Bowling pin question

[yellowfin]

I'm looking at setting up a friendly competition soon with a variety of targets and had a safety question. If I were to use bowling pins as targets for 5.56 and 7.62x39 as well as pistol calibers out of 16" AR uppers, what would be the minimum distance considered safe for doing so, in order to avoid ricochets and dangerous fragments?

[GitmoSmoke]

We shoot bowling pins at 10 yards. We only shoot pistols at them and I don't think I would use rifle rounds on the pins at less than 25 yards. If you cut the tops off when the pin becomes too full of lead to stand up you can use them for .22 RF targets.

[yellowfin]

Very good. Anyone here shot them with 55 grain .223? If so, how do they react?

[tb-av]

I wouldn't want to be too close with a rifle.

I have shot them at 10 yeas with a .45 and knocked down 2 pins at once. So a single ricochet is one thing, but if you got a double ricochet things could get dangerous.

They are fun to shoot though.