A related genre is shot with bow and arrow, the metal targets being replaced with cardboard or foam.

[1] The targets used are rams, turkeys, pigs, and chickens, which are cut to different scales and set at certain distances from the shooter depending on the specific discipline.

Metallic silhouette is descended from an old Mexican sport, dating back to the early 20th century, wherein live game animals were staked out at varying distances as targets.

Because of the sport's Mexican roots, in the United States the silhouettes are often referred to by terms from several varieties of American Spanish, namely gallina (chicken), jabali (pig), guajalote (turkey), and borrego (ram).

[8] There are some minor differences between the international IMSSU rules and those used in domestic competitions, but it is generally possible to compete in all with the same equipment.

[3] USMSA domestic competitions typically use the silhouette shooting rules developed by the National Rifle Association of America.

[3] A tie can be broken in one of two ways: a sudden death shoot-off, used at all national and large regional competitions and for the overall match winner.

[3] For IHMSA competition, tie scores are broken by either reverse animal count, or by shootoffs, as determined by the match director, however, for state, regional and international championships, shootoffs are used to determine the winners in all categories and classes.

Standing big-bore any-sight pistol matches are often tied with perfect scores, and decided by a tiebreaker.

Examples of pistols used for metallic silhouette shooting are the Remington XP-100, Thompson/Center Contender, Savage Striker and Tanfoglio Thor.

All long range handgun metallic silhouette events are fired with targets at the distances 50, 100, 150 and 200 meters.

[18] The four international fullbore handgun divisions sanctioned by IMSSU are: Unlimited, Production, Standing, and Revolver.

IMSSU also has smallbore variations of the fullbore classes which follow the same rules, except that the only cartridges permitted are .22 Short, .22 Long, or .22 Long Rifle, that the target distances are halved, and that diopter sights are permitted in standing smallbore.

[18] In the NRA Conventional and IHMSA Production classes, the handgun must be a stock, unmodified and readily available factory gun with a maximum barrel length of 273 mm (10+3⁄4 in).

Differences between the classes are listed in the table below: Metallic silhouette rifles most often have scope sights.

NRA rules for high power (silhouette and hunter) permit rifles in caliber 6 mm or larger, provided no belted cartridges or magnums are allowed.

[17] Common calibers can be thought of as in the deer hunting, target shooting and bench rest range.

The limiting factor is the balance between amount of recoil and the ability to retain enough energy to knock the rams over at 500 meters.

[citation needed] Handgun cartridges aim to find a balance between comfortable recoil and being able to knock down the ram targets at 200 meters.

[17] Many shooters prefer to have their own personal timer to show a countdown of the remaining time of a shooting period.

Shooting coats, unnecessarily heavy clothing, or anything that would provide artificial support such as clothing having excess padding or stiffening material or which restricts or supports the body in the shooting position may not be worn.