quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
Hey, it can be a feature !



I even got to shoot my 870 some, which always brings a smile to my face...we need to incorporate a shotgun into the postal match sometime!

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Shotguns!

Potential Match Description not red font yet, because logistics might not be feasible for everyone.

Eight bowling pins one foot from the back edge of the target table at 25 feet. One bowling pin space between pins.

Maximum 8 rounds (#5 shot or larger, not steel shot, , buckshot permitted) in shotgun, or reduced to the same as the competitor with smallest magazine tube capacity. Unlimited reloads at hand (side saddle, pockets, pouch, on a shooting table.)

least time in seconds from starting beep to the shot that knocks the last pin off the table. (All pins must hit the ground).

Of course this requires shotguns, #5 of larger lead shotshells, a target table, a timer, and um... well, 8 used bowling pins.

I'm good on all of those things, except the bowling pins. If we can find a reasonable substitute, I'm down!

Heeyyyyyyyyy, I just had an epiphany!

Maybe we could use standard size and shape 2 Liter plastic bottles filled with water rather than bowling pins.

Probably smaller and easier to find shot sizes would be safe to use, as well.

Thing is, bowling pins are re-usable many times.

Handicap, pumpguns or leverguns get one free shot before timer starts to be fair (heh, heh, heh) against semi autos.

Where did you get your bowling pins? Do bowling alleys just give out the old ones? Maybe I could stop by and ask. If not, 2 liters could be a fun alternative...and pretty spectacular in effect, too, I'd imagine!

Our club gets them for scheduled matches, probably from local bowling alley.

Not sure aboout $$$.

Well, I stopped by the local bowling alley, and he was able to get me 7 at $2 apiece, but that was all the old ones he had. So if we can run the drill with 7 or less, I'm in!

I also have some old chunks of 4x4 and 4x6 in the garage, so I could probably sub one of those in if you'd prefer.

I just spoke With someone at a bowling alley near me. They said that the old pins usually get thrown out. Then he said that they also sell them if they have any for $10 each. Two liter bottles would probably make more sense. Filled with sand, they could probably take more hits.

My friend and I go to an outdoor range here every other Friday. We always bring some things to shoot at beside the orange ball, tumbling groundhog, etc. we bring gallon or half gallon plastic bottles. Usually, there will be a large bottle like a laundry detergent, jug, or something that is filled with water. Once in a while, it’s relaxing to shoot something other than a bull’s-eye. Each lane is about 40 x 75 ft. with concrete walls on both sides.

Maybe we could get unopened cans of Bud Light, really cheap.

It would certainly solve the uniformity of target problem.

If we shake them up hard before shooting, the visuals would be spectacular and the air would smell pretty good.

What about maybe using bottles of water. A half liter bottle at Costco costs around 12¢. ($4.99 for 40 bottles.

A bowling pin is 8.5 lbs.

8.8 lbs of water = 4 liters.

A two liter bottle of water is only half the mass of a standard bowling pin.

So do we want to make this one official? I'm kind of excited to try it. Maybe use bowling pins if you have them, or some reasonably-close substitute if you don't? I honestly don't really care about "winning"...I just want to give it a go with my 870 and my A300 to see what kind of difference the semi-auto makes on the clock compared to the pump.

I also have some really horrible cheap buckshot that patterns super-wide at 7 yards. I want to shoot it with some of that and see how many pins it'll knock down per shot compared to Federal LE 9-pellet. Somebody brought that cheap stuff to the range the other day and it would barely stay on silhouette at 10 yards, while the Federal load was basically one tennis-ball-sized hole at the same range out of the same gun. I'm curious about how easy it will be to make hits with a poor pattern compared to the "almost slug" of the Federal load, and what the energy delivery will be like if you just "wing" a pin with a pellet or two.

I'm working a bunch again this week, and hopefully doing a short backpacking trip over the coming weekend, but I'm sure I can find a way to squeeze in a few hours at the range to shoot this.

I might be able to shoot bowling pins Saturday.

Pins in a row one foot from back of table at least one pin width apart.

David, anything you can arrange. Sand bottles, maybe scrap 4x4 sections from lumberyard?
This one is for satisfaction not prize money.

IDPA, Smallbore, Steel Challenge, Trap&Skeet 3Gun, etc.

All are fun but there is something especially viscerally gratifying in taking bowling pins off the table with a shotgun.

Edited again: To reduce the target count to 7 pins or equivalent, so 92fstech won't get all uppity& such if the rest of us are setting up eight pins. Aight?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RichardC,

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:
A bowling pin is 8.5 lbs.

I believe you are mistaken. According to this, a regulation pin weighs 3 pounds, 6 ounces:
https://bowling.zone/how-much-...a-bowling-pin-weigh/

I have often carried a box of 10 pins and would have clearly remembered if they'd weighed 85 pounds.

One thing that might be important to be aware of when shooting at bowling pins with a shotgun is that I believe small shot might ricochet or even bounce back dangerously. That's just speculation, but it seems possible with their hard plastic coatings.

Well, you're right, I found that '8.5 lbs 'online somewhere but I cannot recover it now.

I am also pretty sure they gain weight during matches and weigh a good bit more than 3lbs 6ounces after being in die Scheiss geschossen with rimfire, centerfire and shot shell loads.

It never occurred to me to weigh them before and after, but that might be good for a few giggles.

"One thing that might be important to be aware of when shooting at bowling pins with a shotgun is that I believe small shot might ricochet or even bounce back dangerously. That's just speculation, but it seems possible with their hard plastic coatings." <---- That's why #5 or larger and no steel shot is specified.

All I've got is 00 buck, so that shouldn't be a problem here.

Tried shooting it tonight. Shooting it was a blast, but the setup was a bit frustrating and had a bit of a buzzkill at the end.

I used these two, and Noah shot my A300 and his 870 which is basically the same as mine except it lacks the magazine extension (which we didn't use anyway) and has rifle sights instead of the front bead.



My plan was to use a piece of leftover 3/4" OSB from the subfloor project at the in-law's house and balance it on a couple of the range's plastic barrels for a table. The first pin to fall and bounce off the table knocked off three others just from the impact. So we set them up on the ground...hence our runs really don't count as we weren't able to confirm that they "fell off" the table.

First I tried the cheap "Royal Buck" that was patterning about 12" at 7 yards the other day out of another guy's Stevens shotgun. My theory was that the wider pattern might knock down more pins. Either I got a better batch of the stuff, or my 870 liked it better than his gun, because aiming between two pins I would clean miss both of them. This indicated a much tighter pattern than he was getting.

My A300 only holds 4 rounds, so we used that as the loading limit.

My time with the 870 was 15.94 (first four rounds in 2.90 seconds, 11.19 seconds for the reload, and then 1.85 seconds for the last three shots). I reloaded from the pocket for this one, and immediately realized that was a mistake...I held three rounds in my left hand for my other run to avoid having to go back into the pocket).

Noah's 870 time was 18.10 Seconds (first four rounds in 4.01 seconds, 6.53 seconds for the reload, and 7.56 seconds for the last three. He fumbled one).

My A300 time was 12.06 Seconds (First four in 2.53 seconds, 8.56 for the reload, and 0.97 seconds for the last three shots).

Noah's A300 time was 23.32. It would have been 12.17 but he missed the last pin and had to load another shell. His first four were in 2.71, 8.73 for the reload, then 0.73 for the next three with a miss and finally the second reload brought him to 23.32.

The semi-auto was definitely faster shooting (2.53 vs 2.90 and 0.97 vs 1.85), but if I'd been allowed to use it to it's full potential, the extended magazine tube on the 870 would have definitely made it faster overall. I guess the real answer is a semi-auto with an extended tube .

While we were packing up the club president came by. He didn't seem too impressed with our choice of targets. He didn't outright forbid me from shooting them...in fact he told me the club has some more somewhere. But he did tell me that a member has broken his jaw in the past from a ricocheted .45 off of a bowling pin. I didn't see any evidence of ricochet while we were shooting, but I may switch to the 4x4 blocks if we try it again.

That 12 ga sure does fling those pins, though, and it was fun while we were shooting them!

Not being a shotgunner I've left this one to the crazies. Speaking of crazies, how long do your pin setters last? Not that I'm looking for a part time job.

quote:

Originally posted by DBGarlikov:
Not being a shotgunner I've left this one to the crazies. Speaking of crazies, how long do your pin setters last? Not that I'm looking for a part time job.

David, we go through pinsetters about as fast as we go through target pasters at IDPA matches.

Around here, low score gets to reset the pins and hold the targets. Don't be that guy!