Bowling Pin Shooting

O

otasan

Moderator
I am glad that the old "Second Chance" pin shoots are back in Central Lake, Michigan. I have been a pin-shooter since 1979. I currently shoot pins in NH and MA.
 
"...are back in Central Lake, Michigan..." Where'd you see that? Dickie Davis sold the company in 2005. Second Chance armour is owned by Safariland Group. No mention of the shoot anywhere. Cryin' shame too. Best vacations I've ever had.
 
We have a Pin Shoot again here in South Central Missouri also. So far he has managed to set both Pin Match dates on our Club Match's that I have to work. I am looking forward to shooting pins again after 30 some odd years.

Bob R
 
Have one next month at the local gun club, It's a great and easy way to get into competitive shooting. Ours requires both a center and rimfire pistol, is that common to all pin shoots?
 
I do not believe it is common.

A rimfire division is common with Pins set on the back of the table. Mandatory rimfire is not a common requirement as far as I know.

I am planning on running my 6" GP100 shooting 180 grain 38 Specials. Same center table pin set as 9mm.

Bob R
 
Our club has rimfire, Center fire revolver, and center fire semi.

This year we use steel plates cut out like pins on a hinge. One hit usually takes them down. Rimfire pins are thinner than center fire pins.

we shoot every week.

2 time trials @ 5 pins. Max 7 rounds in a mag, 2 mag max.

Revolver is speed loader, all you want.

For competition, its head to head. we have two tables.
folks are sorted by average time trials.

Blow a whistle, shoot till all pins are down.

First pins down wins. Elimination competition. So if you win, you get to shoot again depending on how many show up for that class.

Its been about 9 to 16 people per night.

For competition, all the mags or reloads you want are allowed. A good shooter gets it done in 5 shots. I rarely need another magazine and have no speed loader for my revolver.

Most any caliber, any sight.

Its a frikkin blast!
Loading 45s for it this week.

David
 
When it comes to competition shooting Pin Matches was my first love. I shot Second Chance, The Pin Nationals, and two of the big matches in PA, South Connellsville and Topton for several years, along with that many local club matches. Out of all of them I enjoyed the Pin Nationals the most. The Pin Nationals had three classes, I never was that big on a class system but the Pin Nationals was the most fair. If you won a class you had to move to the next higher class. The first Pin Nationals I shot they put me in C class because I had no wins at any of the bigger matches, I tried to get them to at least put me in B class but they said I had to start in C class and work my way up. In three years of shooting 50,000 live rounds of ammo a year I was an A class shooter. My best time at a big match was 2.7 seconds (timed by stop watches last pin on the ground) on a regulation table, my best time on a regulation table using a last shot stop timer was 1.65 seconds. I have no desire to compete anymore but if I did Pin shooting would be it.
 
The Steel Bowling Pin Silhouettes on a hinge has some potential. No issues with keeping enough Bowling Pins rounded up to run a match. Our local bowling alley is shut down probably permanently.

Bob R
 
"...keeping enough Bowling Pins rounded up..." I think the bowling alley industry changed their technology too. No more loose pins that get disposed of. Dunno for sure, but I think they're all on ropes/cables now. Might be different material than wood too.
Steel bowling pin silhouettes is what caused a buddy of mine to take a slice of lead bullet in the fore head years ago. He was practicing for Second Chance(won a revolver and beat Miculek in a man on man to the tune of $500) and had a wee slice come back, go through the peak of his baseball hat, hit his head just above his eye(missed his glasses by millimetres) whereupon the point of the slice bent on his skull and stuck there.
 
We have a pin match once a month from May - Sept. I also shoot pins in Spearfish.

I have a set up for practicing. I got an old swing set and suspend pins by drilling a hole in the top for an eye bolt and suspending them from the cross bar by a rope.

Once pins get shot up to the point they wont stand on the table, you can still get a lot of shooting by hanging the pins as mentioned. Beats throwing them away.
 
Hinged steel pins have some advantages and some disadvantages.

One shot knocks them down. I load my 45 light for faster recovery.

2 shots can make a pin fall faster if its a close competition.

Time trials stop when the last shot is fired, so two shots make for a longer time.

Any caliber can compete with steel pins.
I remember shooting real pins with 44 special, 357 and 45 acp. Some fella would come along with a many shot 9mm. We would let him play, but it took lots of shots to clear the table.

Its all in fun where we shoot. No one is a snob. We had one fella shooting his shield. He missed all the pins with both magazines. By the end of season he could shoot them all.

During a head to head, if one guy gets all pins in 5 or 6 shots, they sometimes let the lesser experienced keep shooting until all pins are down instead of stopping the match because there is a winner.

Its a good time, my girlfriend shoots with her Buckmark and a dot sight. My daughter uses a Mark I with a scope and her Kimber 2 tone 1911 style 9mm. I use a different revolver each week if I can.

We sometimes use our personal defense guns. I have shot 5 for 5 with a charter arms Bulldog 44 special and a Smith and Wesson 2" model 637 38 special.

I use (used to be) my dads 3" Smith and Wesson 624 (44sp) from the Custom shop a lot.

I have found a laser sight is much slower than Irons or a dot.

David
 
It hit 40 degrees here today in Hartford, VT. A sure sign of Spring. The first pin match is in April, just four months away.
 
We have a pin shoot twice a month at our range in Norcross GA. You can shoot whatever caliber you want, 2 mags max with the number of pins + 1 rounds in each mag. If you are shooting .22lr you get 6 pins to knock down, other calibers have 5 pins to knock down. Each pin left on the table adds 1 sec. to you score
 
Road_Clam said:
I belong to Pelham F&G but I know for fact we don't host pin shoots, I do believe Newton F&G does :

http://cpfgc.com/pins.html
Click to expand...
Yup, Country Pond Fish and Game Club in Newton NH. They also have indoor Pin Shoots during the winter months. I used to live a couple miles away and was a member there. I've shot both indoor and outdoor a number of times. There's usually a good turnout and they're​ well run. Great times are had by all.
 
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