# Bowling for bullets



## 45fan (Mar 5, 2007)

Anyone here shoot pins anymore? I obtained some discarded pins from an alley in K.C. & thought I'd give it a try. Is it addictive? 45fan :smt1099


----------



## tony pasley (May 6, 2006)

When I can get bowling pins I love to shoot them.


----------



## 45fan (Mar 5, 2007)

Are there any matches in your area? I think the popularity has dropped off.


----------



## tony pasley (May 6, 2006)

Only about once a year, they add it to a ppp comp.


----------



## hps (May 29, 2007)

The club i belong to has them once a month


----------



## 45fan (Mar 5, 2007)

Where is your club? Do you shoot in the pin matches? Can someone be competitive with a stock 1911 or do you have to modify it? Thanx for the info.


----------



## hps (May 29, 2007)

Speedway Indiana,Marion county fish and game


----------



## 45fan (Mar 5, 2007)

Probably a little far away to attend... But I did shoot some this weekend. It was kinda fun. seems 45 auto bowls them over pretty well. I'm not very fast but if I concentrated, I did well enough... would not have a chance against someone with experience tho...


----------



## tony pasley (May 6, 2006)

It just takes time and ammo to get there.


----------



## Mike Barham (Mar 30, 2006)

Pins are VERY challenging! Years ago I shot in local matches based on the Second Chance rules - had to knock the pins 3' back off the table for them to count. While I could always place in the top three in plate and practical matches, I was always around fifth in pin matches. Then I went to the northeast regional pin championship and was completely intimidated!

It's great fun and a great way to improve your shooting with a powerful pistol.


----------



## Revolver (Aug 26, 2006)

What cartridges are good for pin shooting? .45 ACP, .357 Magnum and up?


----------



## Mike Barham (Mar 30, 2006)

Revolver said:


> What cartridges are good for pin shooting? .45 ACP, .357 Magnum and up?


I used .45ACP in both a 1911 and a S&W 625-2 when I competed. It worked great as long as you hit the pins well.

.357 didn't work as well. Shooting pins is a momentum game, and .357 bullets generally lack the momentum to take a pin cleanly off the table, unless you hit the pins absolutely perfectly. Also we noticed .357s tended to drill through the pins rather than staying in them and pushing the pin off the table.

We had one guy show up with a LAR Grizzly in .45 Win Mag. It was a sight to behold - the pins flew as if struck by God himself, I mean like 20 feet! But the recoil was so fierce that he couldn't shoot fast enough to win. We eventually concluded that a 200+ grain bullet at a reasonable velocity was best.

10mm would probably work very well in autos or revolvers (if you can find one). .44 Special, .45 Colt, and light .41 and .44 Mags would do in revolvers. Just don't plan on a quick reload! Never shot a pin with a .40 S&W. I stopped competing in pin matches before the round became popular. I'd guess you'd need to use 180gr bullets minimum.


----------



## Revolver (Aug 26, 2006)

It's all about the bullet weight then?



Mike Barham at Galco said:


> I'd guess you'd need to use 180gr bullets minimum.


That can be done with the .357 Magnum. And the performance would beat the 10mm, let alone .40 S&W.


----------



## Mike Barham (Mar 30, 2006)

Revolver said:


> It's all about the bullet weight then?


It's about momentum, which is more a function of bullet weight than velocity. Same reason .45s knock down Pepper Poppers more efficiently than 9mm, even if the energy is roughly equal.



> That can be done with the .357 Magnum. And the performance would beat the 10mm, let alone .40 S&W.


We tried 180s, but the narrower bullets seemed to want to drill through the pins rather than cleanly sweeping them off the table. 158s worked okay, but not as well as 200+gr .45s. I don't recall which bullet types we used, though, since it was over a decade ago. Follow-up shots with the higher-pressure .357 were slower than with .45ACP, as well.

The greater frontal area of the .40+ calibers seemed to help versus the narrower .357s. Bullet designs have changed a great deal in the intervening years, however, so experimentation with .357 might bear better fruit now. Not sure I'd want to spend big money on expensive JHPs just to mow down bowling pins, though!


----------



## hberttmank (May 5, 2006)

Back when I shot pins a lot, I found the 45 acp 230JHP at around 850fps to be about the best load you could use in a auto. Very controllable with plenty of momentum to knock the pins off. In revolver the 44 mag with a 240SWC loaded to 900 fps worked great. Just like Mike said, if you can place your shots accurately, the heavier bullets worked best. My local bowling alley used to give pins away for the asking, one time I hauled off 25 cases!. I've still got a couple left.


----------

