| I haven't shot pins in at least 10 years, but the 45 was a pretty good balance of power and controllabilty. I would start with plain old 230 grain bullets. I always used JHPs because I thought they might "bite" rather than slide off on a glancing hit, but don't know if that was worth even thinking about.
Part of the fun is finding the right balance of control and power. My first time out, I was going too much for "control" and didn't have enough "power". I shot a S&W 45 Colt with light loaded 200 grain cast bullets. Close, but not really enough. It would do it, but I had to hit them juuuust right.
Next time, I used a 45ACP shooting 230s at about the same speed, and it went a lot better. It's interesting how the bullets of the same diameter, traveling about the same speed, but 30 grains heavier, can make that much difference.
I never used a .44 Mag, but did use a .44 AutoMag, which is ballistically about the same. It takes the pins and throws them, and control was a lot better than with any .44 Mag revolver I've shot. I still couldn't shoot it anywhere near as fast as a 45.
Besides, I was loading a filthy burning powder and the gun required a lot of oil. The unburned powder granules mixed with the oil to form a paste that led to malfunctioning after about three tables of pins.
More gun was nice to have later in the match when the pins started to get heavy from the bullets in them.
I used a .44 Spl once, loaded with 240 cast SWCs at about 850 fps, and it did OK.
I used a .357 some, but with 180 grain bullets. Not bad.
I saw a guy use fast 125 grain .357 loads once, and they tended to just blow out the back of the pins. Generally speaking, if it's a choice of a heavy bullet at moderate speed, or a light bullet at high speed: Take the heavy bullet. |