Latest results

Every year, MSSA holds a bowling pin shoot to raise funds for political action. It is held on the fourth Sunday in July. This year, that will be on Sunday, July 22th. It will be held at the Deer Creek Range in Missoula, beginning at 10 AM. This is called the Great Northern Bowling Pin Shoot, and this year will be the 21st time this event has been held. Shooting bowling pins is designed to be fun and "doable" by novice shooters, or veteran shooters who don’t usually shoot in competition.

U.S. Senator Conrad Burns and BSPSC President Paul Miner

This is how it works. There is a 4-foot by 8-foot table, four feet high, 21 feet from the shooter. The 8-foot edge of the table is towards the shooter. There are five standard bowling pins on the table, set one foot from the front edge of the table, and one foot apart, edge to edge. The shooter starts with the barrel of his or her firearm touching a wooden rail in front of him. On start signal, the shooter shoots all the pins off of the table - the pins must clear the table to score (except in the .22 events, where the pins only must fall over). The idea is to see how quickly you can clear the table of pins. The shooter gets three runs at the table. Only the best two runs count for score - one run is a throwout.

Ty Marbut prepares to shoot pop cans in Ban Baucus Assault Rifle event.

There are events for: single-action revolver, double-action revolver, autoloading pistol, pump shotgun, autoloading shotgun, lever-action rifle, .22 pistol, and .22 rifle. We will also have the ever-popular Ban Baucus Assault Rifle event, named after our gun-banning senior senator. In this event the shooter will engage five full pop or beer cans, offhand, at 50 yards. The cans must burst or at least be leaking to score. We will also shoot this event with bolt-action, center-fire rifles as a separate competition, so you can shoot this with your deer or elk rifle. There will also be a team event utilizing two pin tables and three shooters. One shooter must shoot a revolver, one an autopistol, and one a shotgun. The team will engage ten pins.

Senator Burns, Betsy Cohen (Missoulian), Gary Marbut (MSSA president)
and Brain Judy (NRA State Liaison)

The cost will be $6 per event, or all events for $50, and the team event is $9 per team. A person may enter one, all, or any combination of events. A person may enter an event as many times as they want.

Some people come overgunned for bowling pins.
Marbut/Burns discuss gun rights in background.

This is MSSA’s only fundraising event of the year, so please, come burn some powder with us, have fun and help us raise funds for political action. If you need to know how to get to the Deer Creek Range, email MSSA.

Cookie’s ready for pins.

MSSA Treasurer Carol Smith registers shooters.