This is a posting I found describing pin shooting. I thought this might help anyone wanting to get into this.
Mitch Otasan
Member
Join Date: April 24, 2005
Posts: 96 Chester, NH Bowling Pin Match
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The three events are centerfire autoloader, centerfire revolver (both shot concurrently), followed by the .22 RF handgun event. Open sights for the centerfire events, and optics are allowed for the .22 RF event.
The tables are two-tiered steel, and the lower three pins have three feet of wood-chip and bullet-strewn table behind them, and the top two pins have air behind them.
The pins range from new to previously-shot, and they are used until they can no longer stand up.
The course of fire is six shooters 25 feet away from their six tables. The shooters can start with their firearms ON TARGET. At the start signal, the eight-second electronic timer starts, and the shooters all fire together, trying to get all five of their pins to go OFF their tables.
At the end of eight seconds, the firearms are unloaded and made open and safe. The scores are taken - any pins left on the tables are scored as misses. After the scores are confirmed, the shooters are cleared to go downrange and set up five more pins.
The next six shooters are then called to the tables, and the cycle continues until every shooter has fired at six tables. The top score is therefore 30 for autoloader, and 30 for revolver.
After everyone has shot, the man-on-man shoot-offs begin, if necessary, to serve as tie-breakers. First, second, and third-place trophies are thereby determined.
The .22 event is run the same way, except that the five pins are placed on the lower level at the back edge, and the times are lowered to a mere four seconds.
In September, the event concluded at high noon.
The real challenge at the Chester pin shoot is to get one's five heavy pins off the table during the loud distraction of five other handguns. The firearms and ammunition must be very powerful, for the 4-pound pins have to be driven back a long three feet. At the August event, I was using a .44 Magnum S&W 6-inch M629. The bullet was a 212-gr full wadcutter at 1200 FPS. That's power factor 254! On my sixth table, I hit my fist pin dead center. It knuckle-balled straight back, and promptly laid down on the very back edge of the table.
Now the absolute best that a .40 S&W can do is PF190. The typical .45 ACP hardball produces a PF of about 190-200. 9mm Parabellum is way too underpowered even in its heaviest loads. The .357 Magnum throws a 158gr bullet at 1300 FPS, and this is only PF 205. The .41 and .44 magnums are certainly adequate for pin-shooting, but there are many factors that can defeat even PF254 bullets. My situation mentioned above is a good example of this. The pin was so bullet-heavy that it refused to go off the table even after absorbing a .44-caliber 212-gr wadcutter at 1200 FPS.
My .45 ACP load is a 253gr cast lead SWC at 890 FPS. This is PF225, and I had several pins remain on the table ("deadwood"). The fact that I had nine shots to work with saved me.
With bowling pin shooting, accuracy is critical as well. The kill-zone of the pin is the size of a 12-ounce beverage can. At 25 feet, it is not easy.
As you can see, pin-shooting is the ONLY handgun sport that requires speed, power, and accuracy, the original "DVC" of the 1970's IPSC competitions. You won't find this in today's IDPA, IPSC, bullseye, steel plate, or any other handgun sport.
So, bring out those old magnum revolvers and warhorse M1911's and come to the Chester, NH bowling in shoot. The crowd is VERY friendly, even jovial, and the match staff is professional and safety-oriented. Finally, the event is fun to just plain watch!
This is a great description. Rich, this post should be a sticky in this category.
Done.... (Bill, that 'forum team' badge allows you to do this too! 😉 )
I didn't know that! Thanks! I am such a bad boy. >:D
I ment the other Bill! 😉
I just shot my first pin shoot (well, second one in 15 years, but whatever) and had an absolute blast. That aside, I figured it might be worthwhile offering my feedback to prospective first-time shooters (in no particularly coherent order):
- The shoot is very relaxed but really well run. Most of the shooters have clearly done it at least a few times before, and everyone is somewhere between tolerant and friendly of noobs, I didn't experience any jerks. When you check in, make sure you're put in the second line (you likely will be by default) so you can watch a round before you step up and start shooting. There is a good explanation/safety brief beforehand, and PA announcements are sufficient to keep you on track.
- I figured (based on that 15yrs-ago session south of the border) that I'd get one table of five pins and, assuming I didn't advance, that would be it. Not so at Chester. There are six tables, and every shooter rolls through each of the six tables (per category of rimfire/stock/revolver/open). So (purely for the stock category) with my 1911 .45ACP, I should have brought six (8rd) magazines' worth of ammo pre-filled. There's not a lot of time to refill magazines, though they'll wait for you to do so. Bring 50rds for each category, by the way, whether you have one magazine or six or somewhere in between.
- There are four categories: rimfire, stock (autoloader), revolver (stock), and open (non-iron-sight centerfire). One can comfortably shoot in all four, because they run rimfire to completion, then stock autoloader to completion, then revolver to completion, then open to completion. In fact if you don't shoot in all four (or at least the first three) you're going to be standing around in between the category shoots, which are about 30-45min each. If I did it again knowing what I know now, I'd have brought my .22LR pistol, and my revolver, in addition to my 1911, even being a first-timer.
- You have to move everything from one table to another, five times. If you have a hard carrying case for your pistol or something similar, bring it to the table as it makes it handy to make that move because you can put everything on it. Ideally, coming up to the first table and departing the last table, having your pistol in a case of some sort seems easier and safer.
- Be sighted in exactly for 25ft, especially with rimfire optics. With the rimfires (only), there's five pins on the back edge of the table, plus a shotgun shell husk up on one corner, as a "sixth pin". So the better shooters might score six on a table, and indeed if you don't get all five pins and at least a couple of those shotgun cases, you don't have much chance of placing first/second/third.
- Most youtube videos of "pin shooting" seem to feature pins sitting on 2x4 beams or something like that, which is essentially what the rimfire category here is, but definitely not centerfire. "Deadwood" (downed pins lying on the table) are going to be there on at least half your tables in centerfire, especially as the day goes on and the pins fill up with lead and get non-round. It looked like most shooters generally first spent three shots on the bottom three pins, then the top two, then went to clear all deadwood off the table with their remaining shots. Don't pause your shooting (however briefly) to see whether you hit a pin, just move on to the next one.
- You will not have time to reload another magazine while shooting at a table, unless you're Mitch Ota or Jerry Miculek. Most (relatively new) people seem to get five-eight rimfire shots off in the allowed four seconds, and eight or nine shots off in stock centerfire. One magazine (or revolver cylinder) is all you get per table of pins, make it count.
- Having shot a lot of Bullseye, I'm used to shooting when the entire line is blasting away (during Timed/Rapid), but I gather it's unusual for most other shooting disciplines. Be aware that part of the challenge here is focusing on your targets when you have five other shooters banging away with very non-softball loads, the one to your right probably hitting your vicinity with hot brass.
- Have I mentioned it's a lot of fun? It is. If you're a Chester R&GC member, go hit the plate rack for some practice first. Aside from being a lot of fun in and of itself, if you can usually hit the six plates on the rack with six rounds in six-ish seconds, you won't be the last place shooter in the pin shoot. Plus the plate rack is just fun, itself.
Sounds like fun, Steve!!!