Author Topic: Bowling Pins and the 45 ACP (Read 2942 times)

jro45 · « **on:** November 09, 2007, 06:41:34 AM »

I like to shoot bowling pins with my 45 ACP. What do you guys shoot with yours?

I shoot them at 20 yds they can handle the hard ball ammo

Savage · « **Reply #1 on:** November 09, 2007, 01:57:10 PM »

Tried shooting bowling pins once. Man did that bowling alley clear out in a hurry!

Savage

williamlayton · « **Reply #2 on:** November 10, 2007, 12:25:15 AM »

Savage
Did you lose your beer privileges at the snack bar???

Blessings

Dee · « **Reply #3 on:** November 10, 2007, 08:27:20 AM »

Quote from: jro45 on November 09, 2007, 06:41:34 AM

I like to shoot bowling pins with my 45 ACP. What do you guys shoot with yours?

I shoot them at 20 yds they can handle the hard ball ammo

Try a flat nosed truncated bullet. It will work much better than hardball, on bowling pins, and critters of the two legged varity.

Cheesehead · « **Reply #4 on:** November 10, 2007, 09:47:39 AM »

Bowling pins and 45 ACP were made for each other.

Cheese

Savage · « **Reply #5 on:** November 11, 2007, 12:28:15 PM »

Quote from: williamlayton on November 10, 2007, 12:25:15 AM

Savage
Did you lose your beer privileges at the snack bar???
Blessings

Hey, William! You were there weren't you?

jro45,
Just about anything works better than hardball for me. I think my cast 200gr LSWCs would work ok. For that matter, any large hollow point or flat nose bullet should work well. I seem to remember at some time there was a bullet marketed for pins called the "Grabber". It was a hollow point as I recall, with a saw like edge around the cavity. Supposedly to eliminate bullet skid on contact with the pin.
Savage

Mikey · « **Reply #6 on:** November 11, 2007, 02:50:29 PM »

jro45: Gonna go with Dee on this one and I'm going to recommend Mag Tech's 230 gn fmj-swc. If you don't want to try that one try the Lyman 452423 if you can find a mold or someone who will ast them out for you. I tried a bit of a penetration test on a section of large telephone pole and found they traverse a nice straight line. So did the 452423 slugs. The 230 gn ball started following the path of least resistance. Mikey.

jro45 · « **Reply #7 on:** November 12, 2007, 01:02:23 AM »

I could see when the hard ball hit the bowling pin on the edge of it but it did not glance off it went threw the pin. So glancing off isn't a problem. At least not for me and the Hard Ball bullets I shoot.

44 Man · « **Reply #8 on:** November 12, 2007, 03:56:24 AM »

Hard ball will work fine but a little flat part on the nose of the bullet seems to transfer the energy a little better. If you want to clear the table, you need to hit them in the middle. To high just tips them over and too low kicks the base out from in under them and you have to shoot them again. They are a pretty tough varmit and great practice. 44 Man

KN · « **Reply #9 on:** November 12, 2007, 01:51:25 PM »

My daughter used to shoot in a 22 youth league. Kids had to be 15 or younger. One night they decided to have a little competition between the parents and kids. Man did those kids make us look BAD!!!

demented · « **Reply #10 on:** November 13, 2007, 05:54:16 PM »

Savage, the rounds you are referring to are or were Kawser "pin grabbers." Mostly marketing hype, a JHP such as Sierra 185's did at least as well.

Savage · « **Reply #11 on:** November 14, 2007, 12:45:05 AM »

Quote from: demented on November 13, 2007, 05:54:16 PM

Savage, the rounds you are referring to are or were Kawser "pin grabbers." Mostly marketing hype, a JHP such as Sierra 185's did at least as well.

Or the old Speer "Flying Ashtray".
If I were shooting pins today, I''d use the 255 LCWC in .45 ACP. Seems like it should work well.
Savage

Jim n Iowa · « **Reply #12 on:** November 14, 2007, 02:31:27 PM »

Is there a web page for bowling pin groups?
Jim

Savage · « **Reply #13 on:** November 15, 2007, 01:25:10 AM »

You might find something here:
http://www.handloads.com/articles/default.asp?id=13
Savage

ironfoot · « **Reply #14 on:** November 17, 2007, 01:14:02 PM »

Give this place a call, and ask about ordering their "pinbuster" bullets.

R & R Bullet
233 Goffena Rd
Chadron, NE 69337 Map

(308) 432-6914

You may want to use a gas check to prevent barrel leading.
The bullets are a semi wadcutter.
I think they are 255 grains.
They tend to grip the pins well, rather than glancing off like hardball bullets can do if the pin is not hit in the center.
Their extra weight also helps.

They also sell a heavy bullet for .357 magnums.
It is a full wadcutter.
It is so long, you need to load it in a .38 special case to mate the crimping groove, and not have the bullet extend beyond the cylinder.
It helps the .357 magnum load equate a .45 acp heavy load.
It allows a .357 magnum revolver to be competitive with a 1911,especialy when you use a seven or 8 shot revolver.

S.B. · « **Reply #15 on:** November 20, 2007, 12:53:17 AM »

An interesting story: First pin match I ever shot was with several friends. One of my buddies was military and prison guard (Larry) all in one. Range officer said to knock all the pins off the table, quick as possible, fastest time wins. When it was Larry's turn he made ready and on the buzzer drew his pistol and had an A.D. (accidental discharge) shot one of the legs out from under the table and the range officer was so shook up, he let Larry's time of . 65 seconds stand and he won the match? Larry's time has never been beat, not even by Rob Latham! True story.
I should also say, Larry is a very good and safe shooter who has seen the elephant and was one of the very first combat troops in SVN. Adenalin or pressure can do some strange things to people at times.

yagoo · « **Reply #16 on:** March 25, 2009, 05:58:12 PM »

Did the guy on the first posting say 20yrds. for pins? Doesn't he mean 20 feet? Does anyone know if there is pin shooting in the Toledo area? I would like to compare my .45acp with my .357 for accuracy vs. knock-down power. sounds like fun.
Yagoo

Mikey · « **Reply #17 on:** March 26, 2009, 01:33:09 AM »

Steve: naw, your buddy Larry is smart - shoot the leg off the table and all the pins go down. I did that once, on purpose, and they threw me out of the match after I fixed the table. Well, at least they felt I shot the leg out from underneath the table on purpose but my buddy was laughing too hard for me to even try and deny it. That was my last match.......or, that was the last one I was invited to......

Regarding the loads. As mentioned previously, Mag-Tech makes that 230 gn fmj swc and it works fine on table legs so it should work equally well on bowling pins. My buddy used my 45 loads later in the game and his hits would take the pin off the table without problems. If the hit was not dead on the pin would either get spun off the table or knocked off sideways. A direct hit would take it right off the table and usually bust up the pin in the process.

If using a 357, you can use a 200 gn cast swc from either Mt. Baldy Bullets or Colorado Cast Bullets and you do not need full magnum loads. Actually, you can use 38 spls loaded with the 200 gn slugs or you can use your 357 brass with the same boolet. The Lyman Manuals carry good load data for the 200 gn slug in either the 38 or the 357. HTH.

S.B. · « **Reply #18 on:** March 26, 2009, 02:25:16 AM »

Quote from: yagoo on March 25, 2009, 05:58:12 PM

Did the guy on the first posting say 20yrds. for pins? Doesn't he mean 20 feet? Does anyone know if there is pin shooting in the Toledo area? I would like to compare my .45acp with my .357 for accuracy vs. knock-down power. sounds like fun.
Yagoo

Standard distance is 10 yards.
Steve

DanOH · « **Reply #19 on:** March 26, 2009, 09:00:32 AM »

" Did the guy on the first posting say 20yrds. for pins? Doesn't he mean 20 feet? Does anyone know if there is pin shooting in the Toledo area? I would like to compare my .45acp with my .357 for accuracy vs. knock-down power. sounds like fun.
Yagoo"

According to the ORPA Schedule of Events:
April 5,19,26-
May 6,20
Actionpistol/Bowling pins--contact Don Hunter (419) 937-2066
thats at the Tiffin/Seneca Izzak Walton

S.B. · « **Reply #20 on:** March 26, 2009, 02:22:50 PM »

Been there, done that. Use the .45 it's faster and reloading is much faster. I've even tried my 629 on a table or two?
Steve

Lloyd Smale · « **Reply #21 on:** March 27, 2009, 01:40:49 AM »

im with Dee. Either a tn or a swc as heavy as you can find and I like them cast out of soft alloy. They seem to grab the pin better with near misses.

skarke · « **Reply #22 on:** April 08, 2009, 02:51:14 PM »

Heavy bullets with big meplats (as long as they feed). 230 gn is a good weight. I am using Blue Dot, it is a little dirty, but it moves the pins off of the table.

The sharp edge of a swc grabs them pretty well. Velocity seems to be less important that having a big, lumbering mass of kinetic energy (duration over speed).

S.B. · « **Reply #23 on:** April 08, 2009, 04:21:27 PM »

My load for pins is 5.9 grains of 231 under a 200 grain H&G #68.
Steve

Ken ONeill · « **Reply #24 on:** April 10, 2009, 04:33:20 AM »

I also used a 29 in a few matches, as well as a couple of 625's. However, I found the 1911 in .45 ACP to be faster and better for me. I prefer a lead 230 gr. Truncated cone bullet in either the 625 or 1911 to the H&G 68 pattern 200 gr. SWC's. The extra weight seems to carry the pins off the table better for me. I sometimes used a cylinder or magazine full of 230 gr. hardball at the end of the day as a barrel cleaner.

S.B. · « **Reply #25 on:** April 10, 2009, 05:41:48 AM »

I think it's center hits that carries the pins off the table? Any bullet that hit off center will spin the pin and if not close enough to center mass will spin pin on it's side while remaining on the steel sheet(table). No bullet, load will move the pins off the table without hitting near or directly in the center of mass. Neither will bullet noses grab the pin. My$.02.
Steve

BigAl52 · « **Reply #26 on:** April 11, 2009, 01:55:04 PM »

While speed may be important in matces it's not important in fun. To me fun is shooting pins with my 460 XVR and watching them launch into the air off the table. It just don't get any better than that. Al

S.B. · « **Reply #27 on:** April 11, 2009, 02:32:35 PM »

Al, misses with the big boys or off center hits are just as bad. I've been there done that. But, I agree if you have center hits?
Steve