Bowling Pin Revo

[SIGcurious]

Anyone shoot pins?  The discussion in a recent thread that touched on pin guns got me thinking ... if you were to build a dedicated pin revo, what would it be?

[Bill Sahlberg]

I shot pins for years! Best revolver is a S&W 625 45acp using 230 gr JHPs as they are powerful enough to take the pin clear off the table.

 

Aim center of pin belly to get your widest & best hit

Edited December 17, 2023 by Bill Sahlberg
Added info

[Joe4d]

depends on the rule set ,, seems everyone has a bit different rules which can make a big difference.
Game I shot, revolver division, was 5 pins 1 foot from rear of tables.. I used a 7 shot, loaded with  Penn bullets softer lead 180 gr wide flat noses in 357 cases,, Tried a couple different powders but loaded them to about 800 IIRC..  most guys were using 148 dewc,,, and you could really tell the difference how much better my 180's worked between the weights and the lower Brinnel hardness.
For a dedicated ? under that rules set Id go with an 8 shot 5 or 6"...  If rule set is front of tables Id go with 200 gr if I could find them.. Penn bullets owner passed away recently and was my supplier. He knew alot about bowling pins and best loads.. 

Wish there was pins near me,, was a fun game I really enjoyed. When I moved to Kansas I shot a couple SC matches as its kinda similar,, but thats still 2 hours and on same day as the only ICORE.. 

[DougCarden]

My favorite Revo for pins was my 8 3/8 Mo. 27 with a Baumanize 7 shot cylinder.  We shot 230 full wadcutter logs out of 38 special cases at 950fps.  That was the shizzle.  Next up was the 625 with either 255 or 230 grain bullets.  The 90s were the heyday for Pins.  Second Chance, the Dixon range in Waterloo, IA, Topton,PA, Ontelaunee, PA, and Garden City, KS were some of my favorite matches.  

[perttime]

If the pins need to move some distance, heavy bullets help. Some diameter cannot hurt either.

 

I recall that back in the 90's people were talking about bullets that grab the pin. There may well be a difference in how a round nose vs. wadcutter vs. JHP brings a pin down.

[Squirrel45]

627 V Comp with 230s going around 1000' . 

[Toolguy]

I built a 44 Auto Mag revolver for pins, the one in my avatar. It's too small to see much, but a 44 Mag on moon clips with Wichita Rib, 2 port slab barrel, underlug, action job, trigger guard hook. I was shooting 300 gr. bullets at 920 fps. That is a 275 power factor. That one will take off 2 pins lying down together in one shot. I was running around 4 to 5 second times with it,  about the middle of the pack in the group I shot with.

[shred]

I used a 6.5" 610 with Golden Saber BJHPs loaded medium-hot for local man-on-man pins (smaller table than 2nd Chance).  Worked well for that in the late 90s.

 

Fun pin trivia I still remember- the circumference of a regulation bowling pin at the fat part is the same as the overall height.

 

[revoman]

If my memory serves me right a 230 grain bullet called the log out of a 38 special case with I think 11 grains of Blue Dot. Shot with my 6” S&W 586

[NV Guide]

I use a super redhawk 44 mag

240 gr truncated cone at 950 ish

 

we shoot man on man with pins at front of table. So truncated cone for faster reloads

[DougCarden]

Depending on the bullet maker on the 230 logs it was 6.8grains for the deep seated ones and the longer R&R OAL bullets were in the mid- 7s for Blue Dot from my notes......Your loads may vary so Chrono one before loading the box up!

[ColoradoNick]

My local pin match “anything goes” as far as gun choice. The pins are set about a foot from the edge and there is 6 pins at 10 yards and a start or stop pin (depending on the rules that day) at 15 yards.

 

If you aren’t clearing the table in under 3.5 seconds you aren’t competitive. There are about a half a dozen guys capable of winning any given Thursday and they all shoot 9mm semi-auto with a red dot. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone show up with a revolver. My uspsa ammo works just fine. 

Edited December 28, 2023 by ColoradoNick

[gnappi]

The two local pin matches I went to were basically the same... 5 pins one foot from rear, 15 yards, any caliber / capacity the first shooter to clear the table won.

 

My S&W 625 .45 and 610 10mm both did well (as did my 10mm 1911) and ColoradoNick is right if you didn't clear the table in under 3.5 seconds or so, you lost

 

 

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by gnappi

[Toolguy]

When I was shooting pins, there were 5 pins on a 4 x 8 foot table, set one foot from the front. You had to move them 3 feet back to go off. No 9mm would work for that.

Edited December 30, 2023 by Toolguy

[Joe4d]

yeh sitting on the back of the table isnt really pins,, 

 

[ColoradoNick]

12 minutes ago, Joe4d said:

yeh sitting on the back of the table isnt really pins,, 

 

I think it is now… ranges need people to show up to make money and hold a pin match. I think you can shoot pins 4-5 days a week in the Denver area every week if you want to. Not a single one runs their match like the ways of old 

[Boomstick303]

Who knew there were enough revolver shooters in one area to hold such a match????

[Toolguy]

Spoken like a true bottomfeeder shooter...

[GrumpyOne]

5 hours ago, Toolguy said:

When I was shooting pins, there were 5 pins on a 4 x 8 foot table, set one foot from the front. You had to move them 3 feet back to go off. No 9mm would work for that.

We actually have some old maple bowling lane. We would set 10 pins up, exactly as they would be set up in a bowling alley. It was quite funny to watch new shooters hit the first pin (point of the triangle), knock them all down, and have them interlock on each other. Trick was start at the backnleft or right, get those off the table, then move to the front ones. A regular 9mm would just rock the pins back and forth once they interlocked. 

[ColoradoNick]

10 hours ago, Boomstick303 said:

Who knew there were enough revolver shooters in one area to hold such a match????

[EEH]

On 12/17/2023 at 1:33 PM, DougCarden said:

My favorite Revo for pins was my 8 3/8 Mo. 27 with a Baumanize 7 shot cylinder.  We shot 230 full wadcutter logs out of 38 special cases at 950fps.  That was the shizzle.  Next up was the 625 with either 255 or 230 grain bullets.  The 90s were the heyday for Pins.  Second Chance, the Dixon range in Waterloo, IA, Topton,PA, Ontelaunee, PA, and Garden City, KS were some of my favorite matches.  

That’s about where mine were, 230 gr. Lincoln logs. But had to watch overall length, they were long

[gargoil66]

On 12/17/2023 at 6:36 AM, SIGcurious said:

Anyone shoot pins?  The discussion in a recent thread that touched on pin guns got me thinking ... if you were to build a dedicated pin revo, what would it be?

Revolver for pins....

 

For me it would be of a caliber I knew would do the job and a revolver of which I have the most confidence shooting.

 

I have two that would work for me.  A 625 shooting a 225 or 230 grain truncated cone lead bullet or a M-29 with some 240 grain SWC's.  Both in the 800 to 900 fps  arena.  I shot my V Comp with those 230 grain wadcutters and did not think they performed as well as a larger diameter bullet, particularly when the pin got full of lead and was splitting.

 

I was not a serious pin shooter in the 80's and 90's although I enjoyed it once in a while.  Shot pins last about eight months ago.  Had fun but it is too problematic once the pins get shot up and filled with lead.  Then you got to use a bigger hammer.

 

GG

 

 

 

[donno]

Dedicated for pins? Short, fat, round seems to work everytime

[GrumpyOne]

12 hours ago, gargoil66 said:

Had fun but it is too problematic once the pins get shot up and filled with lead.  Then you got to use a bigger hammer.

 

GG

 

 

 

When they get to that stage, we call them porcupines. 

 

A 610 with 180gr flat nose will take them off the table pretty good.

[Joe4d]

why I showed up early to help set up, shot in first squad with my revolver,,, 3rd squad I shot my 6" 1911  with 255's.  and thats only because I didnt know Fusion had 7" slides and barrels.