The Pin Shoot Central Lake MI
I attended The Pin Shoot in Central Lake Michigan this year for the first time. It was an overwhelmingly positive experience. I had a blast, and look forward to attending again.
I was invited to attend by Mas Ayoob, who took me under his wing for the week. Mas, I can’t thank you enough for all of your time and support. I genuinely appreciate it. Thank you.
History
The Pin Shoot was conceived by Richard Davis, the founder of Second Chance body armor, the first company to use Kevlar for Body Armor. Mr. Davis is a former Marine and owner of a Pizza Delivery company, who devised the vest after a self defense shooting with three armed robbers in the early 70’s.
Central Lake
Central Lake Michigan is a small village located on the upper West side of Michigan, about 45 miles North of Traverse City. Since we were traveling in the area in our RV, we opted to stay at the local Thurston Park RV park, in the village overlooking the lake. It is just 4 miles or so to the range.
Central Lake is compact, but has most of what you need; US Post Office, Bank with ATM, Tavern, General Store, Market, Gas Station and so forth. The weather in Michigan in June is very pleasant. We had a mild mix of sun, clouds and some rain. The high was on Wednesday with an unusual peak of 89F; the other days of the week were in the 70s and 80s.
The Pin Shoot
If you aren’t familiar with Pin Shooting, this timed competition involves knocking Bowling Pins off a series of tables at 21 feet. The event takes place over a week, with competitors registering for the main event, plus as many of the optional events as they like. Prizes include pistols, cash, ammo, accessories and clothing.
www.thepinshoot.com
The event includes selecting a class for the “Main” pin shoot, meaning Stock, or Pin gun, etc. Once you have shot your main event, you can register for other events; including pistol, rifle, or even shotgun.
Registration and scoring was done through Practiscore this year. Being in USPSA meant I was familiar already. It was nice being able to see the scores posted online, usually that same day.
Shooting
Registration involves signing up with the desk at the Pavilion, using either cash or “Davis Dough” (a simulated currency used at the pin shoot, bought during the registration process.)
Once you have your range card, when you want to shoot, you proceed to the range and submit the card to the range officer, and wait in the “on deck” area nearby. When you are called, you collect your range card from the Rangemaster and proceed to your assigned set of tables (Alpha through India) to check in with the Table RO. Once the pins are set, and the range is clear, and the signal to load is made, you load your pistol, chamber a round and place it on the rail. For the Main Events, a maximum of 8 rounds is permitted in the gun at the start.
Shooting is from the low ready; no drawing involved. At the start signal (a single gunshot), you raise to a sight picture on your pins and knock them off the table, one by one, in any order you like. Shooting “Hostage” pins (this year painted Ukrainian Blue and Gold :) ) will get you a procedural penalty.
Between tables, your pistol goes into the vertical “holsters” provided at the front of the rail. Each “stage” involves shooting three tables, left to right. Each of the three tables has a slightly different arrangement of pins, which depends on the class you are shooting. It helps to have multiple mags pre-loaded for your three runs on the bench in front of you.
For a typical event, you shoot six tables, in two sets of three, with the worst of the six times thrown out (sort of like Steel Challenge.) Your score is the sum of your five best times. With a maximum of 8 in the gun at the start, you “shouldn’t” need a reload. You’ll need around 35-40 rounds of ammo, per run of six tables.
The main pin event requires knocking the pins off the table, thus most competitors use a 1911/.45 ACP, which has the power factor you need. Some folks will also use 10mm. The sweet spot is a soda-can sized area on the fat part of the pin. Hollow points work best, +p even better. A 9mm will knock them over, but you would be at a distinct disadvantage for the main event, since scoring is based on knocking them completely off the table.
The Venue
The event takes place at the Davis Range, about 4 miles East of Central Lake Michigan.
The range complex includes the stadium-stye main pin shoot area, rifle ranges, practice range, and a large well equipped shaded pavilion for registration and meals, with clean indoor restrooms, and ample space for parking.
The practice range is located at the extreme left of the complex. This includes paper targets and a couple 8” steel plate racks, set at 7 yards, is available each day. This is open to shoot at any time; just check in with the Range Officer. The rifle ranges are to the right.
My experience
I was able to enter two of the “Main” pin events: Stock gun, and “Concealed Carry”, and an “Optional” “9x12” event.
I shot the main event with a 1911 “stock” gun. Focusing on the front sight and pressing the trigger straight back worked the best (what a shock, huh?).
As a first time Pin Shooter, first time 1911 shooter, and first time .45 shooter, it was a novel experience. After years of shooting striker fired handguns, the manual of arms of the single-action 1911 took a bit of getting used to. My lizard brain needed a couple trips to the practice range before I felt comfortable with the gun. Going back to iron sights required a conscious effort away from my typical target focused approach (I shoot a Glock 34 with an optic) back to “front sight, press”.
Once I got the jitters out of the way, the actual shooting part was straightforward. My last run was my best score, decent, albeit with two misses:
https://youtu.be/L-IfJnGzGlM
Next Event was “Concealed Carry”. The course of fire here is identical to the “Stock” gun, however, I opted to shoot it with my actual CCW, a Sig P365X+Holosun 407k, with my carry Federal 147 gr HST. I was unlikely to knock the pins to the ground with this load, but that was ok, since I was shooting for fun, and to use my actual carry gun and ammo in a competition.
On my best run I did actually manage to get all the pins on the ground, but it included a couple follow up shots at the end, including the last pin with the last round in my mag, a lucky shot:
https://youtu.be/UVd7w7NHz64
I shot the 9x12 Event with my Glock 34+Holosun 507c, loaded with a mix of Speer Gold Dot 124+p (which I use in my Glock 19) and American Eagle 124 FMJ.
For this event, there are many more pins (12 vs. 5), but you just have to knock them over. A wrinkle is you have to knock over the bottom four, then can mow the rest of them down in any order. Due to a mental error on my part, my first run included loading a mag with 4 rounds (how does that happen?!).
This is my last run with the G34. I felt pretty comfortable at this point.
https://youtu.be/_xAaP-D5BKw
Final Thoughts and Plans for next year.
I thoroughly enjoyed the week. I was really surprised how much fun pin shooting was. I’d compare shooting bowling pins very favorably to shooting steel: you get an immediate visible reaction of a solid hit (or miss!)
The timed part of the competition puts considerable stress on you. You are surrounded by 100 people, all of whom are watching every mistake you make. Plus your score is published for all to see and smirk at.
Kidding!
Actually everyone was incredibly helpful and supportive. I received nothing but encouragement and smiles.
Being a random retired geezer, competition is about the only affordable way I can approximate the stress of being in a two-way shooting. My IQ drops 50 points when the timer goes off. I’m an engineer, and it’s amazing how often I can’t seem to consistently simply load a magazine.
But although I am not a very good shooter, I enjoy it a lot. The Pin Shoot was completely different than anything I’ve done to date, and I was well out of my comfort zone.
Thinking about how I could improve for next year, obviously a dedicated pistol, just for the competition, would be really useful. While there is no doubt the 1911+.45 ACP is a proven performer, and effective, “for me”, it probably makes more sense to buy a Glock, either in .45 (Glock 21SF?) or 10mm (Glock 20?).
I’m very comfortable with how Glocks work, and being in the Glock eco-system for several years, it is the easy button. Plus, I have other uses for a larger Glock pistol, as we are frequently in mountainous National Parks during summers. I’m no great outdoorsman, but it’s always been in the back of my mind to have something a bit better than 9mm outdoors. And I can use one of my GSSF Certificates. We’ll see.
Wrap up
I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. A huge amount of that was due to the coaching and equipment support @Mas provided through the week. He was overwhelmingly generous.
If you are in the Northern Michigan area in mid June next year, I highly recommend checking out the Pin Shoot. It was a lot of fun.