Weather.com says it is nineteen degrees out there. I see no reason to doubt them.
I'll be shooting minor caliber at pins today, with the ParaUSA LTC 9. The only thing I'm worried about is the way the pins behave in the super duper cold. Last month, it was pretty chilly for the first few rounds in the morning, and the cold pins were spalling off huge chunks of plastic and wood. If you center punched one, like I did with a 230gr Golden Saber on my first shot of the day, the pin virtually exploded on its way off the table. On the other hand, a peripheral hit just threw white plastic fragments and left an oddly asymmetrical pin on its side to be laboriously shot off the table.
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Fast is slow and smooth is fast.
Center hit about three inches up from the bottom. Try not to go up against 'speedy gonzalez' the first round, like I did. He wupped me by half a second, with his best time of the match.
Good luck!
Don't take any crap from those pins!
I shot a pins match a number of years ago in temps ranging in the low 20s. It was so cold that I'd drape my coat over my pistol (cold range in all senses) to keep it warm. No gloves were allowed and shooting with a COLD pistol just added to the hardships.
It was fun watching pins explode. I was shooting 200gr, round nose. I got a bounce back once that raised a welt smack in the middle of my forehead. :-0
If you're ever in the area, come on down to the Windsor Marksmen range. They bandsaw the tops of the pins off at the top of the stripe, and set them up next to the bodies. You have to clear the bodies with a centerfire handgun, then take off the "heads" with a .22 rimfire handgun.
If you're really into pain, you can go across the river to East Windsor Fish and Game, and shoot one of Rodney Well's evil 3 gun matches.
Trap and tactical slug with reloads, a truncated IPSC pistol shoot, and prone, sitting or kneeling, and offhand with centerfire rifle, all to a total time with seconds added for misses.
Me, I'm a bit more conservative, and I'll only be over at East Windsor for the Frostbite Matches. Full National Match course (50 shots for score, 10 for foulers and sighters, prone, sitting, offhand)the last Sunday of November thruogh March, starting at 9:30 in the morning.
We shot one match a couple of years ago with a windchill factoe of minus twenty-two degrees. Gary Petersen beat me by six points with a,can you believe it, SKS.
I have since also found one of those minute of angle SKS's, and if I can get the monumentally sucky trigger slicked up in time, hope to repay him in his own medicine. Yeah, I could do it with the HBAR StagArms, but it's not the same thing.
As for shooting prone,on concrete, with snow drifting over your back, remember Roald Dahl's poem for Vikings. "A thought to help you fight just a little bit longer, what won't kill you outright just makes you stronger".
Tam,
You're confusing some folks...
http://www.genderanalyzer.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbooksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com
I know the truth. I've seen the picture(s) (ignores reality of MOST of the internet).
wv: proxi--I think they mis-spelled yt.
jet
Placement, as they say, is everything.
I wonder how well my new toy would do in a pin match :)
Pins in cold weather or pins that have dried out tend to shatter or splinter.
When I started shooting pins years and years ago at Rockville Fish & Game in CT, due to cost reasons they would use plywood for the tables and not replace the pins until they could no longer stand up. Shot up plywood and shot up pins equals a velcro kind of effect and even 45 ACP would leave pins on the table more often then not. My solution was to load up the 44 Magnum with 200gr XTP's with a lot of H110 and out of 10.5inch Ruger Super Blackhawk they chrongraphed 1770 FPS. Needless to say the pins did not roll off the table, when I hit them they would literally fly off the table as if hit with 12 gauge w/buckshot. I can usually manage an 8-8.5 second run with that gun and load. The club has since switched to particle board for the table tops
Do hollowpoints (and high-end vs generic JHPs) perform differently than FMJ in a bolwing pin?
Hollowpoints most definitely make a difference when pin shooting. The 44 Magnum XTP handloads I referred to above, when fired into a new pin, would not exit the pin, so all of the muzzle energy was dumped into the pin. I have also used 230 gr CCI Gold Dots in handloads and they performed better then FMJ. Pin shooting is more a function of bullet weight then bullet design though. The best 9mm hollowpoint in the world at 1150 fps is not going to be more successful then a 45 ACP 230gr FMJ at 850 FPS. Also the "sharp" edge of a hollowpoint or semi-wadcutter "bites" into the pin better then a FMJ does with an off center or edge hit.
Hey Michael in CT: Booyah from Windsor Marksmen. Is Ronnie Cooke still on the list out at Rockville Fish and Game? If he is, tell him his old boss Ed says hi.
A quick question from a mostly high power rifle shooter who wants to perk up his .45ACP work. I remember, back 3,4,5 years or so, that somebody had a .451 dia. hollow point bullet with a nasty looking saw tooth edge, specifically for bowling pin work.
First question is, does it/did it work? It seems like a good idea.
Second question, if so, do you know who is selling it?
jetfxr69,
I apparently don't talk about cupcakes enough and consciously imitate P.J. O'Rourke too much in my writing.
Weer'd Beerd,
Pin shooting likes high-momentum (heavy for caliber) bullets; JHPs do indeed give better "bite" on pins. I found a line on some moderately decently priced 147gr HydraShok for the LTC that will make an awesome minor-caliber pin round next month...
Hi Ed,
I'm not a member at Rockville, I just play there sometimes and Ron isn't a name that rings a bell with me.
I'm familiar with the hollowpoint you are referring to, but I am fairly certain that they are no longer being sold. I have had good luck reloading with the 230gr Gold Dot. I think any half way decent 45 ACP hollowpoint will work if the cavity is big enough, I've used factory Hydro Shocks when switching to a different defensive load and don't remember any real difference between the Hydro Hock and the Gold Dot on the pin.
You can get Barnes XPB bullets to load with that are somewhat as described, but the .45acp bullet is only 185gr. There's a .45 cold 225gr XPB, but it's probably a bit too long to use safely.
I don't know doc, the 185 might get the job done if I stepped it up to 1,000 fps, and it would be interesting to see the difference between copper and lead. Copper might be a bit grabbier.
I'll order up a box and see what happens. And I bet you're right about the 225 gr.
I imagine, given the difference in density between copper and lead, that it mimicks the 255gr Long Colt projo for length and profile.
I have a new Essex stainless reciever I'm running with a Colt top. It is totally the nads with G.I. ball and police issue Winchester Black Talon (they don't call it that on the box anymore. Bad P.R.). It's time I broadened it's horizons.
And mine. Would you believe I've never loaded a solid copper bullet before? I'll back off to 5 grains of Unique and work my way north. Thanks again. Ed.
Tam - You are far more dedicated than I. I kept saying I'd make it to the range over the weekend to shoot the new Sig, but I couldn't pull myself out of my warm, cozy bed.
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