Will a .40 cal knock bowling pins off the table ???
. . . new bowling pins, it tends to fail when the pins get "heavy" (full of lead).
The theory I know (I'm an engineer). Since the pin is 15" and widest part is only at 4.5", I figured CoG would be a bit higher than that. I also understand that it will change some once the pin has many bullets in it.Aim center of mass. That's the part you want moving backwards. The more you deviate from center-mass, the more of your energy is getting converted in to torque, which is turning the pin about an axis, but not necessarily moving it backwards at full efficiency.
And yes, bowling pins shoot back, if the round fails to penetrate. It's the most dangerous shooting sport I've participated in.