I just learned that a local range has a bowling pin mat ever Thursday! I figure the 610 would be perfect for this. I have never shot a pin match so any pointers? I am doing it for the fun of it but don't want to make too bad of a showing.

A slow hit is better than a fast miss. Five shots, five pins, cause you can't miss fast enough to win.
I always liked heavier bullets. 230 gr bullets in my 45, seemed to take the pins off the table better than 200 gr. It's lots of Fun.. Good luck.

I have used my 610 on pins and have done pretty well. The hard core pin shooter gun of choice seems to be a S&W 625 shooting a 250 grain RNFP. I did pretty well using the 38/40 RNFP lead bullet around 1086 fps. The key is to get a solid center of the body hit. Knocking a pin that has fallen over is tough but doable. Just go and have fun. It is an addicting sport.

I run a couple of PIN matches a year at my local gun club.

If your bullet weight in grains times your velocity in feet per second is a minimum of ~210,000, then you will push a standard pin back and off a standard 4'x8' table. You want a load that is enough (to clear the pin) but not too much (recoil too high for fast shooting).

My favorite PIN gun is an 8 shot 627 Pro. I shoot 230 grain "Lincoln Log" WCs w/7.0 Blue Dot in 38 Special cases at ~ 945 ft/sec. It will clear a PIN.

As Richard Davis, who ran the premier bowling pin shoot in the country
for many years, used to say, "Hit the white part."

A fairly heavy bullet with a flat point worked best for me.
I used a M57 .41 Magnum for a few years. Pins left the table, pronto,
trailed by a cloud of splinters.
Other shooters did well with seven-shot .357s with heavy bullets.

I did best with a custom .45 with 230 grain LRN bullets, because I
often needed more than six shots.

If shooting on a flat table just start on either end of the pin set.
I finished up shooting on a table with two up on shelves and three on the
flat. I shot the three below first and then the two on shelves. I tried
the left one on top a few times but I had a tendency to shoot that
pin poorly and drop it onto the others on the table. Bad things
ensued.

Have fun!

Haven't done one of these in years.Hit lower than higher,helps the pin clear the table.Your going to get addicted to this game.

Nothing gets your attention about the relative power of different loads quite like a bowling pin match.

Watch your front sight.

Once you get it its a total blast.
I have used 357 revolver, 45 auto and 44 special.
If you want to do well, go with 5 good shots.

We could burn up a lot of rounds in an evening.
9mm is too small.

David

I plan to try out the 610 and an RIA 1911 10mm. I have a Model 69 .⁴ Mag but since it only holds 5 rounds it would put me at a disadvantage. The rules they use only slow 6 rounds in the gun and any reloads with magazines, moon clips or speed loaders can only have 6 rounds in them also

I run our clubs bowling pin matches which are all head to head. There is usually two formats one where you strictly run on time, and then the head to head matches where the 1st person to clear their table wins.

Either way its an accuracy game where the heavier bullet usually wins the day.. Our matches are broken down in to several divisions, in the .22 RF divisions we shoot pin heads. In center fire we run a Minor, Major, and Magnum division. Minor is 9mm, 38 special and under. Major is 40, 10MM, 45auto, 357, Magnum is 41 mag and up. We do not split up wheel guns and semi auto's.

Typically the best bullet configuration I see is a HP, it tends to grab the pin the best, I actually prefer 200gr HP in my 45 it works for me.

One shot one pin, usually just above the thickest part of the pin is best, you don't want to hit it to low or high, putting a cripple on the table can be costly. Best to clear the pin in one shoot if possible. Go down the line, pin one thru five and then come back to pick up any cripples. So get your rhythm run the table then come back for left overs if needed.

Our head to head tables are set at 15 yards. Most clubs run much closer. In our game as you move forward in the bracket if you have to reload you will get a trip to the lower bracket. Also if you shoot head to head don't look at the other shooters table, focus on yours let the RO call the match you shoot your pins. I've seen more than one person loose a match by peeking at the other table.

The pins can get pretty lumpy and heavy, we always start with minor and work our way up to magnum, if a pin gets to shot up its replaced. By the time we get into the magnum division those pins can be pretty heavy. The other thing with shooting pins is you can get some odd bounces so even a good shooter can be schooled by a bowling pin.

The last thing I tell everyone in the safety briefing is the secret to pin shooting. I will share that with you also. "Shoot fast don't miss"
There now you have it.

Bowling Pin Shooting

Good luck

__________________
Shoot Straight and Shoot often

And OUR club has declared shooting bowling pins to be dangerous. Not allowed. No pin leagues.
Troglodytes.

Actually our 15 yard distance was a compromise, to ensure safety. I have shot a lot of pins over the years and when they get lumpy strange things can and do happen. I myself have been hit twice by slugs that came of a pin. One was a 115gr FMJ 9mm that bounced off my shin. The other was a 230 FMJ 45 that came back and hit me square in the chest. Neither did anything other than leave a red mark and a streak in my shorts. And neither time where these the rounds that I was shooting.

One thing for sure never shoot bird shot at a bowling pin. And always have high quality wrap around safety glasses.

Harkrader you are more then welcome to come to our pin matches, they are open and you don't need to be a member. The link to our match schedule is in the the post above at www.colfaxsportsmensclub.com

good luck

Love bowling pins,

__________________
Shoot Straight and Shoot often

I love shooting pins. This is my go to pin gun. S&W 25-5 shooting 255gr hard cast SWC. I load them to right at 850fps. It has been worked over by Austin Behlert, including mag-na-porting. It is a very nice pin gun. When that SWC whacks that pin right the pin moves off the table with "authority".



bob

I do know that these are head to head matches. I am going start with some 180gr hollow points. It is funny that about a year or so back I went to the bowling alley and asked what they do with their old pins and the asked me if I wanted them. I had planned on buying them from them but they said they were just taking up room in e back so I ended up with 10 boxes of pins.

I agree, you need power. We have pin matches here, but we are limited to the .38 Special casing. People run the Elmer Keith Heavy Duty load quite a bit which is about a 220 - 230 power factor load and it works fine. We don't have the lincoln log mould, but we do have a nice Accurate Molds 200 grain SWC that does wonders at 1,150 fps.

We have the standard 5-pin event, the 9-pin event (which is a scream with revolvers, and we hold separate 9-pin events for revolvers and autos). We also do a shotgun 5-pin event and a .22 pin-head event. No, we have not been able to get Bill O'Reilly to come down and host a .22 pin-head event as yet.

This is James, in the Senior event using a .38 Special marked 627 but he only needs 6 shots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p188antjYQc

And then there's me. The 9-pin revolver event using my Model 28 turned 23.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POYzxT2sX8s

Pin is a scream to shoot and a good money-maker for the club. And remember; this is Central Mexico in late November last year. Mexico has it's problems but a lack of nice shooting days is not one of them -- if you can get past all the other problems and actually get out to shoot.

Here is the link to .357/38 caliber 230 grain "Lincoln Log" WCs:

38 & 357 Caliber, 38 230 Grain WC Bowling Pin

Pin matches are great fun and even better, they are perfect examples of the silly knock down factor folks. A 38 special is regularly calculated as having 375 foot pounds of energy. Well, it just so happens that an AMF hard rock maple bowling pin weighs exactly 3.75 pounds. Pretty simple math, that 38 special should knock it 100 feet. Bowling pin matches will prove how foolish THIS is.

Actually it's a perfect example of people not understanding the physics involved. In a perfect conversion, a 158 gr bullet traveling 800 fps (a .38 +P) would transfer MOMENTUM and move a 3.75 lb bowling pin at ~4.8 fps. That's assuming no friction at all and a perfect transfer and a perfect center of mass hit that doesn't rotate the pin in any axis.

Add in friction and a less than perfect hit and transfer and you get a lot less.

We shoot a 22 pin match during the winter with pins in the center of a 2 x 12 laid flat. A decent hit with a 22LR (40 gr bullet @ 1250fps which in a perfect world could move a pin at ~1.9 fps) will take them off the 2 x 12 (~5") but not a lot more.

It's all about momentum and big bullets that stay in the pin when you play on the traditional 4' deep table.

Ugh Math

Our club only has a few pin matches per year. Last weekend it was rifle bowling pins. 5 pins at 100 yards. They are just sitting on the ground so we only have to knock them over. Really shows who's good with a rifle and who isn't.

For pistol matches I usually shoot 45 acp with a 230 grain truncated cone bullet. I have also used a 40S&W with a 175 grain truncated cone bullet and it works pretty good.

If I had a 10mm I would load it kind of light. More than a .40 but not full power.

Cal in one of the videos I´am shooting the match (Wearing a panama style hat) Nice memories! hope you organize another event like that one in San Mike!

Cheers!

__________________
"lets be careful out there"

Tadeus, as you probably know our San Miguel gunrange has been approved by SEDENA. We will likely be spending the rest of this year building it up to be ready for matches in 2016. I doubt we'll do much of anything this year. However, since San Miguel doesn't even have a bowling alley, I think the Pin matches will still be held in Queretaro. We had like 150 pins still left in the shed in Queretaro so we could have another match right away.

I hope they have another one soon too. I think the problem is that everyone wants the San Miguel guys to come out and do all the work and that's probably not going to happen. They have their own range to build now and all the work they're doing is going to be here in San Miguel. I'm not saying they won't come out and Range Officer or set pins or run the scoring program: I'm saying they are not going to run around buying trophies and repairing the ****** pin tables that got built the first time (a pin table should be able to hold up for years, not months) and stuff like that. Minky work. Well, the Queretaro Minkies can do all that.

And I think that this is exactly what's causing the holdup. Patience. And as for the Panama Hat, as I recall, it was hot that day.

I’ve be shooting pins for about 15 years with a local group and seen a lot of calibers and guns used to try to get an ‘edge’ in the game.

Our group tries to appeal to everyone so we are flexible with the types of guns that can be used. For kids and new shooters we allow them to shoot .22 rimfire – the pins are placed on the back edge of the tables. For cowboy single action shooters (any revolvers shooters actually) we allow them to shoot two revolvers since they go head-to-head with the auto pistol shooters. We also allow .22 rifle shooters to compete with Ruger 10/22s or ARs in .22 rimfire. And we allow shotgun shooters to compete against each other for practice for the 3-gun crowd.

About the only equipment limitations we try to enforce are “no optical sights” and “10 rounds maximum” loaded in you magazines. (We try for an iron sights only match but if a new guy shows up with a dot we let him shoot).

Competitive calibers: It seems like .45 ACP with a 200 or 230 grain bullet is the most popular load but we had one guy that shot with us for a few years that used factory 10mm ammo in a 1911 pistol he had built and he was very competitive. We had IPSC shooters with .38 supers, but not many, and now there are a few .40 S&Ws and .357 Sigs that show up – these will knock the pins off the table. A .357 revolver will dispatch bowling pins too but most folks seem to gravitate to autos. (The indoor range we shoot at now does not allow .41 mag or .44 mag or any of the newer monster revolver calibers. The recovery time between shots puts you at a disadvantage anyway).

Before the game became equipment race there were a few revolver shooters. I used a 25-2 (moon clips were a big advantage) and a 586 (my old PPC gun) and was pretty competitive. But now we have 2 guys that can clear a table (5 pins) in 5 seconds with their “race guns” – I can’t keep up like I used to.

A couple of pointers: Wear good shooting glasses. Even though we shoot at 20 yards there are occasional bounce-backs of jacket fragments and sometimes spent bullets. When you engage the pins shoot at them once, maintain your sight alignment and move on to the next pin and the next and the next. Don’t fire and then look downrange to see if the pin fell and then re-engage it. Smooth is better – sweep the pins from one end of the table to the other and then swing back to pick up any you have missed. At your first match ask to be placed near the back of the shooting order so you can observe what the “good” shooters are doing.

Enjoy shooting your 610. This is a shooting sport you can get into with just a handgun and a few magazines, moon clips or speed loaders and have some fun.

Thanks for proving my point about ft lbs of energy when talking about firearms energy. MOMENTUM is in fact a calculated proven mathematical formula, ft lbs of energy created by a bullet is bunk. I have seen enough LIVE things shot to know better. Billy

I shoot a pin match once or twice a year. Imo, Nothing really better than the 45acp with a 200-230gr LFP at std vel. Soft recoil, the hvy FP just drives the pin right off the table. A good sub 5sec run is quite satisfying. In a 620, I would run a 200gr Xtrme @ 900fps, plenty of momentum & soft recoil.

__________________
NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

This thread is a breath of fresh air to an old pin shooter like me. I started pin shooting in 1978, wrote a book about it in 1991, won a national championship in 1990 (for OSSs at Second Chance). There are just two fair weather pin matches in NH (that I know of).

I really miss those matches!

__________________
"lets be careful out there"

Haven't had a chance to shoot pins in many years. Used to love it. Used a 6" M57 with some lightened springs and 210/900fps ammo. The trick was to get in a rhythm that had the gun ready to fire the instant it came back on target. Got to be careful not to get off a high shot with that tactic. Yes, I was pressing the trigger as the barrel was coming back down. Hopefully went off just as it leveled on target. I wasn't the best around, but not too many guys could beat me at that game. The few that did had custom autos. All .45.

It's been maybe 30 years so I don't know the rules now. We were allowed to shoot two tables and average the time. Never worked for me unless for practice so just one table. 1911 with truncated cone 200gr. One mag. You reload you loose. Extra mag if you want the practice.
No gambling!

__________________
"from my cold dead hands" C.H.

Too much power is a time disadvantage. A 45 ACP revolver or auto shooting 230g flat nosed bullets will have a good balance of knockdown power and recoil management. A .22 will knock the pin off a sawhorse, but will not make it clear a table that has any depth to it.

I have been shooting pins at local matches for many years, for my 610 I preferred a 220 gr. Extreme loaded close to maximum velocity. My current guns all fire 240 grain or heavier bullets. This includes my 625, 627 and 629. A local caster in Layton Utah (Cowboy and Bowling pin bullet Company) supply most of the revolver shooters with our cast bullets. Most of our local matches are man on man, first five pins on the floor wins. The extra rounds in the 627 are a great advantage in you happen to miss more than one shot.

I wish that my local range would have these matches. I even donated a coupla big boxes of pins to the range when we first started up.
I shot a match in Hawaii only once in about 1988.
I had my old ombat commander and a beautiful M25-2. My first run was with the 25 and cleared em all in 8.4 secs.
Everything went to hell after that. LOL.
They also had a shotgun stage. Had to use #4 Buck High base or larger. (Birdshot bounce- back is not good). Quickly learned that the old Hawaii PD 870 Wingmaster with the old hardened Pachmayer butt-plate hurt!
But I sure had fun that day.

The fastest I ever managed to clear 5 pins off a 4-foot table was 3.6 seconds.

otasan56, that is fast!

And that was at Second Chance, where the time stops when the last pin hits the ground. Those were the days . . . . . .

My best SC time was 5.6 seconds.
Shooting a comped, custom .45.

I agree with andyo5 that the model 1955 target revolver in 45acp is very manageable recoil for pin shooting. allows very quick target aquisition

The head to head pin matches we run allows competitors to bring as much ammo with them to the line that they are willing to carry up. As I tell everyone you might get away with a reload in the early rounds but typically by the time your into the second level of the bracket if you have to reload you are done. At the end if you miss or hang up a pin its over quickly. I prefer my .45auto in 1911 with a 200 grain hollow point at a moderate velocity is a good balance between control and enough power to quickly move the pin off the table.

Before every match I tell everyone the secret to pin shooting is very simple. "Shoot fast don't miss"

Almost as much fun is pin head matches with .22 pistols, man that really gets fast.

in all our matches there is not a winner until all the pins on your table are on the ground. There are some close matches at the end.

Love head to head pins you never know what will happen.

__________________
Shoot Straight and Shoot often

I use a 255gr LSWC at 850 FPS for the NH pin shoots that I attend.

Bowling Pins with a heavy barreled 627 with C-more. 230gr bullets in 38 special cases with AA#9 powder.