I first got pulled into this silliness via air pistol, and quickly put a red dot on my Izzy. Then went to a Martens taco/Williams FP on my Contender in .22 RF Match. Now I'm thinking about setting up my .32-20 (30-20) Contender barrel (10" twist) for another gun to shoot. You can see what I'm doing so far.

If it was you, what would you do with this barrel? Scope? Mounts/rings? Irons? It might help you to know that BB is not possible where I shoot.

I'll be back with bullet and load questions later, but for now want to know about sighting equipment. Thanks for the helping a newbie!

So we are discussing Field Pistol since Big Bore is not in your area. Given that, a peep on peep or Ken Light's peep on post for iron sights or a Ken Light mid rise with the best scope you can afford.

Steve W.

Anyone have a recommendation for a scope for a first-time scope silhouette shooter? Read that: I don't want to take out a second mortgage!

My vote is to skip the scope and set it up just as your 22 with Martens and Williams
I have a 32-20 set up that way and shoot it FP both P and PAS also shoot in NRA silhouette in both the open sight and scoped classes AND BB standing both Standing and Unlimited standing and have used in BB production. Have the same set up in 22lr and shoot it in both open and scoped class in NRA and IHMSA along with production. I think doing this has really help me in all my standing score ( not that I'm any good)
and I just set up A Daisy 747 with the same for some backyard cheap practice
just my $0.02 but hey don't lesson to me I just started doing this stuff

Actually ole95 is a great person to offer advice for you. He is a relatively new shooter but has done extremely well in a very short period of time with his equipment. His suggestion for the sights offers you the possibility of using your gun for more than just FP if the opportunity rises. I'm not a good standing shooter and only shoot FP when I feel like abusing myself. Same goes for BB standing classes. I can say this, when shooting using a scope in a standing class all my moving around is really magnified (pun intended). I have actually shot higher scores (very bad ones) with open sights in FP than in PAS FP. I marvel at the people who can shoot standing guns. They make it looks so easy but when I try FP or any other standing classes I am a threat to other shooters!!!!! Whatever you try keep at it and don't get discouraged. You will have good days and bad days but in the end you will improve just like ole95.

Thanks for the help. In thinking about this again, the advice to set it up the same as my .22 match barrel makes sense. The red dot on my Izzy was because I had the gun and the sight, so it was an inexpensive way to jump in. I got the Martens setup because I shot a friend's gun and really liked it. I'm thinking Steve will be seeing some more of my money!

BTW, the best price I found on the Williams peep was at Airguns of Arizona, and it came USPS Priority for free, arriving the next day.