Bowling pins?

[Curmudgeon]

When we lived in FL., we belonged to a sportsmans club.  We shot bowling pin competition once a month.

Had a blast,  Fun times for my wife and myself.

Anybody know of any such competition locally ?

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[coelacanth]

Haven't seen one for years.  Most competitions use steel these days. 

[870policemag]

This is something I'd be interested in trying. I always thought it was a 80s thing. Back when you would build a 1911 just to shoot 'em with.

[Cyris]

Tuesday Night Steel at Rio Salado adds pins sometimes to stages, but the focus is steel.

[Curmudgeon]

I guess there is a cost factor.

In FL, we had four very heavy steel tables set up.  Front edge of table was angular, to prevent ricochets.  Tables were heavy enough so that if they got shot, the pins wouldn't fall.

I guess such a set up isn't cheap.  The pins were usually donated, but sometimes got scarce.  Some alleys wanted money for them.

Fun times though.  My wife and I really miss it.

[RetroG]

It must be a Florida thing.  When lived there there were two pin shooting competitions I participated in, and a third I knew of that I didn't. 

It was a ton of fun.  My regular group just used wooden tables, you couldn't reliably knock down all the pins by shooting the table.  We got old pins from bowling alleys for free, that way they didn't have to pay to dispose of them.  If you find a pin shooting group or want to start one, count me in.

[Marx-ism's]

If I recall correctly I think I saw bowling pins for sale at UN Ammo a month or two back.  I also see them now and again at Goodwill.  I've seen them for sale on FleaBay but shipping tends to make that source somewhat cost prohibitive.

[Curmudgeon]

If I recall correctly I think I saw bowling pins for sale at UN Ammo a month or two back.  I also see them now and again at Goodwill.  I've seen them for sale on FleaBay but shipping tends to make that source somewhat cost prohibitive.

It's not the pins.  It's the competition.  Lots of fun.  Four tables, five pins on each table.  You shoot one table at a time in an certain time frame.  If you knock a pin down, but it doesn't fall off the table, no score until you shoot it off.  OMG  ......  So much fun.  A lot of times the rimfires would only knock them down.  In the revolver class, I used a .44 magnum    Don't think I merely knocked any over.

We ran three cycles for everyone.  First was rimfire, next was semi-auto, and last was revolver.

If we had a good turn-out, you had to plan on spending a few hours there.

I think that if you had a dedicated group of interested shooters, and everyone hit their local bowling alleys, you could get a large amount of pins for free

[Marx-ism's]

One of the things I've noticed is that local competitions tend to be fairly generic, most often with competitors shooting at targets or steel.  If someone had a collection of bowling pins available then maybe they could approach a competition sponsor with an idea for a different kind of competition.

Personally if I had the time I'd sit down and try to design a simple self-righting mechanism for a bowling pin.  In the past I've seen commercial gimmicks where they directly connected a heavy spring to the base of a bowling pin.  What I'm envisioning could then be integrated into something like a true bowling pin plate rack...

[Curmudgeon]

One of the things I've noticed is that local competitions tend to be fairly generic, most often with competitors shooting at targets or steel.  If someone had a collection of bowling pins available then maybe they could approach a competition sponsor with an idea for a different kind of competition.

Personally if I had the time I'd sit down and try to design a simple self-righting mechanism for a bowling pin.  In the past I've seen commercial gimmicks where they directly connected a heavy spring to the base of a bowling pin.  What I'm envisioning could then be integrated into something like a true bowling pin plate rack...

Not sure if that would be as much fun.  I remember a lot of times when people had to shoot the last pin off the tab;e when it was lying down with the base of the pin facing the shooter (fairly difficult), or a pin rolling very slowly towards the edge, and finally falling off, which gets a cheer from the other shooters.  Also times when you nick a pin on the side, and it spins and takes out the pin next to it.  Not knowing what a pin will do, or how it will fall is what makes the competition fun to watch.  Self-righting pins just wouldn't be the same.

[Marx-ism's]

Not sure if that would be as much fun.  I remember a lot of times when people had to shoot the last pin off the tab;e when it was lying down with the base of the pin facing the shooter (fairly difficult), or a pin rolling very slowly towards the edge, and finally falling off, which gets a cheer from the other shooters.  Also times when you nick a pin on the side, and it spins and takes out the pin next to it.  Not knowing what a pin will do, or how it will fall is what makes the competition fun to watch.  Self-righting pins just wouldn't be the same.

I hear ya but unless you have you have a large number of heavy tables along with a boatload of bowling pins, you'll have to declare a cold range every time you need to reset bowling pins.  That slows down the action and means there'll be fewer opportunities to knock down bowling pins.

[Curmudgeon]

I hear ya but unless you have you have a large number of heavy tables along with a boatload of bowling pins, you'll have to declare a cold range every time you need to reset bowling pins.  That slows down the action and means there'll be fewer opportunities to knock down bowling pins.

Absolutely.  It's something that can't be done properly overnight.

The club we belonged to had a large number of members.  When they started the pin deal, they only had the one steel table.  By the time we joined up, they had increased it to four, which was perfect.

Range goes cold after current shooter bags his/her weapon, then a bunch of folks go out and reset the pins.  When things go right, and people do their part, it doesn't take too long.  As I said though, if you have a decent turn-out, you're gonna be there for a few hours.  People have to pay attention.  Know when your turn is coming up and be ready.  For shooters that don't have 4 magazines, someone volunteers to load for them.

As far as the pins go, the more people that go around asking, the more you're gonna get.  They had a storage shed near the pin shooting area, with a fair supply.

All this talk is really making me miss it more and more 

[RetroG]

We had a local bowling alley who would let us take all their old pins every few months.  We ended up with pins in just about every pinshooter's garage.  And with two or three people resetting the pins on each table, it only takes a minute or so.

Part of the fun was the randomness of the pins.  The jump, fall, spin, wobble, take out other pins, you name it.  We had one guy who shot full power 44mag loads, just for the challenge.  Sometimes the pins would come apart when he shot them.

The shooters got so good, we would cut the pins in half and shoot at the tops.  We had no optics nights and carry nights.

We would run 12-16 shooters through in 2-3 hours, but we didn't run rimfire and center fire at the same time, unless someone's kid, wife or girlfriend wanted to shoot a 22lr on a center fire night.

[5632]

What kind of wood are pins made with?

[Curmudgeon]

What kind of wood are pins made with?

Not sure.  Examining the shot-up ones to see what was still useable, the wood looked to be the color of cedar.

They have a fairly heavy plastic coating on them which produces pretty sharp edges where the bullets strike.  Ya' gotta be careful when you reset the pins

[coelacanth]

I think they used to be maple wood.  Probably some sort of synthetic material today.   

[steve2md]

The standard is maple with a heavy vinyl coating in the 1/8" thick range

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