My first bowling pin shoot.

[Druew368]

Well, this evening I participated in my first ever "competitive" shoot. A local indoor range did a bowling pin shoot. They had tables set up with five pins lined up and how close they were set to the rear edge of the table was determined by the caliber of gun being shot. 45's were near the front, with 9's in the middle, and 22's in the rear. They had a timing device that measured from the buzzer to your last shot. The buzzer started after you were in the low ready position and indicated you were ready to begin. You got the best of three attempts.

I fired my first three attempts with my M9-A1 and the second three with a borrowed 9mm XDM. My best time with the Steyr was just over 10 seconds and just over 13 seconds with the XDM.

The best time that night was a guy shooting a 1911. Five pins, five shots, just over four seconds. :cheers:
It was a lot harder than I expected and I didn't do as well as I'd hoped. I had one attempt that was over thirty seconds and another over forty. If the pin falls down but doesn't fall off, you have to keep shooting until if falls off and a few times, it just didn't want to fall off.

All in all, I had a lot of fun and look forward to doing it the next time it's offered.

 

[EastHumboldt]

where do you get usEd pins? I assume new ones are spendy.

 

[PlumberED]

where do you get usEd pins? I assume new ones are spendy.

That is the same question I was looking to ask.

 

[Yoder]

I used to shoot a lot of pistol competitions. It was a lot of fun but you quickly realize how much you suck at shooting. USPSA was my favorite. They had the best mix of stationary, moving targets at steel. You also learn to draw, and shoot on the move. IDPA is kind of like the retarded little brother of USPSA. It was the first competition I went to and is still a lot of fun. You don't need as much gear, less shots per stage but they have a lot of weird "tactical" rules. Steel Challenge I shot once. It's and array of stationary steel targets of different sizes placed at different distances with a stop plate. It was ok. One of my favorite shoots was the Blue Mountain Steel Classic. That was awesome. It was 6 stages of 25-35 dropping steel targets per stage. I stopped shooting because of cost and over crowded ranges. To get mediocre takes a lot of practice. I used to shoot about 10k rounds of just 9mm a year. I went to the range about 3x a week and dry fired 5 days a week. That got me to the level where I won a couple low level local IDPA matches. When I switched to USPSA, I was middle of the pack. I haven't shot in a few years now. You got me thinking about going again.

 

[sconnieVLP]

I used to shoot a lot of pistol competitions. It was a lot of fun but you quickly realize how much you suck at shooting. USPSA was my favorite. They had the best mix of stationary, moving targets at steel. You also learn to draw, and shoot on the move. IDPA is kind of like the retarded little brother of USPSA. It was the first competition I went to and is still a lot of fun. You don't need as much gear, less shots per stage but they have a lot of weird "tactical" rules. Steel Challenge I shot once. It's and array of stationary steel targets of different sizes placed at different distances with a stop plate. It was ok. One of my favorite shoots was the Blue Mountain Steel Classic. That was awesome. It was 6 stages of 25-35 dropping steel targets per stage. I stopped shooting because of cost and over crowded ranges. To get mediocre takes a lot of practice. I used to shoot about 10k rounds of just 9mm a year. I went to the range about 3x a week and dry fired 5 days a week. That got me to the level where I won a couple low level local IDPA matches. When I switched to USPSA, I was middle of the pack. I haven't shot in a few years now. You got me thinking about going again.

I love USPSA. I was able to make it to A without live fire practice, but I did shoot at least one match a week. That combined with 15-20 min of dry fire/day seemed to work for me, and was working my way toward M before I moved to Germany and wasn’t able to shoot.

I shoot Production class with a mostly stock G34.4 (replaced the sights, barrel, trigger, and skateboard tape on the grip) and the equipment needed is pretty minimal, really just a belt, holster, and 5 or so mag pouches due to number of reloads you need to do in Production.

 

[Yoder]

I love USPSA. I was able to make it to A without live fire practice, but I did shoot at least one match a week. That combined with 15-20 min of dry fire/day seemed to work for me, and was working my way toward M before I moved to Germany and wasn’t able to shoot.

I shoot Production class with a mostly stock G34.4 (replaced the sights, barrel, trigger, and skateboard tape on the grip) and the equipment needed is pretty minimal, really just a belt, holster, and 5 or so mag pouches due to number of reloads you need to do in Production.

I must really suck. I was a mid B class shooter.

 

[Dr. Davy Jones]

Well, this evening I participated in my first ever "competitive" shoot. A local indoor range did a bowling pin shoot. They had tables set up with five pins lined up and how close they were set to the rear edge of the table was determined by the caliber of gun being shot. 45's were near the front, with 9's in the middle, and 22's in the rear. They had a timing device that measured from the buzzer to your last shot. The buzzer started after you were in the low ready position and indicated you were ready to begin. You got the best of three attempts.

I fired my first three attempts with my M9-A1 and the second three with a borrowed 9mm XDM. My best time with the Steyr was just over 10 seconds and just over 13 seconds with the XDM.

The best time that night was a guy shooting a 1911. Five pins, five shots, just over four seconds. :cheers:
It was a lot harder than I expected and I didn't do as well as I'd hoped. I had one attempt that was over thirty seconds and another over forty. If the pin falls down but doesn't fall off, you have to keep shooting until if falls off and a few times, it just didn't want to fall off.

All in all, I had a lot of fun and look forward to doing it the next time it's offered.

That sounds really fun

 

[ChrisA]

A good friend of mine and his dad have been shooting bowling pins for years. They host an annual fun shoot at their range and invited me this summer. We shot 9mm first, then the 44 or 45s, then 22 pistols at sawed off heads of the pins, and finally 12 gauge with buckshot. Was a ton of fun and cool to see how fast some guys can shoot. My buddy cleared a table in 2.3 seconds with the shotgun, his personal record.

I didn't do too bad with one of their 1911 9mm race guns, and did 4.3 seconds with the tricked out 1100 and custom buckshot loads.

Extremely fun trigger time and great people.

 

[sconnieVLP]

I must really suck. I was a mid B class shooter.

I think the number of matches I was shooting when combined with dry fire was the important part. I knew how to shoot a pistol pretty well before I started USPSA, where I struggled was the “game” aspect of it and understanding the flow and when I needed to be reloading. For a while I was shooting a match T/Th/Sa every week, so if I screwed something up I could work on it during dry fire then implement a day or two later. I also made a point to squad with people better than me, so I was able to watch what they did and also get feedback from them on where I was failing.

My dry fire setup was pretty elaborate as well, with mini targets hung up and a dry fire mag so I could get a nearly real trigger press every time. I couldn’t reload with that mag, so that had to be done separately.

 

[Yoder]

I think the number of matches I was shooting when combined with dry fire was the important part. I knew how to shoot a pistol pretty well before I started USPSA, where I struggled was the “game” aspect of it and understanding the flow and when I needed to be reloading. For a while I was shooting a match T/Th/Sa every week, so if I screwed something up I could work on it during dry fire then implement a day or two later. I also made a point to squad with people better than me, so I was able to watch what they did and also get feedback from them on where I was failing.

My dry fire setup was pretty elaborate as well, with mini targets hung up and a dry fire mag so I could get a nearly real trigger press every time. I couldn’t reload with that mag, so that had to be done separately.

I was pretty solid at the shooting aspect of it but messed up at the matches. I only shot 1 match a month. There just aren't that many around and they would sell out in maybe an hour. Even classifiers I would always make some stupid mistake. It's amazing the pressure you put on yourself. It's not like anyone cares or it matters. I think after hunting season dies down, I'm going to start shooting again.

 

[Q child]

Sounds pretty fun. Thanks for sharing.