Looks like we will not be traveling up to MI for The Pin Shoot this summer after all. We've sold the RV and aren't going to be traveling quite as much out of state due to: reasons. There is apparently a monthly pin match near me here in Florida that I'll be looking to get in to keep shooting .45, so hopefully I can keep shooting pins from time to time.
Good luck to all the competitors!
Bummer, RJ. You will be missed. Best wishes to you and Mrs. RJ for the coming year.
Surprise!
We may be able to attend the Pin Shoot next month after all. We are not 100% sure about travel plans but are putting plans in motion to be able to go this year. If things work out, we will be there for the meet. More to follow. @Mas
I am making a return to the Pin Wars, as well.
Need to reload a bunch of .45 and some .41 Magnum soon.
After factoring in travel and other considerations, we are not going to be in the Central Lake area in June this summer, unfortunately. I wish it were not so, but circumstances (I hasten to add, not medical) dictate otherwise.Originally Posted by RJ
Good luck to all the competitors!
Quit messing with my emotions.
Just returned home from the 2024 Central Lake pin shoot. Wow! It is so much different than the other shooting I do. (Tactical, IDPA, USPSA, some NRA Action Pistol) I was totally unprepared from an equipment (mostly ammo) and general knowledge standpoint. I didn't come in last in anything but I certainly didn't do well and that is not something I am used to. @Randy Harris made a good showing in stock but floundered a bit on the other entries as well. My biggest mistake was not bringing the right ammo. 9mm is already a weak way to go and using 115 practice ammo is not the answer. Shooting the Concealed carry division with my C2 was pretty much a disaster. Hitting the pins and knocking them down was no problem, I think I didn't have to reload from my 6 round first mag on any of them until it came time for cleanup. Shooting the pins off the table from a down position especially at a major set eats up a lot of time. For the guys running 9 the minimum appeared to be a hot 147 with a lot going the +P Hollowpoint route. If I go back I will definitely be doing things differently.
Something else that surprised me was the shear amount of shooting going on. I signed up for Stock, stock minor, and concealed carry in the main events. There were people there doing all of the main events and countless side events. I talked to a guy who did 30! runs on the PCC side event. That alone is $1500 in registration. Much like Bianchi cup you seem to have a big group of regulars who have been doing it for years and are very good. On that note, gun writer Patrick Sweeney is a machine. I had no idea that guy could shoot like that. I watched a mature lady shoot rack after rack in the shotgun event, which requires full power buckshot. Also impressive.
Overall we had a good time, although I am one of those people who can't truly have a good time unless I am performing well. I did get to re introduce myself to Mas so that was fun.
Another great match indeed, and it was good to meet you too, MVS.
This is my 30th one and i have to say the registration and timing went smoother than ever with the new system. Never more than a few minutes' wait to shoot at your scheduled time.
Dates for next year should be up, along with all other details, at www.pinshoot.com . The most fun match I've ever been to, and the one I guarantee for myself every year.
https://harriscombative.com/blog/
On Monday June 3rd I made the pilgrimage to Central Lake Michigan to shoot The Pin Shoot. This event was previously known as the Second Chance Pin Shoot in years past and I had wanted to attend this since I first read about it in Shooting Times Handgun Quarterly magazine back in 1988. By the time I was old enough, and in a position to be able to go do it, the event was no longer held , but when they started holding the event again in 2016 my friend Mike Swisher ( @MVS ) and I decided we were going to go and we finally made it this year.
Randy at The Pin Shoot June 2024
A little explanation of the event is in order for those not familiar with it. The match runs from Saturday to Thursday. There are 2 classes of shooter. Ordinary Standard Shooter and Master Blaster. OSS is what you are classified as until you win an event or finish 2nd in two events and then you move up to Master Blaster. This way the people who have been pin shooting and winning since the 1980s are not directly competing with the folks who have never shot this before. Then there are six “5 Pin Main Events” where you shoot 6 tables of 5 pins with some “hostage” pins interspersed among the pins. The main events are Stock Gun (standard iron sight pistols) , Stock Minor (iron sight pistols in “minor calibers”) , Pin Gun (can have a compensator) , Space Gun can have an optic and a compensator) , CCW (barrel 4″ or less and allows optics) and PCC (Pistol Caliber Carbines allows optics, comps or suppressors) and an assortment of side matches and shoot offs and team events. In fact there are SO MANY events that it was a little overwhelming for us two Pin Shoot newbies. We have shot plenty of competitions in different disciplines (we have both won IDPA State titles in our respective divisions) but nothing quite like this. The ladies who handle the scheduling and getting the shooters ready must be saints for being able to herd cats and deal with all the moving parts.
We arrived at the range on Tuesday afternoon and went to the registration desk to get our shooting times for the events. To our great surprise ( and panic ?) they would schedule us for about 15 minutes after we got there… even though we did not know exactly where to go or exactly what to do and there was not time for us to get the new shooter orientation. Oh well … if you are going to get wet you might as well jump in the deep end of the pool first…
I shot Minor Stock for my first event using a full size iron sighted Sig 320 and Speer Lawman 147gr 9mm. Mike shot CCW using his carry gun Sig 365X Macro and Fiocchi 115 9mm . Unfortunately while last year you just had to knock the pins down , this year – even in the minor caliber events- you had to knock the pins completely off the table. Uh oh …. We did not get that memo…
So neither of our times ,while not terrible , were not exactly spectacular since we were completely under armed for moving bowling pins off the tables. Knock them down? No problem. Knock them off? That involved more shooting than one round per pin which in this game is what you are trying to accomplish. Oh well at least it was fun…
On the line waiting for the command to put the “Guns on the rail”
Tuesday night they held a pizza party for the shooters at The Side Door Saloon which is a local bar. Mike and I snagged a table and awaited the pizza to be brought out. Soon after we got our table , an older woman came to our table and essentially deposited an older gentleman wearing a Pin Shoot t-shirt at our table and then went on her way. As he talked and told stories I realized that was Richard Davis who is the guy who founded Second Chance Body Armor and who founded the Pin Shoot and acts as the Master of Ceremonies for the match, asking the trivia questions between shooting runs, and calling the match…..“Load your toad , timers ready, guns on the rail, shooters ready” and giving the start signal . So we sat with him for the evening and were regaled with far ranging stories from adventures in Las Vegas to the history of the Pin Shoot event , how he had gotten prizes for the prize table in years past , and how he helped Massad Ayoob write “Hit the White Part” .
Randy with Richard Davis , founder of the Pin Shoot
The next day we rolled to the range and I shot the .22 Pin Head side event ( 7 pin heads 5 yards away with 10 rounds in your pistol) . I shot my suppressed Ruger MK II which of course picked the absolute most inopportune time to malfunction. After that we prepared to shoot the Stock Gun main event. For this one I shot a Springfield Armory Trophy Match pistol loaded with Federal TSJ 230gr .45 ACP . In this event you have 5 pins per table plus 2 hostage pins that you do not want to shoot or knock down. You start with 8 rounds loaded in the gun but reload capacity is unlimited.
For the Stock Gun event the .45 took the pins off the tables easily enough that I did not have to reload on any of the strings of fire- unlike in the Minor Stock and CCW events. If I remember correctly Mike shot a Ruger 1911 in the Stock event. Afterwards I shot the CCW event and unfortunately the 9mm did not do any better on Wednesday than it had on Tuesday and I had a lackluster finish in the event . For dinner we hit Outback and then I got to watch the Boston Celtics win game 3 of the NBA finals.
Shooting the Stock Gun Main Event with Springfield Trophy Match
Thursday rolled around and it was time for my Shotgun and 9×12 side events . Shotgun was 3 tables of 8 pins each and 9×12 was 3 tables of 12 pins with 3 hostage pins spread out between them per table. Shotgun capacity was 8 max in the gun and FULL POWER buckshot is the medicine of choice . For the shotgun I used a borrowed Benelli M2 that I did not get to fire until my first string of fire on the shooting line. It was about that time that I also realized that due to the way they are crimped , only 6 Rio Buckshot shells would fit in the magazine tube! Fortunately the gun’s owner had also given me some Winchester 00 Buck and I ended up having to load 5 Rio and 2 Winchester in the tube and a Rio in the chamber to get 8 in the gun. It is always something….
Knowing I had to beat 3.60 seconds for the 8 pins I went as fast as I could but caught a few unlucky breaks with some fast runs being undone by a rebellious pin here and there refusing to leave the table . This game does involve a degree of luck as pins falling off the top shelf can fall onto a lower shelf and your time does not stop until the last pin hits the ground. A 4.90 was the best clean score I was able to manage which was nowhere near the 3.60 I needed to hit to be competitive. After shooting 72 rounds of full power buck it was time for the 9×12 side match.
Waiting for the command to “Load your toad” at Pin Shoot 2024
My 9×12 runs were still not terrible but were non competitive due to the inability of 9mm to convey enough momentum to quickly clear the tables. If I had known about the rule change before I left home, I would’ve been running my Glock 35 with 180 grain ammo and a 22 round mag for the 9×12 event.
After a BBQ food truck dinner at the range the awards ceremony took place. I had ended up 3rd in the OSS class in the Stock Gun event and ended up winning a gift certificate for Magna Porting a pistol or revolver. I also got my old copy of Hit the White Part (the book about pin shooting co authored by Massad Ayoob ( @Mas ) and Richard Davis ) autographed and got a pic with Mas and Rich. I also got Richard to autograph my copy of Pin Shooting- A Complete Guide by Mitchell Ota that Davis had also written the forward for that book too.
Massad Ayoob, Randy and Richard Davis at the awards ceremony Pin Shoot 2024
So how did I feel it went? Great. Mike and I had a great time and we marked this off our bucket list. This is arguably the most fun shooting event (other than maybe cowboy action) that I have shot. While I did not finish as well as I had hoped, there is only so much that you can do if you are shooting 9mm and the game requires you to blow bowling pin all the way off the table. I was happy to have a 3rd place finish in the Stock Gun event but I missed my goal of making the Master Blaster classification. Maybe next year ….
Last edited by Randy Harris; 06-20-2024 at 11:51 AM.
@Randy Harris excellent write up, thanks for posting!
Civility is not a tactic or a sentiment. It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos.
-George W. Bush
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