Bowling Pins

[jerryboy]

New member here..
Getting ready to shoot some bowling pin matches, and would like some suggestions for gun choice, strategy, etc.
I'm thinking my Smith 686 with 38+P ammo, or my 40 cal SIG.
Do you shoot for the neck of the pin, base area, etc?
thanks!

[Amin Parker]

Hey JerryBoy

Bowling pin shooting is my favourite shooting sport by far. It really tests you because a Bowling pin does not present a consistent target as the pins dont all face u the same way. Some have insignias and they all face you differently.

If your gun is sight in at 6 0 clock then aim for the base of the pin and it will hit the fat part. The actual perfect spot is right in the middle of the pin on the fattest part. The actual target is thus only about half the size of a Walther ppk magazine.

If you hit in on that spot, even a 147gr 9mm can take a pin off the table.

The heavier the calibre, the more room you have for those not so perfect shots. A 45acp with a 200 grain load does well at removing pins without heavy recoil.

I have been using a 686 for the last few years with good results.

Go slow. Rather have good hits and speed will come on its own.

Our season starts on Sunday this weekend and i am super excited. I simply cannot wait.

[spclPatrolGroup]

What kind of pins do people shoot? Are they regular bowling pins from a bowling alley, sounds like fun.

[Amin Parker]

Yes. Normal plastic coated wooden bowling pins.

By the way, 38+p is not as good as a full house magnum

[CLC]

Where can I get cheap pins? My parents got some land and thought it would be fun to shoot. Looked but all seem expensive

[derekb]

Don't bowling alleys retire their pins every once in a while? That'd be the place to inquire, certainly don't need shiny new pins to shoot at.

[drail]

Back in the 90s when the pin shooting craze took off almost every bowling alley would give you all the old pins you could haul away. I'm talking back your pickup up to the back door and load it up. Now some of the alleys have figured out they can get money for them. But it doesn't hurt to go your local bowling alley and ask. Be careful though, I have seen bullets bounce off and come back to the line when shot with light 9mm and .38 loads. Don't try it with .22 rimfire ammo. These things have a nylon shell over laminated rock maple. Very hard. Make sure everyone in the area has eye protection. Light loads will literally not even break the white coating. That stuff is tough. In actual competition just knocking a pin over doesn't count. You have to get them completely off of the table. You need to hit it pretty dead center with a load that has some authority. Most people use a .45 ACP equivalent load.

[Magnum Wheel Man]

I informally shoot pins on my private range... my last pins I rescued from a guy who got them for free from a bowling alley, & was burning them for bonfire wood... I just swapped him a 1/2 pick up load of pins for one load of cut fire wood...

AMIN...

By the way, 38+p is not as good as a full house magnum

has that been your expirience ??? I have a 357 Max that doesn't shoot pins worth a darn, the bullets pass through the pins too fast... I get best results with heavier slower bullets, & with bigger bores... 45 acp or 45 Colt works nice... 44 special works well... I'd expect the 40 would work better than a 357 Mag & that a heavy bullet 38 special better than a light & fast 357... but YMMV

[RGPM1A]

Shooting pins is best done with the largest diameter and heaviest bullet possible going at a velocity that still allows quick recovery. I would say 40 S&W with 180 grain bullets going at least 1100 fps would be best. 38 special +p would not work well. 357 can work but my experience says they often will go right through the pin unless you are shooting 158 grain LSWCs or JHPs.

The best place to aim for on the pin like a previous poster said is dead center of the fattest part. Sight your gun to shoot directly at point of aim so if a pin lays on its side you don't need to do any estimating like you would with a gun sighted for a 6 o clock hold.

For pins I use 10mm loaded with 200 grain Hornady XTPs going at 1200 fps. Shoot them out of a comped Delta Elite or a slab comped 6.5" S&W Model 610.

[chris in va]

Where can I get cheap pins?

Bowling alleys give them away if you ask nicely. Be prepared to get several boxes, bring a minivan or something.

[ACP230]

Jerry Miculek used to use a Smith M27 with an eight inch + barrel at the old Second Chance Bowling Pin Shoot. I heard his loads were special 230 grain LSWC bullets in .38 Special cases. In .357 cases they would have been too long for the cylinder.

I saw some guys do OK with .40 calibers, but mostly it was a .45 ACP, .44 Magnum game at SC.

[brickeyee]

Bowling pins are one of the great examples of momentum over energy.

You need momentum to clear the pins,.

All energy does is damage the finish.

[Amin Parker]

The first pin shoot for the year finished a few hours ago. It was a few hours of pure fantastic fun.

I used a 1911 45 with 200 grain ammo and 686 6 inch with 180 grain ammo with great success!

[overkill0084]

As far as ammo choice goes, the .40 is probably a better choice. However, I've used 130gr UMC .38 spec practice ammo on revolver night. When I did my part, they went away. Speed counts, so you don't want to get too carried away with power & mass. IMHO, hitting them in the first place in a rapid fashion is more important than fire breathing loads. Take your time, concentrate on the basics. It takes no time at all to develop bad habits at these matches. Ask me how I know

[jhog1]

Can someone explain a few more details I know the idea is to get them off the table. But how deep and wide are the tables? How many pins does ea shooter get? and how many rounds to get them off ? are you being timed or are you actually shooting against an opponent at the same time?

[brickeyee]

We always used a 4x8 foot sheet of plywood with 5 pins per person.

Pins 12 inches from the front edge of the table on the eight foot length.

You had to get them OFF the table, as in on the ground.

We run against a stop watch.

[RWK]

.45 ACP, .45 Colt, temperately loaded .41 magnums, and 10mm are all good choices; as has been previously indicated, a large diameter heavy round effectively expand the size of the pin’s “sweet spot,” making absolutely precise accuracy a little less essential.

[44 AMP]

Ok, not really, but a lot of fun anyway. We did this back in the mid 80s until demand outpaced the supply of pins. Local conditions, like the closure of some of the alleys and the remaining ones charging for pins basically ended it for me, in my area. It was pin shooting that gave the first big boost to the custom accessories market for the 1911. It wasn't the only thing, but it was a big factor for a while.

Pin guns were built with compensators, hi-vis sights, and oversize levers for speed. All the other shooting games of the time also came to benefit, and as pin shooting declined, "pin guns" became "race guns", and other mods became more common, winding up with what we have today.

The game, as it was played at our local range went like this.

4x8 or 4x6' plywood table, 5 or 8 pins, evenly spaced, and placed on the table according to power class. Pins were set a couple inches from the back edge of the table for .22, in the middle of the table for "minor" class (wich included 9mm and .38SPL), and a couple inches back from the front edge of the table for "major" class (.357mag and .40cal and above).

Range was about 25 feet (or so, IIRC), and you started with the gun in hand, held down, touching the board that marked the front of the range (about waist height).

Time ran from the start signal until the last pin cleared the table. All the way off. Knocked over didn't mean anything, except a different target to aim at. Pins could be knocked off, or knocked over and roll off, didn't matter, as long as they cleared the table.

The shoot was divided into classes, both power and gun type. .22, minor and major class (generally following the IPSC class ratings) and semiauto, DA revolver, and SA revolver (crank and yank!) for the guns. Regular single stack semis and revolvers shot at 5 pins, hi-cap autos got to shoot at 8 pins.

Time ran from the start until the last pin cleared the table. If you ran dry, you could reload and keep going, time kept running until that last pesky pin cleared, or you called it quits.

I found the best place to aim on the pins was basically COM. On AMF brand pins, there was a convienient aiming point, right at the bottom point of the triangular AMF logo. If you hit high, the pins would fall over, and lay on the table (maybe roll around a bit, you could wind up with just the round bottom of the pin facing you, a tricky target, for sure!). If you hit low, it would kick the bottom of the pin back, pin would fall on the table, the same as a high hit. Sometimes you would have a side shot on a fallen pin, but often the shape meant you were shooting at the tiny ends.

FMJ Roundnose was not permitted, due to the high percentage of ricochets. JHP, JSP, FMJ-HP, SWC and lead RN were allowed. Lead RN just seemed to "bite" on the pins better than FMJ RN, with fewer ricochets, but JHP & SWC slugs were the preferred ones.

Big magnums with full power loads were allowed, and were a lot of fun. IF you shot a .44 Mag (or in my case, the .44 Auto Mag), you really couldn't compete with a hope of winning against the guys with .45acp pin guns, but it was a lot of fun. My best time with my Auto Mag was 5.36 seconds, and didn't even place 3rd that day in the auto class. My best time with a .357 Desert Eagle was a full second faster, and also didn't place. We had some guys who could clear a table in under 4 seconds, and once in a while, just under 3! Not me, but I had fun anyway.

Shooting a big bore in the SA revolver class was a lot of fun. Times were slower, of course, and you really didn't want to miss! I turned in a 7.02 with my Ruger Blackhawk .45 Colt one day, and actually placed 3rd! The prizes were nothing much, a little pin, but it was fun, and all done for fun as the primary concern, after safety. There was no moving from place to place to shoot, no draw from the holster, nothing "tactical", no mandatory reload, just a fun game that anyone could play.

Do you know where pin shooting got its start? According to what I heard (and I may be mis remembering, its benn a long time, and I'm not going to look it up) the fellow running the company that made 2nd Chance bullet proof vests (and I can't recall his name, sorry ) would shoot himself in the chest, while wearing one of his vests, and then turn and rapidly shoot bowling pins off a table to prove he wasn't harmed by the shot!

[drail]

That's a true story. He made a film of it to send to police agencies to show how effective his vests were. He did this trick quite a few times in from of prospective customers. Lots of faith in that Second Chance vest. The original Second Chance Pin Shoots were absolutely insane. One year the winner actually won a Mercedes (not a new one though) They would run full auto shoots at night using propane tanks for targets (large ones) and blow them up. One took off like a rocket once and scared everybody half to death. Those guys were way out there. There have been a couple of threads on Brian Enos' forum and Pistolsmithing forum where guys who were there told stories about the crazy years of the 80s. Massad Ayoob can tell some great stories about Second Chance. Pin shooting is the most fun type of shooting I have ever done. The only negative thing is having to reset the tables every run. When I shot pins almost everyone used .45 ACP in either 1911s or S&W 625s with heavy bullets. With a perfectly paced hit with a heavy slug the pins will do a double back flip off the rear of the table.

[Amin Parker]

It is a lot of fun i promise. I get so excited before a shoot that i lay awake for most of the night before i shoot

[Hook686]

I used 158 grain JSP going 1250 fps from a S&W 627 with great success.

[Magnum Wheel Man]

if you can't round up some pins... just for fun, cut up several pieces of 4" X 4" into 14-16" sections, & wrap them in duct tape... that'll get ya playing "hillbilly bowling blocks"... & get you fairly close for informal shooters... if you had a wood lathe, you could turn them round & rough to shape & use the same duct tape coating ( the tape is needed to keep them from splitting ) I shot blocks for a couple years before I came across the 1/2 load of pins I mentioned earlier

[Jimbo-Indy]

Fat heavy bullets at reasonable velocity work better than smaller, high velocity. My favorite is a S&W 610, 6 1/2" with 180 gr. flatpoints at 1350 FPS. Makes 'em do a back-flip off the table. The heavy gun tames the muzzle jump as our club doesn't allow comps. Our top shooter uses a 627 (44 mag) loaded to 44 spl pressures and a 240 gr. cast bullet, also very effective. With the wheel guns the idea is to get all 5 pins without a reload. We generally do just that. I love it when we have 2 N frames shoot in the final.
Once, just to pporve a point as to how ineffective small HV bullets are, I used a CZ52 (7.62 x 25). Bullets went through the pins and didn't knock some over, just wiggled them a little. Also used a Super Blackhawk w/ 300 gr. hardcast flatnose @ about 700 FPS. Effective but damn slow to reload.
Can't wait for spring and a return to real pins. In winter, we use a plate rack with pin-shaped plates. Real pins shatter when shot @ below freezing temps.

[RGPM1A]

FMJ Roundnose was not permitted, due to the high percentage of ricochets. JHP, JSP, FMJ-HP, SWC and lead RN were allowed. Lead RN just seemed to "bite" on the pins better than FMJ RN, with fewer ricochets, but JHP & SWC slugs were the preferred ones.

+1. I remember several occasions before JRN and LRN bullets were banned from our local shoots where RN bullets would ricochet off of pins laying sideways or spinning. Once, I got nailed by one in the knee and it HURT - limped for a few days. I saw another guy get nailed in the testicles and he dropped like a bag of rocks. Another when a guy had his brand new pick up parked about 100 feet away and a bullet landed square in the middle of his hood. Ah the good old days.

Pin guns were built with compensators, hi-vis sights, and oversize levers for speed. All the other shooting games of the time also came to benefit, and as pin shooting declined, "pin guns" became "race guns", and other mods became more common, winding up with what we have today.

Pics of my pin guns from 20 years ago that I still use. 45 and 10mm comped 1911s and a 6.5 "M610 with a slab comp.

[spclPatrolGroup]

I saw another guy get nailed in the testicles and he dropped like a bag of rocks.

Suddenly my day isn't looking so bad