Bowling pin shooting is a shooting sport (primarily for handguns) in which the competitors race against one another to knock standard bowling pins from a table in the shortest elapsed time. Pin shooting is often described as one of the most enjoyable shooting games and one of the easiest means of introducing a new shooter into regular competitive shooting. Pinshooting appeals to both genders. There are many female pinshooters and many distinguished female pinshooters.
Bowling pin shooting began with Richard Davis, the inventor of soft, concealable body armor. He first sold exclusively to law enforcement, but the resistance to something so obviously "wrong" was great. He used bowling pins as targets. he would borrow an officer's sidearm, shoot himself on the vest, then turn and shoot the bowling pins. This, to demonstrate that he was not stunned, shocked, or otherwise incapacitated.
Rules and History
The origins were thus dramatic, but unsuited for a competition. The match that did come about quickly evolved to a state suitable for competition, but never stopped changing. In the arena of bowling pin shooting, you will have two historical sets of rules. the "Second Chance" rules, those in use at the annual match, and the local rules that were due to local equipment, conditions or gear.
Depending on the caliber of handgun used and the table employed, the pins must be knocked backwards up to 3 feet (0.91 m) to be knocked clear of the table and onto the ground. The pin shooting tables typically consist of one of the following varieties:
- 3 pins placed on a waist high table, with 2 additional pins placed on a second tier over the others at each end, forming a crude "U."
- 5 pins placed on a flat 4 ft. by 8 ft. table, with the pins being placed 3 ft. from the back edge, or 1 ft. rear of the front edge.
Pin shooting is conducted with both revolvers and semi-automatic pistols in calibers ranging from .22 Long Rifle to .480 Ruger, and others. Bowling pin competition is often recognized to be a big-bore event in which large caliber or high-power handguns such as the .357 Magnum, 10mm, .41 Magnum, .44 Magnum, .45 ACP, .45 Colt and other large-bore handguns have the greatest advantage in removing the pins from the table. Frequently, no allowance is made for shooters who shoot lower-power handguns, though some range officers may permit the distance to the back of the table be reduced to 2 ft for "minor" calibers like 9mm Luger and .38 Special so that these "minor" calibers can approximate head-to-head equivalency with "major" calibers. While handloaded ammunition is regularly employed among pinshooters, it is considered a serious breach of etiquette and sportsmanship for a shooter of a "minor" caliber to handload "minor" ammunition to levels approaching "major" calibers, thus taking unfair advantage of a rule intended to allow novice shooters to participate. Shooters who shoot "hot" "minor" ammunition should declare such to the range officer and shoot targets from the regular pin placement.
Some ranges conduct centerfire handgun competition based on class. When classes are employed, three classes often are recognized: revolver, stock, and pin gun. Magazine capacity may limited to 8 rounds in most competitions in which magazine-fed guns compete only against magazine-fed guns. In events where revolvers compete with magazine-fed guns, magazines are restricted to seven shots, out of respect for the customary six-shot revolver cylinder. The "pin gun class" is for highly advanced, often very expensive "race guns" in which almost all manner of enhancement is allowed, including optical sights (generally red dot sights) and compensators.
The pins are placed far enough away from each other that they are unlikely to interact when hit, so a separate shot is needed to down each pin. The broad spacing and different levels make it challenging to move from target to target. Indirect hits will result in pins lying on their sides on the table in a situation known as "deadwood," where multiple shots may be required to clear the pin from the table. "Deadwood" is further complicated in that one deadwood pin may be lying next to another deadwood pin, interfering with a clear path to knocking either deadwood pin from the table.
Generally, .22 Long Rifle competitions shoot the tops of the pins, known as "pin-tops," which are lighter and more easily knocked down by the light, comparatively low energy bullets. Occasionally, a .22 match may be shot by placing pins at the very back of the table so that the comparatively light .22 hit will still knock the pin off the table. Some matches are also shot with a semiautomatic or pump shotgun, firing buckshot. As shotgun rounds quickly disintegrate the pins, such matches are customarily reserved for the end of a match, when a supply of pins unfit for handgun matches may be put to final utility.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Types of Competition
Bracket-style
"Bracket-style" is shot in pairs of shooters. Each shooter will have his or her own table of pins, and the winner of the round is the shooter whose entire obligation of pins hits the ground first. Pins that are merely in flight do not count until they hit the ground.
"Bracket-style" is similar to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, in which shooters are paired against one another, with the round winner advancing to the next level, until an overall match winner is determined. Matches conducted along such lines are tremendously exciting, as a top shooter may fumble, pause or have a momentary equipment failure, allowing a lesser shooter to claim the round. "Bracket-style" competitions often contain a concurrent "losers' bracket," where the losers in the "winners' bracket" compete for a lesser bracket win. "Bracket style" has sometimes been referred to as a "gun drag race."
Timed Some ranges conduct matches in a timed format, where a shooter clears three tables in an observed time, and the averages of the three tables are computed in a simple mean. The shooter with the overall fastest average wins the match.
King of the Hill Two shooters conduct a round. The winner shoots against a new shooter, though a sixth pin is added to the winner's table, while the challenger shoots the regular five pins. If the winner takes the subsequent round, a seventh pin is added to the winner's table, until such time as a challenger will be able to clear five pins than the King's ever-growing allotment. When the King of the Hill is beaten, the challenger becomes the new King, and a sixth pin is added, and the round continues until the participants arrive at a stopping point. Magazine restrictions are typically removed for King of the Hill matches.
Central lake
Tables
The original tables were steel-topped, with the top surface four feet by eight feet, with the wide side towards the shooter. The transitional tables and the final-design tables were wider; fifteen feet, with three, five-foot bays in each. The bays had small shelves on either side, two feet above the tabletop. The bays were completely separated from each other. The final design used a complete shelf across each bay.
Pin settings
For most events, the pins were placed at the "Main Event" setting. that is, one foot from the front edge of the table, and thus three feet from the back edge. It required a solid hit, form a substantial load, to derive them off. the accepted standard was measured in "Power Factor." Take the bullet weight in grains (7,000 to the pound) and multiply it by the velocity, in feet per second. Drop the last three digits. A 200 grain bullet, going 1,000 fps, multiplies to 200,000. Drop the three zeroes, and you have a PF of 200. The generally accepted minimum PF for sufficient power to cleanly remove pins in the Five-pin set was 195. Anything less, and you would risk too much "deadwood", that is, pins left rolling on the tabletop, not pushed off to the ground. Common calibers for pistols were .45 ACP and 10mm (later, very stoutly loaded .40 S&W). 9mm could not do it, and the .38 Super was felt by many to be marginal. Common revolver cartridges were .357 Magnum (.38 Special had no chance whatsoever) .41 Magnum, .44 Special, .45 ACP and .45 Colt.
The other "set" was the Nine-Pin set, where the pins were placed one foot from the back edge. Simply tipping them over was sufficient, as long as they were tipped straight back. .380 Auto and 9mm were common here, but some competitors used .40 and even .45, loaded light-enough to be 9mm equivalent.
Scoring
Total time. The time began in the blank going off, and ended when the last pin hit the ground. At Central Lake, the earthen bank close behind the tables was close enough that a well-struck pin would hit the backstop before hitting the ground. When that happened, time ended with the hit on the backstop, not the ground. Shooters sufficiently skilled would endeavor to hit their last pin a second time, in the air, to drive it into the backstop and shave a tenth of a second or two off their run time.
Events
Each competition was known as an Event, with the Main Event being Five-pin. Competitors had to shoot their Main Event before they could enter any of the Optional Events on the Front Range.
Five-Pin, the Main Event
Five pins. In the original, they were evenly spaced across the eight-foot table. In the transitional and final tables, they would have five pins, "three down and two up" in each of the three bays. That is, three pins on the tabletop, with two pins on the outside of those, on the upper shelf. The pins were set one foot from the front edge of the table, and thus three feet from the back edge. The pins were 25 feet from the rail. Competitors would shoot three tables of five pins, one at a time, for time. Then, everyone would unload, the pinsetters would go forward and re-set the pins, and competitors would prepare (without handling firearms) for the next set of three. The second set of three tables would complete their Main Event. Scoring of the main Event was as follows; the total of your five fastest runs would be added together for your match standing. Lowest time wins. The sixth time, your worst run, was your tie-breaker. Example: two shooters both post a five-table total of 25 seconds. Whoever of them has the fastest sixth run is the winner. Tables were timed to a tenth of a second, on stop watches, averaged amongst the five timers.
Main Event equipment rules
Pistols could have not more than eight rounds at the start. Pistols had to reload if they ran dry. Revolvers could hold any number of rounds. Also, revolver shooters were permitted a "New York Reload." This was simply dropping the empty revolver and drawing/picking up off the rail a second revolver. Revolvers were surprisingly competitive in the Main Event, winning it outright as much as pistols did.
Main Event Variants
There were, by the end, three categories; Pin Gun, Stock Gun and Space Gun. Pin guns were pistols and revolvers that had muzzle brakes or compensators on them, Stock guns did not have brakes or comps, and Space guns had both brake/comps and a red-dot sight.
Optional Events
Once a competitor had shot their Main Event (one, two or all three, depending on how many a competitor had entered) they could enter "The Optionals". These were scored not by totals, but by single best table. Depending on the rules from year to year, you could enter each Optional only a dozen times, twenty, or as many as your wallet could withstand. Your best single run was your score, with your second-best being your tie-breaker. You would enter and pay for Optionals in sets of three, to match the schedule of the main Event shooters. Some Optionals came and went, and some were evergreen. Only the longest-running ones will be explained, as they will be the ones you will see at a local, or club, match.
9-Pin
Nine pins, one foot from the back of the table. On the flat tables, this was 9 pins in eight feet. In the later tables, it was nine pins in five feet of space. Simply tip them off the back of the table, faster than anyone else.
8-Pin
This was revolvers only, and also revolvers that had to be reloaded. The flat-table set was eight straight across, on the later tables it was four up and four down, evenly spaced. Shoot six pins, reload, shoot until the rest were off the table.
Two-man
Unlike the first pair of Optionals, the Two-man event used the whole array, all three bays at once. On the flat tables, it was all three tables. On the later tables, the entire fifteen-foot table would have pins on both shelves and two "crown" pins, on the posts between the bays. This would be 21 or 23 pins, depending on the year. They would be five-pin set, three feet from the back, and Main Event rules prevailed. Pin gun or Stock gun, no Space gun.
Mixed Doubles
One woman, one man. Otherwise the same as Two-man, in pin set, and gun rules.
Three Man
This used the two-man/mixed doubles table set, but one shooter used a pump shotgun, one shooter used a self-loading shotgun, and one used a handgun (Main Event handgun rules as above). Shotguns could not hold more than eight rounds at the start, and buckshot was required. (No slugs, no birdshot.)
Individual shotgun
This was the 8-pin set, with eight-shot shotguns. It eventually split into pump and auto categories, as pumps simply could not keep up with autos. (Those who doubt, or quote competitors who say they can run a pump as fast as any autoloader, note this; the record time for a pump was one full second slower than the auto record. Year after year, the one-second difference held.)
LRPF
The Light rifle Pop and Flop was centerfire rifles on falling steel pins, from 45 to 90 yards. .22 Magnums were allowed, and pistol-caliber carbines permitted, but were not commonly seen before the 21st century. The common rifle was an AR, it would have a scope or red-dot optic on it, and a muzzle brake.
BCBC
Banzai Charge Bang and Clang, this was shotguns, using slugs, on falling steel plates, again from 45 to 90 yards. While complained about as fragile, the common shotgun then was a Remington 1100, 12 gauge, with a scope or red-dot, and very many porting holes to dampen felt recoil.
Curiosities, social requirements, and other extra information on Central Lake
Competitors were divided into two categories, by demonstrated performance: Master Blasters and Ordinary Standard Shooters. All competitors, on their first appearance, were OSS. This was the rule regardless of where they had shot before, or what they had won outside of bowling pins. One was promoted to MB only by winning a Main Event (OSS and MB competed for separate prize tables, and with separate scores, in the Main Event) or winning an Optional. That is, the top scorer in the Main Event, OSS Pin Gun, OSS Stock Gun and OSS Space Gun would each become an MB for the "next year". The top OSS in an Optional might, depending on how close he/she placed to the winner, almost always an MB. If they won an Optional outright, they were an MB for the next year. They remained an OSS for the duration of that year's match.
This mattered because MB and OSS, in the Optionals, alternated to the prize table. Top scorer was first. Second up was the top scorer in the other category (MB or OSS) and alternating until the prizes were gone. So, the top OSS could be 10th, 12th or more, on the list, but would pick prizes second, being an OSS.
This also mattered for team events. Teams could only have one MB. So, a heavy-hitter MB would search out the hot OSS for that year (who would himself become an MB next year, but not be one yet) to shoot the Two-man. This also was the case for three-man team. However, Master Blasters could be "split" or "dual". A hot performance with a handgun could make one a handgun MB, (HGMB) but still be a long gun OSS. An HGMB, shooting a shotgun in the Three-man, didn't count against the Team's MB limit. An LGMB, shooting the handgun, also would not count. It was possible to assemble a team, every member of which was an MB, but still be allowed. That would be: HGMB (shotgun), LGMB (handgun) Dual MB (both LGMB and HGMB, a real heavy hitter) on the other shotgun.
Mixed Doubles
There were not as many women shooting as men who wanted to win prizes. A woman who could handle her half of a two-person team was much sought-after. If a woman had already shot in, and gotten onto the prize table, in a Mixed Double entry, she was not under any obligation to form another team. If you asked, and she said no, that was it. If, on the other hand, she said yes, it was up to you to pay her entry fee for the team you would form. It was considered a nice gesture to offer ammo replacement, for the ammo she would shoot, but you would have to pay her entry fee. If you did not, she would not pay, you two would not shoot, and no-one would join a team with you, in any other event. (The joys of social ostracism.)
Course of Fire
Safety is the first concern in a pin event, and the authority of the range officer is inviolate. Shooters are absolutely required to obey the range officer at all times.
The shooters are called to their stations, referred to as "the line." Guns are to be cased or holstered until otherwise permitted by the range officer. There is no limit to the amount of ammunition, magazines or speedloaders that a shooter may bring to the line.
In conducting a round, the range officer gives the following commands:
"Shooters may take an unloaded sight picture." At this point, guns may be removed from cases and holsters, and shooters are allowed to aim their unloaded guns at the target to ready themselves for fire.
"Shooters may load and make ready." At this point, shooters load their guns and array their magazines or speedloaders for fast reloading. Shooters are not allowed to point their loaded guns at the target while awaiting permission to fire. Muzzles must be kept at a 45 degree downward angle, or the muzzle may be rested on the shooting station. The shooter's finger must not be on the trigger.
"Ready on the right?" Right shooter nods approval or states that he or she is not ready to commence fire.
"Ready on the left?" Left shooter nods approval or states that he or she is not ready to commence fire.
"Standby" - Shooters prepare to fire, keeping their muzzles on their stations, fingers off the trigger.
Blow of the whistle or horn - Shooters engage the pins until they have cleared their pins or the whistle or horn is blown a second time.
Second blow of the whistle or horn - Shooters immediately stop firing. The match is over, and the range officer has determined a winner.
"Unload and show clear" Shooters unload their guns, keeping the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, remaining at their stations so that the range officer can verify that the guns are unloaded and in a safe condition.
"Bag or holster." Shooters return their guns to their cases or holsters and depart the line.
"The line is clear. Go forward and reset targets." After a round, shooters who were not on the line and are not called to the line for the next round are informally expected to set the pins for the next round of shooters. Persons setting pins should examine the condition of the pin to determine if it remains satisfactory for further use.
Central Lake procedure
The commands were different at the annul match, as mentioned above. Once a shooter was assigned a set of tables (tables were in sets of three) they would walk out onto the firing line and set up their gear, but not handle a firearm.
"Make ready" The shooter would uncase their firearm, and load. They could take a sight picture at any time after this, but if they had an unintentional discharge before the start signal, they would get a maximum time for that table. The make ready command might vary, and could be a casual "Load 'em up" or other command. The following commands were as ritualized and unvarying as a religious chant.
"Shooters Ready" this was the cue that the competition would soon commence.
"Timers Ready" This alerted the timers that they were very soon going to be timing, and to get their stopwatches in hand.
"Guns on the rail" This was the start position, and each shooter had to touch the railing in front of them with their firearm. If they were not ready, they had to put the firearm down and signal the timers. If they did not do so, time began on the start signal, ready or not.
The start signal was a blank, fired into the air.
Misfires, Jams and Other Problems
If a shooter has a jam, a misfire or other condition that prevents him or her from shooting, the shooter must raise his hand to alert the range officer. The round will be allowed to proceed until the shooter who did not face equipment difficulties clears his or her table, at which point the range officer will whistle the event over.
The range officer will then approach the impaired shooter and endeavour to clear the jam or unsafe condition. The range officer may or may not release the unimpaired shooter during this inspection. While a shooter's impairment is being examined and corrected, the line is considered "hot," and no person may go forward of the line.
When the jam or unsafe condition is remedied to the range officer's satisfaction, the range officer will resume the order of commands noted above.
Central Lake
The unvarying rule at Central Lake was this; if you had a problem, you had to solve it. If the problem surfaced after the start, you either cleared it and continued, or you cleared it and accepted the maximum time for a run, 15 seconds. If you could not clear it, and the firearm remained loaded, then and only then would you prevail upon the range master to find a gunsmith, or to remove it from the line to be repaired.
There were no re-shoots, alibi runs, do-overs or any other recourse. If you stopped the timers before the blank went off, you could try again later. Once the blank went off, you had to accept the results of your run, good or bad.
The Pins
Bowling pins are often discarded by bowling alleys after a certain amount of use, at which time pin shooters collect them for use in pin shooting. Modern plastic coated bowling pins are very resilient, and can absorb many rounds before becoming too splintered or unbalanced to function as targets. Generally pins start out as targets for the centerfire handguns, then when they start to disintegrate they are saved for use as shotgun targets.
At the start of the event, or when a fresh pin is introduced, a smaller-caliber handgun may be able to remove a pin with comparable authority as a large-bore handgun. As rounds are shot, however, the pins will add weight, as the pins become filled with lead bullets. When the pins add weight, smaller-caliber handguns suffer a great disadvantage, as the smaller round loses ability to move the pin, while the large-bore guns are easily able to clear a bullet-laden pin from the table with speed and authority.
Pins that will no longer stand on their bases have their heads sawed off down to become rimfire targets for the .22 match, where the "pin tops" are engaged by the shooter. Given the very light weight of the "pin top," the .22 is quite capable of removing the target from the table with a single well-placed shot.
The Goal of Pinshooting
Pinshooting is fun, competitive, practical shooting that sharpens one's handgun skills under time pressure. While winning is the ultimate goal and obviously rewarding, all pinshooters can expect an event that will improve their skills in the company of fellow shooters who are supportive.
Further reading
- Ayoob, Massad (1982). Hit the White Part. Police Bookshelf, Concord, NH, 03302, ISBN 978-0936279015.
- Ota, Mitchell A. (1991). Pin Shooting: A Complete Guide. Wolfe Publishing Co., Prescott, AZ, 86301, ISBN 978-1879356047.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
EmoticonEmoticon