Posted: 9/7/2009 9:19:37 AM EDT
| Are bowling pins safe for target use? Any firearms not suitable as far as ricochets. .22, .38 ?? |
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Quoted:
Why not? Aren't they made of wood? I believe the have a rubber core similar to a golf ball. Bowling Pins can cause bounce backs and it's especially prominent with .45 ACP and .22lr even with new pins. I attended an Advanced Tactical Rifle Course taught by D. Smith and he was my Instructor when I was certified as a Firearms Instructor. In both classes he advised against shooting Bowling Pins, using Tire Shoot Houses and shooting Steel with Lead Bullets. I personally know Don and Frank Repass, Vice President of IALEFI and he confirms that Bowling Pins are dangerous also. Don was a competitive shooter for years and saw numerous bounce backs from Bowling Pins, he has researched it and determined that it happens with enough frequency to consider it dangerous. I've seen it happen a couple times and I strongly advise against it. |
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Quoted:
Interesting. You and your friends seem to know much more about pins than I do so; I'll retract my previous statement that they're safe to shoot. It's one of those things where you could do it for years and never have a problem, but he problem does exist. Members of our SWAT Team have shot steel plates with shotgun slugs for years with out issue, but at a training last year one of them experienced a bounce back that caught him in the lower abdomen. He was not seriously hurt but it put an abrupt end to that practice... |
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Wood core bowling pins are safe to shoot. Yes bounce-back bullets can happen, but with proper eye protection its safe. In addition to dozens of local matches, I attended the Second Chance bowling pin shoot in Michigan for six years. With literally hundreds of competitors I never saw an injury that required more than a bandaid and that was a freak occurrence.
Local bowling pin matches are held all over the country on a regular basis. Whole books have been written on the topic. |
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I shot bowling pin matches for years. I have been hit by 230gr ball ammo bouncing back from pins. It hurts, but never broke the skin. Just like shooting steel, if you take proper precautions shooting pins can be safe.
Make sure the pins can move back, fall, roll, etc. They need to be able to absorb the energy from the hits. Most pin matches are won by clearing the table. Make sure the table does not pose a risk of bounce backs. Metal should be covered with wood or built so there are no flat surfaces that cause bounce back to the shooters. For full sized pins don't shoot anything smaller than 40. For smaller calibers, cut off the tops of pins and shoot those. 22 shooting at pin heads is a lot of fun. Don't shoot pins any closer than 10 yards. You will still get some bounce back. Wear good eye pro. Gringop |
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Gunsmiths sell guns specifically designed for this deadly form of competition:
http://michigunsltd.com/bowling.php Nationally known firearms instructors write books encouraging and instructing how to compete in these deadly competitions: 
Magazines even write articles encouraging...gasp...women to participate. We must stop this for the children: http://womenshooters.com/archive/old0901issue/pins0901.html You'd think all the lawsuits from all the deaths and maimings would have brought an end to this madness by now. |
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Lumpy, I never referred to shooting Bowling Pins as "Deadly" so you can stop putting words into my mouth...
Buzter, you asked a question in regards to Firearm Safety and I gave my answer. People do things on a regular basis that are dangerous; It’s all about how much risk your willing to take/accept the facts are laid out in the responses above. Everyone here has confirmed that bounce backs happen and no-one can say that they don’t. If you find the risks associated with shooting Bowling Pins is acceptable then that is a risk you take upon yourself. Proper Eye Protection and Ear Protection should always be worn when shooting Firearms. |
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Our club shoots bowling pins monthly. To my knowledge, there's never been an issue.
Another club I shoot action pistol at shoots a virety of targets. Shooting reactive steel targets, I was hit no less than 3 times (never while I was shooting and was well behind the line everyt ime) in the course of one match. Eye pro that day prevented one very serious injury on me. |