Gun suggestions for bowling pin shoot?

[epsylum]

Bowling pins might be a good excuse to get a .50AE

Excuse, yes, but I doubt it would do that well. Follow up shots would suck. The fastest guy at MCF&G uses a 6 or 8" S&W 629 with downloaded ammo. It seems to be a great balance of power and speed. The fact he is a great shot helps too.

I usually use a Glock 21 with an Oberland Arms longslide and 6" KKM barrel shooting moderately loaded 230gr. bullets (~850 fps). If I hit them right, they go flying off the table. I can and have shot .45super out of it and I have 500 peices of new .45super brass, but the recoil would seriously screw up my follow up shots.

 

[Mr. Mysterious]

Excuse, yes, but I doubt it would do that well. Follow up shots would suck. The fastest guy at MCF&G uses a 6 or 8" S&W 629 with downloaded ammo. It seems to be a great balance of power and speed. The fact he is a great shot helps too.

I usually use a Glock 21 with an Oberland Arms longslide and 6" KKM barrel shooting moderately loaded 230gr. bullets (~850 fps). If I hit them right, they go flying off the table. I can and have shot .45super out of it and I have 500 peices of new .45super brass, but the recoil would seriously screw up my follow up shots.

Dang it, I guess that throws that one out....once again I can't rationalize the .50AE purchase

 

[epsylum]

Dang it, I guess that throws that one out....once again I can't rationalize the .50AE purchase

Get if you want one, but I have shot a few and I don't feel they are worth the price (both the gun and ammo). I would rather have a .460mag if I wanted a boomer.

 

[browndog2]

Bigum1969 - 10mm works well with 200 grainers loaded moderately warm. My problem is the connection between the trigger and the ground. Same problem with the Coonan.

MrMysterious - We've had folks bring out the 50 cal in the form of Desert Eagles and S&W 500s, however, with standard loads the recoil rcovery time was substancial. The 50s trash the pins fast. If one were to download a 350 grain bullet to around 800 fps, it might work well. I had some slow 300 grainers in 45 colt that were effective, but they were expensive.

At Marion County Fishy & Game, for 38spl and 9mm, we place the pins in the middle of the table (minor category). Although there is still some discussion if this is a fair practice, it gives folks that do not own larger calibers a chance to compete. When a better shooter loads up some warm 147 grain 9mm, there does seem to be an advantage. So far, our better shooters have not exploited this opportunity(at least not on a regular basis).

We will now be shooting an entire bracket (second chance included) using pin heads (just the top few inches of the pins) with 22s. Even standard velocity ammo knocks them around quite a bit.

Hopefully, Saturday May 24 will be dry so we can shoot pins.
If not we'll set up some steel plates for fun.
Hope you all will consider comming out to play - safely.

 

[pinhead56]

I really like shootin' 'pinheads'

 

[AllenM]

I was looking forward to attending next pin shoot at MCF&G but unfortunatly that conflicts with another recurring class I do last Saturday of each month. I am going to have to find another shoot near me I guess.

 

[browndog2]

31st is the last Saturday in May.
24th is our pin match

If you cannot make it this month, try again next month.

 

[AllenM]

Doh...hmm have to double check the other thing. would be nice if it worked out. Yea it is not the last saturday of this month it is second and 4th saturday of each month oh well.

31st is the last Saturday in May.
24th is our pin match

If you cannot make it this month, try again next month.

 

[Bigum1969]

Anyone know if there are any matches in SW Indiana? I'd love to go watch one.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

I've never competed...

But:

Using shot-up pins placed at the (Waveland Gun Club) front edge of the table, I was able to go 5/5 with my 642 using 125gr (I think?) FMJ. I was standing about 20 feet away.

Using "small" calibers CAN be done...probably when the pins look like swiss cheese, though. :-)

-J-

 

[jimbo-indy]

Don't know what your pins looked like but at Marion County the used pins actually get heavier as the lead builds up in the pin. Also, the damaged pins often have trouble standing up and will fall over unless hit squarely in the "sweet spot". Yes, the minor calibers will work well IF you can hit the pin properly. Again, accuracy is better than all out speed. If the pin just falls over it may fall into adjacent pins and start a domino chain. You now have several pins all laying on their side near the front of the table. It will take several shots on each to clear the table. I have suffured this domino effect. Some people do well with 9 mm. or .38. It just takes great shot placement. The advantage is less recoil recovery time. Hope to see everybody there this Saturday. Don't forget the .22's. The pin-head shoot is a hoot.

 

[Erebus]

There are two tables about 7-10 yards from the shooters (each shooter has their own table) with 5 pins each them near the front edge of the table. The first to clear the table by shooting all the pins off their table wins. Knocking them over not only doesn't count, but makes it harder to get the pin off the table as you now have a smaller target to aim at. It you are good, it should only take 5 shots. Most of us aren't though so it gets interesting.

It is sort of like gun drag racing. It doesn't matter how fast or slow you are (there aren't any timers), as long as you are faster than the guy you are currently up against.

This sounds FUN! I have a feeling I would always be last hahaha

 

[muncie21]

I've only shot pins for fun, so I'm looking for an opinion or two.

Which would be more competitive?
38 SP in a revolver (fairly accurate)
.357 DE (little less accurate, but more powerful)

 

[captpaul]

I shoot my cz p-01 (9mm) and have a hard time clearing the table after the first or second round. The build up of lead and splintering of the pin seem to prevent them from moving very far. I shot against a guy with a 445 supermag Dan Wesson last month. The pins went halfway into orbit. Fun times.

 

[browndog2]

It is true that pins that have been shot get heavier and splintered.

For any caliber, the bullet weight to speed ratio is a major factor.
115 grain 9mm ammo traveling fast is not as effective as 148 grainers moving a little slower. When shooting 9mm and 38 special, a center mass hit is critical.

Also to be considered is that very hot loads usually increase the time it takes to recover from recoil. Full house 44 magnum loads certainly make the pins jump off the table, however, it takes longer to get back on target than with a lighter load. One of our better shooters downloads his 44 magnum just warm enough to push the pin off the back edge of the table. (I suspect that they are in the range of 44 special- but I do not know for sure) He benefits from the lack of recoil.

Many of our shooters have good luck with 45 acp loads with 230 grain HP bullets over a warmer than average charge. Not too hot.

Even with "regular" ammo it is a fun game. Come on out to play.

 

[jimbo-indy]

+1 to that, browndog2.
My experience has been that heavy bullets work better than light ones and that velocity isn't the way to go. The best pin load that epsylum and I have used is a 230 gr. Rainier plated round-nose traveling about 930 FPS. Nothing much to brag about but it works very well. 180 gr. bullets form either a S&W 40 or 357 mag. don't do quite as well even though they are both clocking 1150 and 1200 respectively. I too recommend the heaviest bullet possible, 148 gr. or so. Remember, this is why .38's and 9mm. are given the advantage of being moved back closer to the rear of the table. Heck, If I could hit 5 pins with 6 shots consistently, I'd use my Supper Blackhawk (44) and my 300 gr. cast flat nose, loaded down some to tame recoil. May load some up as a test for the next meet. Wish I got an advantage for using a single action.

 

[NEOCON]

There was a pin shoot at WSSC on sunday I didn't find out until it was too late. I will let you know when the next one is Bigum.

 

[rabbit]

When we had matches here I used a .41 mag loaded with 8 grains of sr 4756 and a 210 grain bullet. Worked great!