Pin shooting originated in the U.S.A and was the brainchild of Richard Davis of Second Chance body Armour fame. This informal and spectator friendly sport is offered as an alternative to practical pistol. It has now become one of the most popular of shooting sports in the United States of America today.
Pin shooting is relatively inexpensive, fast, visually exciting and basically simple. The objective is to shoot bowling pins off a table at a distance of 7.6 meters. This sounds quite easy, but as with every sport there is a catch, because the 1.6Kg pins must be driven right off the back of the table. The expenditure of ammunition is normally limited to 50 rounds for a 30-man elimination match; this however depends greatly on your own level of skill.
Pin shooting offers instant visual satisfaction to the spectator and shooter alike. Action is fast and furious and as a relatively·inexpensive shooting sport, it should appeal to everyone.
Why bowling pins?
The first pin shoot recognized as such was conducted by Richard Davis who demonstrated the effectiveness of his companies bullet proof vests by shooting himself with a large caliber handgun while wearing his vest then using the gun to shoot 5 bowling pins off a table. As you can guess this demonstration for his Second Chance bullet proof vests has proven very effective. Why has shooting bowling pins taken off to the extent it has? Because it's fun! Bowling pins are a dynamic target, if you hit them off center they tend to fall down instead of going off the table. Once they're lying down they'll usually spin when hit on the ends instead of going off the table. These factors make the simple statement of "clear the table of 5 pins" more challenging than it sounds.