hardcastonly

Bowling Pin Shoot

heres rather typical rules
but they vary a good deal
where I shoot you pay $10 per match, the winner gets his $10 back, the range keeps $10
theres generally a 2ft x 4 ft wide plywood table with a full 2" high rim,
formed by sections of 2x4 nailed to the plywood table on saw horses
the pins are set up as listed below
only handguns are allowed

Distance: 15 yards
Pin type: Five full-size bowling pins.

Pin tables: 36″ to 40″ high, there are two two-inch deep platforms per lane.

Pin setup: Pins are setup with two pins on the front row, 22 inches apart. Three pins on the back row, 22 inches apart.

Format: Matches are head-to-head. The first shooter to get all five pins ON THE GROUND wins the round.
Pins knocked over must be shot off the platform and onto the ground. Ties are shot over.
yeah that means you kick in an additional $10 if you tie and yeah you still only get your money back if you win
Each round is limited to one minute,
the winner of each two person round moves on to the next round (single elimination).


All commands from RSO are mandatory.
Failure to follow RSO commands will be grounds for removing shooter from range for the remainder of the competition.

Timing In: Each shooter shoots one sets of five pins


Start: Referee’s commands are typically:
“Shooters to the line,”
“Load and make ready,“
“Ready on the left,”
“Ready on the right,”
and “Standby.”
Shooter’s start position can be either be with gun touching the table,
or with the gun pointed down at a 45 degree angle.
When the referee announces “FIRE”
the shooters commence firing until the referee announces either
“Winner on the Left,”
“Winner on the right,” or
“Tie table.”

Magazines: Shooters can load no more than ten rounds in their first magazine
. One loaded magazine at a time,
once the first magazine is shot, shooters must reload the orriginal magazine to continue shooting.

Ammunition: High-velocity, high-grain bullets are recommended.

personally I think this is a great deal of fun,
I generally use a magnum revolver speed loaders are not allowed
most guys prefer a 10 shot 45 auto loader,
you learn very quickly that only well placed hits count and spray and pray tactics are useless

Memtb2149

Thanks! I’ve been meaning to try and get some from our local alley, thinking that they would be excellent for practice here at the house.! I’m glad glad you brought this up.....maybe I can remember the next time we go to town! memtb

bronko22000

Hardcast the first and only bowling pin shoot I was at was exactly like that except for mag capacity. You were only allowed 6 rounds in each if 2 magazines. It was the only one because I was invited to it by my friend in FL. It ended up I won the whole "shootin match" with my Taurus PT1911 ! On the final round my last pin hit the ground just as my opponent's was rolling off the table. My time was 2.6 seconds! That was the most fun I ever had with my clothes on.

hardcastonly

yeah! its a great deal of fun, even for the spectators in most cases
at a club that I used to be a member of
(it closed when the property was sold to a housing developer)

we also had a bowling pin shoot that was held for single shot muzzle loading rifles
the range was at 75 yards but otherwise similar rules applied,
but no time limit and only three bowling pins
talk about frantic reloading!!!!
and you had to shoot off hand while standing!!
I won several matches over a few months
with a 58 cal hawken


the key skill?
DON'T MISS ANY SHOTS!
the last match, I lost the final match by about 1 second

bronko22000

Now THAT would be a hoot with a muzzleloader! I did notice as the shoot went on those bowling pins didn't fly as far with solid hits because of all the slugs in them at the end of the night. Some of the guys remaining that were shooting their 357 SIGs didn't fare too well at the end of evening. But they were impressive to watch the flames coming out of the barrels!

grizzly 2

I was pretty lucky at acquiring pins for our club shoots. Today though, many bowling alleys have closed so I'm sure filling my van like I used to is harder. Bowling alleys that have sanctioned matches are required to keep their pins up to date and are glad to get rid of the old ones. We patterned our rules and equipment pretty close to the sanctioned matches, though I did make a few changes. It was fun to watch the shooters get faster after a year or two.I think it's excellent practice though I did pick up one bad habit I have to watch now that i have a carry permit. With double action revolvers I got so that the instant the revolver was horizontal, it fired and moved. That meant the trigger was being pressed as it came up from the ready position. For that reason I have stayed away from the light triggers on the new to me, striker fired pistols. It's an old habit, but one at 73 years old and not shooting as much as I used to in the 80's and 90's when pin shooting was very popular, can still happen, even though I never had that problem with a 1911.

We kept our pins in a row. I had a class for .38 specials similar to the .22's and all that was required was to knock it over. It's great practice to master those double action triggers. I learned early on not to start out single action, but go da all the way. Everyone loved it when they moved into the master blaster class which was 5 pins in under 4 seconds iirr. Watch out for the occasional ricochet with the 22's though.