Bowling Pins

[LMT Shooter]

Anybody else here shoot bowling pin matches? There's at least 4 ranges within 1hr of me that have been hosting matches that I've been going to for about a year. I'm hooked on it. The targets seem to me to be a semi-accurate representation of the anatomical area, both in size & shape, of what would be a good hit on a human. Also, you are competing head-to-head against another shooter, not just up on the line shooting for a score/time that I can compare to everybody else's when the match is over. That's a very different kind of stress, to me, than other competitions that I've tried.

[Exiledviking]

I've been shooting the local bowling pin match for the last few years. One of my favorite competitions. A whole lot of fun and I consider it to be good practice. Running side by side against another competitor sure raises the pressure.

[jbjh]

Haven’t done it in years, but used to love it! Especially because our local IPSC chapter could do it at an indoor range if the outdoor range was flooded or whatever.

The best part for me was it made you deal with all the fundamentals, and then deal with the consequences of doing it wrong. I was always amazed how many bullets a pin lying on its side could soak up!


Sent from 80ms in the future

[gaijin]

"Man on Man" competition is great for seeing what you can do to channel that adrenaline dump.

Bowling Pins, like jbjh said above, is all about; "sight picture, trigger control" and having a laser focus on staying on task.

[gary357magnum]

If you like shooting bowling pins, check out www.pinshoot.com. It's the former Second Chance shoot that has been resurrected. Lots of fun in Northern Michigan.

[Ned Christiansen]

I don't know how I missed this, but yes-- The Pin Shoot. Been going since the re-start in '17.

[Ned Christiansen]

Forgot to mention, I have some vids from The Pin Shoot on YT:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...nMcxb-0GRoA1bA

[Ned Christiansen]

The Pin Shoot (TPS) has been a big part of my life all these years-- me and my pin shooting friends. I went from '79 to '98, which was the last Second Chance. After twenty years of me and my pals complaining to each other about "no pin shoot", they restarted it in 2017 as TPS. That's 27 years for me, out of 30. 2024 will be number 31!

I remember my first time up to the line-- knees shaking and the whole bit. I mean, there were lots of people watching and several of them were names right out of the gun magazines! That was a big deal to me then. If someone had bumped me on the shoulder, I'da collapsed in a heap right there on the line.

The shooting is exciting and unique in the world of competition. It's true, only rarely do bowling pins form a gang and go on a crime spree. Usually if you encounter a bowling pin in a dark ally, it lets you pass. But I think a case can be made that a shooter who can get five pins off the table fast has better odds in a gunfight than one who bought a gun and has hardly seen it since.

There are now, I think, eighteen separate events. Five are main events or "mains"; you need shoot only one main to move on to optionals.... check the site.

But it's not just about the shooting. It's a family-friendly atmosphere and the area is really, really nice for a little wandering and touring. Lake MI is maybe 15 minutes away (maybe 20), there 's a state park for camping on the lake due west of TPS in Eastport and the beach there is wonderful-- find your own Petosky stones there. There's wine country less than an hour away-- The Leelanaw Peninsula is a spectacular drive. Charelvoix, to the north a bit, is a beautiful town on the water with great shopping and dining.

Microbreweries abound, just sayin'.

If I were coming in from the west and had to sell the trip as a family vacation AND we're gonna stop at "some shooting event" for a few days on the way, I would consider driving to Manitowoc, WI and overnight there. In the morning I would take the family to the marvelous sub museum there. Then board the car ferry SS Badger for the trip over to MI. The Badger is a precious bit of floating history-- built in 1952, it is the last coal-fired steamer operating in the US and is an official National Historical Landmark. Cool thing to note-- the USS Cobia at the sub museum and the Badger's Wisconsin-side berth are maybe 3/8 mile from each other. There is such a thing as overnighting on the USS Cobia but I don't know much about that. Passage on the Badger is about three hours.

You can absolutely do TPS without a "pin gun" and other specialty gear. There are several newer events that cater to the 9mm shooter-- bring a 9mm handgun and PCC, you can be competitive. A stock .45? Competitive in its category and, could be, beyond. An AR and a 12 gage, if you are so inclined. I will say that it seems like this year the competition with shotguns was particularly tough, and popular.

Read the rules thoroughly but you can also count on getting help from shooters that have been going for a while. And THAT is also a big part of the enjoyment, that is, friends, old and new. When I think about who my friends are and who I know in the firearms industry, a lot of them have some connection to TPS.

https://www.ssbadger.com/
https://www.wisconsinmaritime.org/submarines/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leelanau_Peninsula

[Ned Christiansen]

This year's The Pin Shoot is over and it was another great one. We had a lot of new shooters this year-- well, not novice shooters, just first-time-at-Pin Shoot shooters. Nice bunch of people! I made a point of watching for them and welcoming them, and made some new friends. At least two or three of them "got the walk" at the awards ceremony, meaning they did well and won something, and got called to the price table.

I'll be posting some pictures but first a few comments. As in recent years, this was another "year of the kid" where young shooters shot extremely well. A 15-year-old girl posted some really fast times in the PCC event. Three or four young guys in the 19-23 range got the walk or multiple walks to the prize table. one of them won the JP Rifles PCC Shootoff and walked away with a new JP carbine! Young eyes, fast reflexes and taking it seriously definitely help. And yet...... most of the old dogs with decades of experience also do well, simply because they've done it so much! Watching Patrick Sweeney shoot the shotgun event with a nearly-stock Rem 1100 in 3.9 seconds always amazes-- and he did not win the event with that time, I believe it was won with a 3.6! That event is you and your shotgun, eight rounds of (usually) double-ought buck, and eight pins that have to be cleared off the table at 25'. The time stops when the last pin hits the ground, not at your last shot. The preferred load is the excellent S&B 12-pellet, non-magnum load.... "non magnum" perhaps, but not "low recoil". "How can you miss at 25' with a shotgun," some may ask. All I can say is, try doing it .1 second faster than the next guy and you will see, it is entirely possible. And also possible to knock one over and not off. That means a quick reload for a ninth round, all the while knowing you can't win with a miss and a reload, but also that your second-fastest time will be your tie breaker. And also knowing that a tie breaker with a reload in it is not a good tie breaker!

LMT Shooter (OP), this OK with you or would you prefer I start a new thread?

Edit: I've never attempted to post a vid before, let's see if this works. "The Kid" in the shotgun event, in slow-mo. I took it with my Android, it plays back slow on the phone but not on my computer. Let's see:


OK, that didn't work, here are some new YouTubes:
https://www.youtube.com/@nedchristiansen3105