Bowling pin shoot

[Sasquatch-1]

When we were shooting pins, one thing I noticed is nothing would go completely through the pin unless hit very close to the side. The round that went the deepest was 9mm luger. I shot .44 mag (full house loads) and they only went halfway, if that, into the pin before they transferred all their energy and set the pin flying. Cast bullets work the best.

I did dissect some of the pins and found some of the commercial hard cast to be almost undamaged. Below is what some of the 44's I shot looked like when removed from the pin. These were swaged with dead soft lead

[anothernewb]

Pin shoots are our biggest summer draw at our range. enough that we do them once a month starting in may. We break shooting into several categories. including carbines now. though those we shoot at 50 yards. got a couple people using suppressed 300bo on them. I use my Henry lever in 357. couple people use ruger PC's it's a riot. It's a little hard on pins but no one cares about dropping a couple bucks extra to pay for them. Used to have a guy that had a WW2 carbine, but he passed a few years ago.

We score by classes. rimfire pistol, rimfire revolver, center fire pistol, and center fire revolver, and carbine. We don't really care what you bring along. Heck, we always get one guy that uses a 460S&W. he's never a top time. but it sure is entertaining to watch!
we have a member with a connection to a bowling alley so we get used pins on the cheap. We generally see 40-50 people show up. which is actually pretty good for our area. We all volunteer for set up and tear down so it works well.

[Johnch]

I used to do a lot of Bowling pin shooting
Back in the 80's and early 90's
Then they started to really charge us a bunch for used pins

I still shoot pins when I feel like it

The clubs I shot at had different classes
22 LR
Stub Nose 38 spe ( 3" or shorter barrel )
9 MM ( Minor class )
Revolver 357 Mag and up
Larger than 9 MM ( Major Class )

All the pins were shot off of a 4 x 8 foot table

The 22 LR and 38 spec Snub Nose class the pins were 12" from the back of the table
The other classes the pins were 12" from the front of the table
In normal shoots you were limited to 6 rounds in the gun with 1 - 6 round reload

A lot of people used reloads with heavy bullets and less velocity
As I found mussel jump slowed you down
Also the heavy bullet helped drive the pin off the table better

For 22 the Ruger MK2 5 1/2" bull barrel
For the Snub Nose class I shot a S&W 60 as that was what I had
9mm I use a Glock 17 with a mussel break
Revolver class I now use a Ruger 5" Redhawk in 44 mag , but a 240 gr cast bullet at about 44 spec power
Major class I still use a 1911

But one BIG thing to add if they let you
Is a shooting glove on your left hand
Buy a left hand glove at least 1 size larger than normal
But I then took a Pachmayr shooting glove and opened it up
I then added about 12 oz of lead to the back of the hand
I would then use a BUNCH of rosin or other sticky substance on the leather palm of the glove
That way I would NOT Lose my grip on the pistol and the extra weight of the lead helped get rid of most of the mussel jump

I was not in the top group of shooters
But I did have a few 3 second runs

Now we mainly shoot steel pin plate racks due to the cost of pins

Oh Here in NW Ohio
The first shoot with bowling pins was normal
But in the winter if they wouldn't haul the pins into a building
And it rained and froze
The next time you shot those pins thing could get interesting
As a water soaked and frozen bowling pin will explode from a solid hit from a hot 45 ACP
Or even better a warm 44 mag
Many Moons ago I shot with a member here and his wife Ralph and Cookie
Ralph liked is 44 mag loads warm enough to



John

[Ramguy]

Pin shoots are our biggest summer draw at our range. enough that we do them once a month starting in may. We break shooting into several categories. including carbines now. though those we shoot at 50 yards. got a couple people using suppressed 300bo on them. I use my Henry lever in 357. couple people use ruger PC's it's a riot. It's a little hard on pins but no one cares about dropping a couple bucks extra to pay for them. Used to have a guy that had a WW2 carbine, but he passed a few years ago.

We score by classes. rimfire pistol, rimfire revolver, center fire pistol, and center fire revolver, and carbine. We don't really care what you bring along. Heck, we always get one guy that uses a 460S&W. he's never a top time. but it sure is entertaining to watch!
we have a member with a connection to a bowling alley so we get used pins on the cheap. We generally see 40-50 people show up. which is actually pretty good for our area. We all volunteer for set up and tear down so it works well.

Hey Folks! If you're so inclined, post up when and where the pin shoots are held. I LIKE shooting pins and don't mind a little drive to get to a match.

The mother of all pin shoots (old Second Chance) now called TPS (The Pin Shoot) is set to run June 8-13 in beautiful Central Lake Michigan at the Richard Davis Range on Muckle Road. They also do rifle shoots (steel pins) Shotgun (slugs and Buckshot) and now they have a PCC event which is a lot of fun. I think they had over 80 gun prizes last year. I was fortunate enough to win a Nice Springfield .45!

[Plate plinker]

Hey Folks! If you're so inclined, post up when and where the pin shoots are held. I LIKE shooting pins and don't mind a little drive to get to a match.

The mother of all pin shoots (old Second Chance) now called TPS (The Pin Shoot) is set to run June 8-13 in beautiful Central Lake Michigan at the Richard Davis Range on Muckle Road. They also do rifle shoots (steel pins) Shotgun (slugs and Buckshot) and now they have a PCC event which is a lot of fun. I think they had over 80 gun prizes last year. I was fortunate enough to win a Nice Springfield .45!

Now with $70,000 in prizes this year IIRCC.

[Ramguy]