Rimfire Bowling pin setup.

[macolesby]

So, I do a weekly club meet where me and some other fine gentleman meet up at our local range and do a rimfire bowling pin shoot. I'm sure a lot of you are asking, "Can a rimfire actually knock over a bowling pin?" Well, we cut the tops off and just shoot at those. Anyway I've been at this for about 7 months on and off but recently I decided that I need to do it more regularly, And I've quickly gotten to some of the best shooting I've ever done, I have a lot of it to owe to this thing here. A 1979 Smith and Wesson model 41, 5 inch barrel, Shooting CCI AR Ammo. By far this is one of my absolute favorites in my collection.

 

[shootersix]

My club has a weekly rimfire bowling pin match, we shoot full size pins off a 2x4 saw horse, to handicap people with lasers or red dot sights, you have to shoot a stubby pin first, and if you’ve ever won a session (we shoot 1-3 month, and two 2 month sessions) you also have a split pin that you have to shoot top first then the bottom) and the last thing you shoot is a falling pin shaped metal plate that’s designed so that one falls on top of the other, so if you knock all the pins down and your plate is in the bottom you win, and our league is pretty competitive, we have guys who drop a lot of coin on their pistols! (Ok it’s me!), my pistol was a 22/45, now it’s a 22/45 with the factory mag release and factory locking springs, everything else has been changed, volquartsen bolt and internals, tac sol barrel, cmore, stripplin custom mount, I have more invested in this pistol than I have in my complete idpa set up!

And don’t get me started on my rimfire rifle! (But I do use both of these in steel challenge too!)

 

[92FSTech]

Nice model 41 OP! Those are awesome shooting guns.

Curious about the bowling pins...have you had any issues with rounds bouncing off and coming back at the shooter? I played with some earlier this year and it was all kinds of fun, but I got kinda scared off when the club president saw me shooting one day and told me a couple of stories about some members who got injured a few years back shooting pins. Apparently one guy took a .45 to the jaw.

I still have the pins, but I'm a little hesitant to take them back out as I got the impression he wasn't a fan of me shooting them there, and I also don't want anybody (including me) to get hurt.

 

[GourdOnTheDoor]

Nice model 41 OP! Those are awesome shooting guns.

Curious about the bowling pins...have you had any issues with rounds bouncing off and coming back at the shooter? I played with some earlier this year and it was all kinds of fun, but I got kinda scared off when the club president saw me shooting one day and told me a couple of stories about some members who got injured a few years back shooting pins. Apparently one guy took a .45 to the jaw.

I still have the pins, but I'm a little hesitant to take them back out as I got the impression he wasn't a fan of me shooting them there, and I also don't want anybody (including me) to get hurt.

Sounds like you just need a homemade barrier of some sort to me! Never thought of bowling with guns but this sounds like an incredible idea might have to pick up some pins!

 

[macolesby]

Nice model 41 OP! Those are awesome shooting guns.

Curious about the bowling pins...have you had any issues with rounds bouncing off and coming back at the shooter? I played with some earlier this year and it was all kinds of fun, but I got kinda scared off when the club president saw me shooting one day and told me a couple of stories about some members who got injured a few years back shooting pins. Apparently one guy took a .45 to the jaw.

I still have the pins, but I'm a little hesitant to take them back out as I got the impression he wasn't a fan of me shooting them there, and I also don't want anybody (including me) to get hurt.

I've never heard of something like that happening especially at the club I shoot at, But we've gone to several lengths to make sure that this isn't really a possibility. our tables have an angled front on them so I don't think there is any possibility of ricochet, but as we all know Murphys law is an unfortunate thing.

 

[macolesby]

My club has a weekly rimfire bowling pin match, we shoot full size pins off a 2x4 saw horse, to handicap people with lasers or red dot sights, you have to shoot a stubby pin first, and if you’ve ever won a session (we shoot 1-3 month, and two 2 month sessions) you also have a split pin that you have to shoot top first then the bottom) and the last thing you shoot is a falling pin shaped metal plate that’s designed so that one falls on top of the other, so if you knock all the pins down and your plate is in the bottom you win, and our league is pretty competitive, we have guys who drop a lot of coin on their pistols! (Ok it’s me!), my pistol was a 22/45, now it’s a 22/45 with the factory mag release and factory locking springs, everything else has been changed, volquartsen bolt and internals, tac sol barrel, cmore, stripplin custom mount, I have more invested in this pistol than I have in my complete idpa set up!

And don’t get me started on my rimfire rifle! (But I do use both of these in steel challenge too!)

View attachment 326792

I absolutely love that setup. I have a 10 inch Mark 2 that I occasionally bring to this shoot to have something a little bit different. My current shopping list is going to be an optics host as each month we have one night that we make our optics/open night. I've been considering a Valquartsen Mamba, but I still have a Hammerli to pay off first.