I checked with all of my local bowling alleys a few weeks ago and none of them had any spare pins to sell. Where do people get bowling pins to shoot at? Do you get them free or have bowling alleys wised up and charge for them now? Do they make great targets? Do you prefer hanging them or setting them up to knock down? I plan to shoot them with: .308, 7.62x39, 7.62 x 25 and 9mm. Will any of these calibers have a problem with destroying them and/or possible ricochets? Thanks for any help.
Bowling Pins: Where to get them and do they make good targets?
- Thread starter hartzpad
- Start date
- Status
The best place is probably a bowling alley that's going out of business. You may also want to leave your business card with the bowling alleys so they can contact you when/if they have extras.
You might try setting them up about 10 yards away for pistols. Don't know about rifle cartridges, but pins can take a LOT of hits before splintering.
You might try setting them up about 10 yards away for pistols. Don't know about rifle cartridges, but pins can take a LOT of hits before splintering.
Dean Taylor
Member
Bowling Pins are great practice and make for fun competition. Instant feed back.
Bowling pin competition is at 7+ yards and you need not only to knock them down but completely off a 36 inch deep table when the pins are set up at the front., There fore you need to hit the sweet spot. There are different classes - A,B &C. -.22, minor, major, revolver and semiauto. Great fun. They increase speed and accuracy for other shooting.
Wood pins are best - not plastic.
My indoor range has Bowling Pin competitions in the winter.
There are outdoor matches in the summer along with steel, IPSC, IDPA, PPC, bullseye etc.
Again-great fun with instant feed back.
Dean
[email protected]
Bowling pin competition is at 7+ yards and you need not only to knock them down but completely off a 36 inch deep table when the pins are set up at the front., There fore you need to hit the sweet spot. There are different classes - A,B &C. -.22, minor, major, revolver and semiauto. Great fun. They increase speed and accuracy for other shooting.
Wood pins are best - not plastic.
My indoor range has Bowling Pin competitions in the winter.
There are outdoor matches in the summer along with steel, IPSC, IDPA, PPC, bullseye etc.
Again-great fun with instant feed back.
Dean
[email protected]
Just go to your local bowling alley and ask if they have any damaged pins they want to get rid of. When the plastic on the pin gets damaged, they do not work well in the machine that sets them up and they must be replaced. Most places keeps boxes on hand of replacement pins and most likely will have the defective ones too. Just ask for the manager and ask him. I paid a dollar a piece for the last ones I got at a local bowling alley. They make great reactive targets. Just don't leave them in the rain after they have been shoot a few times. They will become waterlogged and can get very heavy.
auldpharght
Member
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2004
- Messages
- 47
Bowling Pins May Shoot Back!
Mathematicians - who obviously have lots of time on their hands - determined that the bowling pin's shape, mass and density cause richochets (duh!).
Supposedly, is unsafe to be outside of 22.5 degrees on either side of the path of the bullet. That's an over-all arc of 45 degrees.
I tend to think that a ricochet is just that, and can do so multiple times, so the "safe zone" of 45-degrees is a neat theory, but impratical. If there are two are more pins, the bullet could bounce off of one into another, or your car, or...right back atcha!
Those "zings" that you will hear are the richochets, and the louder they are, the closer they are.
Mathematicians - who obviously have lots of time on their hands - determined that the bowling pin's shape, mass and density cause richochets
(duh!). Supposedly, is unsafe to be outside of 22.5 degrees on either side of the path of the bullet. That's an over-all arc of 45 degrees.
I tend to think that a ricochet is just that, and can do so multiple times, so the "safe zone" of 45-degrees is a neat theory, but impratical. If there are two are more pins, the bullet could bounce off of one into another, or your car, or...right back atcha!
Those "zings" that you will hear are the richochets, and the louder they are, the closer they are.
SDC
Member
Ditto; pins are a LOT of fun to shoot, because they react unpredictably, but they're also notorious for causing ricochets. I once caught a 230-gr FMJ in the gut at a pin match that left a bruise about the size of a plum.
mrming
Member
The really are best for rifle and rimfire. If rimfire bounces, its not likely to do much damage. Most centerfire rifle can get enough penetration to not bounce..
- Status