Beware. Their website invites the public to their 3rd Saturday of the month pin shoots. BUT, if you are capable of shooting five pins with five shots at 50(!)feet, they are going to start dumping on you.
I drove 100 miles from Lebanon, NH down to their nice range, and it wasn't a half an hour until they added 3 pins to my tables, and then started taking rounds out of my magazines.
This is a publicly-advertised money match, and they changed the rules mid-stream to protect the pride of their members. They have been shooting pins there for many years, and I guess that no one there has improved in all that time.
Anyway, I was VERY GOOD about it. I just love shooting pins, no matter how much of a challenge it is.
After an hour, they just told me to sit down and not shoot. On a nice, sunny 16April2005, I had better things to do than just watch pin shooting. I left. For the first time in 27 years of competition handgun shooting, I was made to feel very unwelcome at a public shooting event. I did NOTHING to deserve it, except, perhaps, to shoot well.
And no, I wasn't using a $2000 pin gun and prancing around doing the "Rocky" dance. I was setting pins and staying safe. I was friendly, humble, and helpful. My firearm was a Springfield Armory M1911A1 .45 ACP uncomped with iron sights.
Envy is such an evil sin.
Also, they DO NOT ensure that the just-fired handguns are unloaded and safe before they send the pinsetters downrange. I witnessed a shooter leave an S&W .45 autopistol with its slide locked back over a LOADED magazine on the firing line table as the pin setters went downrange. And if that isn't bad enough, they do not require eye protection for the shooters on the firing line.
These two gross safety violations should be enough to keep away ALL shooters. And, if you are a good pin-shooter, they'll hit you with pin and/or cartridge handicaps on top of that.
It was just a bad, dangerous scene. I have written them with my concerns, but they have a bad case of pride as well. I have been shooting competitively since 1978 across the country, and I have never seen such an inhospitable and unsafe shooting match.
I highly recommend that my New England brothers-in-arms stay away from the Lawrence Rod & Gun Club Pin Shoots.
Stay safe . . . .
Mitchell A. Ota
Lebanon, NH
I drove 100 miles from Lebanon, NH down to their nice range, and it wasn't a half an hour until they added 3 pins to my tables, and then started taking rounds out of my magazines.
This is a publicly-advertised money match, and they changed the rules mid-stream to protect the pride of their members. They have been shooting pins there for many years, and I guess that no one there has improved in all that time.
Anyway, I was VERY GOOD about it. I just love shooting pins, no matter how much of a challenge it is.
After an hour, they just told me to sit down and not shoot. On a nice, sunny 16April2005, I had better things to do than just watch pin shooting. I left. For the first time in 27 years of competition handgun shooting, I was made to feel very unwelcome at a public shooting event. I did NOTHING to deserve it, except, perhaps, to shoot well.
And no, I wasn't using a $2000 pin gun and prancing around doing the "Rocky" dance. I was setting pins and staying safe. I was friendly, humble, and helpful. My firearm was a Springfield Armory M1911A1 .45 ACP uncomped with iron sights.
Envy is such an evil sin.
Also, they DO NOT ensure that the just-fired handguns are unloaded and safe before they send the pinsetters downrange. I witnessed a shooter leave an S&W .45 autopistol with its slide locked back over a LOADED magazine on the firing line table as the pin setters went downrange. And if that isn't bad enough, they do not require eye protection for the shooters on the firing line.
These two gross safety violations should be enough to keep away ALL shooters. And, if you are a good pin-shooter, they'll hit you with pin and/or cartridge handicaps on top of that.
It was just a bad, dangerous scene. I have written them with my concerns, but they have a bad case of pride as well. I have been shooting competitively since 1978 across the country, and I have never seen such an inhospitable and unsafe shooting match.
I highly recommend that my New England brothers-in-arms stay away from the Lawrence Rod & Gun Club Pin Shoots.
Stay safe . . . .
Mitchell A. Ota
Lebanon, NH
