American Handgunner May/June 1978

The . r I. .Little Match That Could,. ,Eastern Silhouette Regionalwmetallic silhouette handgun shooting began inHEN 1975, most everybody figured it to be a Westerner'sgame. It was there, after all, that metallic silhouette riflematches had always been most popular.Accordingly, when a metallic silhouette handgun match wasannounced in Massachusetts, a thickly populated state withsome of the most ardent concentrations of anti-gun sentimentanywhere, a lot of gun people didn't take it too seriously.That first match was held on Labor Day, 1976. I missed it becauseit was in conflict with Doc Burgess's NSL money shoot inLaramie, but when I got back East, the whole handgunning fraternitywas still buzzing about the success of the Eastern SilhouetteRegionals.I made the '77 event, also a Labor Day affair, and found outhow much water had gone under the dam since that first shoot.Fact is, in terms of popularity and good will, the water underthat dam amounted to a flood.The tournaments are sponsored by the Massachusetts MagnumChapter of the American Big Game Handgunners' Association,which is headed by George Bredsten, American Handgunner'shunting editor. George's group doesn't coordinatematches, however; the Mass. Magnum Chapter's events are conductedunder the auspices of the International Handgun MetallicSilhouette Association.Ron Ricci of the MMC, an avid handgun hunter and Auto-Mag aficionado, learned of Lee Jurras' ground breaking handgunsilhouette shoots in the Southwest, and the proverbial lightbulb flicked on above his head.This was during that black period for Bay State pistoleroswhen Question Five was on the ballot, the referendum to banBy MASSAD F. AYOOB