Originating in Mexico City Siluetas first arrived in the southwestern US where a lot of people have at least some fluency in Spanish and there are a lot of spaces empty of trees. The west is also less formal than many parts of our country and we like to try out new ideas or ways of doing things.
I've never shot metal silhouette as we call it in English. I live in a place with lots of guns but very few ranges. What drew me to silhouette shooting were two things, shooting is done "off hand" or unsupported standing the most difficult firing position and one that sees a lot less practice than it ought to, and that they use reactive targets, you shoot the metal pig (javelina metalicas) and it either tips over because it was shot or it doesn't because you missed.
People shoot at metal cut outs of animals set atop boards at distances most of us would find impossible even when sitting at a bench and with the rifle on sandbags. Silhouette shooting would assist one at becoming much more accurate in real world situations as I've never seen a shooting bench out in the mountains where people hunt. For large bore rifle, distances begin at 200 yards and go out to 500 yards (or meters, either is ok). Rules are malleable to accommodate different ranges, conditions, and people but are set up to make the competition as fair and common sense as possible.
People like to use the terms that silhouette shooting brought with the sport from Mexico. not only the names of the four targets, but even range commands such as fuego for fire and alto for cease fire.
I really like this video though it might be boring to some. Saguaro cactus, zen like concentration.
Below is the description which accompanied the you tube.
Augustine Sanchez Jr. shooting at the 2005 NRA High Power Rifle Silhouette National Championship with Tony Tello spotting. He went on to win with a new world record score of 111/120. The Ram is a steel target 32 inches from nose to tail but less than 13 inches high. Shooting offhand 107 yards longer than a quarter mile can be a real challenge. Augustine is the current holder of 15 individual scoring world records in Rifle Silhouette. He is one of the best offhand shooters in the world.
http://compete.nra.org/...
http://en.wikipedia.org/...