Bullets for Bowling Pins (45ACP)

[Norm Lee]

Thanks for the link. That Keith bullet looks really good. I'll load some up and see how they do.

 

[Sunray]

"...the table which is like 2' wide..." Originally 4 feet x 8 feet with the pins 1 foot from the front. Dickie Davis changed in in 1989 to fit more tables in his front yard. Went from 4x8 to sort of a shelf affair with 3 pins on the lower lever and 2 up. Changed the game entirely. Mind you, that may have been just for the Rolling Thunder event. Two shooters with shotguns and a guy with a pistol.
Off-the-table is what counts except for .22 matches. Pins were placed differently for .38/.357/9mm too. Foot from the back as I recall. Pin shooting is almost the most fun you can have with your pants on.
The old "pin grabber" bullets are the daft ones I mentioned. Big heavy bullets will slow you down due to the increased recoil and muzzle jump.

 

[Norm Lee]

Thanks for the link. That Keith bullet looks really good. I'll load some up and see how they do.

 

[Walkalong]

Looking forward to an update.

 

[Norm Lee]

Looking forward to an update.

Got the 215 gr SWCs from Distinguished Precision Shooting Sports first and, as luck would have it, my powder hopper was full of VV N310 and set right at a good spot to start. These bullets are a pure joy to behold and very, very near the advertised 215 grains. I'll spare y'all the details of the work up. Here's where I wound up:

4.5 gr VV N310 Vavg 848.5 Standard Deviation 7.59 fps.
Bullet shape is close to what I expect an effective pinbuster to be. Will let y'all know more after our next match.

This load is probably close to max for a heavy bullet being pushed by a fast powder so should be worked up carefully. That said, it's based on VV data for a 230 gr bullet so shouldn't be considered risky.

Norm

 

[Norm Lee]

Got the 215 gr SWCs from Distinguished Precision Shooting Sports first and, as luck would have it, my powder hopper was full of VV N310 and set right at a good spot to start. These bullets are a pure joy to behold and very, very near the advertised 215 grains. I'll spare y'all the details of the work up. Here's where I wound up:

4.5 gr VV N310 Vavg 848.5 Standard Deviation 7.59 fps.
Bullet shape is close to what I expect an effective pinbuster to be. Will let y'all know more after our next match.

This load is probably close to max for a heavy bullet being pushed by a fast powder so should be worked up carefully. That said, it's based on VV data for a 230 gr bullet so shouldn't be considered risky.

Norm

Should have mentioned that accuracy at pin distance was quite remarkable. Interesting that group size was not very exciting until velocity got up near 850 fps.
Will soon have some fun with the 250 gr bullets from Matt's Bullets. Plan to start with VV N350.