I sorta got the impression IHMSA tapered off in popularity after Elgin Gates passed. Is that not so? I hope not, because I always thought that was a great game, though not one I'd be any good at!

Silhouette and bowling pin shooting both seem like they have faded a bit, which is a shame.

i guess it did kind of wane when gates passed........ my best friend h.p. and i haven't been to a match in years..... too bad it was a fun game... i have a dissabilty that causes mre not to shoot but i did have a ball with the spotting scope spotting and coaching...... you stay safe over there mike! and thank you................

I shot a few matches in the early 90's; production revolver class with my .44 Ruger. Lotsa fun, but shortly after I arrived in the area the guy that ran the local competitions moved out-of-state, and without him to ramrod the whole thing, it fell by the wayside.

Every now and then I set up a few steel plates at long range and bang away at them for old time's sake. Nothing like "Boom!" (pause) "Ting!" way off in the distance, as the target slowly topples over.

The IHMSA was first conceived at a two day match in El Paso, Texas in 1976.
At the end of the first day, we were told a meeting would be held
after the match was over so we could discuss the formation of an
organization to oversee the game of silhouettes. We local competitors went
home.

The next morning we were told that all the out of town competitors had a
meeting the night before and had decided all the things that needed to be
decided, so there would be no need to have a meeting after the match was
over. They had even decided to call the organization the "International
Hand-gun Metallic Silhouette Association."

This caused no little rancor among those of us in El Paso, especially among
those of us who were running the match. Nonetheless, we shot IHMSA
in El Paso for several years. The sport faded out in the 1980's, even before
Elgin Gates passed away.

Once I got over being angry at the way we were treated by the California
shooters, I found the game to be fun. I used a highly modified and re-
chambered XP-100. With it I shot in the Triple A class in the Unlimited
division.

In 1978 I flew with my XP to Dallas and drove to Arlington for the
state championships. I won the Texas State unlimited division championship
that year, but that is a "whole nuther story" which I won't go into here.

I no longer own that XP, but I still have a Wichita single shot bolt action
pistol chambered in .308 (7.62 nato) that I used for a few matches. It
has a sight system designed for silhouettes and a very light trigger.

Would anyone like to have a Wichita Silhouette gun? Maybe we can make
a deal!

I shot IHMSA in Alaska in the 70s. Clubs were in Anchorage and Glenallen. We held matches year-round in Anchorage (even when it was 20 below)! The guys in Glenallen were fair weather shooters!

I shot 4 guns, Ruger SBH 10 inch in Production Revolver, Colt Python 8 inch in Standing, TC Contender 10 inch 7mm TCU in Production Single Shot, & a TC Contender 14 inch .357 Herrett in Unlimited, later went to a Remington XP-100 in 7mm BR.

I shot a few matches in Oregon after I moved there in 1981, but none since.

I got into IHMSA on the ground floor, so to speak. My IHMSA number was 667.

When I left the game, only one shooter anywhere had fired a perfect 40x40 with a Production Revolver, and no one had done it standing. I imagine that's changed by now.

I recall reading that Elgin Gates passed away many years ago. I had the pleasure of meeting him.

Oh, incidentally, our club in Anchorage was once challenged to a silhouette match by the local NRA rifle silhouette shooters, on their range & their distances. We didn't win the match, but we gave a good showing.

HP shot a few different guns and classes.... he had a tc contender .44 magnum barrel reamed out by tc to chamber .444 marlin that he shot lead out of .....it was a fun to watch the silver streak fall into the rams.... looked like they falling in from about 6 ft up though the spotting scope...... yep that sound is cool BANG.....................CLANG GOT HIM!