Reading thru that bowling pin thread got me all pumped up and since our club regularly shoots bowling pin matches every week I'm feeling this burning itch to get a new revolver. For some reason I keep thinking about a 41 magnum or 44 magnum next. At least 6" barrel and adjustable target sights. I already own a 4" 686-6 but I'd like a little bit more horse power in case I every take the thing out hog or varmint hunting. For bowling pins I can always reload lite 44 specials. I have a buddy that shoots a 44 magnum for bowling pins but full magnum loads are kinda overkill but there's no question they leave the table in a hurry if hit square.

Any suggestions as to which revolver model to get next? 41 or 44 magnum? Classic 29 or 629? Model 57?

I used an L frame .357 for a long time loaded with my favorite .38 spl
158gr LSWC loads and had no regrets. I have used .44`s loaded to 850 fps but it slowed me down. But thats just me. Everybody has something that works best for them.
Jim

I have a older 4" model 10 and a 4" 686-6. that I've used for bowling pins. The sights on the 686 are far much better than the fixed sights on the model 10. I have a pal that has a performance center model 327 TRR8 357 mag that sparked my interest.

I shot a fair amount of pins when it first became popular. I used a 1911 .45, and 4 and 6 inch 29's. I found that large diameter lead bullets at moderate velocities worked well at clearing the table with good recovery time. Smaller calibers didn't seem to knock the pins off as reliably. Magnum loads are not needed, and slow you down.

If you are going against good shooters, having to shoot a pin a second time, or reload means you have already lost the match.

I like a barrel heavy balance for quicker recoil recovery, and would probably pick a 4 or 6 inch 29 / 629 with the full barrel underlug. Speed from a holster is usually not a consideration, as most pin shooting is done from the low ready position.

Larry

.44 cal. Big, slow, soft lead, flat nose bullet that'll "squish" onto the pin with plenty of oomph and not ricochet

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John

I SUGGEST THAT YOU CONSIDER TWO VERSIONS OF THE N FRAME, M625...........

THE FIRST IS THE 4" "MODEL OF 1989", IN .45 ACP. QUICK RELOADS ARE FACILITATED BY THE USE OF MOON CLIPS. I FAVOR THE RIMZ BRAND. THEY ARE MADE FROM A FINGER FRIENDLY, FLEXIBLE, MOLDED-POLYMER. THEY ARE EASILY LOADED, AND UNLOADED, WITHOUT THE USE OF TOOLS......

THE SECOND IS THE 4", "MOUNTAIN GUN", IN .45 COLT. THE MG CAN ALSO BE HAD IN .45 ACP, IF YOU ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO FIND ONE......

EITHER ONE OF THESE REVOLVERS WILL GET THE JOB DONE, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE A HAND LOADER. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE MODEL OF 1989, CARRIES A FULL BARREL LUG, WHILE THE MG HAS A TAPERED BARREL, AND AN ABBREVIATED UNDER LUG. MY MOUNTAIN GUN, IN .45 COLT, IS SHOWN BELOW, AS AN EXAMPLE.......

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'Nam 1968-69.DAV,VFW,NRA Inst.

I used a four inch 29-3 with reduced loads in the day.

My choice is a 627 8 shot V-comp with a 5" barrel and mid-range loads in .357 cases. It's cut for moonclips for quick reloads, but as was stated above, if you have to reload chances are you've already lost!

YES, they are a small target especially if they are flat on the table with the small end facing you. The good news is that they are pretty close. After multiple hits, the pins all become different in how they react to a shot. That said, a "square solid hit" by a 38 special, 9mm,40, 44, 45 will "generally" knock it off the table. From MY exp the 45 acp does a very good job. IMO BEST FOR YOU would be whatever YOU are the fastest & most accurate with. A heavy for caliber cast boolit with a flat nose seems to work best in whichever caliber you choose. We shoot with 3 different guns, 22/ center fire revolver/ center fire semi. A 4" L frame is a popular choice, as is the model 10. Just remember the goal is to knock the pins from the table, NOT destroy them. Pins are becoming harder to come by, so destroying them will likely get you DQ'd. BP seems to have a more laid back crowd, there to have fun & less hung up on having expensive latest/greatest gear. I'd recommend for a first time, just use what you have & see how it goes.

I used a 29-2 8 3/8 barrel with 245 grain Keith bullet at about
800 to 850 fps. Perfect!

When I have shot revolver for pin matches its been with a 627-5 pro model. As others have said, magnums don't make it. 158gr. SWC loaded to about 1K fps worked OK, but you have to hit them just right. If you want to get serious with 357 Penn bullets makes a 230gr. "thunderhead" flat faced bullet just for pins. I never tried them but can tell you they work! The shooter that dominated the revolver class at my club used them to great effect!
Pin matches are the most fun you'll have with your clothes on. At my club they are serious competition, but they tend to draw more laid back types who realize team Glock is not looking to hire them.

Late 70s and 80s I shot a lot of local bowling pin matches.

I used 3 different guns over the course of time. A 1911 .45, A 4'' Model 29 and a 8 3/8 29. The two 29s had Pac grips and I shot my hand loads that were about 90% of full power loads. I only shoot double action and had no problem handling the 29s.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

When I shot pins back in the 1980's I used the Speer Sheriff's Load in .44 Magnum. HP bullets 180 gr at about 1100.. I was using my Ruger Superblackhawk in Single Action class. You got five pins and five rounds, there were penalties....
The club also had a fund raiser, for a fee you got to use a pair of cap and ball .44s and shoot at five pins for prizes and money. I never finished in the money, but I got to shoot Cap and ball without cleaning the pistols!
Geoff
Who was middle of the pack, usually.

When I shot bowling pins,, I used a M29 with 245 gr LSWC @ about 900 fps. in the revolver class. And a 230 gr TC @ about 800 fps in a 1911 for the auto class.

A M625 or maybe even a M610 also might be a pretty good choice for a revlover pin gun.. If you were wanting something other than a .41 or .44.

I shot a six-inch M57 .41 Mag in the old Second Chance Shoot.
In the revived Central Lake shoot, last summer, I shot a three inch M57.
Both worked. Loads were various LSWCs in 210, 225 and 230 grain
weights. Velocity was 1,000 feet per second.

Also used a S&W 1917 .45 ACP (Brazilian contract) less successfully.
The M57s had better sights.

Best for me was a .45 ACP custom pistol with a ported barrel and slide and loads that ran about 910 fps. Unique was my powder for both .41 and .45 loads.

Our club is pretty causal and it's just too much fun this way.

We don't have any classes, it's shoot what you bring as long as it's centerfire. We have two steel tables at about 15-17 yards away and we cut the top 6" off the pins and use two large bodies and 3 tops and stagger them and load up with 6 rounds. At the start, who ever clears the table first wins. Now for pins that are laying over but still on the table, that's 1/2 a point. So for example. if table on the right still has one pin standing and table on the left has two pins laying on their side, but still on the table then that would be a tie and we do a reshoot. We reload, and at the start, start shooting. Since we're shooting mainly the tops and two bodies at 15 yards or so we don't really need a large bore pistol, but rather something more akin to precision target shooting. But the two large pin bodies get heavy after a couple stages. I have hit a pin head yesterday dead center with a 148 grain 38 special wadcutter loaded with 2.7 grains titegroup with my old police trade model 10. The wadcutter sunk into the pin all the way in up to the base of the bullet, which I thought was cool. But it's not exactly a target pistol with it's fixed sights.

I have a 4" 686-6 357 magnum but 357's are overkill for this type of pin shooting so I use either my wadcutter reloads or WWB 38 special +P's. A friend of mine uses his 5" pre lock 625-4 that is deadly accurate and blows the pins off the table very well. But I would like a good excuse to buy a new guy. I'm leaning towards a 41 mag model 57


Oh, we also buy our pins used from local bowling alleys for $1 a pin. We usually get them in boxes of 500.

i used my 4" 586 for years. 158gr wad cutters. a friend had a special double top secret recipe for them. they had enough umph to knock pins down, but not so much that it reached magnum type recoil. used a 5" model 10 pencil bbl for a bit as well, but the extra weight of the full underlug won me over.

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why? why not?

My club shoots pins at 25 yards!
Accuracy + enough power to clean them off the table.
I use two 44 Magnum S&Ws.
629-4 with Matchdot II for optics matches.
or
29-2 (updated with -3 parts) for open sight matches.
Both of them use the same 44 Special load:
240 coated LSWC over 7.5 grains of Power Pistol.
Chronos at 908 FPS with a SD of 6.6.

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

Probably best to listen to folks with more experience than I, but IMO a 4" 625 or (cut-down) 25 in .45ACP is probably the best. A properly loaded 4" 29 or 629 is probably just as good.

Main thing is to use full-power .45ACP or .44Spl loads in a gun heavy enough to make the recoil insignificant.

Great post!

The bolded part should be particularly helpful in equipment choice, although the whole post is.

I used a 6 inch. 41 mag model 58, I almost always shoot single action for what I always made up with using only 6 rounds and no reloads. I would go with JM 645 today.

I don't shoot bowling pins(but intend to correct that mistake in my life experience next summer)but I have a .45 bullet mould made by Saeco that has a huuuuge nose in swc form.They call it ''bowling pin'' bullet(guess they don't pay their guy head of marketing dept too much!).
I think that's what I'll use in my .45 revolver.I'll probably launch it at around 850 to 900 fps.The bullet comes out at 215 gr with my alloy.

Revolver Pin Matches . . . That goes back 15 or 20 years now

Initially I used the original 5" Smith and Wesson Model 625 that was released in 1988
In 1999 I switched to the 4" Smith and Wesson Model 625 V-Comp
While the factory sold both of these as 45 ACP revolvers, I was running 45 SUPER through mine. The hand loads were Winchesters 230 grain JHP leaving the 4" revolver right at 1000 FPS loaded into 45 SUPER brass.

When my stockpile of Winchester projectiles dried up I switched to the Hornady 230 JHPs

The large diameter, heavy projectile removed a pin from the table with Authority and this load was controllable in either revolver. The 625 V-Comp made my follow up shots even faster.

I probably could have achieved similar ballistics using the 45 Auto Rim cartridge, but I would have lost the ability to use the full moon clips.

The full moon clips made for positive extraction of all empties and a fast reload. Against shooters of comparable skill, blowing a reload will loose the match

I have my heart set on a 6" S&W mod 629 44mag. I shot a friends 629 with his downloaded 44 mag reloads and they blew the pins off the table yet the recoil was tamer than full power 357 magnum.

I WOULD SUGGEST A 4" M629. THE CHAMBERING IN .44SPL/.44 MAG, GIVES YOU THE MOST CHOICES IN AMMO---OF THE GUNS YOU ARE CONSIDERING. THE 4" LENGTH IS MOST VERSATILE, AND IS AT HOME AT THE RANGE, IN THE FIELD, OR CARRIED CONCEALED......

THE STAINLESS STEEL 629 IS THE MOST DURABLE, AND WEATHERPROOF. MOST BLEMISHES CAN BE ERASED WITH AN ABRASIVE PAD, OR MOTHERS MAG WHEEL POLISH, AND A LITTLE ELBOW GREASE......

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'Nam 1968-69.DAV,VFW,NRA Inst.

I already own a 4" 686 357 magnum. I'm leaning towards a 6" 629 because chances are I most likely won't add it to my carry rotation. I will be on occasion using it also on feral hogs we have running wild in Texas. But I will consider the 4" version as well. Thanks!

My 625 5 inch awesome pin g[IMG][/IMG]un

A 681 & model 10 here, using the same using 38 special "powder puff" 148 gr DEWC over 2.7 ish gr's of bullseye in each gun. It hits the pins surprisingly hard & people often ask if I'm using 357's. You COULD use a 41 or 44 mag but IMO you would be better off loading it DOWN. We place the tables only 10-15 yards away, & I happen to like fixed sights for closer ranges. Not to mention the smaller/lighter cast 38's cost less than the larger/heavier 41's / 44's. I also use a Sig P220 45 acp & like that too.

Back in the '90's, an indoor range I belonged to had Wed night fun matches (rotating, one night: PPC, plates, pins, bullseye). I tended to lean towards my revolvers. For pins, I would use either my Model 27 (8.375"), or my Model 57, always fired single action using SWCs (usually clearing the table of 5 with just 5 shots).

For my 41 loads, I usually loaded my "41 Special" load: 215gr cast SWC, LPP, and about 6.5gr WW231.

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Judge control not gun control!

[QUOTE=RGVshooter;139933643]Reading thru that bowling pin thread got me all pumped up and since our club regularly shoots bowling pin matches every week I'm feeling this burning itch to get a new revolver. For some reason I keep thinking about a 41 magnum or 44 magnum next. At least 6" barrel and adjustable target sights. I already own a 4" 686-6 but I'd like a little bit more horse power in case I every take the thing out hog or varmint hunting. For bowling pins I can always reload lite 44 specials. I have a buddy that shoots a 44 magnum for bowling pins but full magnum loads are kinda overkill but there's no question they leave the table in a hurry if hit square.

B/P IS A HOOT, & IMO the most fun event with the most laid back, down to earth shooters. The variables/luck/chance give an above avg Joe a chance to be competitive with & maybe beat a "superior" shooter. You don't need to break the bank with the latest/greatest gear either. The 686 is a popular & excellent choice. Wide meplat/heavy/flat nosed bullets at slow-moderate velocities work very well. Your buddies hot 44 mags MAY get him DQ'd & asked to leave "in a hurry". "IF HIT SQUARE" applies to any gun used. The 4" barrels are much more popular, among seasoned shooters & winners. The 6" may cost you some extra time.

I have always used a Model 610 with a Wichita slab comp on it loaded with 200 grain Hornady XTPs going about 1250fps. They always blow the pin off the table - even when they are lumpy and full of lead.

With the slab comp its like shooting a light 38spl.

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