR plate steel to survive the impact of the pistol cartridges at the close range.

Small Bore Rifle Silhouette

The small bore version uses the same size targets as the pistol cartridge but the pigs, turkeys and rams are made of thinner material so they are lighter weight and easier for the smaller 22 LR bullet to tip over.  It’s shot completely offhand with no supporting equipment such as slings, shooting vests and pants used in many of the other sports. No special stocks that help to support the shooter are allowed either. (See NRA rule book)   The distances are out to 100 meters with wind having a small effect but nearly no recoil to deal with.

The nice thing about Small Bore Lever Action Silhouette is you can come to a match with your basic plinking .22 hunting rifle and compete. No special high end costly rifles are necessary to compete, and ammo is relatively cheap. Nearly everyone has a lever action 22 in their closet and if not you should have.

Course of Fire and Distance

A Small Bore Lever Action Silhouette match usually consists of 40 shots being fired.

• 10 shots: Chickens placed at 40 meters
• 10 shots: Pigs placed at 50 meters
• 10 shots: Turkeys placed at 75 meters
• 10 shots: Rams placed at 100 meters

Target Size

All targets used are what is called a 1/2 scale target, meaning they 1/2 the size of the full scale targets used for Big Bore because they are at 1/2 the distance. They are made of mild steel or AR steel depending on the particular range you may be at.

Target Banks

The animals are placed on stands, called banks, in the following order.  5 animals are evenly spaced on the left bank called bank #1. There is a noticeable empty space to the next bank of  animals called bank #2.  (See photo) These two banks will be your targets for your 10 shot string.

Order of Fire

The order of shooting is as follows: You will start with the 1^st animal on the left bank with your first shot. If you knock the animal off the stand it is scored as a hit, if you miss or do not knock the animal off the stand it is a miss. (You must knock the target off the stand to be scored, just hitting it and not knocking it down is a miss) Your second shot will be at the second animal (even if you missed the first animal).  You proceed through the first bank of five animals in this fashion. The second, or right bank, of animals is shot in the same fashion, left to right. Once all 10 shots have been completed you will add the total hits of both banks.

Once the animals have been reset you will move to the next animal and repeat the process. You will advance through all 4 animals the same way until you have fired all 40 shots at all 40 animals.

The final number of hits is your score for the match.

Commands

Shooters to the line

At this command you will be allowed to bring your equipment to the line. You will  have approximately 2 minutes to place your rifle and ammo on the shooting stand and ready yourself.

Ready

At this command you will have 30 seconds to load your first 5 rounds into your rifle, adjust your sight if necessary and be ready for the next command.

Fire

At this command you will have 2 min. to fire your first 5 shots.

Cease Fire

You must cease fire and place your rifle down on the stand. Any shots after the cease fire are counted as a miss.

You will have 1 minute of rest before the next command for the next bank.

The commands will be the same for the second bank of targets.

After the second cease fire

You will be instructed to place your open bolt indicator (a flag to indicate the gun is empty and safe) into your rifle, remove your equipment from the line and make the line safe.

Once all rifles are off the line the Range Officer will instruct the target setters out to reset all targets.

Time Allotment

Each bank of animals will have 30 seconds to load your rifle and 2 min. to complete your 5 shots.

Any shots before the fire command or any shots after the cease fire command are considered misses.

Competition System

All people are not created equal and don’t shoot on the same level.

There are 5 classes of shooters in this game. B, A, AA, AAA, Master

The first match you attend you will start out unclassified. Once you complete your first match your end score will determine what class you are placed in. Most people classify in the B class on their first try, but usually move up quickly after that.  Classification scores in each rifle are a little different because they’re based on the difficulty of hitting targets with each rifle type. The NRA rule book will list classification score numbers for each class of rifle. Once you shoot three scores within the class above your current classification you will automatically be moved up to that class.

A beginner shooter will not be competing against a Master class shooter. He or she will be competing against others of their shooting abilities. In our bigger matches we give out awards for winners in each class. Women and Men are all grouped together in the same classification system and compete against each other in the match. This is one sport that men do not have an advantage over women. Quite the contrary. Women have a tendency to be better shooters in this sport then men overall. It has something to do with women having a lower center of gravity and they tend to listen to advice on how to improve their game better than men. That said, women should feel comfortable in this sport; and guys…. you should bring your gals out to shoot with you as long as you’re ok losing to them if you forget to bring your A game!

Spotter

A spotter is almost necessary in this sport. The spotter is someone who will watch your shots through a pair of binoculars and relay your hits or misses to you so you can make any adjustments needed. They will also be in charge of keeping your score so you can focus on shooting. Many of us have spouses, or good friends that we like to shoot with that become our go-to person when we are struggling. They can give good feedback of your shot placement since it is hard to see your hit under big bore recoil. Not to worry if you don’t have someone, there is always someone who will jump in and help you out.

Indoor Small Bore Lever Action Postal Silhouette

The Indoor Small Bore Lever Action Postal Silhouette is a smaller scaled event that we do in the winter at our 50’ indoor facility at the West Riverside Range.

We use a paper target with 1 of each animal printed on it. The animals have been scaled down to make them the same degree of challenge as shooting the full scale targets. We shoot 10 shots at each animal on the target. You will have completed a 40 shot match when finished. Any bullet hole touching the animal is considered a hit.

We usually shoot the Metallic Lever Action postal in conjunction with the Indoor Small Bore Postal matches. The “Lever” style version is an informal event that we do to keep ourselves efficient with our lever guns in the winter. No awards are presented as of yet but if we get enough shooters we may hold a formal event in the future.

You will use the same rifle, ammo, rules, commands etc. that you use for the Small Bore Lever Action Silhouette Rifle. About the only difference is you don’t need a spotter since you will see exactly where you hit on the target.

The target picture here has a 22 LR cartridge in the middle of the target to give you a reference of the size.

This is a great way to keep your skills honed during the winter months if you live in snow country like we do.

As always if you have any questions about any of this feel free to call the match director listed above and he or she will be more than happy to fill you in.

Hope to see you at the range.