GP 100 (6) or S&W 686P (7) for bowling pin shooting

[Hoffy]

Part of me thinks this is a no brainer...good to have 7 rounds if you're trying to knock down 5 pins. Part of me says that I should consistantly hit what I'm aiming at with a 6" revolver. I want at least a 6".

How many rounds do you run with when you slay bowling pins?

Other than the lower cost, any major upside to the GP100?

Finally, I assume that the Ruger and Smith are worth the money over a comparable Taurus.

Any thoughts?

 

[sigstroker]

.357 is not a good pin caliber. .44 or .45 is better.

 

[Fred40]

".357 is not a good pin caliber. .44 or .45 is better."


Why is that? .357 do too much damage to the pins?

 

[Corey ACP]

.357

With bowling pins more rounds is always better. too many pins when hit refuse to roll off the table and require an extra shot, (or two). That said, I shot pins at a local range for years and years when all I had was a 6 shot .357 revolver. I did quite a bit of experminting back then and settled on a 200 grain cast SWC bullet loaded in magnum cases at a moderate velocity. This worked very well on the pins.

 

[GearHead_1]

I've had reasonably good success using a 200 gr. round in a .357 but truthfully a 230 gr. .45 works better. Mass as well as surface front is what makes a good bowling pin round.

 

[Norm Lee]

The more the merrier

Having the extra round to salvage a run that's started to go south is priceless. My bride has abandoned her 686(7-shot and ported) for a 627 (8-shot). I have been sticking with the 686 so far but I am tuning the trigger on a 627

A good pin load uses VVN 350 and a 230 gr. wadcutter in .38 spl cases. 900 fps 207pf.

Cheers,

Norm

 

[jdseven1]

Hoffy
When we shoot pin shoots we use 6 rounds per revolver and 6 rounds per mag
on semi auto. Three mags or 3 speedloaders

 

[Gillster]

.

357 is not a good pin caliber

Uh, Jerry Miculek won Second Chance 4 times shooting a .357. I used a 200gr SJHP loaded in .38spl cases out of a 686 when there used to be pin shoots around here. They worked great and we were only permitted to load 6 at a time regardless of gun capacity.

 

[Hoffy]

Thanks all,

The place I go to you are only limited by the capacity of the wheel, your ability to speedload, and the 15 second clock. That said, for all practical purposes, you need to rely on what your loaded gun will hold.

I guess I'll save my pennies for the 686p.