Anybody know how a pin shoot is set up?

[jamz]

The indoor pistol range at my father's club (which is deserted 90% of the time) has some bowling pins in a closet that have obviously been used for pin shooting.

If the club has no regulations pertaining to this specifically, how would one practice pin shooting? Just set them all up 10 yards away and start firing at them? Are there any safety issues I would want to know about? Are the pins on the floor, or set up on a table? How does this thing work?

Thanks in advance!

-James

 

[3 gun]

I found this on the net PIN SHOOTS.

I Basic Description, the Events
The basic theme is to shoot a regular tenpin bowling pin such that it falls off a table. Normally, regular large bowling pins are used (they are refugees from 12-24 months of being beat up by bowling balls). Duck pins can also be used for special side events or local club shoot events. Candle pins are NOT well suited to the kind of abuse that heavy bullets going 900 f/s can dish out. They might be used in a .22 event however. For .22's pin tops (the tops of pins cut off at the neck) are often used to make things more challenging. The pins are on flat or two-tiered tables. The tables are either considered expendable (if made from wood) or permanent if constructed with heavy steel plate. The shooter stands at a "rail" 25 feet away. At the starting signel (gun blank, horn etc.) the guns are held at the ready position but with the guns "on the rail" ie pointed down in front of the shooter. This adds to the safety of the sport.

Much more at the link!! Seems to be more than a few different ways to skin a pin

 

[gharsh]

When I was shooting pins on a regular basis it was quite the challenge. We used 18-20 pins set at about 30-40 feet. The game was set up so that you shot at all the pins, with center fire they had to leave the table, with rimfire they just had to fall over. There is one pin that is protected by hostages. A clean fun was knocking all of the pins down without hitting any of the hostages. THe club awarded prizes for first and second place finishes. There were usually anywhere from 20-50 shooters. The organizer broke the amount of shooters into groups of ten and awarded prizes for the top two finishers in each group. You would also be catagorized based on weapon, center fire, rimfire, revolver, rifle (handgun caliber carbines).

We had some guys getting sub 10 second times with rimfires. It is a lot of fun, but I haven't been there in awhile. They would have some nights with the lights off and a strobe light running, once they had a table full of hostages with BG pins behind them and a clean run was not knocking any of the hostages over, etc. Only limited by your imagination.

 

[griz]

Five pins are set on the front edge of a table (or 3 on the bottom and 2 on a higher shelf) about four feet deep. Your score is your time to clean them all off the table. The depth of the table demands a solid hit from a powerful round to push it off the back. The ones you knock down get in the way of the others as they travel back. When I did it you shot 6 tables and your score was the average of the best 5. The limit is 15 seconds, and any left on the table added time to your score. A good run was below 5 seconds. Some were a good bit faster than that.

 

[DougCxx]

- Another variation is you can set them up in a regular trangular 10-pin arrangement, and than take two shots from ~30 yards with shotgun slugs--->redneck bowling (-I don"t recall the exact distance, but it is the same as for regular bowling).
~

 

[444]

Pin shooting is a great game.
The ones I particpated in were exactly like griz describes.
The pins must be on a table because an important part of the game is knocking them off the table. Knocking them down doesn't count, they have to be off the table. The point to this obviously is that you are shooting a serious caliber with real loads. You have to have a caliber big enough and powerful enough to knock the pins off the table and you also have to deal with the recoil. This makes it more realistic practice for self defense. You also can't miss fast enough to win; you have to make sold hits on the pins quickly. If you have a malfunction you can forget about winning. If you have to fire more than six shots you can forget about winning.
Most of the shoots I have been to also have a side match with .22s. They used the same pins, but set them closer to the back of the table.

One note: You get a lot of richochets from the pins. Make sure you are wearing safety glasses. It isn't unusual at all to get tagged in the leg by a richochet and it hurts. In a match you just have to keep on going and moan + hop around after you are done shooting.

 

[Bacchus]

FYI: Some people like to use hollowpoints when shooting pins, as they believe that there is more energy transfer to the pin and it's more likely to fall off the table without needing a second hit.

 

[Frohickey]

Ooooooh... pin shooting.

Pin shooting should be done on a steel table (wood can be a substitute, but its not fair when one pin falling makes the other fall) elevated off the ground. Pins are set up so that not only do you shoot them down, but they have to fall to the ground as well.

44Mag Desert Eagle makes for a very good pin shooting gun.

 

[jamz]

Thanks for all the links guys.

The pictures I've seen seem to have a table with large iron slats on the sides (to prevent 90 degree ricoccets?) Is this a necessity, or can you use a normal table?

 

[Sunray]

"This makes it more realistic practice for self defense." Pin shooting has nothing to do with practicing for self defence. It's a game. A shooting game that is great fun.
In the olden days, at Second Chance, the original tables were 4 by 8 feet steel 4 feet high, I think. It's been a long time. 5 pins set 1 foot from the front evenly spaced. Shoot 'em off as fast as you can. Later as 2nd Chance got to over 600 shooters, Dicky Davis changed the tables to fit more in. He said it was his range, his game and he could change the rules whenever he wanted. The new tables were 4 feet wide as I recall with two pins on shelves above the flat part of the table. Same rules. Off as fast as you can.
Rolling Thunder was a 3 shooter team event with two shotgunners, one of which MUST be a pump gun, and one pistol shooter. Each guy had to clear his own set of 5 before he could help the other two.
Desert Eagles are not the best for this. Too big. Too much recoil. A comped .45 is best. Mind you, watching Miculek work his magic with that revolver of his is truly something to behold.

 

[444]

"Pin shooting has nothing to do with practicing for self defence. It's a game. "

Really ?
Please expand on that. I am curious how rapidly firing a handgun using full power ammo for accuracy at multiple targets under pressure has nothing to do with practicing for self defense.