Bowling Pin Shooting
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Bowling Pin Shooting is a shooting sport (primarily for handguns) in which the competitors try to knock standard bowling pins from a table in the shortest elapsed time.
Depending on the caliber of handgun used, the pins may need to be knocked backwards up to 3 feet (1 meter) to be knocked clear of the table. The pin shooting tables typically consist of one of the following varieties:
1) 3 pins placed on a waist high table, with 2 additional pins placed on a second tier over the others.
2) 5 pins placed on a 4' x 8' table, with the pins being placed 3' from the back edge. In some competitions, the distance may be reduced to 2' for "minor" calibers like 9mm Luger and 38 Special so that these minor calibers can compete head to head with "major" calibers like 45 ACP, 10mm, and .44 Remington Magnum.
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.
Pin shooting is done with both revolvers and semi-automatic pistols in calibers ranging from .22 Long Rifle to .45 ACP. Generally .22 Long Rifle competitions use just the tops of the pins, which are lighter and more easily knocked down by the light, low energy bullets, or pins placed very near the back of the table so that the light hit will still knock the pin off the table. Some events can also be done with a semiautomatic or pump shotgun, firing buckshot.
Handguns are broken into 3 classes, revolver, stock, and pin gun. Capacity is limited to 8 rounds in most of the competitions. The pin gun class is allowed optical sights (generally red dot sights are used) and compensators.
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 fall apart they become shotgun targets. Pins that will no longer stand on their bases are cut down to become rimfire targets.
