Bowling Pin Matches

[itento]

Our club is putting on a variety of "speciality matches" this year as fund raisers. We'll be shooting different types of matches (black powder, bullseye, etc) each month to keep things interesting and to give our local members a chance to get exposed to "other" types of shooting.

One of the matches will be a bowling pin match and I'm responsible for putting it together. In order to make sure it conforms to some set of accepted standards, I'm seaking input and links that might help. I've tried to link to the International Pin Shooters Association but kept getting a "site not available". Tried a google on pin shooting and got several clubs and and some good articles but not much on "standards or rules". One of the things I'm looking for is table specifications: shelf or no shelf, size, materials, etc.

One of the things I want to aviod someone wanting to place pins on the back edge of the table because they shoot 9mm and the .45 cal guys crying foul. Don't mind having different classes, but would like some established standards. Might want to have these as a monthly club match and I rather start off right.

[Alan550]

We ran some of those at our club and used a 4X6 foot table made of solid oak 2 x 6s. We set the pins on the front edge for "major" pistols, in the middle for "mid" calibers such as .38 spec and 9mm, and put them on the back for rimfire .22s. Gave each shooter 5 runs at the table, threw out the slowest time and added the other 4 for score. It makes for a really fun match, but you have to have the tables stable so some joker doesn't show up with a .44 Mag, rock the table on the first shot and clean it!

Alan~^~

[claude]

We have a table made from a sheet of 1/4" steel with round pipe for legs. The legs are set in concrete. This is a very sturdy set-up. The table is thin so striking the edge allmost never happens. Paint marks the pin locations for fast resets. We only use two sets, one on the back for .22 and one on the front for every thing else. We found that the 9s will knock the pins off if hit dead center and are not too heavy. Also I suggest the vulcan pins as they last longer than the others.

What kind of times are you guys shooting? We shoot at 10 yards with guns in hand starting on a table. 5 pins in 2.48 with .22 has been a good time here.

[geezer-lock]

Also I suggest the vulcan pins as they last longer than the others.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I did not know until recently what a huge difference there is in the different manufactures pins. Apparently (you bowlers help me out here) the weight and the location of the weight determines the “pin action”. What we discovered by accident is that some brands of pins are very solid (maple?) and others are a laminated (oak or ash) construction with holes drilled in them. The solid pins will take many hits before coming apart. The drilled laminated pins will split with one good hit from a 9mm.

geezer

[Carlos]

I used to have a book on the "sport" called "Hit the White Part" - and there was once a website that had the official rules. These days, there are no longer set "rules". At one time, the tables were steel & quite deep with pins set at the front edge. Making sure the pins made it completely off the table meant that loads BEGAN at old major & went up from there with an emphasis on heavy bullets.

Before the advent of inexpensive shot timers, they used stop watches & time ended when the pin hit the ground rather than the last shot (which added a lot of drama to rolling pins - - would it fall?). Lost that book & website years ago. D.

[iainmcphersn]

I used to have a book on the "sport" called "Hit the White Part" - and there was once a website that had the official rules. These days, there are no longer set "rules". At one time, the tables were steel & quite deep with pins set at the front edge. Making sure the pins made it completely off the table meant that loads BEGAN at old major & went up from there with an emphasis on heavy bullets.

Before the advent of inexpensive shot timers, they used stop watches & time ended when the pin hit the ground rather than the last shot (which added a lot of drama to rolling pins - - would it fall?). Lost that book & website years ago. D.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Massad Ayoob wrote "Hit the White Part". It's available on his site, Ayoob.com

[Round_Gun_Shooter]

Carmoney sent me these a while back

http://www.sportshooter.com/compete/dro_pinshooting.htm

http://www.womenshooters.com/archive/old09...e/pins0901.html

Regards,

[acolt45]

Pin Shooting = Great Fun - Second Chance was a Blast

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My shooting info of current/past events below: http://www.fortunecity.com/millenium/redwood/306/uspsa.html

Bill's Shooting Information Detroit area 2005

This page also contains a link to some videos of pin shooting and Match Stages from the past.

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IPSA Pin Rules Link below: http://members.fortunecity.com/bills_heart/pfpins/pinrules.html

Bowling Pin Information rules

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enjoy

[Carmoney]

Mitchell Ota also wrote a good book on pin-shooting, with an introduction by Richard Davis.

It is no longer in print, but if you can obtain a copy, it's a fun read and has some pretty useful information for pin-shooting.

(Has anybody heard from Ota recently?)

Mike

[driver8M3]

One of the things I want to aviod someone wanting to place pins on the back edge of the table because they shoot 9mm and the .45 cal guys crying foul.  Don't mind having different classes, but would like some established standards.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

in my (limited) experience, 9mm just does not reliably take a pin off the front of a table. with "major" and "minor" divisions, nobody should care if the pins are placed farther back for 9mm. on the other hand, if you insist on the same pin setup for everyone (front of table) the 9mm guys wont have much fun...and likely wont return.

[Patrick Sweeney]

The classic setup would be separate events; the major guys get five pins, set so they are three feet from the back edge. The Minor guys get nine pins, set six inches from the back edge. The .22LR guys get nine pins, set flush with the back edge. Let them choose which to enter, depending on what gun they have. Let them enter all three, with the first two with same or different guns if they wish. (Only .22LR on the .22LR event.)

As for timing, use an electronic timer. The table is not clear until the last pin hits the ground. If you quit with deadwood, its 15 seconds for the table. If it takes four seconds of shooting, and ten seconds of rolling, but the pins all roll off, its four seconds. If the shooter wants to "bet" that his pins will roll off and stops shooting, that's is decision. But if they don't, and he has to shoot again, he gets the extra time.

It works out that most shooters keep shooting until the pins are clear, and you get the very rare occasion where someone shoots five shots and stops, and the pins finally roll clear.

[Carlos]

Driver8M3 is right; if you use a regulation steel table w/ pins only at the front, 9x19 won't work & you loose too many new shooters.

A better way is to divide an informal match into Major & Minor (though being informal, you should do so without a chrono).

An indoor pin match north of here in Timonium, MD, uses transportable wood tables on saw horses with pins at the front for major (.45, .357, 10mm, and .40) while the pins for Minor are set in the middle of the table (Minor = 9mm, .38 special, .32, etc.). If I remember the last pin shoot they had set up down in the basement of NRA's HQ here in VA, they also set some pins 1/2 way back on the table to accomodate a shooter who shows up with a 9mm handgun. The Minor pins do not have very far to travel after being struck & solid hits with decent Minor loads will generally take them off the table (& keep the new shooters coming back).

There is an additional Division for .22 @ Timonium that uses just the pin tops. Another option for .22 is to use full sized pins set at the very back edge of the table; a .22 will tip over a pin w/o problem. Regards,

D.C. Johnson

[otasan]

Mitchell Ota also wrote a good book on pin-shooting, with an introduction by Richard Davis. 

It is no longer in print, but if you can obtain a copy, it's a fun read and has some pretty useful information for pin-shooting. 

(Has anybody heard from Ota recently?)

Mike

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Alive and well in Lebanon, NH, still shooting pins at a very small pin-shooting market in New England.

Boy, do I miss Second Chance!!

[Wim]

http://www.tirsportif.com/REGLES/ipsarules.htm#Anchor-Eight

Good pics of tables and pin set ups